Armenism

[Anoushik]

Besides, she lives right in Los Angeles, no need for Mancho to travel to New Jersey.

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I have no idea what you're talking about Who's Mancho?

[Sasun]

I have no idea what you're talking about   Who's Mancho?    

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I don't know who he is but I certainly don't want to deal with him. The name is very intimidating

[Anahit]

Armjan, people don't need to believe in something greater than themselves to take care of each other. Maybe believing in something greater eases - like you said - this miserable life that everyone more or less shares. But it has nothing to do with people helping each other.

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Right. I have come to believe that the greatest of the greatest is the human being herself/himself. Nothing is as great, strong and powerful as the feelings and abilities we possess.

[kakachik77]

Right. I have come to believe that the greatest of the greatest is the human being herself/himself. Nothing is as great, strong and powerful as the feelings and abilities we possess.

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even the feeling when you want to choke someone to death

[Armen]

Not a very good article in my op, but gives an idea what direction the region is going to move, while we discuss "Armenism".

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Can Europe Do Away with Nationalism?

 

http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.22572/pub_detail.asp

[MosJan]

ok i found me a new GOD -= MAKITA =-

 

 

but i just can't do this - way to much for me

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://media2.big-boys.com/bbfiles/images/bbpics/pic1096.jpg

[Artsakh]

This must be one of them more modern religions, i see now they are using advanced technology to assist them in their freak-like activities.

[armjan]

Armjan, people don't need to believe in something greater than themselves to take care of each other. Maybe believing in something greater eases - like you said - this miserable life that everyone more or less shares. But it has nothing to do with people helping each other.

 

My day was fine. Thank you. How was yours?

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it would be quite foolish of me to argue with an anoushik girl

Edited May 28, 2005 by armjan

[Anonymouse]

I don't know but I'm tired of this whole Armenism and Armena proselytizing.

[Anahit]

even the feeling when you want to choke someone to death   

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THAT goes under STRONG, NOT GREAT AT ALL!!!! i think humans have stronger feelings then animals when it comes to killing their enemies... in some cases THAT could go even under POWERFUL.

[Armena]

I don't know but I'm tired of this whole Armenism and Armena proselytizing.

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Take a rest man

[Artsakh]

I don't know but I'm tired of this whole Armenism and Armena proselytizing.

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if you're tired, and you keep on coming back for more, then there's must be something wrong with you.

[skhara]

Can Europe Do Away with Nationalism?

 

Why? Is it a bad thing?

 

This must be one of them more modern religions, i see now they are using advanced technology to assist them in their freak-like activities.

[Armen]

Why?  Is it a bad thing?

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Isen't Europe trying to create a supra-national state (?). How can EU become an integrated political entity if the nations comprising it stick to nationalism? In this sense it is a bad thing. Although, it might not be a bad thing for countries of other regions.

[Anonymouse]

if you're tired, and you keep on coming back for more, then there's must be something wrong with you.

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Unless you construe with the right to ones opinion as "something wrong" then no.

[skhara]

Isen't Europe trying to create a supra-national state (?).

 

What does the rejection of the EU constitution by France and Netherlands mean to this?

[Armen]

What does the rejection of the EU constitution by France and Netherlands mean to this?

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As Gamavor noted in another thread... wouldn't it br strange if they would approve it in the first referendum? Even Shirak couldn't answer some questions about the constitution not to mention some farmers etc. Wage workers, employees and farmes are againist the "free market" promoting parts of the constitution. Majority of those who voted yes in France were executives and academia.

 

I think they knew that it is going to be killed. Many opinion polls predicted that. They jsut want to get the general European feeling about it first and then start working on it seriously. So we have not seen anything yet.

 

And it is not about nationalism, it is about economy.

[Artsakh]

When and Why?

 

The roots of Armenism could be traced back to the early stages of monoteism, when around 6,000-5,000 BC, the Aryan people began to worship the one and only God, the Creator.

Armenian National Strategy was created to solidify the Armenian national identity and the Armenian national statehood, which resulted in the formation of the Armenian nation, the establishment of the Armenian national borders and its state institutions around 2492 BC. Armenism took momentum under the leadership of the Armenian patriarkh, the Hyek Nahapet and continued to be developed through the persistant and dedicated work of his descendants and the Armenian clergy, the 'krmapets'.

Edited June 26, 2005 by Artsakh

[Artsakh]

What is Armenism?

 

Armenism is a developing national strategy with a potential to secure the continuous existence of the Armenian nation-state, Armenian cultural heritage and the Armenian ethno-linguistic identity. Furthermore, Armenism is comprised of religious and political components designed to accomplish regeneration of the Armenian cultural, political, economic, intellectual and military capacities in the region of Caucasus.

 

The political goals of Armenism are the following:

 

- To promote the establishment of an efficient system of government in the Republic of Armenia, capable of providing sufficient public services to Armenian citizens and securing Armenia’s borders drawn up by the former American President Woodrow Wilson in 1918 and recognized by the international community under the Treaty of Sevres.

