https://www.academia.edu/33628788/Vohu_manah.pdf
https://tinyurl.com/ybjaw67a
A remarkable validation of the Indus Script decipherment as wealth-creating data archives of metalwork of Bronze Age comes from a Kushana Vohu manah coin.
The dotted-circle hieroglyph (Indus Script) is held on the left hand ligatured with six dots (Indus Script hieroglyph). The hypertext is read rebus:
baṭa 'six' rebus: bhaṭa 'furnace
Dotted circle (cross-section representation of a strand): Hieroglyph: धातु [p= 513,3] m. layer , stratum Ka1tyS3r. Kaus3. constituent part , ingredient (esp. [ and in RV. only] ifc. , where often = " fold " e.g. त्रि-ध्/आतु , threefold &c ; cf.त्रिविष्टि- , सप्त- , सु-) RV. TS. S3Br. &c (Monier-Williams) dhāˊtu *strand of rope ʼ (cf. tridhāˊtu -- ʻ threefold ʼ RV., ayugdhātu -- ʻ having an uneven number of strands ʼ KātyŚr.).; S. dhāī f. ʻ wisp of fibres added from time to time to a rope that is being twisted ʼ, L. dhāī˜ f.(CDIAL 6773)
kāraṇī 'helmsman, scribe, supercargo' of Indus Script)
https://tinyurl.com/ybjaw67a
A remarkable validation of the Indus Script decipherment as wealth-creating data archives of metalwork of Bronze Age comes from a Kushana Vohu manah coin.
Vohu Manah
ZOROASTRIANISM
Since Vohu Manah is the closest of the amesha spentas to Ahura Mazdā, the second month of the Zoroastrian calendar is dedicated to him. His sacred animal is the cow, symbol of the goodness that nourishes. [unquote]
linguistic cognate of vasu-manas a moon deity of the vasu class (soma) among Indo-Aryans
The dotted-circle hieroglyph (Indus Script) is held on the left hand ligatured with six dots (Indus Script hieroglyph). The hypertext is read rebus:
baṭa 'six' rebus: bhaṭa 'furnace
Dotted circle (cross-section representation of a strand): Hieroglyph: धातु [p= 513,3] m. layer , stratum Ka1tyS3r. Kaus3. constituent part , ingredient (esp. [ and in RV. only] ifc. , where often = " fold " e.g. त्रि-ध्/आतु , threefold &c ; cf.त्रिविष्टि- , सप्त- , सु-) RV. TS. S3Br. &c (Monier-Williams) dhāˊtu *strand of rope ʼ (cf. tridhāˊtu -- ʻ threefold ʼ RV., ayugdhātu -- ʻ having an uneven number of strands ʼ KātyŚr.).; S. dhāī f. ʻ wisp of fibres added from time to time to a rope that is being twisted ʼ, L. dhāī˜ f.(CDIAL 6773)
Rebus: M. dhāū, dhāv m.f. ʻ a partic. soft red stone ʼ (whence dhā̆vaḍ m. ʻ a caste of iron -- smelters ʼ, dhāvḍī ʻ composed of or relating to iron ʼ); dhāˊtu n. ʻ substance ʼ RV., m. ʻ element ʼ MBh., ʻ metal, mineral, ore (esp. of a red colour) ʼ; Pk. dhāu -- m. ʻ metal, red chalk ʼ; N. dhāu ʻ ore (esp. of copper) ʼ; Or. ḍhāu ʻ red chalk, red ochre ʼ (whence ḍhāuā ʻ reddish ʼ; (CDIAL 6773) धातु primary element of the earth i.e. metal , mineral, ore (esp. a mineral of a red colour) Mn. MBh. &c element of words i.e. grammatical or verbal root or stem Nir. Pra1t. MBh. &c (with the southern Buddhists धातु means either the 6 elements [see above] Dharmas. xxv ; or the 18 elementary spheres [धातु-लोक] ib. lviii ; or the ashes of the body , relics L. [cf. -गर्भ]) (Monier-Williams. Samskritam).
The ring (torc) held on Vohu's right hand is dhamma (dharma) samjñā, 'responsibility badge' signifying the holder as a guild functionary, comparable to the rings (torcs) on the boatman on the Boatman's pillar of Paris (1st cent. CE) and on 22 stoneware bangles in Indus Script Corpora.See details at http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2016/04/dharma-samjna-corporate-badges-of-indus.html
See Kernunno of Pilier des Nautes (cognate
kāraṇī 'helmsman, scribe, supercargo' of Indus Script)![]()
He is a blacksmith, helmsman
karã̄ n.pl.ʻwristlets, banglesʼ.(Gujarati)(CDIAL 2779) Rebus: khār खार् 'blacksmith' (Kashmiri)
The entire Indus Script Corpora inscriptions signify vasu (wealth) data archives of metalwork.
Reverse of gold coin of the Kushan Empire, possibly of Vasudeva I. Manaobago depicted on the reverse.
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Manaobago:
- Bactrian Manaobago is linked with ‘Vohu Manah’, the Zoroastrian concept of good mind and finds equivalents in Sanskrit ‘vasu manas’ meaning good purpose or good mind.
- Some say that he is the source of the moon god ‘Maonhobago’ as he appears with a crescent on his shoulders on the coins of Kanishka I and Huvishka. https://www.mintageworld.com/blog/deities-on-kushan-coins-part-2/
Vohu Manah (vōhu-mánāh) is the Avestan language term for a Zoroastrian concept, generally translated as "Good Purpose", "Good Mind", or "Good Thought", referring to the good moral state of mind that enables an individual to accomplish his duties. Its Middle Persian equivalent, as attested in the Pahlavi script texts of Zoroastrian tradition, is Wahman, which is a borrowing of the Avestan language expression and has the same meaning, and which continues in New Persian as Bahman and variants. Manah is cognate with the Sanskrit word Manas suggesting some commonality between the ideas of the Gathas and those of the rig veda. The opposite of Vohu Manah is Aka Manah, "evil purpose".
