The issue of the Aryans, or Vedic Aryans, has long troubled the scholarly world. However, the scientific resolution of this issue (or rather, the evasion of its scientific resolution) has been influenced by the racial theory that proclaimed the superiority of Aryans over other peoples. This circumstance, as it were, translated the Aryan issue from the scientific sphere into the ideological sphere, which naturally did not contribute to its solution.
However, by the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries, the efforts of prominent archaeologists like J.M. Morgan, I. Taylor, S.K. Dixit had definitively established that the homeland of the Vedic Aryans was in the Armenian Highlands. The Indian archaeologist Dixit, who researched the oldest documents related to the Aryans, concluded that the Aryans came from the Armenian mountains.
According to the “History of Armenia” by Movses Khorenatsi, the Armenian state was established in 2107 BC. For nearly two thousand years, until 331 BC, Armenia was ruled by the Haykazuni dynasty.
Armenia’s key geographical position ensured close ties between the Ancient East, the Greek world, and the Southern Russian steppes, thereby stimulating intense cultural growth. The high level of development in metallurgy and metalworking, particularly the advent of the Iron Age in Armenia, allowed the spread of cultural, and subsequently political influence of the Hayasa-Armenians from the 18th-15th centuries BC as far as the Nile Valley, Mesopotamia, India, and Central Asia.
In a relatively short period of time, the Hayasa-Armenians subjugated Egypt (Hyksos invasion). This qualitative leap – the discovery of iron smelting – allowed the Hayasa-Armenians to be in India, Central Asia and possibly advance further – to China, countries of the eastern end of the Asian continent and the islands by the 15th century BC.
The conquest of such vast territories could not but influence the development of astronomical knowledge among the Hayasa-Armenians, as evidenced by the hieroglyphic and astronomo-geodetic signs I discovered in 1963 within the Metzamor hills, dated to the end of the 3rd – beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. Already in 1963, it was clear that Metzamor could reveal the history of Hayasa as the “cradle of Armenians” (Gr. Kapantsyan), and that there must be a close genetic link between the Armenian Metzamor hieroglyphic signs, the Hyksos (Sinai) script, and the “Brahmi” alphabet.
The comparison of the Hyksos (Ancient Armenian) culture with the Aryan one led me to identify these ethnic groups. The convergence of the Metzamor, Hyksos, and Aryan civilizations to a “common denominator” – that’s the essence and content of the revolution in the history of the Ancient East that took place in 1963 in connection with the discovery and excavations of Metzamor.
The name “Aryan,” or “Aryans,” has been preserved in the Indian “Vedas” and has entered historical literature as such. “Vedas” (Russian “vedat'” meaning “to know”) is a collection of hymns and ceremonial statutes of the Aryans. Four “Vedas” are known: “Rigveda,” “Samaveda,” “Yajurveda,” and “Atharvaveda.” Each “Veda” includes three parts: hymns (Samhita), treatises explaining the meaning of rituals (Brahmanas), and treatises intended for hermits (Aranyakas). Each “Veda” contains several “Upanishads” (the esoteric doctrine of the priestly school).
The “Rigveda” – the first of the “Vedas” (“Ric” means “hymn”) – is the main “Veda”; it consists of hymns and invocations pronounced by the highest priestly caste – the “conjurers of gods”. The hymns collected in the ten books of the “Rigveda” are the earliest monuments of the religious-poetic creativity of the Aryans.
The development of the archaic language of the “Vedas” (15th century BC) is the epic Sanskrit (the epic “Mahabharata” of 18 books – 100 thousand couplets (shlok) – 10th century BC), and then the classical Sanskrit (5th century BC).
The name “Aryan” correlates well with the Armenian word “ari”, which means “brave”, “martial”. There is also another form of this name, preserved among the peoples who inhabited Media-Persia – it’s “Airiya”, where the root “air” means “man”, “warrior” in Armenian; the genitive case from this root gives the combination “ar”.
