Vedic influence in Persia

The ancient Persians also believed that the great age was divided into 4 ages . They believed that in the first age Ahriman is defeated and he starts to be victorious slowly through the other three ages. This is identical to the “yuga” system of Vedic India in which “dharma” or virtue deteriorates by one quarter throughout the four ages.

Many of the Avestic myths are parallel to the Vedic myths. The ancient Persians believed that Yima was the son of Vivanghat; the Vedic people believe that Yama is the son of Vivaswat. According to the Vedas the dead gather in the world of Yama and after a period of time are reborn. According to the Avestic tradition the people from Yima’s world repopulate our world after major cataclysms. They associate brown four eyed dogs with death; in the Vedic tradition 2 brown four eyed dogs guard the city of Yama .

The ancient Persians worshiped fire in altars. They were careful not to blow on fire. In the Vedic tradition when a lamp is lighted in the prayer room it cannot be turned off by blowing out the flames. Just like in the Vedic tradition the ancient Persians considered nail clippings, hair trimmings etc to be unclean and disposed off them carefully. Both in the Vedic and the Avestic traditions it is believed that nail clippings, hair trimmings etc could be used to do black magic.