 

The economic and financial goals of Armenism are the following:

 

- To promote the establishment of a competitive economic system of market economy in Armenia, capable of providing sufficient legal framework for the development of a fair trade, proper banking and commerce that will significantly benefit the country and create large number of growing industries in Armenia capable of resolving the problems of joblessness and brain-drain.

 

-To promote the development and rapid growth of the profit generating and job creating industries in Armenia, that will propel the country to the rank of the leading nations in the world known for their advances in the fields of High Tech, Telecommunications, Agriculture, Chemical Industry, Medicine, Science, Education and Tourism.

 

The intellectual goals of Armenism are the following:

 

-To promote the establishment of a highly competitive educational system in the Republic of Armenia capable of exceeding world's educational and scientific accomplishments that will propel Armenia to the frontiers of the cutting edge science and scholarship, enabling Armenia to conduct a pragmatic diplomacy to defend its national interests in the region.

 

It is the goal of Armenism to promote the cultivation of a fertile ground for the establishment of the Armenia as the regional mega-center of advanced knowledge and applied sciences, the new Heliopolis of the world scholarship.

 

The cultural goals of Armenism are the following:

 

-To preserve and promote the Armenian cultural heritage as the guarantor of preserving Armenian ethno-linguistic identity within the Republic of Armenia and its vast cross-continental diaspora. Specific components of the Armenian identity to be venerated are: the Armenian language, history, mythology and literature, food, dances, various traditions and customs, clothing fashion, arts, music and the importance of building families to enable our nation grow and prosper.

 

For the Armenism, the significance of the Mt. Ararat and the Armenian language are that of a sacred value in the doctrine of Armenism. The beginnings of the world civilization in the Armenian Highland are that of a divine significance.

 

The military goals of Armenism are the following:

 

-To help the Armenia in its goal to accomplish sufficient military capabilities to be deployed for the defense of the country, for the defense of the Armenia's citizenry and its national interests.

[Artsakh]

Who are We?

 

We are a group of Armenian patriots who were led by our ansestral spirit to find each other and collectivly to discover our national salvation, the Armenian National Strategy of Survival, the doctrine of Armenism.

Our goal is to convey this strategy to our people and to advocate this dogma for the adoption as a National Strategy by the government of the Republic of Armenia, responsible for the state-building and national security.

[Artsakh]

More about the Armenism-Q and A

 

-What is it?-

 

Armenism is a way of thinking, a worldview, an ideology, a belief. Armenism has existed since the emergence of the Armenian identity. It is a collective understanding of Armenians about themselves and their role in life and the world at large. This concept had no tangible status in the past, because there was no need for its material existence, however, Armenism had brought forth the Armenian civilization of Aratta or Ararat back in 6,000-5,000 BC, giving birth to Armenian nation, Armenian language, folklore, customs, music, literature, science, national cuisine, traditions and cultural heritage in general.

 

Through out the millennia Armenism was rather spiritual embodiment of Armenian people, collective vision about their national identity and unique belief about their collective role in the world, their national mission in life. Armenism is the concept of being Armenian, the “Armenianness”, the Armenosphere”.

 

This collective understanding of Armenian people about themselves received its shattering blow with the fall of the last Armenian kingdom, the kingdom of Cilicia in the late 1200s, due to the massive invasion of Seljuk Turks into the region of Anatolia and Mesopotamia, followed by the Armenian Genocides of 1875-1885 and 1915-1923, when more than half of the Armenian nation was brutally massacred in Western Armenia by the hands of the Turkish government and its loyal gangs.

 

Today, as a result of our devastating past not so far back ago, with the great loss of our historical homeland in Western Armenia and Eastern Armenia, with the quantitative loss of Armenian people, several centuries long Turkish oppression and collective suffering for many centuries, Armenism felt the urge to take shape and embody itself in the sacred pages of our history, to show its true potential and ability to empower Armenian people and the Armenian state with a resurrected collective psyche to ensure and secure our place in the world and live on as a nation and state through out history into the eternity.

 

Why Armenism?

 

Armenism is the way for our progress, because we believe that strong awareness of one’s national character, one’s national soul and cultural identity gives birth to strong individuals that are capable of developing a growing potential of becoming productive individuals for the benefit of the mankind. We believe that national identity of world’s leading individuals like Albert Einstein, Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi, Lev Tolstoy, Aram Khachaturian, Plato, Socrates, Mozart and many others had played a significant role in empowering them to realize their full potential as human beings, to succeed in life and extend their personally acquired skills and knowledge for the benefit of their nations, humanity, and the world at large.

