ウルスラグナ

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ウルスラグナ（Vərəθraγna）とは、ゾロアスター教において崇拝される英雄神[1][2]。

中性名詞verethragnaは、アヴェスター語のverethra「障害」、verethragnan「勝利」に関連するものである[3]。その代表が「勝利」の神格であるヴェレストラグナであり、「勝利をもたらす神として、ヴェレストラグナは古来最高の人気を誇っていた」のである[4]。ゾロアスター教の中世ペルシャ語では、Verethragnaは𐭥𐭥𐭫𐭧𐭫𐭠𐭭となり、そこからVahram、Vehram、Bahram、Behramなどの変種が派生している。

ヴェーダ語のサンスクリット語と同義語である。ヴェーダの神インドラは、主にインドラの諡号であるvr̥tragmʰ-が名詞verethragna-に対応することから、ゾロアスター教のアヴェスタのウルスラグナに対応すると思われる。

この名前と神格は、アルメニア語のՎահգն Vahagn とՎռամ Vṙamに借用され、仏教のソグド語wšɣn w(i)šaɣn、Manichaen Parthianの𐭅𐭓𐭉𐭇𐭓𐭌 wryḥrm Wahrām, クシャンバクトリアン ορλαγνο Orlagnoに類縁関係がある[5]。ヴィシュヌ、マニ教のアダマス、カルデア/バビロニアのネルガル、エジプトのホルス、ヘレニズムのアレース、ヘーラークレースなど、ヴィシュヌの姿は非常に複雑だが、その類似性も指摘されている。

聖典の中で

バフラム・ヤシュトの中で

Yasht 14, the hymn of praise to Verethragna, "though ill-preserved, contains what seem very archaic elements".テンプレート:Sfn There, Verethragna is described as "the most highly armed" (Yasht 14.1), the "best equipped with might" (14.13), with "effervescent glory" (14.3), has "conquering superiority" (14.64), and is in constant battle with men and daemons (14.4, 14.62).

Verethragna is not exclusively associated with military might and victory. So, for instance, he is connected with sexual potency and "confers virility" (Yasht 14.29), has the "ability to heal" (14.3) and "renders wonderful". The Yasht begins with an enumeration of the ten forms in which the divinity appears: As an impetuous wind (14.2-5); as an armed warrior (14.27) and as an adolescent of fifteen (14.17); and in the remaining seven forms as animals: a bull with horns of gold (14.7); a white horse with ears and a muzzle of gold (14.9); a camel in heat (14.11-13); a boar (14.15); a bird of prey (veregna, 14.19-21); a ram (14.23); and a wild goat (14.25). Many of these incarnations are also shared with other divinities, for instance, the youth, the bull and the horse are also attributed to Tishtrya. Likewise, the bird, the camel and the wind to Vayu-Vata, another member of the Zoroastrian pantheon associated with martial victory.

In other texts

Together with Čistā, Verethragna is a principal companion of Mithra (Mihr Yasht 10.70). Several sections of the Bahram Yasht also appear in hymns dedicated to other divinities, but it is rarely possible to determine in which direction those sections were copied.

The identification of Verethragna as a boar in Yasht 14 led Ilya Gershevitch to identify Dāmōiš Upamana – a boar in the Avestan hymn to Mithra – to be an alter-ego of Verethragna.[6]

In culture and tradition

ファイル:Bistoon Kermanshah.jpg
Statue of Hercules in Behistun, dedicated in the name of "Herakles Kallinikos" (Ἡρακλῆν Καλλίνικον, "Hercules glorious in victory") by a Seleucid governor in 148 BCE.[7] Some have interpreted it as an Hellenistic-era depiction of Verethragna as Heracles.テンプレート:Sfn Kermanshah, Iran.テンプレート:Sfn

In the Zoroastrian hierarchy

In the Zoroastrian hierarchy of divinities, Bahram is a helper of Asha Vahishta (Avestan, middle Persian: Ardvahisht), the Amesha Spenta responsible for the luminaries. In the Zoroastrian calendar instituted during the late Achaemenid era (648–330 BCE), the twentieth day of the month is dedicated to Bahram (Siroza 1.20).

