The Vara of Yima

The Aryan Vara tradition was of a fully enclosed structure around a couple of miles in length with it's own internal lighting and means of food production that was created to ensure survival of the ice age and the subsequent flooding that would occur at it's end, according to tradition.




It was constructed in the heart of the Aryan homeland by Yima or Jamsid as he is also referred to, in order to survive this ice age, the purpose of which was to reduce population numbers and see a new type of man emerge from the Vara.

The Age of Yima was the time of the first patriarchs, when death was unknown, a golden age but one that saw the population continually expanding, not surprisingly

The Muslim authors routinely state that šid means “shine, radiance, . Ebn al-Aṯir adds that jam means “moon” : jam-šid means “brightness of the moon” [

As described in the Avesta ,under Yima’s rule the world prospered and the number of people, cattle, and fires increased, while the daēuuas were deprived of their desires and *yearning (išti and saokā, which are kept in the moon

Reasons why humanity was immortal are given in the Middle Persian translation of Yasna 9.1, where people are said to have become immortal by eating the meat Jam offered them

The Zoroastrian and Muslim Persian literature contains the stories about Yima/Jamšid and Tahmura and the discovery of the healing property of bull’s urine

Before he proclaimed himself universal monarch on New Year’s Day, at the creator’s command, he went to the Činwad bridge ,closed the door to Hell, and locked it so that Ahrimen and the divs could not enter, and so no one died during his reign.

Before inducing this ice age Ahura Mazda consults with Yima and the mortal about how to survive it;


The Maker, Ahura Mazda, called together a meeting of the celestial Yazatas in the Airyana Vaejo of high renown, by the Vanguhi Daitya

The fair Yima, the good shepherd, called together a meeting of the best of the mortals in the Airyana Vaejo of high renown, by the Vanguhi Daitya.


And Ahura Mazda spake unto Yima, saying: 'O fair Yima, son of Vivanghat! Upon the material world the evil winters are about to fall, that shall bring the fierce, deadly frost; upon the material world the evil winters are about to fall, that shall make snow-flakes fall thick, even an aredvi deep on the highest tops of mountains



'And the beasts that live in the wilderness and those that live on the tops of the mountains, and those that live in the bosom of the dale shall take shelter in underground abodes.



'Before that winter, the country would bear plenty of grass for cattle, before the waters had flooded it. Now after the melting of the snow, O Yima, a place wherein the footprint of a sheep may be seen will be a wonder in the world.





Therefore make thee a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square, and thither bring the seeds of sheep and oxen, of men, of dogs, of birds, and of red blazing fires. Therefore make thee a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square, to be an abode for man; a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square, for oxen and sheep. 'Two hathras long on every side' A hathra is about an English mile.


There thou shalt make waters flow in a bed a hathra long; there thou shalt settle birds, on the green that never fades, with food that never fails. There thou shalt establish dwelling-places, consisting of a house with a balcony, a courtyard, and as gallery


'Thither thou shalt bring the seeds of men and women, of the greatest, best, and finest on this earth; thither thou shalt bring the seeds of every kind of cattle, of the greatest, best, and finest on this earth. The best specimens of mankind, to be the origin of the more perfect races of the latter days.

'Thither thou shalt bring the seeds of every kind of tree, of the highest of size and sweetest of odour on this earth thither thou shalt bring the seeds of every kind of fruit, the best of savour and sweetest of odour. All those seeds shalt thou bring, two of every kind, to be kept inexhaustible there, so long as those men shall stay in the Vara. . 'The highest of size, like the cypress and the plane-tree; the sweetest of odour, like the rose and the jessamine'

It is understood that it is the seeds of the various plant and animal species that need to be brought into the Vara in order to propogate them, and only the best of species, the Vara has it's own internal river and lighting and can thus function as a propogation centre.


O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What are the lights that give light in the Vara which Yima made?

Ahura Mazda answered: 'There are uncreated lights and created lights. The one thing missed there is the sight of the stars, the moon, and the sun, and a year seems only as a day. The endless light, which is eternal, and artificial lights. The Commentary has here the following Avestan quotation: 'The uncreated light shines from above; all the created lights shine from below.'


