Editing Atar (section)

==In scripture==

===In the Gathic texts===
''Atar'' is already evident in the [[Gathas]], the oldest texts of the compendium of the [[Avesta]] and believed to have been composed by [[Zoroaster]] himself. At this juncture, as in the ''[[Yasna Haptanghaiti]]'' (the seven-chapter [[Yasna]] that structurally interrupts the Gathas and is linguistically as old as the Gathas themselves), ''atar'' is still—with only one exception—an abstract concept simply an instrument, a medium, of the Creator and is not yet the divinity (''[[yazata]]'') of heat and light that ''atar'' was to become in the later texts.

In the most ancient texts, ''atar'' is a medium, a faculty, through which judgement is passed and reflects the pre-Zoroastrian institution of [[Trial by ordeal|ordeal by heat]] (Avestan: ''garmo-varah'', heat ordeal; ''cf.'' Boyce 1996:ch. 6). Justice is administered through ''atar'' (''Yasna'' 31.3, 34.4, 36.2, 47.2), the blazing ''atar'' (31.19, 51.9), through the heat of ''atar'' (43.4), through the blazing, shining, molten metal (''ayangha Khshushta'', 30.7, 32.7, 51.9). An individual who has passed the fiery test, has attained physical and spiritual strength, wisdom, truth and love with serenity (30.7). However, among all the references to ''atar'' in the oldest texts, it is only once addressed independently of [[Ahura Mazda]]. In this exception, ''atar'' is spoken of in the third person masculine singular: "He detects sinners by hand-grasping" (''Yasna'' 34.4). Altogether, "there are said to have been some 30 kinds of fiery tests in all." (Boyce, 2002:1)

Also in the early texts, tangential to its role in establishing guilt, ''atar'' is the light of revelation through which Zoroaster is selected by Ahura Mazda, the ''Zarathushtra Mainyu Athra'' (''Yasna'' 31.3), radiated by Ahura Mazda (43.9), bearing the conviction of "Good Purpose"  (''[[Vohu Manah]]'', 43.4; see also [[Amesha Spenta]]), and enlightening one's inner-self (46.7). Within this framework of the concept of divine illumination, ''atar'' radiates the "other lights" (31.7), the essence (of Ahura Mazda) from which insight and wisdom permeate the universe. So also Zoroaster's injunction to always pray in the presence of ''atar''—either towards the sun, or towards their own hearths—so as to better concentrate their devotions on ''[[asha]]'', righteousness, and the virtue that should be striven for (''Yasna'' 43.9, see also Boyce, 1975:455).

===In later texts===
[[File:Huvishka_with_Athsho.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|''Atsho'' (Atar) on the reverse of a coin of [[Kushan Empire|Kushan]] ruler [[Huvishka]] (150-180 CE).]]
The Gathic role of ''atar'' as the medium for detecting guilt is not directly evident in the later texts of the Avesta, but reappears in modified form as an allegory of burning and annihilating the [[Angra Mainyu]] through righteousness, "where Asha Vahishta is identified at times with the household fire on the hearth." There, "identification in the realms of matter and of spirit serves only to bring more into prominence the main tenets of Zoroaster's teachings in regard to Asha" (Dhalla, 1938:170). A vestige of the ancient institution of ordeal by heat is nonetheless present in ''[[Vendidad]]'' 4.54–55, where speaking against the truth and violating the sanctity of promise is punishable by flogging and is detected by the consumption of "water, blazing, of golden color, having the power to detect guilt." The ''[[Zend]]'' translation/commentary on this passage translates "blazing" as "having brimstone and sulphur", and notes that innocence or guilt was established by the consumption of this "guilt-detecting liquid". Similarly, in the ''[[Denkard]]'', Adharbad Maraspand—the [[Sasanian Empire|Sassanid]] era high-priest to whom the collation of the [[Avesta]] texts is attributed—is purported to have nine measures of "unburning molten zinc" applied to his chest as proof of accuracy of the sacred texts.

Seen chronologically, the transition from ''atar'' as a vehicle of judgement to ''Atar [[Yazata]]'' the divinity presiding over blazing fire is abrupt. While the older Gathic Avestan texts have heat (and thus fire) associated with harsh judgement, the [[Younger Avestan]] texts have the divinity ''Atar'' completely representing and being represented by fire itself; and associated with warmth and light and essential for growth. ''Asha Vahishta''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s association with ''atar'' is however carried forward, and they are often mentioned together (''Yasna'' 62.3, ''Nyashes'' 5.9, etc.). So also in their roles as protectors, for "when the Evil Spirit assailed the creation of Good Truth, Good Thought and Fire intervened" (''[[Yasht]]'' 13.77)

It is in the later texts that ''Atar'' is personified as "the son" of Ahura Mazda (standard appellation, ''[[Yasna]]'' 25.7 et al.) and is addressed as "full of glory and full of healing remedies" (''Nyash'' 5.6). In ''Yasna'' 17.11, ''Atar'' is "master of the house", recalling the role of the hearth fire in the Gathas. The same passage enumerates the "five kinds of fire":
# ''atar berezi-savah'', "the highly beneficent ''atar''", qualified in ''Zend'' texts as "the fire that eats food but drinks no water", and the kind of fire that burns in an ''[[Atash Behram|Atash-Behram]]'', the highest grade of [[fire temple]].
# ''atar vohu-fryana'', "the ''atar'' of good affection", cognate with [[bhaga]] and [[Friendship|friend]]), later qualified as "the fire diffusing goodness", and "the  fire that consumes both water and food".
# ''atar urvazishta'', "the ''atar'' of greatest bliss", later qualified as "the fire of happy life", and "the fire that drinks water but eats no food".
# ''atar vazishta'', "the ''atar'' most swift", later qualified as the fire in clouds, i.e. lightning, and as "the fire that neither drinks water nor eats food".
# ''atar spenishta'', "the ''atar'' most holy",<ref name="Boyce_AmeshaSpenta">{{citation|chapter = Aməša Spənta|last = Boyce|first = Mary|title = Encyclopaedia Iranica|volume = 1|year = 1983|location = New York|publisher = Routledge & Kegan Paul|pages = 933–936}}.</ref> cognate Balto-Slavic ''[[wikt:Appendix:Proto-Slavic/svętъ|šventas]]'' "holy") ( described in "Zend" texts as "the fire of prosperity" and as the spiritual fire burning before [[Ahura Mazda|Ohrmuzd]].
The description of the fires in the Sassanid era commentaries (the ''Zend'' texts) differs slightly from those described in the ''[[Bundahishn]]'' ("Original Creation", completed in the 11th or 12th century). In the latter, the description of the first and last kind of fire is reversed.