In the later middle Persian texts Bahram is especially venerated as one of the Amesha Spentas, effectively giving him the high rank for his success in driving back Angra Mainyuテンプレート:Sfnテンプレート:Sfn

As the name of a planet

ファイル:Ancient Parthian relief carving of the god Nergal from Hatra.jpg
Syncretic Parthian relief carving of Bahram (Nergal) from Hatra in Iraq, dating to the 1st or 2nd century AD

In the astronomical and calendrical reforms of the Sasanian (224-651 CE), the planet Mars was named Bahram. Zaehner attributes this to the syncretic influences of the Chaldean astral-theological system, where Babylonian Nergal is both the god of war and the name of the red planet.テンプレート:Sfn (see also: "Fatalistic" Zurvanism).

In the name of a class of fire

According to Boyce, the present-day expression Atash-Behram as the name of the most sacred class of fires is a confusion of the adjectival "Victorious Fire" with "Fire of Bahram"テンプレート:Sfn The former is the way it appears in Middle Persian inscriptions such as the Kartir inscription at Kabah-i Zardusht, while the latter is what is now understood by the term Atash-Behram. Gnoli attributes the change to natural misunderstanding "abetted in Islamic times by a progressive decay in Zoroastrian priestly teaching"テンプレート:Sfn

In art and iconography

ファイル:Kanishka I with god Orlagno.jpg
Kushan ruler Kanishka I with god Orlagno (Verethragna).

The only evidence of a cult appears in the first century account of Strabo, who reports, probably on authority of Nearchus, that the Carmanians worshipped a divinity of victory (Geographika, 15.2.14). That this was Bahramb / Verethragna is unlikely if, as per Strabo, he was their "only god."テンプレート:Citation needed However, the account does reveal that divinities of war were known to the people who were not of the Iranian plateau, evidence for which also comes from Herodotus (4.59.62).

Under the Seleucids (330–150 BCE) and Arsacids (250 BCE–226 CE), that is, in the Empires influenced by Hellenic culture, Verethragna was both identified as Ares and associated with Heracles, and given the Greek name Artagnes.テンプレート:Sfn This syncretism is well attested in statuary and iconography, most notably in that of the inscription of Antiochus I Theos of Commagene, in which all three names occur together.

That Bahram was considered the patron divinity of travelers is perhaps reflected by the life-size rock sculpture of the divinity on the main highway at Behistun. There Bahram reclines with a goblet in his hand, a club at his feet, and a lion-skin beneath him.

In the early Sasanian period Bahram is still represented as the Greek Heracles. In the relief of Ardeshir I at Naqs-e Rajab III,テンプレート:Citation needed Bahram appears as one of the two smaller figures between Ahura Mazda and the king. There, he has a lion's skin in his left hand and brandishes a club in his right. The other small figure – who appears to be paying homage to Bahram – is the future king Bahram I.

Bahram also appears as wings, or as a bird of prey, in the crowns of the Sasanian kings. This iconography first appears in the crown of Bahram II which also bears the name of the divinity. A similar image is adopted by Peroz (whose name also means 'victorious') as well as by Khosrau Parwez (again, Parwez meaning 'ever-victorious'). Similarly, boar and eagle heads on caps crown the heads of princes. Boar figures are widespread in Sasanian art, appearing in everything from textiles to stucco and in silver ornaments, coins, and seals. Other animal motifs have been found that recall the aspects of Bahram (see the ten forms of Bahram in the Avesta, above). The bird motif on Sasanian-era fire altars are also believed to represent Bahram.

