Āzar Kayvān[a] (b. between c. 1529 and 1533; d. between c. 1609 and 1618) was the Zoroastrian high priest of Istakhr and a gnostic philosopher,[2] who was a native of Fars, Iran and later emigrated to Patna in the Mughal Empire during the reign of Emperor Akbar.
A member of the Sepāsīān community (gorūh),[3] he became the founder of a Zoroastrian school of ishraqiyyun or Illuminationists, which exhibited features of Sufi Muslim influence.
Through dreams and visions he received the teaching of the ancient sages of Iran, which allowed him to give extraordinary replies to questions which were asked of him at the madrasa where he was a student, and which won him the nickname ḏū l-ʿulūm "master of the sciences".
Around 1570, drawn by the religious revival which was taking place in India around the Emperor Akbar, he left with them to settle down in the town of Patna in Bihar, where he lived until he died at around eighty-five years of age.
[2] According to one school of thought, Dastur Meherji Rana, who had influenced Akbar and founded the famous lineage of Parsi high priests at Navsari, was a disciple of Azar Kayvan.