DEÚN (Av. dae@na@, trisyllabic in Old Av., disyllabic in Young Av.; Mid. Pers. de@n; NPers. d^n), theological and metaphysical term with a variety of meanings: "the sum of man's spiritual attributes and individuality, vision, inner self, conscience, religion."

In the Gathas dae@na@ (which is only "ahuric") denotes "vision, conscience, individuality." Stanley Insler (p. 69) suggests "conception," which is, however, irrelevant to the theological or metaphysical connotations of dae@na@; for instance, "their own soul and their own inner self (hardly to be read "conception"; Insler, p. 271) did vex them" (Y. 46.11). In Middle Persian de@n is defined as xe@m "character, conscience" and xe@m as xo@g "nature, habit" (De@nkard, ed. Madan, II, p. 511; Shaked, p. 70). It is maintained that Ohrmazd first and foremost created xe@m and de@n (De@nkard, ed. Madan, II, p. 499; Shaked, p. 50), de@n clearly standing for "conscience, inner self."

In the sense of religion de@n (weh-de@n "the good religion," ma@zde@sn de@n "the religion of Mazda@ worship") is a brilliance from the nature of Ohrmazd; its principle is the mind/thought of Axw, Ahu@ (q.v.; "the supreme lord"), and its manifestation is the recitation and practice of the holy words (ma@nsr), which itself is the mean (payma@n; De@nkard, ed. Madan, I, p. 326; de Menasce, 1973, pp. 309-10). The essence of the Mazdean religion is the wisdom of Ohrmazd, with knowledge and action (kuniÞn) as its essential elements; its purpose or function is to purify (ms.: heal) the mixed (i.e., Ahriman-ridden; see AHRIMAN) creation (De@nkard, ed. Madan, I, p. 329; de Menasce, 1973, p. 313) by conquering and destroying the adversary (De@nkard, ed. Madan, I, p. 351; de Menasce, 1973, p. 331). The religion is God's wisdom, His word (logos), the substratum par excellence of the principle of creation, the holy words of the religion, the divine Ahunwar (q.v.), who gives the world its being and maintains its existence. In the fashioning of Wahman "the good mind" the religion dwelt with him (BundahiÞn, tr. Anklesaria, p. 19, chap. 1.53). Ahura Mazda@ (q.v.) created man with his vision (dae@na@; Y. 46.6). The bond of religion (paywand ^ de@n), which denotes "adopting a righteous religious authority in time and not deviating from his authority," is one of three bonds (the others being paywand ^ ge@ha@n "the bond of the world" and paywand ^ fraÞegird "the bond of the renovation") that men should observe (De@nkard, ed. Madan, II, p. 492; Shaked, p. 36). In the domain of government the Mazdean religion, the supreme spiritual power, and royalty, the temporal power, are twins, for sovereignty is essentially religion and religion sovereignty: Royalty (xwada@y^h) is founded on the religion and the religion on royalty, and the exaltation of Iranian royalty (e@r^h xwada@y^h) cannot be separated from submission to the Mazdean religion (De@nkard, ed. Madan, I, p. 47; de Menasce, 1973, p. 65). The omniscient Mazdean religion is likened to a mighty tree with one trunk (the mean), two main boughs (action and abstention), three branches (good thoughts, good words, and good deeds), four small branches (the estates of the priests, warriors, husbandmen, and artisans), five roots (the lord of the house, the village headman, the tribal chieftain, the ruler, and the highest religious authority, the representative of Zoroaster on earth, ZarathuÞtro@tom), and above them all the head of all heads (sara@nsar), the king of kings, the ruler of the whole world (ˆkand Guma@n^g Wiza@r 1.11; de Menasce, 1945, p. 24; Zaehner, 1956, p. 86).

In the Avesta (q.v.) dae@na@ in the sense of "conscience" is one of the five spiritual faculties, together with axw "vital strength," bao’ah "perception," urvan "soul," and fravaÞi "the everlasting and heavenly tutelary of material beings" (Y. 26.4).

De@n is not only divine wisdom but also its emanation as innate human wisdom (a@sn-xrad), a principle with far-reaching implications, for all beneficial knowledge thus of necessity falls within the compass of de@n. This important feature is apparent not only from the contents of the Avesta, which is a miscellaneous accumulation encompassing both the words of the Prophet and the authoritative pronouncements of the ancient fathers of the faith, but also from various explicit interpretations in Middle Persian literature. According to the De@nkard (q.v.; ed. Madan, I, p. 335; de Menasce, 1973, p. 318), "all wise words uttered in virtue of the innate wisdom (a@sn-xrad), whether by the people who were before the advent of the Mazdean religion or by those who had come afterward and were ignorant of the good religion, are in conformity with the revelations of the de@n." De@n is thus the totality of all sagacious knowledge of mankind because this knowledge encompasses the diffusions of the innate wisdom, the essence of Ohrmazd. In the account of the history of the Mazdean scriptures given in the De@nkard (ed. Madan, I, p. 415) it is said that "all wise words spoken by the religious authorities, throwing light on religious precepts, [are] an exposition of the Avesta, even though they had not derived them from any revelation of the Avesta" (for a full account of this passage, see Shaki, 1981, p. 121). On this point it is declared in Da@desta@n ^ de@n^g (q.v.; chap. 89; West, p. 258) that the customs and laws of the holy rulers who lived before Zarathustra in Xwanirah, for example, YawiÞt ^ Frya@n, Go@badÞa@h, and PeÞo@tan, contributed to the advancement of the de@n, that is, Mazdean wisdom. In a significant sentence in the De@nkard (ed. Madan, I, p. 411) "the incorporation of every knowledge in the Mazdean religion and its safekeeping (ms.: endurance)" are mentioned.

