{{short description|Zoroastrian concept representing insight and revelation}} {{Infobox deity | type = Zoroastrian | deity_of = Goddess of Conscience, Truth, and Eternal law | image = 260px | caption = Sogdian Daēnās, a 10th-century line drawing from the Mogao Caves. The deity on the left is probably a depiction of Daēnā. | other_names = Din | script_name = Avestan | script = Daena 𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬥𐬁 | gender = Female | attributes = Goddess of Conscience, Goddess of Truth, Goddess of Order, Goddess of Spiritual Guidance | affiliation = The Thirty-Three Deities, Guardians of the Days of the Month | mount = Chariot | day = 24th of each month in the Iranian calendar | associated_deities = Rashnu, Mansarspand, Sraosha | sacred_flower = Persian Rose | festivals = Navjote }} {{Zoroastrianism sidebar}} '''Daēnā''' ({{IPA|ae|dʌeːnaː}}) is a Zoroastrian concept representing insight and revelation, hence "conscience" or "religion." Alternately, ''Daena'' is considered to be a divinity, counted among the ''yazata''s.
==Nomenclature== Daena is a feminine noun which translates to "that which is seen or observed". In ''Zoroastrianism: An Introduction to an Ancient Faith'', Peter Clark suggests that the term might also be tied to the Avestan root "deh" or "di-" to gain understanding.<ref name="Clark, Peter 1998">Clark, Peter (1998), ''Zoroastrianism: An Introduction to an Ancient Faith'', '''1''', Sussex: Sussex Academic Press: 69-70.</ref>
The Avestan term {{lang|ae|𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬥𐬁}} – trisyllabic ''{{lang|ae-Latn|daēnā}}'' in Gathic Avestan and bisyllabic ''{{lang|ae-Latn|dēnā}}'' in Younger Avestan – continues into Middle Persian as ''dēn'' ({{lang|pal|𐭣𐭩𐭭}}) (origin of New Persian دین<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jeffery |first=Arthur |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.217779 |title=The Foreign Vocabulary Of The Quran |date=1938 |publisher=Baroda: Oriental Institute |pages=131–132}}</ref>), which preserves the Avestan meanings. For comparison, it has a Sanskrit cognate ''dhénā'' which means thought, but thought in its higher and spiritual reaches.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=3087593|title=Sanskrit dhénā = Avestan daenā = Lithuanian dainà|first=Samuel Grant|last=Oliphant|date=1 January 1912|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=32|issue=4|pages=393–413|doi=10.2307/3087593}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-3087593|title = Sanskrit dhénā = Avestan daenā = Lithuanian dainà|date = December 1912|publisher = Journal of the American Oriental Society}}</ref> The word ''Zen'', as used in the name of the religious sect of Zen Buddhism, is derived from the cognate ''dhayanā'' (see also Dhyāna in Buddhism).
It is thought that the Daena of Zoroastrianism is related to Sanskrit Dharma, also meaning "the Law".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morreall |first1=John |last2=Sonn |first2=Tamara |title=The Religion Toolkit: A Complete Guide to Religious Studies |date=2011 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9781444343717 |page=324 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aM461tmUDe4C&pg=PT324 |language=en}}</ref>
==In Scripture== [[File:Sogdian-Zoroastrian Deities, Tunhwang.jpg|thumb|left|''Sogdian Daēnās'', a 10th-century line drawing from the Mogao Caves. The deity on the left is probably a depiction of Daēnā.]] The concept of Daena is mentioned in the Gathas, a series of seventeen hymns supposedly written by Zoroaster.<ref name="Clark, Peter 1998" /> Daena appears both in the Ahunavaiti Gatha<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.avesta.org/yasna/y28to34b.htm|title=Avesta: Yasna 28-34 - Ahunavaiti Gatha (English)|publisher=}}</ref> and in the Ushtavaiti Gatha,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.avesta.org/yasna/y43to46b.htm|title=AVESTA: YASNA (English): Chapter 43-46 - Ushtavaiti Gatha|publisher=}}</ref> where it is written that Daena is somehow affiliated with the reward that the faithful will receive in the afterlife. However, references to Daena in the Gathas are brief, leaving much ambiguity on its nature.
Later Avestan writings, such as the Vendidad, describe the concept of Daena further. The Vendidad portrays Daena as something of a psychopomp, guiding good and pure souls over the Chinvat Bridge to the '''House of Song''', Zoroastrian paradise, while the wicked are dragged to the '''House of Lies''', a place of punishment. She is described as being finely dressed and accompanied by dogs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.avesta.org/vendidad/vd_tc.htm|title=AVESTA: VENDIDAD: Table of Contents|publisher=}}</ref>
Maneckji Nusserwanji Dhalla writes in ''Zoroastrian Theology'' that on the dawn of the fourth day after death, "there appears then to the soul its own daena, or religious conscience in the shape of a damsel of unsurpassed beauty, the fairest of the fair in the world."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/zoroastriantheol00dhal#page/n5/mode/2up|title=Zoroastrian theology from the earliest times to the present day|year=1914|publisher=}}</ref>
Daena is the eternal Law, whose order was revealed to humanity through the ''Mathra Spenta'' "Holy Words". Daena has been used to mean religion, faith, law, even as a translation for the Hindu and Buddhist term Dharma, often interpreted as "duty" or social order, right conduct, or virtue. The metaphor of the 'path' of Daena is represented in Zoroastrianism by the muslin sedreh undershirt, the "Good/Holy Path", and the 72-thread Kushti girdle, the "Pathfinder".
==See also== *Dharma *Din (Arabic) *Den Yasht *Maid of Heaven
== References == {{Reflist}}
Category:Yazatas Category:Ancient Iranian goddesses Category:Liminal deities Category:Liminal goddesses Category:Psychopomps