Eschatology: The genesis and transformation of a doctrine in the Indo-Iranian traditions.

摘要

This dissertation systematically investigates religious beliefs about life after death that are still flourishing today, from their deepest roots among the Indo-European people, through their first textual emergence among the Indo-Iranians: Indian and Iranian peoples. The central issue in these religions, as in most other religions, was death and the journey to the afterlife, i.e., what becomes of an individual as the life in this world ends.; The Indo-Iranian beliefs preceded the Vedic and Avestan religions, and there were contacts between them, which are the conditions required for the investigation of possible influences. Therefore, by necessity, an attempt is made to recover the antecedents of afterlife beliefs, beginning with a search, by means of archaeology and iconography, into the reconstructed religious lives of not only the Indo-Iranians, but also the Indo-Europeans and Old Europeans.; Further investigated are the characteristic points of the Indo-Iranian religions, which contribute to a better understanding of the development of eschatological beliefs in the later religions. The ethical worldview, cosmogony and conception of the battle of the opposite forces of gods and demons, with reference to relevant verses from primary texts, are discussed. Additionally explored are numerous topics relevant to Vedic eschatology, e.g., the concepts of sat (existence); asat (nonexistence); r&dotbelow;ta (order); anr&dotbelow;ta (chaos); mr&dotbelow;tyu (death); amr&dotbelow;ta (not death); atman (self); pitr&dotbelow; (ancestor, guardian spirit); devas (gods); raks&dotbelow;asas (demons); and svarga (heaven).; Most of the concepts in Vedic religion form parallels with their Avestan counterparts: as&dotbelow;ˇa (truth/order) and drug (lie/chaos); ameretat (immortality); urvan (soul, self); ahura (lord); fravasi (guardian spirit, ancestor); daena (consciousness, vision); as&dotbelow;ˇahya gaethetaa ('world of as&dotbelow;ˇa ,' heaven); drujo-demana ('abode of the lie,' hell); Saosyant (the Messiah); and frasokereti (a new world created).; Similar beliefs in an afterlife were labeled differently in different times and places. In the Old European, Indo-European, and Indo-Iranian religions, these beliefs were expressed as regeneration, resurrection, or reincarnation (metempsychosis or transmigration); and they entailed a future life or a series of lives on earth or elsewhere. Nonetheless, all of these ideas express human concerns that arise from people's fears and hopes within a given time and place.