HISTORY



Aryana, the ancestral birthplace of the Arya race was ruled by the just and sagacious King Yama. This land was a veritable paradise as described in the Avesta, Hom Yasht, Yasna 9,5:

In the reign of brave Yima there was neither cold nor heat, there was neither age nor death, nor envy demon-made. Like teenagers walked the two forth, son and father, in their stature and their form, so long as Yima, son of Vivanghvant ruled, he of the many fields!

The king and his people were protected by the gods who revealed the first religion through the divine messenger Mitra. As the population increased the kingdom expanded to occupy land to the southwest. However, the gods warned King Yama of an impending ice age instructing him to build a fortified enclosure (var) in which he and his people would be safe. King Yama obeyed their words and ordered the construction of the var. He led his people to safety therein and the onset of the ice age turned the rest of the world into an icy desert.

After the passage of 10,000 years, the cessation of the fierce cold led to a warming of the global climate. The Arya emerged from the var and populated the surrounding regions, creating urban and agricultural settlements. Blessed by the gods, Aryana was the absolute perfection of perfection. The people enjoyed a quality of life more prosperous than any known since. Such unbridled luxury developed in King Yama a pride that was to lead to his downfall. His hubris led to his neglect of the Arya religion and even to consider himself superior to the Supreme Creator. As he had deserted the gods, they deserted him. Consequently, lacking divine protection, Aryana was vulnerable to attack from their enemies, the unarya. The civilized towns and bountiful pastures of Aryana were envied by the surrounding unarya who had no civilization of their own.

The king of Tazistan, Azi Dahak, used this opportunity to seize Aryana whose wealth he had long coveted. His troops invaded Aryana, murdered King Yama and initiated a reign of fear and oppression. Under the tyranny of this demonic unarya vile customs such as animal sacrifice and meat consumption were introduced to the hitherto peaceable vegetarian Arya.

Unarya savagery demanded that each year two Arya boys were sacrificed and fed to the snakes of Azi Dahak. After witnessing the murder of his sons in this foul Tazi custom, the Arya smith Kavi raised an army and marched to Varena where lived Tritana, the son of Aptya , the descendant of King Yama. Kavi swore an oath of loyalty to Tritana and petitioned his assistance in ridding Aryana of this evil Tazi.

Tritana led the Arya forces into battle, smiting the Tazi soldiers until he had captured Azi Dahak whom he bound in fetters deep inside Mount Damavand. Tritana became the king of Aryana.

King Tritana divided his realm amongst his three sons. Airik received Aryana (Afghanistan and northern Hindustan), Salm received Sarmatia (Kazakhstan) and Tur received Turania (Chinistan). Envy on the part of Salm and Tur led to the fratricide of Airik whose lands Salm and Tur stole.

This injustice was absolved by the son of Airik, Manuchethra, who killed Salm and Tur in single combat and united the three kingdoms under his rule. King Manuchethra was succeeded by King Huzuba Tukhmaspah under whom the region of Turania seceded under Pashang. King Pashang of Turania was later to kill King Huzuba Tukhmaspah of Aryana.

The two sons of King Huzuba Tukhmaspah were deemed unworthy of sovereignty by the Arya nobility who sought to find somebody more worthy of the position. On arrival at Mount Damavand they found a descendant of Kavi named Kavi Kavata whom they elected as king. He became the first of the Kaviyania dynasty. King Kavi Kavata expanded Aryana to the southwest (Pars) where he founded the city of Istakhr.

King Kavi Kavata was succeeded by his son Kavi Usadhan. Aided by his daring general Rustam, King Kavi Usadhan killed the unarya king of Mazandaran and annexed his kingdom into Aryana. He expanded Aryana to include Turania, Chinastan, Makran and other lands as far as the Zereh Sea. From there he defeated the kings of Egypt and Syria and exacted tribute.

King Kavi Usadhan was succeeded by King Khosrow Siavakshan under whom the lesser kings declared the separation of their fiefdoms from his empire. This marked the end of a united Aryana which henceforth disintegrated into smaller empires governed by potentates possessing lesser magnificence.