Rtavan
The term Rtvan is an Indo/Iranian (Vedic and Iranian belief systems) term that refers to an individual who acts in accordance with, and supports, the "cosmic order." It is a term broadly syncretic with Right Action.
Syncretic Terms
Right Action > Achara, Aligned Action, Ashramas, Dharma, Purushaarthas, Rtavan, Shariah
Notes
"This term, it is now generally accepted, represents a concept which cannot be precisely rendered by any single word in another tongue.3o It stands, it seems, for "order" in the widest sense: cosmic order, by which night gives place to day and the seasons change; the order of sacrifice, by which this natural rhythm is strengthen- ed and maintained; social order, by which men can live together in harmony and prosperity; and moral order or "truth". In both India and Iran to possess rta or as a, to be rtavan or asavan, was to be a just and up-right being; and when used of the dead these words implied that the de- parted was blessed in the hereafter, having attained the Paradise which he deserved. 31 "[1]
Related term asavan (p. 27).
Footnotes
- ↑ Boyce, Mary. A History of Zoroastrianism: Volume One The Early Period. New York: E. J. Brill, 1996. p. 27
