Asha (aša) is the Avestan language term (corresponding to Vedic language ṛta) for a concept of cardinal importance to Zoroastrian theology and doctrine. In the moral sphere, aša/arta represents what has been called “the decisive confessional concept of Zoroastrianism.”
The opposite of Avestan aša is druj, “lie.” Avestan druj, like its Vedic Sanskrit cousin druh, appears to derive from the PIE root dhreugh, also continued in Persian d[o]rūġ “lie”, German Trug “fraud, deception”. Old Norse draugr and Middle Irish airddrach mean “spectre”, “spook”. The Sanskrit cognate druh means “affliction, afflicting demon”.
The significance of the term is complex, with a highly nuanced range of meaning. It is commonly summarized in accord with its contextual implications of ‘truth’ and ‘right (eousness)’, ‘order’ and ‘right working’.
Its Old Persian equivalent is arta-. In Middle Iranian languages the term appears as ard-. The word is also the proper name of the divinity Asha, the Amesha Spenta that is the hypostasis or “genius” of “Truth” or “Righteousness”. In the Younger Avesta, this figure is more commonly referred to as Asha Vahishta (Aša Vahišta, Arta Vahišta), “Best Truth”.
The main theme of the Rig Veda – “the truth and the gods” – is not evident in the Gathas. Thematic parallels between aša/arta and ŗtá- do however exist, for instance in Yasht 10, the Avestan hymn to Mithra: there, Mithra, who is the hypostasis and preserver of covenant, is the protector of aša/arta. Rig Vedic Mitra is likewise preserver of ŗtá-.
The correspondence between ‘truth’, reality, and an all-encompassing cosmic principle is not far removed from Heraclitus’ conception of Logos.
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