Thus, the Hayasa and Rus peoples referred to the nations they conquered in Media and India as “Airiya” or “Aria” in the 15th century BC, a feature characteristic of the epigraphic material of the 2nd-1st millennia BC. It’s worth noting that the central region of Armenia was called “Airarat”; from the 13th to the 7th century BC, it was used by the Assyrians and Babylonians as a synonym for the Armenian state (Ararti – Urartu).
Already in the 4th millennium BC, the Sumerian cuneiform mentions the name “Aratu” (cf. “Ararat” – “Urartu”) as a designation for the territory adjacent to the north of the Sumerian country, i.e., located in the southern part of the Armenian Highlands. Later, the name “Aratu” (Aratu) appears in the Akkadian language as a designation for one of the rivers of Armenia.
The etymology of the terms Ararat (Ararad) and Airarat (Ayrarad) is the same: Ara + rat(rad) and Ayra + rat(rad), which means “the abode of Ara”, or “the dwelling of the Ayras” (“men”, “warriors”). As we can see, the Indians and Median-Persians referred to newcomers from Armenia as “Ari” or “Airiya”, which coincides with the toponymy of Armenia, with the ethnogenetic and linguistic characteristics of the Hayasa-Armenians.
A whole series of parallels can be traced between the Hyksos and the Arians. Like the Hyksos to Egypt (18th-17th centuries BC), the Arians arrived in India (15th century BC) in chariots; just like in the Nile valley, with the appearance of newcomers, horses appeared in the Indo-Gangetic plains. Similar to the Hyksos, who brought iron smelting, the Arians introduced the Indians to the developed culture of iron smelting and processing. Like the Hyksos, the creators of the world’s first hieroglyphic alphabet, the Arians brought hieroglyphic writing, which laid the foundation for the Brahmi alphabet. Both had a calendar, the same level of astronomical knowledge, and so on.
A comparison of the Hyksos and Arians shows that they are the same Indo-European ethnic group who moved from the same territory – the Armenian Highlands – to the south and east due to the same achievements: iron smelting, domestication of horses, construction of chariots with spoked wheels, use of cavalry; they brought with them the same, similar (within a difference of 1-2 centuries) system of alphabetic writing, a calendar with a fixed solar year, a decimal system of numerals, astronomical and mathematical knowledge.
In the “Rigveda”, iron is most often mentioned as a metal that enjoys the greatest popularity and is especially valuable, along with gold. Iron is mentioned in the form of “ayas” (ayas), which has correspondences in Latin (aes), Gothic (aiz), German (Erz), English (ore), etc. In different languages, this word meant copper, brass, bronze, metal in general, and finally, iron.
Thus, the Hayasa and Rus people, and the nations they conquered in Media and India, were referred to as “Airiya” or “Aria” in the 15th century BC, which is characteristic of the epigraphic material of the II-I millennium BC. Here one can recall that the central region of Armenia was called “Ayrarat”; from the XIII to the VII century BC, it was a synonym for the Armenian state among the Assyrians and Babylonians (Ararti – Urartu).
Already in the IV millennium BC, the Sumerian cuneiform script mentions the name “Aratu” (cf. “Ararat” – “Urartu”) as a designation for a territory adjacent to the north of the Sumerian country, i.e., located in the southern part of the Armenian highlands. Later, the name “Aratu” (Aratu) is found in the Akkadian language as a designation for one of the rivers of Armenia.
The etymology of the terms Ararat (Ararad) and Ayrarat (Ayrarad) is the same: Ara + rat(rad) and Ayra + rat(rad), which means “habitat of Ara” or “habitat of Ayr” (“men”, “warriors”). As we see, the Indians and Median-Persians called the newcomers from Armenia with the terms “ari” or “airiya”, which coincides with the toponymy of Armenia, with the ethnogenetic and linguistic features of the Hayasa-Armenians.
