In Zoroastrian cosmology, Az (or Āz) represents more than mere moral failing; it is a cosmological principle of corruption rooted in the dualistic ontology of the religion. Az is the demon of insatiable greed, depicted as a consuming, ever-hungry force that opposes the divine order of Asha (truth, order). The very nature of Az challenges the balance between creation and destruction, spirit and matter, moderation and excess. Its presence reinforces Zoroastrianism’s central doctrine: that the world is a battleground between constructive and destructive forces.
One of the most vivid portrayals of Az appears in the Bundahišn, a ninth-century Middle Persian cosmogony. There, Az is said to “devour all things—men, beasts, and demons—and is never sated” (Bundahišn XXVIII.15, trans. West 1897). This destructive appetite is so excessive that Ahriman, the source of evil, is himself consumed by it. Az is not just symbolic; it functions as a metaphysical threat to both spiritual integrity and cosmic structure (Boyce 1979, 92). In this framework, Az’s insatiability manifests as a force that consumes order from within, collapsing both moral restraint and ontological stability.
The Dēnkard, a ninth-century compendium of Zoroastrian doctrine, reinforces Az’s place among the principal agents of Ahriman. It identifies Az as instigator of excessive desire, gluttony, and spiritual disintegration. As Shaked argues, Az symbolizes “a state of being that resists boundaries”—both ethical and ontological (Shaked 1994, 113–14). The demon thus threatens not only individual discipline but the communal order Zoroastrianism so centrally promotes. Moderation (tempāragīh), a key ethical virtue, is completely undone by Az’s influence.
The comparative Indo-Iranian context strengthens this interpretation. In the Rig Veda, Lobha (greed or avarice) is not personified as strongly as Az but operates similarly as a disrupter of cosmic order. In Rig Veda X.117, the divine voice warns against hoarding and urges generosity: “The gods have not ordained hunger to be our ruin” (Griffith 1896, X.117). Lobha, like Az, opposes the ideal of harmony—Asha in Zoroastrianism, Rta in the Vedic tradition. The shared Indo-Iranian concern with excessive desire as existential threat underscores Az’s deeper significance.
In conclusion, Az is central to Zoroastrian demonology not because it merely represents greed but because it enacts a deeper cosmic disorder. Positioned within a triad alongside Akoman (evil thought) and Aeshma (wrath), Az directly opposes the Amesha Spenta Spenta Armaiti (piety and devotion). Its presence serves as both adversary and test, revealing the religion’s conception of evil not as external invasion, but as an internal force requiring vigilance and ethical resistance.
📚
References (Chicago Style)
- Boyce, Mary. 1979. Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. London: Routledge.
- Bundahišn. Translated by E. W. West. In Sacred Books of the East, vol. 5. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1897.
- Dēnkard. Translated by Jean de Menasce. Le troisième livre du Dēnkart. Paris: Librairie C. Klincksieck, 1973.
- Griffith, Ralph T. H., trans. 1896. The Rig Veda. London: E.J. Lazarus.
- Shaked, Shaul. 1994. “The Demonization of the Other in Zoroastrianism.” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 18: 111–134.