Kshathra is one of the great Principles exalted by Zarathushtra, and is numbered among the Amesha Spentas, the "Bounteous Immortals" who are the personified attributes of God in Zoroastrian theology. Kshathra means "Dominion," or "Power," and it is also translated as "Kingdom." The word is Avestan, the ancient language of the Zoroastrian scriptures. According to Avesta scholar Dr. Ali Jafarey, "Kshathra" comes from the root-word kshi which means "to settle," as in to create stable social order, dwellings and peace. It is related to the Sanskrit word kshatriya which denotes the Hindu warrior caste, and in later transformations, Kshathra becomes the Persian word shahr or "settlement," and the more famous word shah, or Ruler.
Kshathra appears frequently in the Gathas, the hymns of the Prophet Zarathushtra which are the primary texts of the Zoroastrian faith. Though Kshathra in later Zoroastrianism is a personified spiritual entity, in the Gathas Kshathra has very little personification. It is portrayed as an abstract principle, yet it is clearly defined. Like most of Zarathushtra's great abstract terms, it has many layers of meaning. In this article I will briefly explore some of Kshathra's many meanings.
The Zoroastrian tradition presents Kshathra as moral,
political, and theological. The MORAL aspects of Kshathra are set
forth in the Gatha hymn which is named for this Attribute: the
"Vohu Kshathra" Gatha (Yasna 51, song 16). This is how the hymn
begins:
Kshathra is often referred to as vairya, or "chosen." This
phrase of "Kshathra vairya" became, in later Persian, "Shahrivar,"
and it is by this word that modern Zoroastrians refer to Kshathra.
The idea of a "chosen Dominion" emphasizes that the righteous
moral life is one of CHOICE. In Zarathushtra's, and later
Zoroastrian moral theory, human beings must actively choose the
Good. They are not destined to be good or evil by the karma of
previous lives, nor by God's predestination or inscrutable Fate.
Choice is the root of all human power - humans can choose to
follow the way of ASHA or righteousness, and build up God's
world, or they can choose to be indifferent or even evil, acting to
destroy God's world. This power of Choice is the moral essence of
Kshathra. In this sense, Kshathra refers to your personal power,
something which every conscious person has - the power to say yes
or no, the power to create or hinder or damage. In the Zoroastrian
view, no one is powerless. God's Kshathra reaches everyone, and in
exercising personal power by choosing to do good things, human
beings are acting in union with God.
Kshathra concerns the individual, but also, perhaps more
importantly, the collective power of human beings together. This
brings us to the POLITICAL Kshathra. Another translation of the
same Gatha verse (51.16), this time by an earlier scholar, D. J. Irani,
brings this political aspect out much more clearly:
All of Zarathushtra's political thought can be symbolized by
the concept of "Vohu Kshathra" or "Good Rule." This is almost
always paired with ASHA (Righteousness), as it is in the verse I
have cited. Zarathushtra preached his concept of Righteous
Government, a government not dependent on the will or the whims
of a strongman or dictator but on an impersonal, universal Law,
which everyone from ruler to laborer must heed. D.J. Irani was
inspired by the Biblical "Kingdom of Heaven" in his translation, but
indeed the Zarathushtrian Kshathra is not all that different from the
Judeo-Christian idea of righteous temporal rule under God's Grace
and Law. There is only one law of ASHA - not a changeable set of
customs which privileged rulers can break as they wish. In the days
of the Prophet, when his civilization was threatened by lawless
warlords, this was a revolutionary idea - and it is still a revolutionary
idea in many parts of the world.
The political Kshathra is again embodied in the great prayer
formula known as the "Ahunavar," or the "Yatha Ahu Vairyo." This
prayer is said by devout Zoroastrians many times a day, and may
have been composed by Zarathushtra himself. The last line of the
prayer says:
kshathrem-cha ahurai a yim drigubyo dadat vashtarem
Which is translated in many different ways:
These translations, though different in details, agree on the
nature of the political work that a righteous ruler, under God, will
do: be a "shepherd" who cares for the poor and the oppressed. This
call to social justice echoes throughout the Gathas, and, from the
Zarathushtrian source, enters the ongoing teaching of Zoroastrian
tradition forevermore.
This idea of kingship or Dominion under God's Law is evident in
the rock-cut inscriptions left by the Iranian kings of the Achaemenid
Empire (c.600 BC-330 BC). King Darius advertised his lawful rule
in this inscription: "Within these countries (of the Persian Empire)
the man who was accommodating, him I treated well; (him) who
was false I punished well. By the favour of Ahura Mazda these
countries showed respect for my law; as was said to them by me,
thus it was done." (Quoted in Richard Frye, THE HERITAGE OF
PERSIA) This Law is not meant to imply the personal will of King
Darius, but impersonal law, the reflection of ASHA, as interpreted
by Persian law-courts. This concept of Good Rule also shows in
some of the names chosen by Achaemenid rulers: Xerxes is a Greek
transformation of the Avestan "Kshaya-arsha" or "Sovereign
Righteous." And "Artaxerxes" is the Greek hearing of "Arta-
kshathra," or "Righteous Power" (arta being a linguistic variant of
ASHA).
