AMA

 

AMA, a minor Zoroastrian divinity, the hypostasis of strength, who appears in the Avestan hymn to Vərəθraγna (Yt. 14). In vv. 7, 9, he is represented as hovering above the yazata of Victory, and here he has his standing epithets hutašta-, hurao’a- “well-shaped, well-grown.” In a later verse (45) the worshiper blesses Ama and Vərəθraγna together, in what appears to be part of an incantation to ensure victory. In the Yasna (1.6, 3.6, 3.8, 4.11, 6.5, 7.8) Ama is invoked, with his fixed epithets, together with the fravašit of the just (who are warrior-beings), Hušiti “Good Abode,” another minor divinity, who grants his favors presumably to the strong, and conquering Uparatāt “Superiority.” Apart from these liturgical invocations, Ama has no part in living Zoroastrianism.

Bibliography:

Air Wb., col. 140.

Gray, Foundations, pp. 132-33.

(M. Boyce)

Originally Published: December 15, 1989

Last Updated: August 2, 2011

This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 9, p. 917

Cite this entry:

M. Boyce, “AMA,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/9, p. 917, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ama-minor-zoroastrian-divinity (accessed on 30 December 2012).