Ajay Kumar at 17:35, 28 August 2023

2023-08-28T17:35:03Z

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{{Short description|Persian philosopher and priest}}
{{more footnotes|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox clergy
| name = Azar Kayvan
| native_name = آذر کیوان
| native_name_lang = fa
| image =
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| birth_date = between 1529 and 1533
| birth_place = [[Fars Province]]
| death_date = between 1609 and 1618
| death_place = [[Patna]]
| religion = [[Zoroastrianism]]
| other_names = {{transl|ar|Zu'l-`Olum}} (master of the sciences)
| education =
| writings =
| congregations =
| offices_held =
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| spouse =
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| parents = Azar Zerdusht (father)<ref name="orig">{{Cite web |last=Peterson |first=Joseph H. |year=1998 |title=Dabestan-i-Mazahib or School of Religious Doctrines |url=http://www.avesta.org/dabestan/dabestan.htm}}</ref><br />Shirin (mother)
| footnotes =
}}

'''Āzar Kayvān'''{{efn|The first name sometimes transcribed '''Adhar'''; the surname is sometimes transcribed '''Kaiwan'''.}} ({{born-in|between {{circa|1529 and 1533}}}}; {{died-in|between {{circa|1609 and 1618|lk=no}}}}) was the [[Zoroastrian]] [[mobad|high priest]] of [[Istakhr]] and a [[Gnosticism|gnostic philosopher]],<ref name="eastwest">{{cite journal |last1=Goshtasb |first1=Farzaneh |last2=Kamalizadeh |first2=Tahereh |title=AN ACCOUNT AND ANALYSIS OF METEMPSYCHOSIS IN THE VIEWS OF ĀZAR KAYVĀN AS A COMMENTATOR ON ILLUMINATIONIST PHILOSOPHY |journal=Philosophy East and West |date=2022 |volume=72 |issue=2 |pages=295–314,III|doi=10.1353/pew.2022.0042 |s2cid=234192879 }}</ref> who was a native of [[Fars Province|Fars]], [[Iran]] and later emigrated to [[Patna]] in the [[Mughal Empire]] during the reign of Emperor [[Akbar]]. A member of the {{transl|fa|Sepāsīān}} community ({{transl|fa|gorūh}}),{{sfnp|Corbin|2011}}), he became the founder of a Zoroastrian school of '''{{transl|ar|ishraqiyyun}}''' or [[Illuminationism|Illuminationists]], which exhibited features of [[Sufism|Sufi Muslim]] influence. This school became known as the {{transl|fa|kis-e Abadi}} "Abadi sect".{{sfnp|Sheffield|2015|p=539}}

== Biography ==
Details regarding Azar Kayvan's life are scant and are mainly derived from the [[Hagiography|hagiographical literature]] of the Abadi sect. This hagiography places Azar Kayvan, son of Azar Gashasb, and his ancestry back to [[Sasan V]]{{efn|cf. the {{transl|fa|[[Dasatir-i-Asmani]]}}.}} then through [[Sasan]] to the [[Kayanian dynasty]], [[Keyumars]], and finally to [[Mahabad (prophet)|Mahābād]], the primordial figure who appeared at the very beginning of the great cycle of prophecy, according to the ''Dasatir-i-Asmani'', and who seems to be none other than [[Adam]].{{sfnp|Corbin|2011}} His mother was named [[Shirin]]; her ancestry goes back to [[Khosrow I#Philosopher King|Philosopher King Khosrow I]].{{sfnp|Corbin|2011}}

According to the ''[[Dabestan-e Mazaheb]]'', as a young boy Azar Kayvan showed signs of his calling to the contemplative life. Through dreams and visions he received the teaching of the ancient sages of [[Iran]], which allowed him to give extraordinary replies to questions which were asked of him at the [[madrasa]] where he was a student, and which won him the nickname '''{{transl|ar|ḏū l-ʿulūm}}''' "master of the sciences". Internal references in the biography by his devotees allow us to determine that his residence was at Itakhr (about a hundred kilometers north of [[Shiraz]]), where he spent the first thirty or forty years of his life in contemplation and where he assembled his first assembly of disciples. Around 1570, drawn by the religious revival which was taking place in [[India]] around the Emperor Akbar, he left with them to settle down in the town of [[Patna]] in [[Bihar]], where he lived until he died at around eighty-five years of age.{{sfnp|Corbin|2011}}

