Mazdá is the Ahûrá/Æsir par excellence in Zoroastrianism. Mazdá is the essence of godhood and all the ahûrás/æsir are different aspects, virtues, powers of Mazdá.
Mazdá and/or Ma(n)zdá (*mens-dheh-) incorporates the Indo European noun *mens of the stem ménos “mind-force, passion, spirit, will power, determination, resolve” and the verb dheh “to set, establish, do, create.” (Courtesy of Didier Calin)
Mazdá is thus “creative mind-force, power of the spirit/mind to devise, create, innovate.”
The closest synonym to Ahûrá Mazdá in the Vedas is the term ásurasya māyáyā in RV 5.63.7 “magic of the ásuras, the magical substance, mind stuff of the æsir, the creativity/innovative mind-power of the god beings.”
Meðá, “mind-power, creativity, imagination and vision” is the Vedic equivalent for Mazdá and occurs as an epithet of the god-beings in the Vedas. The followings are all the instances that the term Meðá is revealed in the Rig Veda.
1.018.06c saním medhā́m ayāsiṣam
2.034.07d saním medhā́m áriṣṭaṃ duṣṭáraṃ sáhaḥ
4.033.10a yé hárī medháyā ukthā́ mádanta
5.027.04d dádan medhā́m r̥tāyaté
5.043.13a ā́ dharṇasír br̥háddivo rárāṇo
5.043.13b víśvebhir gantu ómabhir huvānáḥ
5.043.13c gnã́ vásāna óṣadhīr ámr̥dhras
5.043.13d tridhā́tuśr̥ṅgo vr̥ṣabhó vayodhā́ḥ
7.104.06c yā́ṃ vāṃ hótrām parihinómi medháyā
8.006.10b medhā́m r̥tásya jagrábha
8.052.09d stotúr medhā́ asr̥kṣata
9.009.09c sánā medhā́ṃ sánā súvaḥ
9.026.03a táṃ vedhā́m medháyāhiyan
9.032.06c saním medhā́m utá śrávaḥ
9.065.16a rā́jā medhā́bhir īyate
9.107.25d medhā́m abhí práyāṃsi ca
10.091.08a medhākāráṃ vidáthasya prasā́dhanam
In Rig Veda 7.087.04a, Varuna is called meðira “full of passion, mind-power and wit” uvāca me váruṇo médhirāya.
Although the Vedic Varuna seems to have the same qualities/virtues as Ahûrá Mazdá; and Óðinn seem to be almost the same as the Mindful/Insightful Lord of Zoroastrianism, the closest to the idea of Mazdá in the Indo European lore are probably the MUSES.
Muses were the primordial nine personifications of CREATIVE INSIGHT and were of one spirit/mind. It was believed that Muses inspired music, melody and song.
By calling upon and receiving the mind-power, wisdom/creative insight of the Muses, a poet, seer or musician could transcend the bounds of talent and rise to unimagined, new levels of creativity and intuitive wisdom.
The noun Μοῦσα derives from the Indo-European root *men-, “think, put in mind” in verb formations with transitive function and “have in mind, be mindful of, commit to memory” in those with intransitive function.
This is reflected in the mythological relationship of the divine Muses with μνημοσύνη in the sense of “poetic recall,” the skill of making song and poetry through the power of mind, memory and imagination.
Muses were invoked at the beginning of various lyrical poems, so that the Muses give inspiration or speak through the seer-poet’s words.
The Muses—collectively “the mind/intent/spirit” of the seer-poet—begin and end with forms of *men-/mneh2- and/or *h2u̯eid- in the Homeric Hymns.
Mortal men who have been instructed by the Muses were raised aloft to heaven [ouranos], for creativity, imagination and the power of thought/mind lift men’s souls to heavenly heights; (Compare with Yasna 28.4, 1st rhymed verse line of the poetic gathas.)
ardeshir
