Druj is a principle in Persian folklore, from Iran. In Zoroastrian thought Druj (Avestan druj/drug) denotes falsehood and deceit and functions as the cosmic opposite of Asha (truth, right order). The term ranges from ordinary lies to a metaphysical principle or personified adversary whose followers (drəguuants / druuaṇt) enact deception and disorder; scripture and later texts portray Druj as opposed and ultimately defeated by Asha.
Linguistically the Avestan druj (Young Avestan 𐬛𐬭𐬎𐬘; Old Avestan drəguuant derivatives) derives from an Indo-Iranian root (cognate with Vedic druh) tied to deceit. In Zoroastrian scripture the lexical field of 'lie' is extended and sometimes personified: Druj appears within the Gathas and later Young Avestan texts as the counterpole to Asha. Scholarly treatments characterize this extension from lexical deceit to an ontological adversary as a development within the Zarathustrian ethical-cosmic framework; Old Persian drauga in imperial inscriptions shows a related political/moral sense in Achaemenid usage.
Primary sources do not supply a fixed anthropomorphic or consistent visual description of Druj as a singular creature. Grammatically feminine in Avestan, the term can be applied to particular daevas (for example the female daeva Nasu and the male daeva Buiti) without implying a single, stable body-form. Textual usage thus treats Druj more often as an abstract principle or label applied to deceitful beings and acts rather than as a uniquely depicted monster or person with standardized physical traits.
As a doctrinal and cosmological principle, Druj embodies falsehood, deception, and disorder and functions oppositionally to Asha (truth/right order). In narrative contexts Druj can be personified or invoked as the force that seduces or leads astray (the Zamyad Yasht links Yima's fall to seduction by Druj). The Avesta and later Young Avestan texts also describe classes of followers (drəguuants / druuaṇt) and apply the term to specific daevas; Old Persian drauga is treated in inscriptions as an active agent denoting moral, social, and political chaos. Thus Druj's 'abilities' are expressed as social and moral subversion, seduction into wrongdoing, and the generation of disorder rather than as discrete magical feats recorded in the provided sources.
Weaknesses
- conditionDefeat by Asha (truth/right order)
- conditionOpposition by followers of Asha (adherence to Gathic teachings and moral practice)
Wards
- conditionAdherence to Asha and the teachings of the Gathas (ethical opposition to Druj)
Ab-Zohr
Ab-Zohr is the culminating rite of the Zoroastrian Yasna service: a formal offering to the waters (Aban/Apas) that creates the consecrated liquid parahaoma and functions to purify, strengthen, and atone for damage done to waters. It is a ritual action rather than an independent supernatural being.
Aban (Āb/Ābān)
Aban (Avestan apas; Middle Persian āb/ābān) is the collective, sacred principle of the waters in Zoroastrian cosmology — both the element water and its personified hypostases (the Apas/Ahuranis). Aban functions as a primordial, life-giving creation, a calendrical and liturgical focus (day-name, month-name, Abanagan feast), and a ritual object of veneration (ape zaothra, Aban Yasht) rather than a malign force to be expelled.
Aban Yasht
The Aban Yasht is a hymn from the Persian tradition that praises Anahita, a goddess associated with water, fertility, and wisdom. It consists of 132 stanzas and is part of the 21 Yashts collection. (Note: - Power tier should be "Primordial" or possibly "Cosmic", given that it's a hymn of great spiritual significance and associated with a goddess. - The article incorrectly states that Anahita is associa)
Abtin
Abtin (Persian: آبتین), attested also as Athwya, is a mythic ancestral figure in Iranian tradition described in Avestan and later epic literature as one of a small set of formative human-like figures involved in preparing the corporeal world and as the father of the epic hero-king Fereydun in the Shahnama.
Adur Burzen-Mihr
Adur Burzen-Mihr is a consecrated Atash Behram — one of the three Great Fires of late antique Sasanian Zoroastrianism — historically associated with the farmer social estate and with a cultic location in northeastern Iran. Medieval texts (e.g., the Bundahishn) and later summaries record it as a major pilgrimage fire with legendary associations of protection and miraculous efficacy; its documentary history after the early Islamic period is unclear.
Adur Farnbag
Adur Farnbag is one of the three Great or Royal fires in the Zoroastrian ritual/topographical system of pre‑Islamic Iran. Presented in the sources as a continuously tended sacred fire housed in a temple, it is attested in secondary accounts as a focus of cultic activity, miracle stories, and association with elite ritual geography in the Parthian–Sasanian eras.
Adur Gushnasp
Adur Gushnasp (Middle Persian: Ādur ī Gušnasp; New Persian: Āzargušnasp) is a pre-Islamic Zoroastrian Great Fire — one of the three highest grade sacred temple fires (Atash Behram) of Sasanian-era Iran. Housed at the temple-site historically called Shiz (modern Takht-e Soleymān, Adurbadagan), it functioned as a continuously tended cultic fire, a pilgrimage destination, and a focal point of royal patronage and warrior-class identity.
Aeshma
Aeshma is the Zoroastrian hypostasis of wrath — a fiendish being who personifies rage and functions as an ontological opponent to Ahuric principles and ritual discipline. In scripture and later tradition he distracts worship, foments violence and drunkenness, can be driven off by prayer or by divine agents such as Sraosha and Mithra, and will be overthrown or flee at the final renovation.
Afrasiab
Afrasiab is the legendary king and arch-enemy of Iran in Iranian epic and Zoroastrian-influenced tradition. Attested from the Avestan Fraŋrasyan through Middle Persian and the Shahnameh, he functions as a powerful Turanian ruler associated with sorcery, subterranean dwellings, and opposition to Iranian heroes and divine agencies.
Aghrirat
Aghrirat is a named Turanian noble and peacemaker in the Shahnameh and Iranian mythic tradition, presented as a son of Pashang and brother of Afrasiab and Garsivaz. He is notable for his kind and gentle character and for attempting, largely unsuccessfully, to end the hostilities between Iran and Turan.
Ahriman (Angra Mainyu)
Angra Mainyu (Middle Persian Ahriman) is the hypostasis or personification of destructive, deceitful, and disordering mentality in Zoroastrian tradition. In the earliest (Gathic) layer it is presented as a choiceful destructive mainyu opposed to the constructive Spenta Mainyu; in later Pahlavi exegesis it becomes a personified cosmic antagonist who nevertheless is described as ontologically deficient and non-divine.
Ahura
Ahura is an Avestan term that designates a class of divinities in the Indo‑Iranian and Zoroastrian tradition, marking the sacred ‘lords’ who are to be reverenced and opposed to the rejected class of daevas. In Zoroastrian scripture the label functions as both a technical category and an honorific applied to high divine figures such as Ahura Mazda, Mithra, and Apam Napat.
Community Record
- [1]Druj (Wikipedia). Wikipedia: Drujwiki
- [2]Wikidata: Drujeŭski sieĺsaviet (unrelated ID listed among notes). Wikidata entry noted in research list (used only as bibliographic reference)other