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Zoroaster
Between c. 1500-1000 BCE a Persian Prophet named Zoroaster created a monotheistic faith. Zoroastrians most commonly refer to themselves as zoroastrians, wisdom-worshipers, and followers of the good religion. However, in India they are known as Parsis, or people form Pars. Relatively little is known about the Prophet Zarathustra(Zoroaster). According to internal and external histories, Zarathushtra lived in Persia sometime between the eighteenth and the sixth centuries B.C.E., with the consensus of scholars placing him roughly around 1000 B.C.E. According to tradition, Zarathushtra was the son of Pourushaspa and Dugdhova, and was spiritually precocious since birth. At the age of six, he was placed under the tutelage of a wise teacher. When Zarathushtra turned 15, he felt he had gained sufficient spiritual understanding and discipline, and he voluntarily dedicated himself to religion. However, people who recognized his potential as a religious leader made many attempts on his life. At 20, Zarathushtra left his guardian's house for the solitude of a mountain cave, where he devoted himself to meditation and understanding, and attempted to craft a set of religious precepts that differed from the prevalent ritualistic polytheism that was common in Persia at the time. In the Gathas, a series of deeply personal hymns, Zarathushtra expressed discontent with Indo-Aryan polytheistic rituals

Core Beliefs
The Parsis believed in the existence of one invisible God. They believe that there is a continuous war between the good forces (forces of light) and the evil forces (forces of darkness). The good forces will win if people do good deeds, think good, and speak well. Dog is represented in their temples through fire, which symbolizes light. The holiest place for them is the village of Udvada in Gujarat, India. The holy language of the Parsis is an ancient language spoken in Iran, Avesta. The Parsis believe that fire, water, air, and earth are pure elements to be preserved and therefore they do not cremate or bury their dead ones but leave them on high towers, especially built for this purpose, to be eaten by hawks and crows.The idea of a single god was not the only essentially Zoroastrian tenet to find its way into other major faiths, most notably the ‘big three’: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The concepts of Heaven and Hell, Judgment Day and the final revelation of the world, and angels and demons all originated in the teachings of Zarathustra, as well as the later canon of Zoroastrian literature they inspired. Even the idea of Satan is a fundamentally Zoroastrian one; in fact, the entire faith of Zoroastrianism is predicated on the struggle between God and the forces of goodness and light (represented by the Holy Spirit, Spenta Manyu) and Ahriman, who presides over the forces of darkness and evil. While man has to choose to which side he belongs, the religion teaches that ultimately, God will prevail, and even those condemned to hellfire will enjoy the blessings of Paradise (an Old Persian word).

Culture
The chief ritual is the Yasna, or sacrifice, which includes the offering of haoma, the intoxicating juice of a plant, together with water and milk, presented before the fire and drunk by the priest in honor of Ahura Mazda and lesser deities and for the benefit of the dead and the living. The Yasna, a life rite, strengthens the forces of good against those of evil. In former days, the slaughtering of animals was part of the ritual; this practice survived into medieval times but is now extinct. The two main principles that form the basis of Zoroastrian ethics are the maintenance of life and the struggle against evil. There is a devotion to purity, physical as well as spiritual. The chief feasts are New Year (Nouroz); the equinox between seasons, which is consecrated to Mithra; the days of the dead at the end of the year; and the days of the full moon and new moon. Three offerings, which involve two elements from the plant world and one element from the animal world, are made to the fire. The offering usually consists of dried leaves of herbs and animal fat.