Khvarenah

The hypothesis has since been shown to be untenable, and the proto-Iranian form is today reconstructed as *hu̯,[2] preserved in Avestan as xᵛ- and dissimilated as f- in other Iranian dialects.

[4][5] In the Iranian languages of the Middle Period, the word is also attested as Bactrian far(r)o, Khotanese pharra, Parthian farh, Sogdian f(a)rn, and Ossetic farnæ and farn, though in these languages the word does not necessarily signify "glory" or "fortune": In Buddhism, Sogdian farn and Khotanese pharra signified a "position of a Buddha," that is, with "dignity" or "high position."

In Scytho-Sarmatian and Alan culture, Digor-Ossetic farnæ and Iron-Ossetic farn signified "peace, happiness, abundance, fortune."

The primary source of information on khvarenah comes from the Yashts, the younger Avesta's collection of 21 hymns dedicated to individual divinities.

Yasht 19, which is nominally dedicated to Zam "Earth", further typifies khvarenah as a yazata,[7] that is, itself "worthy of worship."

The same hymn includes a list of divinities and mortals who perform their duties due to the power of khvarenah.

In Yasna 60.2, the family priest is seen to request joy and blessings for the righteous, good nature, truth, prosperity, power, and glory for the house in which he offers prayers.

The Iranian khvarenah and Dahman, the hypostasis of prayer, render Bushyasta - the demoness of "sloth" – powerless (Yasht 10.97, 13.4).

In the 9th-12th century texts of Zoroastrian tradition khvarenah (→ Middle Persian khwarrah) is a spiritual force that exists before the creation of the tan-gohr, the mortal body (Bundahishn II.7ff, Zadspram 3.75).

[9] Another ubiquitous motif in Sassanian art is the symbol of a boar, which is a representation of the protection of the yazata Verethragna (MP: Wahram) given to rulers that hold khwarrah.

[10] This is also the case for the ring held by the bearded figure in the Achaemenid winged sun-disk symbol that is traditionally considered to represent a fravashi (MP: fravahr).

[11] "The fundamental motif of Iranian kingship, a hereditary dynastic charisma [...], which, could however be lost, was at the root of ideas that were widespread in the Hellenistic and Roman periods.

[8] The concept of the royal khwarrah survived the 7th century downfall of the Sassanid Empire, and remained a central motif (for instance as the farr-e elahi) in the culture, philosophy and epics of Islamic Iran.