A whole range of parallels can be traced between the Hyksos and the Aryans. Like the Hyksos in Egypt (18th-17th centuries BC), the Aryans appeared in India (15th century BC) on chariots; as in the Nile valley, in the Indo-Gangetic lowland, the horse appeared with the arrival of newcomers. Like the Hyksos, who brought with them the smelting of iron, the Aryans introduced the Indians to the developed culture of smelting and processing iron. Like the Hyksos, the creators of the first hieroglyphic alphabet in the world, the Aryans brought hieroglyphic writing, which formed the basis of the “Brahmi” alphabet, and both had a calendar, the same level of astronomical knowledge, etc.
The comparison of the Hyksos and the Aryans shows that we are talking about the same ethnic group of Indo-Europeans who moved from the same territory – the Armenian Highlands – to the south and east as a result of the same achievements: smelting iron, taming horses, building chariots with spoked wheels, using cavalry; they brought with them the same, similar (within the difference in I-II centuries) system of alphabetical writing, a calendar with a solid solar year, a decimal system of numerals, astronomical and mathematical knowledge.
Most often in the “Rigveda”, iron is mentioned as a metal that enjoyed the greatest popularity and was especially valuable, along with gold. Iron is mentioned in the form of “ayas” (ayas), which has correspondences in Latin (aes), Gothic (aiz), German (Erz), English (ore), etc. In different languages, this word meant copper, brass, bronze, metal in general, and finally, iron.
A perfectly natural etymology of the term “ayas” is its identification with the name of the homeland of the Aryan-Aryans “Hayasoi”, where, in fact, iron first appeared and from where the “Iron Age” began. The ethnic name (ethnonym) of the Armenians “hay” is etymologized (explained) in the Armenian language as “eye” and “giant”, “tall”. Hence, Haik-Hayastan is the name of Armenia among the Armenians, Hayasa is the name of Armenia among the Hittites.
If we remember that, according to Frankfort and Child, the original cradle of metallurgy was Armenia, and according to Greek sources – Homer, Aeschylus, Euripides, and others – copper, silver, and then iron were first found in Armenia, it becomes clear why different metals (and metal in general) were associated with the term “ayas” by many ancient peoples, dating back to the homeland of metals – Hayasa.
This is how I explain the origin of both the term “ayas” in Vedic literature and its different meaning in languages among different peoples.
From iron, the Hayasa made steel weapons – maces, axes, swords, arrowheads. The arrow was also smeared with poison (the “Rigveda” says: “The arrow, smeared with poison, sharp as a deer’s horn, with an ayas tip,” i.e. iron).
Therefore, iron in India got its name from the country and people who brought this metal to the world. It should be added that in Vedic Sanskrit the vowel “a” in the word “ayas” could be pronounced as “ha”, i.e. with aspiration, as in Old Armenian, for example, “air” and “hair” are related and interchangeable, expressing a similar concept of “man”, “father”. Most likely, in India, iron was called “hayas” (“Hayas”) by the name “Hayas” – Armenia.
Like the Hyksos and Hayasas, the Vedic Aryans also made chariots an object of production and trade. Hence, from the earliest times, there is an abundance in Armenian toponymy, in the Armenian lexicon of words and terms with the root “kar” (“carriage” – as one of the types of chariots, harnessed by horses): Karin, Karo, Karvachar (“a place where carriages are sold”), Karapet (“ruler of the carriage”), Karine, Karen, etc.
The Egyptians, as is known, called the chariot by the Hyksos word “Warat”, which I associate with the Armenian root “var” – “steering wheel”. In Vedic Sanskrit, “chariot” is called “ratha” (cf. ratha-warat), in Latin – rota, in Celtic – roth, in Teutonic – rad, in Lithuanian – ratas, etc. Shreders, Taylor, and others emphasize that words denoting the hub of the wheel, axle, wheel, etc. of the Vedic Aryans entered a whole range of Indo-European languages.