Apart from these considerations, the miscellaneous contents of the encyclopedic De@nkard attest to the omnifarious nature of the de@n. It is to be noted that the term de@nkard itself resolves into de@n-kardag, in which kardag (from the root kun- "establish, prescribe, enact") means "orthodox traditional law, teaching; sunna" pronounced by the ancient teachers of the religion (po@ryo@tke@Þa@n; see Shaki, 1978, pp. 291-92). Hence De@nkard denotes "traditional teachings and expositions of the Mazdean wisdom (de@n)," that is, everything that has been incorporated in the de@n by virtue of its merit, including such foreign teachings as Greek and Indian philosophy and sciences. AÚdurba@d ^ EÚme@da@n (q.v.), the last redactor of the De@nkard, described the book aptly as de@nkard nibe@g kardag ast ^ az wisp-pe@s^d de@n payda@g^h: "The scripture of the De@nkard is a book of orthodox expositions revealed from the omniscient Mazdean de@n (wisdom)" (De@nkard, ed. Madan, I, p. 405; de Menasce, 1973, p. 379). The generally accepted description of the book as "acts of the religion" therefore reflects a misapprehension; it should, rather, be described as the "compendium of Mazdean wisdom."

De@n, the deification of the religion, and the deities of space (Ga@h) and time (Zama@n) are the three divine instruments of creation, as assistants of Ohrmazd (BundahiÞn, tr. Anklesaria, p. 40, chap 3.12). The yazata@ Dae@na@ is a daughter of Ahura Mazda@ and AÚrmaiti (q.v.; Y. 17.16), but, according to an inscription found at Arebsun in Anatolia, she is the sister and wife of Ahura Mazda@ (Boyce, Zoroastrianism II, p. 275). In the De@n yaÞt (q.v.; Yt. 16) Dae@na@ praises the deity (RaziÞta) Ùista@ (q.v.), embodiment of "the most true wisdom," which impregnates the Mazdean religion.

The dae@na@/de@n represents a person's deeds (kuniÞn), his inner self. In the Pahlavi commentary on Yasna 26.6 dae@na@ is glossed by kuniÞn "deed" (Y. 45.2, 48.4, 51.21). The fathers of the faith considered de@n to be "that which one always does" (De@nkard, ed. Madan, II, p. 473; Shaked, p. 14); because "of thoughts (meniÞn), words (gowiÞn) and deeds (kuniÞn) it is the deed that counts (on the day of reckoning), for words are unreliable, thought unascertainable, but deeds are palpable, and (it is) by deeds that men are judged" (Ù^dag handarz ^ po@ryo@tke@Þa@n 24-26; Kanga, p. 24). On the day of judgment the soul of a dead man, at the dawn after the third day, goes along the path created by time for both the just and the wicked to the Ùinwad bridge (see ÙINWAD PUHL; Vd. 19.29), created by Ahura Mazda@, where he is met, according to his deserts, either by a beautiful maiden or by a hag, the personification of his deeds, his inner self (Dae@na@/De@n), a name used by the Prophet for this eschatological figure (Y. 31.20).

A full account of the personification of the dae@na@ "inner self" as a woman is first given in Ha’o@xt nask (2.11): When a just man dies after the third night "his own dae@na@ appears in the form of a maiden, beautiful, queenly, white-armed . . . as beautiful as the most beautiful of creatures . . . (proclaiming) . . . 'Youth of good thought, good words, good deeds, good inner self (dae@na@) I am your very own inner self (dae@na@; az™m te@ . . . ahmi . . . ya@ hava dae@na xúaepaiƒe.tanvo@).'" The concept of this female figure is a relic of the pagan past, a myth recounted in the V^de@vda@d (19.30), according to which when the soul of a just man reaches the Ùinwad bridge "there comes that beautiful one, strong, fair of form, accompanied by two dogs at her sides. She comes over the high Hara and takes the souls of the just over the Ùinvad bridge . . . to the ramparts of the invisible yazatas" (Boyce, 1984, p. 80).