 

We believe that individuals become great people in life by first developing their love, care and compassion toward their own family, friends and relatives, then toward their own nation, Homeland and eventually the mankind and the world at large. We do not think that a lone individual who is parentless, homeless and without fatherland, without anybody to care for him/her or develop affiliation with can succeed in life and become a fulfilled individual, able to contribute to the benefit of himself or those around him. We believe that from personal bonds and sense of compassion toward one’s close one comes forth the awareness for public good and welfare, not vice versa. That is, to love the world and the humanity at large, one needs to love and respect himself, his/her own family, nation and homeland first.

 

We do not consider ourselves as extremists or chauvinists, in fact we do not support or encourage that anywhere or among anyone at all, because we believe that extremism is a dangerous expressions of one’s repressed feelings and emotions, failures and personal problems, that easily blinds him/herself from the truth and the right path leading one toward the end and self-destruction with fatal outcomes to everybody else around.

 

When did Armenism begin to take form?

 

Armenism began to take form when Christianity failed to protect Armenians from the ruthless Genocide back on April 24, 1915. When the Armenian people had realized the blunder that they were living for millennia at the expense of their millions innocently dead ancestors in the Genocide while the rest of the world just watched at a distance and pity them, moreover making plots with the aggressor behind their backs. Armenism took shape under Garegin Njdeh to become known as Tseghakronutiun in the mountains of Syuniq untill the existence of the Armenian people and their republic was guaranteed.

 

Communism came and suppressed the great Armenian spirit but not for long. Back in 1965, Armenism began to recover itself through a new national reawakening on the streets of Yerevan and throughout the Armenian Diaspora resulting in the world recognition of the Armenian Genocide and setting forth the precedent toward the 1991 independence of the Republic of Armenia and the triumphant struggle for the liberation of Artsakh and the freedom for the Armenian people from the communist oppression and obscured insignificance in the dynamics of the world at large.

 

Why are you so sure about your victory?

 

We are sure about our victory because we believe that justice is an absolute virtue. We believe that justice is divine and is an integral part of what makes God who He is. Throughout the time, various people and cultures referred to God in various ways, and attributed such qualities as good, evil, strong or else, while Christianity in many cases referred to God as if a supra-natural love. In our believes, God is justice, and each receives what he/she deserves. We believe that justice is the basic law of the universal processes that governs the universe and everything in it. As such, we believe that Armenians and the Armenian Cause are on the side of justice.

 

Armenian Cause is just, and we believe that Armenians can become the guardians and promoters of justice – the disciples of the absolute truth. However being just is not enough to be victorious. Victories begin with the realization of reality and truth, and we believe that it is a reality that for the last 1700 years we were mislead by a foreign religion, which in many cases became the source of our defeats, such as the Armenian Genocide of 1915. We do not argue that Armenian Genocide occurred because of our Christian religion, but we do argue that the Armenian Genocide occurred because of our weaknesses and the source of our weaknesses we believe had roots within the Christianity itself. To not recognize this truth is to be self-defeating and self-destructive.

 

When we began first time in many centuries to think as warriors of justice, as guardians and disciples of the truth, when for the first time we began to believe that Armenia is the Holly Land and Armenians are the chosen people, we became victorious in the battlefields, we became victorious in our state diplomacy, we brought justice to our people and to our Fatherland. In Artsakh (Nagorno-Kharabagh) justice and truth had triumphed. God has triumphed through our people and through our struggle against historical injustice and the web of lies and deceit.

 

What is your opinion of the Armenian Apostolic Christian Church?

 

We support Armenian Apostolic church as a national institution, which did its best to preserve the Armenian identity, Armenian cultural heritage and the Armenian language for so many years. There are very few institutions like that in the world that would have such a long history of existence and continues work. However, the Armenian Church has one weakness, which is the religion that the church advocates, the Christianity per se. We find Christianity to be a cosmopolitan ideology that contradicts our national character, and as such, does not protect Armenian identity from assimilation. Christianity itself has brought so many divisions to our nation, particularly in Diaspora in terms of different denominations and neo-Christian cults that many Armenians went astray from their culture and gradually lost their Armenian identity.

 

An ideology that preaches of a foreign land to be a “Holy Land” and foreign nation to be “the chosen people” just contradicts to our own views about Armenia and the Armenian people, and this is where the main difference between the ideologies of Armenists and the Armenian Apostolic Church arises. We are willing to cooperate with the Armenian Apostolic Church on the national issues that may strengthen the Armenian people and Armenia. However, we cannot compromise our beliefs.

 

Do you not afraid that your ideology may divide Armenians even further?

 

No, we do not think that our ideology will divide Armenians any further, because it is our view that Armenians are so divided already, that there is no room for any greater division. On the contrary, we believe that our ideology will serve to unite the Armenians all over the world and focus their main attention, skills and knowledge on strengthening Armenia and the Armenian nation around its ethno-linguistic identity, cultural heritage, the Armenian Cause and our Fatherland.

 

Why do you oppose Christianity so much?