Both the Aryans and the Hyksos were well acquainted with medicines and potions, which must have been highly effective if they are specifically mentioned in the “Rigveda”: “May I live, O Rudra, for a hundred years from your salvific medicines…Stir up (=strengthen) the medicines of your heroes…” “I desire for salvation and happiness (to receive) from Rudra the medicines that you, O Maruta, have, medicines that are pure, salvific, strengthening.”
Note here the mention of Maruta – a sacred mountain and temple of the same name, both pagan and Christian, in the mountains of Sasun.
The gods Mitra, Varuna (Perun – in Russian), Indra, Nashadiya, Maruta are common to both Armenians and Russians, and to the Vedic Aryans.
The Iron Age in Armenia was marked by the creation of a hieroglyphic alphabet, simplifying the cumbersome system of picto-ideographic and syllabic (syllable) hieroglyphic writing. This alphabet in Armenia began to be called – “the writing of the Iron Age” – “erkatagir”. With the arrival of the Aryans in Northern India, following Egypt, a new type of writing appeared – the “Brahmi” alphabet, the “alphabet of the gods”, the “alphabet of the heroes”. In the future, the “Brahmi” alphabet partially included hieroglyphic signs of the oldest Indian writing systems. Thus, on the fragments of Indian civilization, after monstrous destruction and fires, a new Sanskrit civilization arose, created by the genius of the Aryans and Hindus, the Indo-European world emerged, absorbing the idea of the alphabet, the idea of iron, i.e., what the Aryans – the Hayas (Armenians and Russians) brought from the Armenian Highlands.
One of the well-known linguists of the 20th century, C. Loukotka, who studied the oldest writing of India, was amazed to note that the “Brahmi” alphabet appeared in India “quite unexpectedly, as a ready-made system”, without preliminary stages of development. This is understandable, because the “Brahmi” alphabet was not a product of the development of ancient Indian writing systems, but was brought to India by the Aryans from the Armenian Highlands, along with chariots, horses, iron smelting, the decimal system of numerals, signs of the Zodiac, the “rule of the rope” (“Pythagorean theorem”), and much more.
First Koppa, and then Bühler, suggested a Phoenician origin for the “Brahmi” alphabet, based on some similarity in their graphics. This assumption was incorrect, because the Phoenician alphabet arose from the Hyksos in the 7th century BC, and “Brahmi” became known with the arrival of the Aryans in India in the 15th century BC. “Brahmi” could not have arisen from Phoenician, because it is eight centuries older. The mentioned similarity of “Brahmi” with the Phoenician alphabet is explained by the fact that the Phoenician alphabet, like “Brahmi”, arose from the Hyksos alphabet. Genetically more closely and directly related are the Hyksos alphabet and “Brahmi”, the creators of which were the Hyksos and the Aryans, i.e., the same people from the Armenian Highlands – the Hayas.
The closest relationship exists between three writing systems: the Hyksos hieroglyphic alphabet, the Brahmi script, and ancient Armenian hieroglyphs (the Metsamor and Erznka writing systems).
The Brahmi script was somewhat influenced by the writing tradition of the pre-Aryan inhabitants of India, and only in this sense did the Brahmi script not appear out of nowhere.
Referring to the diagram I compiled of the origins of the world’s alphabets (based mainly on data from academician V.V. Struve), one can understand why the Brahmi script should have parallels, as noted by Taylor, Thomas, Galevi and others, with Greek, South Arabian, and other writing systems.
Like any writing system, the Brahmi script was used to denote numerals. In the 9th century, Arabs became familiar with the Indian counting system, and in the 11th century, the Spanish adopted this reworked system from the Arabs. After introducing a series of improvements, the Spanish introduced European nations to this counting system. Thus, as a result of a splendid collaboration of cultures, the modern decimal counting system emerged, later called the Arabic system.
According to a number of researchers, the plus and minus signs have an Indian origin, and Chinese numerals genetically ascend to them.
