Ahuras - in Scripture - in The Gathas

In The Gathas

In the Gathas, the oldest hymns of Zoroastrianism and thought to have been composed by Zoroaster himself, the poet exhorts his followers to pay reverence to only the ahuras, and to rebuff the daevas and others who act "at Lie's command". This should not however be construed to reflect a view of a primordial opposition: Although the daevas would in later Zoroastrian tradition appear as malign creatures, in the Gathas the daevas are (collectively) gods that are to be rejected. (see daeva for details)

In the Gathas, the poet does not specify which of the divinities aside from Ahura Mazda he considers to be ahuras.

The Gathas of Zarathushtra are very clear that there is only ONE divinity, namely AHURA MAZDA; the immortal (Ahu), radiant (Raa)divinity ; that Great (Maz) entity who rules the universe and mankind strictly through Wisdom (Daa). Zarathushtra identifies himself as a "Manthran"; one who composes Mantras as opposed to the normal priest who is a Mantra reciter. Derived from the root word 'man' (pronounced as in bun), that unique capability 'to think, to reason' & “thraa” meaning crucible/concentration of; Mantra literally means 'instrument of thought'; that which, when intoned stimulates the mind to reason. Mantras are hymns, which through their intrinsic quality of stimulation of the intellect & reasoning faculties, benefit those who chant them with devotion & understanding. They form the original constituents of the Gathas composed in a language (Avesta), the sister language of Vedic Sanskrit.

According to NASA researcher, Rick Briggs,

“Among the accomplishments of the grammarians can be reckoned a method for paraphrasing Vedic Sanskrit in a manner that is identical not only in essence but in form with current work in Artificial Intelligence.”

The word (Mantra ) so heard radiated powerful intellect & intuitive stimulation when properly recited by the devotee, through knowledge, understanding & faith. Little wonder therefore that our creator Ahura Mazda is addressed as Khwatr (later Khurshid), the stimulator of intellect. While outwardly based on the language of the masses (Avesta/Vedic Sanskrit), these “Manthric” compositions used single sound syllables based on root words placed in specific meter (sequence) . Thus we have the Ahuna-vaiti Gatha composed on the basis of 7 + 9 sound syllables. Mantras have a rhythmical meter, invoking the infinite, a sacred hymn, radiating an aura of light (color) & sound, uniquely aligned with the forces of nature, inducing & stimulating the mind to positive actions.

The term Day-va in the Vedas meant a mortal or mortals who had conquered in gaining Light (of Knowledge). As Zarathushtra believed that Devas were deceiving people; he changed the structure of this term from Day-va to Dev-a. Here Dev means a gambler, a cheat who was good at deception. In a similar twist the Vedics changed the structure of Ahu-ra or Asu-ra (the divine immortal) to A-sura meaning the impure. Either way neither the Gathas nor the later Avesta suggest that Ahura Mazda was anything other than a single entity. It is totally incorrect & mischievous to equate a person Zorastrians consider their saviour and composer of their religious philosophy as a mere poet