Indians and Iranians shared a common religious past, which led historians to sometimes even term the common ancestral religion as Proto-Indo-Iranian religion. Have we ever understood the implications of this common religious past on the historical studies of the two regions? It is probable that the two communities were in war with each other for hundreds of years, if not more. Let us dig a little into the religious legends of these regions and see what they have to offer.

Zoroastrianism was the most prominent religion of Iran. What are their beliefs? Firstly, that their God is Ahur Mazda. Secondly, they believe in a certain powerful Satanic spirit called Ahriman. And their scriptures talk about two types of people-Yazats and Devas. Devas are symbolic of the evil spirit, an embodiment of all that should not be. Even now, when people of the Iranian region talk about Devas, they talk about them with disgust-that is the kind of hatred that the Devas have generated. And most importantly, they are led by the demonic evil spirit called Ahriman. On the other hand, Yazats are the followers of the Supreme God Ahur Mazda. They are the righteous people, an embodiment of everything that should be correct.

Now let us come to the subject of Rig Veda, and the scriptures of Hindus in general, of India. There are two types of people-Devas and Asurs. Devas are the righteous people; they are an embodiment of all that should be right; they rule the heaven and earth and maintain peace and righteousness all over. Their God is Brahman, the Supreme Being, who has created everything in the universe. And there are the Asurs, who are evil beings. These Asurs are an embodiment of all that is wrong, an embodiment of all that should not be. They are led by their evil guru/teacher Shukra.

Do you see anything that relates the two beliefs? In today’s geographical terms, these are two communities of people who lived on either side of the current day Afghanistan. We have the community on the west side of Afghanistan call the evil spirit as Ahriman, and we have the community on the east side of Afghanistan call their God as Brahman. Do you get a feeling, or sense something fishy here? Yes, both are the same: Ahriman is the same as the Brahman. The god of the Vedic people is the evil spirit of the Zoroastrians! The name of Brahman got morphed slightly after it traveled over to the Iranian region, and it became Ahriman.

The evil spirits feared by the community on the west side of Afghanistan are Devas. And the good-natured gods of the Vedas on the east side of Afghanistan are also Devas. Both are the same. Zoroastrians hated the Devas of the Vedic people!

The god of the people on the left side of Afghanistan is Ahur Mazda. And the good people who follow Ahur Mazda are called Yazats. The evil spirits feared by the Vedic community on the east side of Afghanistan are called Asurs. We can easily see that the name of Asur has been given to the followers of Ahur Mazda. In the later literature, these are called Rakshas-a phonetic similarity with Yazats can be noticed. Zoroaster is the Persian name for the prophet. The Greek name for him is Zarathushtra. Phonetically, this ties in with the name associated by the Vedic people to the guru (teacher) of the Asurs-Shukra! – The evil Asur Guru, derided even today in a large body of religious legends all over India. And the usage of these terminologies survives to the current day, even after eons, across the scores of languages of India. Killing a demon or evil person is called Asur Vadha in Indian languages; and an extremely evil deed is even today called Rakshasic.

What we clearly see here is the presence of the two communities on either side of the present day Afghanistan, separated by a few hundred miles. They were battling each other for a long time; the exact duration of their fights cannot be definitely attested to. But the kind of feelings that they generated against each other certainly points to the possibility that they were each other’s antagonists for hundreds of years or more, on a sporadic basis, as attested by the huge amount of literature dedicated to the battles between the communities in their respective scriptures. They were battling each other for survival, each fearing that a loss would decimate their culture and everything else with it.

What is the source of hatred for each other? Why did they fight each other so much? When did the wars take place? How long did the wars last? How did the wars finally end?

The first of these wars is often termed in Indian scriptures as the “Devasur Sangram,” a bloody prehistoric and gigantic war that had a huge impact on the cultures of the two regions. Indians mistakenly think that this war took place in heavens. However, this war did not take place in heavens – rather, it took place on earth, right between the Indian and Iranian regions. Those days, people living in India were called Devas or gods because of certain peculiar religious customs practiced by them – it was a name given to their race. There is a large amount of evidence to attest to this fact. For example, the state of Himachal Pradesh in North India is even today fondly called Deva Bhumi, or the land of Devas.

This overlooked war is a huge missing chunk from world historical studies.

Source: Excerpts from Prithviraj Rs book on history – "19000 Years of World History: The Story of Religion" – a meticulous reconstruction of 19,000 years of world history, based on the historical aspects of the religious scriptures and legends of ancient religions. The book answers all the above questions and is available on Amazon, Lulu, and other online stores. Prithvis blog: http://19000years.blogspot.com