Yazata

Yazata (Avestan: 𐬫𐬀𐬰𐬀𐬙𐬀) is the Avestan word for a Zoroastrian concept with a wide range of meanings but generally signifying (or used as an epithet of) a divinity. The term literally means "worthy of worship or veneration",[1][2] and is thus, in this more general sense, also applied to certain healing plants, primordial creatures, the fravashis of the dead, and to certain prayers that are themselves considered holy. The yazatas collectively are "the good powers under Ahura Mazda", who is "the greatest of the yazatas".[3]

  1. ^ Boyce 2001, p. xxi.
  2. ^ Geiger 1885, p. xlix.
  3. ^ Büchner 1934, p. 1161.