The dae@na@ of the bridge appeared in early Sasanian times in the inscription of Kerd^r at Sar MaÞhad (KSM) as Kerd^r's own de@n, leading his "ideal body" (hangirb "likeness") over the Ùinwad bridge. The high priest, in his vision of the hereafter, related "and now comes a maiden, appearing from the east, and I have not seen a nobler woman than she" (KSM 35; Back, p. 452); "he who is righteous his own de@n leads him to paradise, and he who is wicked his own de@n leads him to hell" (KSM 29; Back, p. 445; Gignoux, 1968, ll. 42-43). The story is repeated in the Arda@ W^ra@z (q.v.) na@mag (4.11; Gignoux, 1984, pp. 48, 157; Vahman, 1986, pp. 194-95), where the woman is said to be the personification of one's own de@n and deeds (a@n ^ xwe@Þ de@n ud a@n ^ xwe@s kuniÞn), and in the Me@no@g ^ Xrad (2.125; Nyberg, Manual, pt. 1, p. 73), where she introduces herself as the just man's "good deeds." According to the Wiz^dag^ha@ ^ Za@dspram (31.5) the de@n, personified as a beautiful woman, takes care of the soul of the righteous person in paradise, teaching it the speech of the spirits.

The two distinct referents of Dae@na@, that is, the maiden of the bridge and the yazata@ of religion, have led the majority of Iranists to posit two distinct nouns from the same root di- "see" (against which, see Nyberg, pp. 114 ff.). It is argued that the dae@na@ of religion represents "that which is seen or recognized (as the truth)," as against the dae@na@ as the maiden of the bridge, "who sees or recognizes (the truth)" (Lommel, pp. 150-51; Boyce, Zoroastrianism I, p. 238). It is thus suggested that there may be two pairs of Avestan words, dae@na@/Dae@na@ "conscience/the maiden of the bridge" and dae@na@/Dae@na@ "religion/the yazata@ of religion" (Boyce, Zoroastrianism I, pp. 239-40). In Manichean Middle Persian de@n denotes "religion; the Manichaean community" (Boyce, 1977, p. 38).

Bibliography: (For cited works not found in this bibliography and abbreviations found here, see "Short References.") M. Back, Die sassanidischen Staatsinschriften, Acta Iranica 18, Leiden, 1978. M. Boyce, A Word-List of Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian, Acta Iranica 9a, 1977. Idem, Zoroastrians, Their Beliefs and Practices, London, 1979. Idem, Textual Sources for the Study of Zoroastrianism, Manchester, 1984. P. Gignoux, "L'inscription de Kart^r aà Sar MaÞhad," JA 256, 1968, pp. 387-418. Idem, "Der Grossmagier Kird^r und seine Reise in das Jenseits," in Orientalia J. Duchesne-Guillemin Emerito Oblata, Acta Iranica 23, Leiden, 1984, pp. 191-206, esp. 198, 200. Idem, Le livre d'Arda@ Vira@z . . ., Paris, 1984. S. Insler, The Gathas of Zarathustra, Acta Iranica 8, Leiden, 1975. M. F. Kanga, ed. and tr., Ù^tak handarz ^ po@ryo@tke@Þa@n, Bombay, 1960. H. Lommel, Die Religion Zarathustras nach dem Awesta dargestellt, Tübingen, 1930; repr. Hildesheim, 1971. J. de Menasce, ˆkand-Guma@n^k Vi±a@r . . ., Fribourg, 1945. Idem, tr., Le troisieàme livre du De@nkart, Travaux de l'Institut d'Études Iraniennes 5, Paris, 1973. M. Mole‚, "Dae@na@, le pont Ùinvat et l'initiation dans le Mazde‚isme," RHR 157, 1960, pp. 155-85. H. S. Nyberg, Die Religionen des alten Iran, tr. H. H. Schaeder, Leipzig, 1938. J. C. Pavry, The Zoroastrian Doctrine of a Future Life, New York, 1929, pp. 28-48 (on the maiden of the bridge). H. P. Schmidt, "Is Vedic dhe‚na@- related to Avestan dae@na@-?" in Monumentum H.S. Nyberg II, Acta Iranica 5, Leiden and Tehran, 1975, pp. 163-79 (for diverse unconvincing etymologies of dae@na@ proposed by various authors, see pp. 163-67). S. Shaked, The Wisdom of the Sasanian Sages (De@nkard VI) by Aturpa@t-i EÚme@ta@n, Persian Heritage Series 34, Boulder, Colo., 1979. M. Shaki, "The Social Doctrine of Mazdak in the Light of Middle Persian Evidence," Archív Orienta‚lní 46/4, 1978, pp. 289-306. Idem, "The De@nkard Account of the History of the Zoroastrian Scriptures," Archív Orienta‚lní 49/2, 1981, pp. 114-25. F. Vahman, "A Beautiful Girl," in Papers in Honour of Professor Mary Boyce II, Acta Iranica 25, Leiden, 1985, pp. 665-73. Idem, Arda@ Wira@z Na@mag. The Iranian "Divina Commedia", London, 1986. E. W. West, Da@dista@n-^ D^n^k, Pahlavi Texts 2, SBE 17, Oxford, 1882, pp. 2-276. R. C. Zaehner, Zurvan. A Zoroastrian Dilemma, Oxford, 1955 (see index p. 481 on various aspects of the de@n). Idem, The Teachings of the Magi, London, 1956.

(MANSOUR SHAKI)