 

We oppose Christian ideology because we know that Christianity has nothing to do with nationalism. By its nature, Christianity is anti-national idea with a corrupt mythology stolen from the ancient Sumerians, Egyptians, Babylonians and Iranians. As a religion, Christianity does not recognize the existence of national cultures and ethno-linguistic groups. Christianity does not recognize the importance of nation-states and national borders, it does not recognize the idea of Fatherland as such.

 

Some nations tried to use the Old Testament or New Testament for their own good to strengthen their own nations and countries, yet the Armenian Apostolic Church has failed to do so, therefore, we find Christianity as irrelevant to the efforts of strengthening Armenia and the Armenian people, because it does not correspond to our national character and does not encourage the creation of a stronger Armenia.

[Artsakh]

Armenism and Other Religions

 

Armenism is an ethnocentric ideology with religious and political aspirations. Armenism otherwise could be described as a religious nationalism. Armenism is based upon its nine main principles deeply rooted in the creative and spiritual nature of Armenian psyche and its fascination with knowledge and wisdom. Just like many other ethnocentric religions, Armenism is peculiar and unique in its relevance to its carrier – the Armenians and Armenia. Despite being fundamentally Armenian by its origin, Armenism under special circumstances can be extended to incorporate other cultures of similar traditions and of common ancestry.

 

Armenism believes that the humanity had first originated on the slops of Mt. Ararat and surrounding land, and it is there, in the Armenian Highland humans had first began to acknowledged the existence of God, His role in the lives of humanity and the purpose of their own being. Armenism believes that this knowledge of divine and the human sense for its purpose had inspired Armenians to create the first world civilization, the kingdom of Aratta also known as Ararat, Arartun and Urartu around 6000-5000 before common era, thus setting forth the precedent for the emergence of other civilizations around the world. Arartun in Armenian means the Home of the Creator, and as such Armenism considers the entire territory of historic Armenia as the Holy Land.

 

Armenism is different from other religions by the following rituals and practices:

 

-Armenists pray every day at the sunrise and every day before the dawn facing toward the Mt. Ararat.

 

-Armenists follow the Armenian the pre-Christian Armenian calendar that was used before the advent of Christianity to celebrate their Armenian holy days and New Year, known in Armenian as Navasard.

 

-Armenists do not believe in the existence of hell, but do believe that those who don’t follow the divine Law set forth by God as they were given to Armenian forefather Hyek Nahapet will vanish into a non-existence and insignificance after their physical death, while who do follow the Law of God will become one with God and overcome their physical death.

 

-Armenism believes that all good and all evil is the work of men and is not related to anything or anyone beyond the world of our daily experiences. Armenists believe that the purpose of the mankind is immortality and transcendence to become one with God, as such, Armenists believe that the purpose of nations is to lead the rest of the humanity toward immortality, toward becoming one with God.

 

The Armenist understanding of God is very different from that of other religions. More specifically, it differs in the following aspects:

 

- In Middle Eastern (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) and many other religions god is seen physically as similar to humans. It is said that the humans were created in the shape of god. Accordingly, god is often portrayed as an old man with white beard flying over the clouds.

 

Unlike that, Armenism sees God in the plentitude and diversity of physical forms. Physically God is everywhere: in the skies, on earth, in a tree, in an ant. The world consist of God’s physical energy, also called “ar”. God may take any shape and form, including human. But the human is not the main shape of God.

 

- The Middle Eastern religions also see god as the ultimate ruler, the dictator, whose will is a rule that everybody should obey. No one has a right to disobey god’s will because this will lead to punishment by god, because god is also the judge of everything and everyone. Men are considered inferior and sinful and should fear god.

 

For Armenism, God is neither a dictator, not the judge. He is our friend and we do not need to fear Him. God is not imposing His will upon men, but only advises us on how to live our lives better and easier. God does not punish either. He has set rules for everybody and everything. These rules are embodied in the Law of God. And, unlike in other religions, humans have a choice. We may choose to follow God’s advice, i.e., God’s Law, and the better off and victorious, or we may choose to disregard the Law and play blind and be at our own risk. In this case, God will not punish us, but we will punish ourselves by making mistakes and getting into traps and hardships. But in any case the freedom of choice is always with us.

 

- In other religions men are made of clay, ashes or dirt. Most religions are humiliating man by considering him a slave or animal full of primitive instincts and sins. The Middle Eastern religions in particular went too far in humiliating man’s dignity and self esteem.

 

Armenism considers men divine beings. This comes from the fact that all man bear a little piece of God’s holy soul inside, the one that is given by God to every conscious being at birth. Given the fact that physically men consist of God’s ar and spiritually – of God’s arev (soul), men are considered as children of God. In this regard, Armenism is the only religion on the planet earth that praises and admires the human nature and preaches a belief that is encouraging humans to be better sons of God.

 

C Grigor Ariaci

C Ayg Argayl

C World Armenist Community

[Artsakh]

Armenism and the Imperative of Family in Armenian Culture

 

Armenism encourages young Armenians to get married with the loved one from the opposite sex and build a fruitful and successful family. We encourage Armenians to be financially well off before getting married, and once married to have minimum 3 children of their own and adopt minimum 2 other children as well.