Summing up the history of the emergence of Arabic numerals, we note that the ancient Armenian hieroglyphic alphabet on Indian soil gave rise to the Brahmi script and numerals, which underlie Arabic numerals.
In connection with the emergence of the decimal counting system and zero, associated, as noted, with the writing system, it should be noted the connection of such seemingly distant areas as religious rituals and the development of mathematics. The construction of altars was subject to strict prescriptions: altars were oriented according to the cardinal points and had similar (in whole numbers) or equi-areal bases.
From here, any architectural variation – the transition from altars with a square base to altars with a round base and vice versa – led to the construction of a circle, equi-areal to a square (circulation of a square), and a square, equi-areal to a circle (squaring of a circle). The bases of altars could have various polygonal shapes, but they were necessarily equi-areal in area.
The Vedas preserve a remarkable example of the mathematical knowledge of the Aryans, dating back to the 15th-12th centuries BC. The “Sulva Sutras” (“Rules of the Cord”) contain geometric constructions and the results of some calculations made a thousand years before Greek geometry. Thus, it turns out that the Aryans arrived at the “Pythagorean theorem” by constructing auxiliary segments when constructing a square equal to the sum of two unequal squares.
The problem of doubling the cube in Greek geometry is similar to the task of doubling the square in the Vedas and also arose in connection with the construction of altars. Indeed, the Greeks never hid that they received mathematical knowledge from the ancient civilizations of the East.
The “Sulva Sutras” provide a rational approximation for the diagonal of a square of a given side, that is, for √2, similar to the solution of this problem by the Babylonians. The mathematical knowledge of the Aryans once again underlines their cultural kinship with the region bounded on the west by the Greek, and on the east by the Assyrian-Babylonian centers of the most ancient civilizations.
The patron of mathematics among the Aryans – the Hayas – was considered the god Varuna. Thus, one of the texts of the Rigveda has the following appeal: “Permit, O Varuna, the upper, lower, middle cord.” Compare Varuna with the Armenian “var” (“management”) and the Hyksos “warat” (“chariot”).
Of particular interest are the measure of weight and the monetary system of the Aryans, reminiscent (mãnã and others) of the weight measure of the inhabitants of Armenia during the cuneiform period (13th-7th centuries BC) and, in particular, mana-mina and others. Weight measures: shekels, mana and talents among the Sumerians, Babylonians, Hayas, and Phoenicians were related as 3600:60:1 or 60:1:1/60, that is, mana – min = 1 (in Armenian “min” means “one”).
In the 15th century BC, in connection with the Aryan invasion, metallic struck coins associated with the cult of the Mother Goddess (in Armenia corresponds to the cult of the Mother Goddess – Anait Metsamor) appear in India. According to the Vedas, metallic coins, in addition to the exchange equivalent, also had the meaning of symbols of fertility. At Metsamor in 1963-69, I found metallic coins from the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC with hieroglyphic signs of the Sun deity in the form of diverging rays and the sign “True God”.
Listing the similarities between the Aryans and the Hyksos, let’s mention the presence of a peculiarly curved saber among the Aryans, which was put into use by the Hyksos-Hayas, and the similarity of pottery.
Comparative linguistics has not fully studied the lexical material of the Vedas. The ruling class was called “varn” by the Aryans, which literally means “ruling” in Armenian (cf. with warel – “to rule”, “to guide”, “to manage”, as well as with the Hyksos “warat” – “chariot”).
Easy comparisons can be made: the Vedic name Ashnunak with the Armenian Ashnunak, Ashnak, Ashunak; the Vedic name Ashok with the Armenian Ashot (“Bright-Eyed”). According to D.G. Hogarth (1945), the Hittite Empire fell under the onslaught of the Armenian tribes Mushki, who inhabited the Mush region (Taron) and partially the Sasun mountains, and were part of the Mitanni state formation (“Unified House”, in Armenian). According to Dikshit, the Mushki should be identified with one of the tribes of the Vedic Aryans – the Mushika.