In the Gathas, the oldest texts of the Avesta and considered to be composed by Zoroaster himself, the term 'Vohu Manah' is not unambiguously used as a proper name and frequently occurs without the "Good" (Vohu-) prefix.
In the post-Gathic texts that expound the principles of Zoroastrian cosmogony, Vohu Manah is an Amesha Spenta, one of six "divine sparks" of Ahura Mazda that each represent one facet of creation. In the case of Vohu Manah, this is all animal creation, with a particular stress on cattle. Vohu Manah is of neutral gender in Avestan grammar but in Zoroastrian tradition is considered masculine.
In the Zoroastrian calendar, the second day of each month as well as the eleventh month of each year are dedicated to Vohu Manah. In the Iranian civil calendar, which inherits the names of the months from the Zoroastrian calendar, the 11th month is likewise named Bahman.
The Achaemenid emperor Artaxerxes II (as it is rendered in Greek) had 'Vohu Manah' as the second part of his throne name, which when "translated" into Greek appeared as 'Mnemon'. New Persian Bahman remains a theophoric in present-day Iranian and Zoroastrian tradition.
References
- Narten, Joanna (1989). "Bahman i: In the Avesta". Encyclopaedia Iranica. 3. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 487–488.
- Gignoux, Phillipe (1989). "Bahman ii: In the Pahlavi texts". Encyclopaedia Iranica. 3. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 487.
Association with Bronze Age metalwork is evident in the following excursus on Vohu manah:
[quote]There is no evidence in the Gāθās that Zoroaster himself conceived of the six Aməša Spəntas hierarchically (cf. Lommel, op. cit., p. 47); but the group divides naturally into three dyads, with Aša paired with Vohu Manah. (For the many Gathic passages in which the two are mentioned together see Gray, op. cit., pp. 28ff.)
The opening sections of the old Av. Yasna Haptaŋhāiti formerly, it seems, accompanied the priestly offering to fire; and in them Aša is repeatedly named, alone or with Ahura Mazdā, and once with Vohu Manah and Vohu Xšaθra (Y. 35.10). He receives there the epithets sraēšta- “most beautiful” (Y. 35.3), Vahišta- “best” (Y. 35.5, cf. Y. 41.1), and vohu- “good” (Y. 36.4); and is worshipped as “Aša Vahišta, most beautiful, the Aməša Spənta, radiant (raočahvant-)” (Y. 37.4). The veneration of fire is explicit; and once ( Y. 37.1) Aša appears himself to represent fire in what is otherwise a list of physical creations. Later in the liturgy the worshippers seek “companionship with Ahura Mazdā and Aša for ever” (Y. 40.2, cf. 41.6), and ask that the community should be made Ašavan- “possessing Aša” and Aša-činah- “attached to aša” (Y. 40.3). Ahura Mazdā himself they venerate as Aša.ŋhac- “accompanied by Aša” (Y. 41 .3).
One of the four holiest Zoroastrian prayers, the Ašəm vohu, is wholly devoted to Aša and the principle of aša; and here again the divinity has the epithet vahišta-, as regularly in Young Av. texts. He is frequently associated in the yasna with Ātar, yazata of fire (e.g., Y. 1.4 ; 2.4; 3.6 et passim). There is also a special link between him and Airyaman, yazata of friendship and healing, implied in the Ardwahišt Yašt (cf. Dēnkard 3. 157.7). The xšnūman or liturgical invocation of Aša is “Aša Vahišta, most beautiful, the Aməša Spənta;” and, thus invoked, he is regularly associated with Airyaman and Saokā (see Sīrōza 1.3, 2.3). According to the Zand (Pahlavi version) of a lost Av. text, preserved in a 9th century Pahlavi work, towards the end of time Aša and Airyaman will come upon earth together to initiate the conquest of the demon Āz (Zātspram 34.38-9); and subsequently it is Aša’s creation, fire, which together with Airyaman will purge the whole earth with molten metal (Bundahišn, tr. 34.18).
...
In one place in the Zand (ibid., 26.38) it is said that after Ahura Mazdā had created the six great Aməša Spəntas, he himself being the other and best member of the group, he asked them: “Who created us?” They remained silent, and he asked a second and a third time. Finally Ardwahišt replied: “You created us,” and the other then repeated this with him. The Pahlavi text continues: “Ohrmazd forthwith made Ardwahišt the base (teh) of all that is spiritual;” but there follows, probably by a commentator, a play on words: “Even as Wahman is great (meh), so Ardwahišt is the base (teh)” (ibid., 26.39); for in the tradition Wahman (Vohu Manah) is regularly the first of the six, and stands on the right hand of Ohrmazd, with Ašawahišt on his right hand (ibid., 26.8). The close Gathic partnership of Aša and Vohu Manah is faithfully reflected in the tradition, e.g., in the legend of the prophet’s birth both are consulted by Ohrmazd, and carry out his commands together (see Dēnkard 7.2.17, 25ff.; M. Molé, La légende de Zoroastre selon les textes pehlevis, Paris, 1967, pp. 16ff.). Here Wahman is invariably named first, but again it is Ašawahišt who is the spokesman (Dēnkard, 7.2.18); and at the conversion of Wištāsp it is to him that Ohrmazd sends Nēryōsang with a message, and it is he who, acting upon this message, brings about the king’s final acceptance of the faith (Dēnkard 7.4.85-86; Molé, op. cit., p. 57).