As more than one scholar of Zoroastrianism has pointed out,
even in later Zoroastrian times, when the text of the Gathas was
inaccessible except through unclear translations, the essence of the
moral and political teaching of Kshathra remained strong, so that
Zoroastrians used what power they had, whether of money or of
influence, to do works of charity and righteousness in their Indian
and Iranian lands.
In the Gathas and in their related early texts, Kshathra
remains an abstract Attribute of God. But in the centuries after
Zarathushtra, as the religion developed, the Attributes of God
became personified into great guardian entities, sometimes
compared to Archangels. These entities, named the "Amesha
Spentas" or "Bounteous Immortals," each became associated with a
sector of the material world, a Creation of God. Some of these
guardianships are hinted at in the Gathas, as if Zarathushtra may
have already made the association; others entered into the teaching
much later. In the Gathas, there is no Creation assigned to Kshathra,
but during the later era of the faith, Kshathra became the guardian
of metals and minerals - the inorganic treasures of the earth.
The renowned scholar of Zoroastrianism Mary Boyce
theorizes that the association of Kshathra with metals may have
originally come from the idea of Kshathra as the guardian of the
sky, which was thought by the ancients to be made of rock-crystal.
Since rock-crystal was considered by the ancient Iranians to be a
form of metal, Kshathra was then given guardianship over metals as
well. A more mundane explanation is that in the ancient world (as in
the modern one) possession of valuable metals, especially steel for
weapons, gives power to the owner, and thus Kshathra's power was
naturally associated with metal.
However the association came about, by the later era of
Zoroastrianism, Kshathra had, at least in the written texts, lost its
abstract meaning of Good Dominion and had become a symbol for
the world of metals, or even metallic objects themselves. In the
Vendidad, the compendium of mythology, custom, and law which is
considered the latest book of the Avesta (possibly written down c.
400 AD) Kshathra is used as a synonym for "metal tool." In Fargard
20 of the Vendidad, the story is told of the culture hero Thrita, the
first healer: "He asked for a source of remedies; he obtained it from
Kshathra-Vairya, to withstand sickness and to withstand
death..."(Fargard 20,3; Darmesteter translation). Kshathra's gift is
understood in the traditions to be a metallic instrument: the
surgeon's knife. In Zoroastrian ritual practice, Kshathra is
symbolized by the various metal vessels and implements which are
used in both the simple Jashan ceremony and the great Yasna
liturgy.
This identification of Kshathra, Dominion, with metal and
minerals is more profound than many Zoroastrian scholars are
willing to admit. This is the THEOLOGICAL Kshathra rather than
the moral or political. Rather than being a "primitive" identification
of an abstract Attribute with a material substance, it is a symbolic
statement of the Immanence of God in the material world.
Zoroastrianism, in identifying the Amesha Spentas as guardians of
the various Creations, has assured its believers throughout its long
history that the material world, flawed though it may seem to us
who live in it, is filled with the goodness and presence of God.
Modern Zoroastrian thinkers, meditating on Kshathra, have found a
way to link the moral, political, and theological aspects of this
Attribute. The Zoroastrian scholar Dr. Farhang Mehr served as
Iran's oil minister to OPEC, and later as minister of economic
matters in the pre-revolutionary Cabinet. In these positions, he was
well aware of the relationship between mineral (fossil fuel) resources
and economic power. For Mehr, Kshathra is the symbol not only of
personal and political choice and power, but of the process by which
natural resources can be wisely used to enhance the economic life
and power of a nation. And the Zarathushtrian element of choice is
still very much present, even on this macroscopic scale, for the
powers of a nation can also choose to waste or misuse these
resources, forfeiting Good Dominion.
In this way of thinking, Kshathra can be honored on all
levels of reality, from moral and philosophical abstraction to the
hard, bright realities of the metal and mineral world.
Hannah M.G. Shapero
"A righteous government is of all things the most to be wished for,
Zarathushtra's Gathas are often cited for their moral and
inspirational content, but they are also highly political texts. The
Prophet explicitly states his vision and recommendations not only
for individuals, but for families, communities, and states.
Bearing the greatest blessings and good fortune to people,
Guided by the Law of Truth, worked with all wisdom and zeal,
It blossoms indeed into the Best of Rule, a Kingdom of Heaven!
To effect this for us, I will work now and ever." (D.J. Irani translation)
Ushtavaiti
1/31/96