Within the Vara the mortals receive instruction from a mystical bird Karshipta, indeed they learn the spiritual language of the birds, it must be considered the birds could still come and go from the Vara and thus maintain contact with the greater outside realm.


The region this is said to have occured within, the Aryan homeland, is in the region of the Pamir Mountains most likely, with the sacred river being the Oxus that has its origins there, with the sacred plain having been the Tarim basin, a once fertile region




In terms of locating of an actual Vara of course effort is made and sites are considered, Tajik houses themselves are thought to reflect the principles involved, being low level insular type fortress dwellings in their own right

In the central Pamirs, above the banks of the river Ak-Dzhilga / Ak-Jilga, in the valley of Murghab, are the remains of remote settlements and a mining complex called Bazar-Dara and Ak-Jilga.

About 1,200 - 1,500 people lived in the settlement which included an administrative complex, a fire-temple, and a bath with sub-floor (kan) heating. The size fits the first level of a Jamshidi Vara Water was obtained from small wells and skilfully designed water basins.

In this region, the soil is frozen most of the year and trees cannot grow. The large building that is believed to have functioned as a medieval caravanserai, also has Vara-like features.

Pamiri Region

Inside Pamiri Houses

Yima and the Deluge Text

Location of the Aryan Homeland

Study of Jamsid Mythos

Interesting myth, and nothing but that.

reply to post by 3n19m470



Thanks for your support and kind words, i do think folk memory from the ice age and it's ending is possible and that this region had perhaps the best insight, in that more Southerly regions only experienced flooding due to rise in sea levels and river inundation.

It is also possible that from this region narratives were transmitted Northward into Siberia and then the Americas, and also Europe following the almost total de-population there. Obviously varying cultures looked to their own reasoning as to why it had occured, and how some had managed to survive and to once more spread out and repopulate the former lost areas.


The reason i have had another look at this is with regards to the thread by Bybyot's involving the Magi either journeying from Central Asia or making a detour to the region on the way to Bethlehem, which for me involved the tradition of the Patriarchs and Adam before the time of the flood dwelling in that region, when as in the Yima mythos they lived for a very long time atop the sacred Mountain, i think they were sourcing back to these traditions.


The Three Wise Men and the Revelation of the Magi

Good stuff, I wish I knew more about this amazing civilizations.

I wonder if we learned to read the written language of Northern Europeans, who were also of Aryan descent, what we could learn.

reply to post by Harte


I suggest you look up the definition of "mythos"

Most of what we think we know is based mainly on myth.

reply to post by poet1b




The Scandanavians are considered to have been a Mesolithic remnant population until later than the rest of Europe, which was largely repopulated from the core Neolithic region at an early date, of course they have the Pantheons of the Aesir and Vanir, as seen in the central Asian tradition of the Asur and Daeva's, recorded in the Avesta and Vedic scriptures.

The Aryans were an Indo-European tribal grouping that would also generally be considered to have migrated from the Core Neolithic region, so i don't think it can be said that Europeans originated from those Aryans, though they were closely related, but the extent of Mesolithic population remnants in the Aryan homeland region is uncertain.

reply to post by Harte

Uh oh Chamberf=6, looks like you ran up against someone that thinks Yima actually laid his knife against the ground and caused the Earth to expand (twice) to accomodate the overpopulation resulting from his "stewardship" of mankind.

Harte

Yeah, silly me. What was I thinking?

Of course that happened. So did every other creation and/or ice age story from every culture and peoples worldwide. Never mind that they conflict with each other and contain magical physics defying events.

reply to post by Kantzveldt

The Aryans were an Indo-European tribal grouping that would also generally be considered to have migrated...

"Aryans", as mentioned in the Vedas, is simply a title denoting nobility of character.
The Vedas mention that people attain or lose the title "Aryans" depending on their behaviour, and so could not have referred to an ethnic group.

The idea of "Aryans" being a race or tribe is traced back to a scholar named Max Muller, who proposed that "Aryan" referred to a race.

Interesting info in the OP though,.

Highly Fascinating read. Yet another Deluge Myth that is generally consistent with all the others around the world.

poet1b
reply to post by Harte

 

I suggest you look up the definition of "mythos"

Most of what we think we know is based mainly on myth.