Armenian and Russian (Hayasan, Mitanni) deities of the 14th century BC are completely identical to the Vedic deities: In-da-ra (Indra), V-ru-v-na (Varuna), Mi-it-ra (Mitra), Na-sa-at-ti-i-ia (Nasatya).
In the cuneiform tablets of the Hittite capital Hattusa, there is evidence of one of the Armenian highlanders – a Mitanni named Kakkuli – about riding chariots, where expressions are encountered: aika-vartana, tera-vartana, panza-vartana, shatta-vartana, nav-vartana, which means in Sanskrit (the language of the Aryans!): one, three, five, seven, and nine circuits, or rounds (vartana). Specifically, aik and vartan belong to the most ancient and widespread names, entirely connected with the Armenian lexicon (cf. also var-varat-vardan).
There are a number of Armenian (Mitanni, Hayasan, Hurrian) names that are common or similar to the names of the Vedic Aryans: Tushatta (Dašaratha), Artatama (Ritatama), Suttarna (Sutarnas), Matiuza (Mativaja), Artasumara (Ritasmara).
The name Arjuna, the hero of the “Mahabharata” (“Mahabharata” replaced the “Vedas” for the caste of rulers and warriors – Kshatriyas), is easily compared with the Armenian “Arj” – “bear”; “Arjun” or “Arjuk” – “bear cub”.
All this speaks in favor of the opinion of archaeologists and the identity of the Vedic Aryans and Armenian highlanders, specifying their genetic connection with the civilization of ancient Armenia.
Now let’s try to reconstruct the events that took place on the Armenian Highlands, starting from 1710 BC, when the Hyksos-Hayasans invaded Egypt and conquered it, establishing their rule there. From the beginning of the 16th century BC, the decline of the Hayasans begins in their conquering campaign in Egypt. A whole century passes before they moved through Media-Persia to India, Bactria and further east. This invasion, called Aryan, was more significant in scale and left a deeper mark in human history than the Hyksos one.
From this, I conclude that the Hyksos and Aryan invasions of the Hayasans must either coincide in time or be separated from each other by no more than 50-100 years. But even this number seems doubtful: it is unlikely that the Hayasans would not renew their invasions of Egypt after a hundred years, and instead opted for a more daring march to the east, which undoubtedly required more strength – both human and material. After an obvious decline of their conquering mission, this seems improbable.
It seems to me that the 15th century BC is a greatly underestimated date for the Aryan invasion: it should have taken place in the 17th-16th centuries BC, i.e., coincide with the Hyksos invasion. First, the Hyksos, then the Aryan invasions of the Proto-Armenians and Proto-Russians from the Armenian Highlands to Egypt and India from the end of the 18th to the 15th centuries BC led to colossal shifts in the political structure and cultural development of the entire ancient world, but they had a detrimental impact on the development of statehood in Armenia.
The enormous physical significance of the male potential was outside of Armenia, which was equivalent to the destruction of this most viable element for Armenia. The warriors settled in Egypt, Media, India, giving rise to new ethnic formations, and if in Egypt they completely dissolved between the Old and Middle kingdoms of Egypt, without changing the linguistic essence of the oldest of peoples (the Semito-Hamitic language group), then in Media and India the language of the ruling elite became over time the language of all people. It is now called the Indo-European language group.
The Persian part of Media adopted not only the language of the Aryans (Proto-Armenians and Proto-Russians), but also the state itself, with the disappearance of Media, it began to be called “the state of the Aryans”, i.e., Iran. Media preserved its self-name in the name of the Matian region (center Izirtu) south of Lake Kaputan (Urmia) of the Atropatene region of Greater Armenia. The Aryans passed on their language to the peoples of Northern India (Sanskrit), surviving in the form of the ruling caste of the Aryans.
