3 Tweets 63 reads Dec 05, 2021
Wrong. This is NOT "Mazdaen influence". I challenge you to show me one orthodox Zoroastrian ruler of Persia who minted Ardoksho on his coins.
These are common Iranic deities, shared by Zoroastrian and non-zoroastrian Iranic speakers. Even their conception is very different.
For East-Iranic Non-Zoroastrians like Kushans, A deity like Mao or Ardoksho was no less than Ahura Mazda.
In Zoroastrianism, Ahura Mazda was supreme and other (Indo Iranian) Gods were relegated to the status of Yazatas. No such distinction for Kushans, who mostly ignored Mazda
And deities like Ashi/Ardokhso were seen as "abstract concepts" ultimately under Ahura Mazda.
Surprisingly,Zoroastrians (who claim to be "first monotheists") want to claim Polytheist Kushans as their own.
(PS: I don't believe Zoroastrianism was monotheism in Abrahamic sense)

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