As the name of kings

Bahram was the name of six Sasanian kings:

In Avestan scholarship

ファイル:Bamiyan boar, symbol of the Mazdean god if victory Verethragna (Rowland, The Art of Central Asia, p.89).jpg
A boar in a frescoe at Bamiyan, symbol of the Mazdean god of victory Verethragna. 6th-7th century CE.[8]

The interpretation of the divinity was once one of the more widely debated fields in Zoroastrian scholarship since the theories of origin reflected a radical revolution in ethical, moral and religious values.テンプレート:Sfn

Primarily because the Avestan adjective verethragnan ('victorious') had a corresponding Vedic term vrtrahan where it appeared "preponderantly [as] a qualification of Indra", Zoroastrians and Hindus accept that テンプレート:Sfnテンプレート:Page needed in Indo-Iranian times there existed the warrior god Indra and that Avestan Verethragna might be analogous to that divine figure. The Sanskrit cognate of Verethragna is Vritraghna, which is an epithet for Indra in Vedic literature, and he too is the destroyer of "Vritra", an Asura whose name literally means obstacle.

But western scholars oppose this identification. In the Avesta, it is the hero warrior-priest Fereydun who battles the serpent Aži Dahāka (which, for the virtue of 'Azi' being cognate with Sanskrit 'Ahi', snake, is – by proponents of the theory - associated with Vedic Vritra). One Western scholar claims that, in the Vedas, the epithet 'hero' (sura) is itself almost exclusively reserved for Indra, while in the Avesta it is applied to Thraetaona and other non-divine figures. The term "victorious" is not restricted to Verethragna, but is also a property of a number of other figures, both divine and mortal, including Thraetaona. Then, while in the Vedas it is Indra who discovers Soma, in the Avesta, it is humans who first press Haoma and Thraetaona is attributed with being the "inventor of medicine". In the Vedas, Indra strikes with vajra, but in the Avesta vazra is Mithra's weapon.

Attempts to resolve these objections led to the development of another theory, in which, in addition to the pre-historical divinity of victory, there was also a dragon-slaying hero Indra. Then, while the Iranians retained the figures independently of one another, the Indians conflated the two (leaving an echo in the character of Trita Aptya).

This theory too had its problems, in particular the fact that Indra was already evidently a divine figure, and not a man, in the Mittani treaties, where he appears in the company of Mitra and Varuna. That again raises more questions since the treaties echo the Rig Veda's invocation of all three as protectors of contract, again, not a property associated with Verethragna.

However, as Benveniste and Renou demonstrated, many of the objections to the first theory could be negated if the evidence were reviewed in light of the fact that the principal feature of Verethragna was not to slay noxious creatures but to overcome obstacles (verethra), in particular to unblock the flow of apas, the waters, the holiest of the elements.テンプレート:Sfn

Paul Thieme agreed with this principal feature, but clarified that while the wealth of archaic elements in the Bahram Yasht clearly point to the pre-Zoroastrian era, the interpretation of proper names is "highly conjectural", and "in no case do we get a decisive argument against their Indo-Aryan or old Indic character"テンプレート:Sfn Adopting "the exact linguistic and exegetic analysis" of Benveniste and Renou, Thieme concludes "Proto-Aryan *Indra has assumed the functions of a Proto-Aryan god *Vrtraghna." Noting that Vrtrahan is the name of Indra only in the later Sanskrit texts (but not in the Rig Veda), Thieme adds "there is no valid justification for supposing that the Proto-Aryan adjective *vrtraghan was specifically connected with *Indra or any other particular god."テンプレート:Sfn

See also

Bibliography

概要

ウルスラグナの名は勝利を意味し、アヴェスター語形で、パフラヴィー語ではワルフラーン（Varhrān）といい、「障害を打ち破る者」を意味する。他の別名にアルタグン、ワフラームやバフラームがある。 語源的にインド神話の神インドラの形容語ヴリトラハンと共通しており[9]、ウルスラグナの成立に関しては、イランでインドラが悪魔の地位に降ろされた結果、形容語だけが独立した神格として崇拝され続けたという説と、イランに存在したウルスラグナの原型となる神とインドラがヴェーダが成立する際に合体したという説がある[9]。

