asha

This idea is called Asha and is the counterpart of Drug, which represents evil and deceit and the disorder connected with them. Asha is connected with the sacred element fire. The Indian concept of rita forms the Indian counterpart of Asha and was the precursor to dharma, a notion…

…called arta in Vedic (asha in Avestan). Closely associated with him was another ahura named Mithra (Vedic Mitra), the god who presided over covenants. In Iran there were two gods with martial traits quite similar to those of Vedic Indra, Mitra, and Vrthraghna. Among female deities the Earth, Spantā…

…dualism expressed in the opposition Asha–Druj (truth–falsehood) goes back at least to Indo-Iranian times, for the Veda knows it too, as rita-druh, though the contrast is not as sharply defined as in the Avesta. Between these two principles, the Twin Spirits made an ominous choice, the Bounteous One becoming in…