== Students and influence ==
Amongst his students, certain of these hagiographical sources place key [[Twelver Shi'ism|Twelver Shi'a]] theosophical figures of the [[Safavid]] philosophical revival at [[Isfahan]] within his circle. Notably among these figures was [[Baha' al-din al-'Amili]] and [[Mir Fendereski]], on whose behest the latter seems to have translated the ''[[Yoga Vasistha]]'' from [[Sanskrit]] into [[Persian language|Persian]].

Azar Keyvan had tendency towards the philosophical school of [[Shihab al-Din Yahya ibn Habash Suhrawardi]], another [[Persians|Persian]] philosopher of 12th century. He was regarded by his followers to be the reviver of [[Illuminationism]] (Illuminationist Philosophy) within the context of [[Zoroastrianism]].<ref name="eastwest"></ref>

According to one school of thought, [[Dastur]] [[Meherji Rana]], who had influenced [[Akbar]] and founded the famous lineage of [[Parsis|Parsi]] high priests at [[Navsari]], was a disciple of Azar Kayvan.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dadrawala |first=Noshir |title=First Dastur Mehereji Rana |url=http://tenets.zoroastrianism.com/zsaint33e.html}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=August 2022}}

==See also==
* [[Dabestan-e Mazaheb]], whose author was a son of Azar Kayvan according to some scholars.

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

=== Works cited ===
{{sfn whitelist|CITEREFCorbin2011}}
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Encyclopædia Iranica Online |last=Corbin |first=Henry |year=2011 |orig-year=1987 |title=Āẕar Kayvān |volume=3 |pages=183–187 |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/azar-kayvan-priest}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Modi |first=Jamshid Jivanji Jamshedji |year=1932 |title=Dastur Azar Kayvan with his Zoroastrian High Priests in Patna in the 16th and 17th centuries |journal=Journal of the K.R. Cama Oriental Institute |volume=20 |pages=1–85}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sheffield |first=Daniel J. |contribution=Primary Source: New Persian |title=The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism |year=2015 |isbn=9781444331356 |pages=529–542 |doi=10.1002/9781118785539|editor-last1=Stausberg |editor-last2=Vevaina |editor-last3=Tessmann |editor-first1=Michael |editor-first2=Yuhan Sohrab‐Dinshaw |editor-first3=Anna}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Tavakoli-Targhi |first=Mohamad |author-link=Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi |year=1996 |title=Contested Memories: Narrative Structures and Allegorical Meanings of Iran's Pre-Islamic History |journal=Iranian Studies |volume=29 |issue=1–2 |pages=1–2, 149–175|doi=10.1080/00210869608701847 }}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
* [http://www.avesta.org/dabestan/dabestn2.htm ''Dabestan-i-Mazahib'' or '''''School of Religious Doctrines''''']
* [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/azar-kayvan-priest ĀẔAR KAYVĀN H. Corbin, Encyclopædia Iranica]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kayvan, Azar}}
[[Category:16th-century births]]
[[Category:17th-century deaths]]
[[Category:Zoroastrian priests]]
[[Category:16th-century Iranian philosophers]]
[[Category:Iranian Zoroastrians]]
[[Category:17th-century Iranian philosophers]]
[[Category:Zoroastrian mysticism]]
[[Category:Zoroastrian astrologers]]
[[Category:Iranian religious leaders]]
[[Category:Neo-Zoroastrianism]]
[[Category:Iranian emigrants to the Mughal Empire]]
[[Category:Mughal Empire people]]
[[Category:Iranian emigrants to India]]

Azar Kayvan - Revision history

Ajay Kumar at 17:35, 28 August 2023