ゾロアスター教神学に於いては中級神ヤザタに分類される。男性神格としてイメージされ、特に戦争の勝利を司る神で、虚偽者や邪悪なる者に罰を与え自らを崇拝するものには勝利を与えるという。 戦う両軍の間に四枚の翼を広げてウルスラグナが降り立った時は、最初にこの神を崇めた方が勝利をおさめるといわれる。 またペルシア7曜神では火星神とされる。

教祖ゾロアスター自身が説いたとされる『ガーサー』には、ウルスラグナは特定の神格としては登場していない。ヘレニズム色の強いパルティア王国の時代になると、ギリシア神話のヘーラクレースと同一視され盛んに信仰された[9]。

[サーサーン朝ペルシアでは帝王の性格を持つ戦勝の神として熱心に崇拝され、バフラームの名を持つ王も数名現れている[9]。その初代皇帝アルダシール1世]は、自らウルスラグナの聖火を建立し、以後、サーサーン歴代の皇帝達が参詣した。また、この時代から現在に至るまでウルスラグナは道路や旅程を守る神として信仰されている[9]。

アルメニアの民族的英雄神ヴァハグン（Vahagn）はウルスラグナが起源で、怪物ヴィシャップを殺す。

10の化身

『ウルスラグナ祭儀書』によれば、ウルスラグナはアワタールという変身に長け、10種の姿をとってゾロアスターの前に現れたとされる。

それによりウルスラグナは変身して戦うといわれ、特に力強いイノシシの姿をとって戦場でミスラを先導する姿は、宗教画などに好んで描かれた。

また、鳳（おおとり）の時は霊力に優れ、この羽根を持てば災難除けの呪いになった。この羽根を身体に擦り付けると、悪い呪いを術者に跳ね返す事が出来るといわれる。

  1. 強い風
  2. 黄金の角を持つ雄牛
  3. 黄金の飾りをつけた白馬
  4. 鋭い爪と長い毛を持つ俊足の駱駝
  5. 鋭い牙をした野猪
  6. 十五歳の輝かしい若者
  7. 鳳（おおとり）
  8. 美しい野生の雄羊
  9. 鋭い角を持つ山羊
  10. 黄金の刃のある剣を持つ人間

これはヴィシュヌの10のアヴァターラに対応するという説がある[10]。 両者の変化する動物には猪を除いて共通するものが無いが、ゾロアスター教では善悪二元論によって善い動物・悪い動物が規定されていることと、ウルスラグナの成立にオリエント文化の影響があったことなどが背景として考えられる[9]。

私的考察

ウスラグナは北欧神話のヴァルハラと関連するのではないか。

参考文献

  • Wikipedia：ウルスラグナ（最終閲覧日：22-12-15）
    • イヴ・ボンヌフォワ編, 金光仁三郎主幹、安藤俊次ほか共訳, 世界神話大事典, 大修館書店, 2001-03, isbn:978-4-469-01265-1

関連項目

参照

  1. ↑ Sara Kuehn, The Dragon in Medieval East Christian and Islamic Art: With a Foreword by Robert Hillenbrand, https://books.google.com/books?id=AZWgdBCgmLYC, 12 July 2011, BRILL, isbn:978-90-04-18663-7, page103
  2. ↑ Bert G. Fragner, Proceedings of the Second European Conference of Iranian Studies: Held in Bamberg, 30th September to 4th October 1991, by the Societas Iranologica Europaea, https://books.google.com/books?id=-y46AQAAMAAJ, 1995, Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente
  3. ↑ Gnoli, 1989, p510
  4. ↑ Boyce, 1975, p63
  5. ↑ Orlagno, British Museum, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG132106, www.britishmuseum.org
  6. ↑ テンプレート:Harvnb; pro テンプレート:Harvnb; contra テンプレート:Harvnb
  7. ↑ テンプレート:Cite book
  8. ↑ テンプレート:Cite book
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 岡田明憲、松枝到（編）「古代イランの動物変身」『象徴図像研究：動物と象徴』 言叢社 2006 ISBN 4862090079 pp.101-114.
  10. ↑ 『世界神話大事典』（要ページ番号、2015-11-03）
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