 

We believe that current low demographic numbers for Armenians in Armenia and Armenians through out the world present our nation with a dangerous challenge of being demoghraphicaly overwhelmed and driven into an extinction. Gradual extinction of Armenian people will result in the loss of the Armenian statehood and its magnificent culture that in the past gave rise to the first civilization in the world and encouraged the appearance of many other civilizations around the globe.

 

Armenian family, was and is the basic fundamental of the Armenian statehood and its national survivol, it is its strength. Thousands of years ago, Armenian family had brought forth the Armenian nation that created for us our one and only Fatherland. As such we advocate the creation and strenghtening of Armenian families. It is our destiny to live on as a culture and to prevail as a nation-state against all odds.

[Artsakh]

The Aryan Esthetics: Introductory Notes

 

Written by Ayg Argayl

 

Translation by Grigor Ariyatsi

 

Yerevan State University

 

1990

 

Introduction

 

Recently a number of historians and ethnologists renewed their interest regarding the culture of the legendary Aryans. As a result, many written observations have been made and lots of research work has been published to shed light on believes and the life styles of various Aryan groups around the world. Despite some successful works over this subject, most of them had carried an eclectic character which could be explained by the ambitions of people with narrow profiles attempting to climb to the tops of the Aryanology which until now is considered to be a terra incognita. To avoid the mix-up created by such approaches it would be prudent to begin differentiating various aspects of the subject studied, which will enable to piece together a holistic picture of the matter in question. The work presented below is a hypothesis of one aspect of the Aryanology – the ancient esthetic beliefs of the Aryan people. As such, the results of my researched work presented below are the first, introductory step in this field of Aryan esthetics that does not claim to be as holistic and conclusive.

 

The Aryan sacred texts – Vedas, Avesta, the Laws of Manu and others – cite a geographical location of the Aryan homeland which is known as Ariyanam-Vaedjo (in Avestan) or Ariavarta (in Sanskrit) as “the first and the best location” made by the God the Creator. In this land a river named Daiti flows while in the middle of the land stands a holy mountain named Harayta, sometimes referred to as Hara. Accordingly, this is a heavenly land – the homeland of the Aryan nations.

 

The historians attempted to position Ariyanam-Vaedjo in various parts of the world: in Central Europe, on the Black Sea shores, in Central Asia, in the Balkans…However, probably the most likely place for its location was presented by the theory presented by the renown Soviet historians Thamaz Gamralidze and Vyacheslav Ivanov, who argue that the Aryan homeland was located in the Armenian Highland, in the region of Lake Van and the Taron (Aratzani river) valley. Without going into much details of the theory I would to add that another renowned Armenian researcher, Alexandr Varpetyan linked the Ariyanam-Vaedjo with the Armenian province of Hark, the river Daiti with the river Artsani and the mountain Harayta with Mount Ararat.

 

So according to the hypothesis mentioned above, the Aryan culture began in the Armenian Highland. From here, in the middle of the third millennium before Christ a famous Aryan emigration began, that gradually moved into the northern Iraq, north-western Iran and India. Through time, due to the growing distances between the locations of the Aryan migrants a brake within the Aryan branches of languages occurred. Nevertheless, a spiritual unity within them didn’t change. It is very evident after a careful examination of various religious movements that grew out of one Aryan body of spiritual heritage. Considering the importance of religious believes for understanding the character of the esthetic world view upheld by the Aryans I will bring into focus the basic believes that were so common among them:

 

* Despite the subsequent polytheistic character of the religion, ancient Aryans at first believed in one, universal God-the Father, the creator of the universe who was called as Dyaus-Pitar.

 

* The process of the universal creation by the God-the Father has one and the same following among all Aryan people: at first God created the heavens and earth, then on earth He created water and from the water a fire was born. Based upon these four creations four deities emerged: Mitra-(Mihr), Anahit-(also known as Diana), Agni-(Vahagn) and Narayana-(Narine).

 

* On the earth, Dyaus-Pitar created the holly mountain Harayta upon which He created the first human being named Manu.

 

* Dyaus-Pitar creates the universal law known as Arta according to which a conflict between the positive and the negative begins in the world. Then the God creates the Sun-a source of divine emanation, through which He begins to observe the implementation of the Arta.

 

The traces of the material and spiritual heritage left behind by the Aryan culture speak of their highly developed civilization. The seeds of their esthetic thinking found in the mythologies of the Vedas and Avesta were an integral part of the Aryan culture. The spiritual unity so brightly reflected in the Aryan world view became the fundamentals of the Iranian, Indian and European esthetics.

 

Esthetic Dualism

 

The esthetic view of the world among all cultures is similar. The sources behind that are found in the creative workings of the people. The public view of the beautiful and pleasant though primitive at the beginning has grown to develop into an esthetically structural view of the world. The esthetic needs gradually develop a certain taste, which in turn raises the esthetic culture of the people. Such process being the same for all tribes and nations at the same time finds unique features among them all. The same could be said about the Aryans.