The “Vedas” became a testament to the triumph and supreme power of the Aryans. The decline in Armenia, which followed in the 16th-15th centuries BC, as a result of the outflow of a huge human mass to the East, was reflected in the flight of the prophet Zoroaster from Armenia to Media-Persia. Therefore, the second literary-historical monument after the “Vedas”, the “Zend-Avesta”, should be considered as a Median-Persian transformation of the culture of ancient Armenia during its political and spiritual crisis.
Just as the culture of the Hyksos in all its aspects is similar to the culture of the Aryans, so the “Vedas” of the ancient Hindus are similar to the “Zend-Avesta” (“Highest Teaching”, “Highest Commandment”) of the ancient Persians.
Ancient Hindus and Persians glorify themselves as Aryans (“arya”), understanding by this epithet (both in Zend and Sanskrit) not only etymologically accurate: “man”, “warrior”, “warlike”, but also as: “well-bred”, “noble”, “respectable”, and also “devoted”, “loyal” to native decrees.
Together with the epithet “arya”, both Aryan Hindus and Zend-Avestan Persians had their self-name the term “martya”, which in literal translation from Armenian means “human”, “man”, and among Hindus and Persians had the meaning “mortal”. This term allowed them to feel themselves as the possessors of higher moral and religious concepts in comparison with foreigners, allowed them to ascribe to themselves some superiority in combination with the epithet “arya”: “arya martya” – “Aryan man”.
Emerging from the Median environment as direct descendants and carriers of the language and spirit of the Aryans, the Persians consolidate into the warrior state of the Parsis – Persians, and King Darius I Achaemenid (522-486 BC) glorifies himself: “Parsa, son of Persia, Aryan from the tribe of Aryans” (“Darius” from Greek “Dareios”; the exact Persian pronunciation “Darayavahush”, i.e. “D”+”arya”+”vahush”; from here it can be seen that “D” is an acrophonic consonant (the first letter) of another name; literal translation of “Darayavahush” is “D” (-) of ancient Aryans”, both in ancient Persian and in ancient Armenian.
There are two very clear indications in the “Zend-Avesta” about the homeland of the Aryans – Armenia: the first chapter of the “Vendidad” talks about the fact that the God Aramazd (“Ahuramazda”) created it before other countries (“the land of Eden”, where Adam and Eve appeared and Noah’s refuge – Ararat, according to the Bible), and in the chapter “Thauma and Zoroaster”, which talks about the primeval land of Aramazd, where Zoroaster (Zaradustra) was famous.
The “Zend-Avesta” has four sections: “Vendidad” – the legislative code; “Yasna and Vasperad” – liturgical services and prayers; “Yasht” – prayers in honor of individual deities; “Gatha” – religious lyrical poems.
Just as the Russian “vedat”, “knowledge” is distinguished in the “Vedas”, so the purely Russian roots are distinguished in the terms “yasna” and “vasperad” of the “Zend-Avesta”.
The religion of the “Vedas” is the worship of stars and constellations, as well as their earthly beginnings: fire, water, atmospheric elements. In the “Zend-Avesta” there is the idea of monotheism in the person of the Supreme God Aramazd: he is the God of life and light. If in the “Vedas” Aramazd shares his power with other gods (Varuna – Perun, Agni, Indra, etc.), then in the “Zend-Avesta” through the mouth of Zoroaster, God is proclaimed not an element, but a Spirit, which is in every person and which seeks to unite with the primeval Spirit of God Aramazd. This is the revolution in religion carried out by Zoroaster. Aramazd – the creator of everything that exists on earth, – this is the essence and content of Zoroaster’s teaching.
If in the “Vedas” (especially in the “Rigveda” – a collection of hymns) the triumph of strength and power is heard, then in the “Zend-Avesta” deep sorrow, grumbling, sadness, signs of decay and depression break through. The Aryan invasion in its final stage (at the end of the 15th-early 14th century BC) appears as weakness voluntarily accepted by people, from which they renounce in turning to God.
Suren Ayvazyan “History of Russia. The Armenian trace.”, M., Kron-press, 1997
Translated by Vigen Avetisyan