That may be true for you personally, but most things I know are not based on any mythology whatsoever.

And you are a fool to suggest to someone you don't know that they may lack a grounding in world mythology and the principles behind the study thereof.

Harte

reply to post by sk0rpi0n



It had that association as the term meant 'high', but clearly there was an Aryan/High homeland region and a tribal confederation that included the Parsi/Persians as well as 15 others named throughout that mountainous region, which was shown on Greek and Roman maps as Aria.

Certainly the Germans went to extremes with their theory of Aryan origins for all Northern Europeans, when it seems more likely they were just one Indo-European tribal grouping of Central Asia, but it seems equally extreme to counter that by suggesting there were no Aryan tribes.


Location of the Aryan homeland

reply to post by Harte


Then again, maybe I am just smart enough to realize that most of what I have been taught is based on mythologies, while you have never figured that out. There are many who will never pull back the curtain.

You pull information from a link titled "mythos", and you claim the poster actually believes "Yima actually laid his knife against the ground and caused the Earth to expand."

The only way I can see coming to this conclusion is that you don't understand the meaning of the word "mythos". This makes you and your friend look like the only fools on this thread.

A wise man would consider the symbology of these tales.

reply to post by Kantzveldt


You could be right, there might not be any connection between Europeans and the Aryans, and it could have all been some conclusion based on very weak evidence, or at least the connection is greatly exaggerated.

From my understanding, the Aryans conquered India and Persia. Eastern Indians are closely related, genetically to Europeans, so there does seem to be a link. There are also similarities between Hinduism and Zoroastrianism. This would be a very broad reach for this ancient civilization.

reply to post by poet1b

There are also similarities between Hinduism and Zoroastrianism.

Except Zoroaster (or Zarathustra) founded it as one of the first religions that was monotheistic.

Mythos:
1 a : myth
b : mythology
2a 2 : a pattern of beliefs expressing often symbolically the characteristic or prevalent attitudes in a group or culture 3 : theme, plot
Synonyms
fable, legend, myth
Related Words
allegory, parable; fabrication, fantasy (also phantasy), fiction, figment, invention; narrative, saga, story, tale, yarn

www.merriam-webster.com...

What (in your consideration) is the symbolism in these myths?
Perhaps an attempt to explain occurrences that the peoples at these times had no idea how to explain, thereby creating stories or yarns about things now understandable?

As I first said, interesting myth.

poet1b
reply to post by Harte

 

Then again, maybe I am just smart enough to realize that most of what I have been taught is based on mythologies, while you have never figured that out. There are many who will never pull back the curtain.

You pull information from a link titled "mythos", and you claim the poster actually believes "Yima actually laid his knife against the ground and caused the Earth to expand."

The only way I can see coming to this conclusion is that you don't understand the meaning of the word "mythos". This makes you and your friend look like the only fools on this thread.

A wise man would consider the symbology of these tales.

edit on 28-12-2013 by poet1b because: typos

A wise man recognized the cherry picking in the earlier post and the implied cherry picking in your own and called you on it.

I've been taught nothing that was based on mythologies. I've been taught (and learned) about mythologies.

This, for me, did not warp my worldview in the way it appears to have warped yours.

Hartte

Kantzveldt

Certainly the Germans went to extremes with their theory of Aryan origins for all Northern Europeans, when it seems more likely they were just one Indo-European tribal grouping of Central Asia, but it seems equally extreme to counter that by suggesting there were no Aryan tribes.

There were tribes and people that used the term ''aryan'' in a non-racial way, in the way the Vedas originally mention it. Saying the ''noble'' refers to a tribe is akin to saying the ''righteous'' in the Old Testament were actually a tribe. Hitlers imagined ''aryans'' or rather the progenitors of the European people, could not have called themselves ''Aryans'', because the term is not of European origin, but rather Vedic / Sanskritic in origin.

Kantzveldt
reply to post by poet1b

 

The Aryans were an Indo-European tribal grouping that would also generally be considered to have migrated from the Core Neolithic region, so i don't think it can be said that Europeans originated from those Aryans, though they were closely related, but the extent of Mesolithic population remnants in the Aryan homeland region is uncertain.

Scythians,Celts and Aryans are basically the same peoples!