 

Unique features of the Aryan worldview are more profound in comparison to their neighbors, the Near-Eastern people. The esthetic thinking among the Aryans was still in an embryonic state when the esthetic taste was about to develop. But nevertheless, it could be said that the core of the Aryan esthetics was based upon the universal law, the Ard (in Persian-Arta, in Indian-Rita, in Greek-Orthos, in Latin-Ordum, in German-Ordnung, in Russian-Poryadok), this universal Order was the organizing beginning, the main principle of the Aryan esthetics that gave satisfaction to the Aryan perceptions of the world around them.

 

Such Aryan worldview was based on the recognition of the conflict between the good and the evil, justice and injustice, beautiful and ugly, harmony and disharmony. Of course the same was found in the Near-Eastern worldview, and not only them; however, contrary to other traditional values, the understanding of the conflict between the opposites among the Aryan people didn’t carry a nugatory character. Along with the understanding of the positive and the good, subsequently the Aryans understood the importance to identify the source of the negative beginning. As such, we can speak of a dualistic view of the world as was perceived by the Aryans.

 

So, the supreme God named Dyaus-Pitar created the Universal law Arta, according to which, the diversity of things and the phenomenon of life occurred. This was the Aryan view of how the Universe took shape. The main principle behind such view is very simple, thus anything happening in the world either of positive or negative nature could be attributed to one of the two sources. Above them both or within the unity of the two opposite stands the God-Father. Thus the esthetic categories of the beautiful, noble and harmonic could be attributed to the positive things and phenomena while the ugly, ennoble and disharmonic is attributed to the negative things and phenomena.

 

After close examination we can find that the Aryans accepted the principal of the hierarchical world. However, that may not be related to their esthetical views, since any divine beauty is the result of divine emanation. In the ancient texts we find yet another point of view, according to which the creative solar emanation gives beauty to the world. Yet that doesn’t mean that ugliness and other esthetically negative phenomena are not accepted by the God. They became to be perceived as such later on, as the esthetic views of the Aryan people evolved and became qualitatively new, thus changing the esthetic taste of the Aryan culture.

 

At the beginning, the beauty and ugliness were considered to be as God-given results of the divine emanation that doesn’t contradict to the Universal Law-the Arta. Yet from the other side of the coin, the over-religiosity of the Aryan people led them to believe, that the esthetic feelings imbedded within them wholeheartedly were dependant upon the God Himself, that is to say that things appeared to them as positive or negative because that is how the God wanted them to perceive. Basically, the ancestors thought that the esthetics found within them were installed by the God the Creator.

 

Gradually, the artistic thinking among the Aryans has increased, which contributed to the development of their esthetic intuition. Obviously such process was taking place on the religious ground, which had an increasing effect upon the Aryans of the past. Symbolism found within the esthetic views among the Aryans had its own detectable character. As such, esthetic ideas were developed to be found within the embodiments of the Aryan god-figures. Therefore, for us to continue the pursuit of the esthetical within the Aryan culture we need to refer to the Aryan mythologies.

 

The esthetical in the images of gods

 

Pantheon of Aryan gods represents a qualitatively new culture of esthetical thinking. With the emergence of the pantheon the differentiation between good and evil, beautiful and ugly is not only much clearer, but is also governed by an organizational principle of a hierarchical order for gods and goddesses, spirits and demons.

 

It was a common Aryan world view that they are not against the nature and the animal world, but a significant part of the nature. This could be explained by the character of esthetic ideals that were associated with the qualities of Aryan gods. The bases of them all, however was their physical superiority. Lets examine some of the examples:

 

In the hymns of Rigveda the heavens are associated with the male beginning, while the earth is associated with the female beginning. Both are referred to as father and mother who are occupying wide space, who are grandiose and infinite, Father and Mother who protect all the creatures, two worlds as if twin beauties dressed in different colors. In fact the Aryans believed that with their beauty, heavens and earth can save them from evil and misfortune. One of the prayers said: “I call my both proto-parents with the power of gods, two beauties, o heavens and earth, defend us from horror.”

 

The beauty of nature, particularly of heaven and earth is song by the Aryans within a specific context: if something is beautiful then it is good and is of service to people. Same regard was upheld towards gods.

 

Among Aryan believes nature and animals are intrinsically beautiful. Therefore, while worshipping their gods they associated with them various qualities of animals and birds which they considered to have possessed divine essence (for example: eagles, lions, etc). One of their prayers said the following: “O gods, crossing waters, come quickly to the suffering one like cows on the field! ...Be happy with our sacrifices o fast-handed governors of beauty…”

 

In another place, Indra-the thunder god is being compared with “mighty buffalo”, “the leading sheep”, “and eagle”. Similar esthetic qualities have been attributed to the Greek god Zeus, German Vodan, Scandinavian Odin, Slavic Yarilo, Armenian Aray and other gods of the past. All of them have a common character-they represent esthetic ideals, as a result of which one can find such epithets as- the greatest, bordering to monumental. One can imagine the esthetical feelings that were activated by the ancient gods, brave Odin, thundering Zeus, Aray the ‘handsome’ and Agni, who according to their olden writings would ‘attract attention from birth’. It is rather remarking that the ancient Armenian god of fire and war, “fire-blond youngster” Vahagn, who also attracted attention by h having “fire-like hair, flaming beard and eyes like two sons”4.

 

The last descriptions were referring to the divinity of fire. Fire in general had a special place in the esthetic world of ancient Aryans. As was said before, Aryans, later being Sun-worshippers, considered heavenly stars-especially the Sun-an outstanding source of all the esthetically positive in the world. Every morning, Brahmans (Aryan priests) would refer to the Sun with the following prayer: “This is the eye (sun-A.A.)-clean, highly appreciative is climbing from the east. O, if only we could see it the whole century!” Such esthetical indulgence from observing the rotation of the fiery-red Sun was obtained not only by the proto-Aryans. For comparison we can remember the Slavic “red” at the beginning meant ‘beautiful’ (krasna devitsa – initially “beautiful girl” now sounding more like “red girl”, Krasnaya Ploshchad’ – initially “Beautiful Square”, now is the famous Red Square in Moscow), even the Russian word “prekrasniy” – now meaning ‘red’ – has the same word root.

 

Praises made to the Moon found in the Atkhavaveda says the following: “you are the young month, very nice, very sophisticated, I will be like you.” In general, the epithets given to gods and goddesses in the Aryan mythology contain such descriptions like, “flaming, very bright, sun-like, moon-like...etc.” That is not surprising, since such ‘brightness’ is equated with the beauty and the natural diversity in the world that the Aryans lived in and where the Sun was the source of life.

 

The esthetic needs of people are rather diverse. As such we have a diverse understanding of the ‘beautiful’. If in the early times the Aryans considered everything ‘positive’ as divine, insanely beautiful and harmonic, then later, a new understanding of the hierarchically beautiful emerged. At the same time, the differentiation between the male and female aspects of the beauty was preserved. With the advancement of the understanding behind the esthetically beautiful, the needs for esthetic qualities would change as well.

 

In praises to gods and goddesses, on the one hand, the common esthetics were expressed by their greatness, grandiosity, virtues and qualities. On the other hand what was considered as esthetically beautiful about the divine characters was the mystery behind them, the unexpected, the unknown, the miraculous attributes, the owe that they would excite among their worshippers. At the same time, the gender descriptions behind their divinity were kept separate and distinguishable.

 

The first esthetic attributes of the gods from Veda are their physical qualities, physical superiority, maturity and sophistication. The Aryan gods were foremost a great warriors, even if their function didn’t have any relation with war. Their main quality was their bravery and endurance. As such, the epithets behind the god Indra were the following: “powerful, thundering, brave and awesome”. The impression received from the war-gods is their dynamism. That is a result of the fact that most of them, Indra, Mithra, Vahagn, Agni and others-were always leading the good and positive in their war against the bad and the ugly, usually symbolized by demons and dragons.

 

The description of the beauty behind the Aryan goddesses is different though. They are attributed such qualities and features like, “beautiful, petite and over-grandiose”. In contrast from male gods, they represented the unity of _expression and conservatism. In the images of indo-Aryan goddess Sarasvati, one can find unlimited harmony and felinity; in the sculptures of Iranian Ardvisura Anahita it is hard to not notice the proportionality of her body and the exactness of her facial features. Furthermore what is interesting about the goddesses is probably the extreme physical attraction that they have possessed. For example, in the hymn to Anahit found in the Aryan holy book of Avesta, it is said the following: “Anyone can see her, Ardvisura Anahita, in the image of a beautiful diva, strong, straight, tall, high waste…in a beautiful apron, with big curves, golden hair, she is beautiful with her earrings and necklace. Ardvisura Anahita has beautiful neck, tight body that emphasizes her divine breasts. She attracts people’s attention, with her beautiful and specially made ring, beautiful ribbons…”

 

That was certainly a beautiful description. I would like to add only that Aryans didn’t consider physical beauty as the main aim of everyone to attain. The highest mission of the beauty was to contrast the ugliness of demons. Here is an example of ugliness described in one of the ancient Indian texts: “Her head was covered with dirty, red hair, in her huge mouth she had sharp teeth, her nostrils were deep and dark…her body was huge like a tower. It was very scary and disgusting for people to look at her.”

 

Aryans emphasized greatly the physical beauty of gods and people, things and phenomenas. According to them, the male beauty was comprised of bravery, physical greatness of the body, while women’s beauty comprised of petite-ness and correctness of the facial features, grandiosity of the body. The maturity of the Aryan esthetic world view speaks of the fact that in the pantheon of the Aryan nations and people there were goddesses of beauty, love and felinity.

 

In summary it is possible to say that the esthetic ideals of the Aryans found in the images of gods and goddesses has greatly contributed to the formation of an esthetic taste among the people of Eurasia. Later they were the ones who contributed to the formation of the esthetic schools in India, Greece, Rome and many other places, where their traces could be easily found in the creative art, architecture and music. The esthetic ideals of the Aryan people about the beautiful, harmonic and the advance have contributed greatly to the advancement and progress of the world cultures and civilizations.

 

Conclusion

 

In the depth of the millennia, the roots of the Indo-European civilizations could be found in the Aryan heartland. It is hard to ignore the important value of the culturally rich heritage left by the Aryan tribes. Through the time, their word-views became irrelevant and lost in the obscurity. They accepted the divinity of the natural beauty, dynamism of a brave man-warrior, grandiosity and the importance of a woman-mother. They accepted the world the way it is and as such knew their place in this world.

 

It is thoughtless to idealization of the past, however, due to the modern ‘nihilism of the current civilization” it is rather sad that right now men are stripped off their noble knighthood, women overtaken by the modern feminism would reject marriage, kids, family and motherhood, while our environment is polluted and degraded. Perhaps the attempt to resurrect spiritual values could be explained by the growing interest toward the ancestral heritage so pronounced in the last decades.

 

Disclaimer 1: The article above represents author’s views while he was a university student. Since then, some of authors ideas might have changed as more information is found and evidences pointing at the contrary of the opinion presented above emerge.

 

Disclaimer 2: The term “Aryan” is used in this article in its original scientific meaning as it was first used in the modern science in 19th century, i.e. to indicate all ancient peoples of Indo-European linguistic group. It does not have any meaning other than belonging to the Indo-European linguistic and cultural group of humanity.

 

Notes:

 

1. Regrettably, Gamkrelidze and Ivanov yielded to the ideological considerations and, instead of using the correct geographical name of the Armenian highland, were referring to “the region between eastern Anatolia, southern Caucasus and northern Mesopotamia”.

 

2. Literally “God Father”. Later on this name changed into Greek “Theus Pater” (which transformed into Zeus), Roman Deu Piter (later Jupiter), Germanic and Scandinavian Alfathr (All-Father, Father of all), which was another name for Wodan-Odin.

 

3. xarteash patanekik

 

4. howr her owner, yev boc owner morows, yev achkownqn ein aregakownq 5. The sun was perceived by the Aryans not only as the source of beauty and plentitude of the world, but also as a heavenly judge who monitors and protects the harmony and balance of the world. The solar disc was seen as the eye of God Father. After Christianization the Armenians were referring to the sun as “light of justice” (a philosophical reference to Christ) and “Light bringer of tiw” (tiwakan loysatow, literally “divine light” from tiw – dew – dyaus = god).

 

6. Interestingly enough, in contemporary English there are two words for attractiveness: handsome for masculine and beautiful for feminine.

 

7. Goddess Astlik (Astghik) of ancient Armenians

[Artsakh]

Armenism and God

In Armenism, God is the focal point of Armenists’ daily life and spiritual training. The importance of God in Armenism is explained by the Armenists believe that God known in Armenian as Ararich - meaning the Creator - has created the world and chose Ararat as His earthly home.

 

In particular, Armenists believe that the first humans have originated on the Mt. Ararat and were given shelter on its plains. Later on, by the grace of the God and humans’ choice to explore the world, first human couple known in Armenian as Man and Kin-meaning man and woman came down to earth from the Mt. Ararat and established their earthly residence at the foot of the mountain, on the river bank of Araxes, in the area of historical Armenia known as Naxijevan, meaning “the first settlement” or “the first shelter”.

 

Armenism believes that God is good and loving, caring and compassionate, forgiving and helpful, God is the teacher and the guide, God is the parent and we are His children, every one of us. Thus, the world and all creations made by God know no evil and are holly, all the evil may come from humans, but never from the creations of God. Even, when an animal eats another animal, it doesn't committ evil, but operates according to its natural functions for survival.

 

According to Armenism, human is not an animal even though that human may have a lot in common with animals. The commonality with animals just shows that all the creation came from the one, single source, God the creator. In Armenism humans are the representatives of God on Earth, Earth is the Garden created by God, humans are its gardeners, the sheperds of the God's creations.

 

In Armenism life is a precious gift and a responsibility for one to know and cherish. Every birth is a selebration and a cause for happyness.

 

Armenism believes that the first world civilization have began in Armenia and as such was blessed by God to become the first school of the world’s scholarship, where all the secrets of the heavens and earth were known and kept. As such, Armenists believe that Armenia once again is destined to become the world’s source of light and knowledge, divine inspirations and creativity, the source of worldly knowledge and skills, first conveyed to the patriarchs of the mankind, the Man and Kin, and to their descendants.