According to the
Zoroastrian cosmogony, Mashya and Mashyana were the first man and woman whose procreation gave rise to the human race. The names are from
Avestan, nominally transliterated as and , but like other Avestan words also, spellings (and hence transliterations) vary from manuscript to manuscript. may thus also appear as or or (and variants).According to the creation myth as described in the
Bundahishn, Ohrmuzd's (
Ahura Mazda) sixth creation is the primeval beast Gayomart (
Gayamarətan), that was neither male nor female. Ahriman (
Angra Mainyu), the Spirit of Evil that dwelt in the Absolute Darkness, sought to destroy all that Ohrmuzd had created, and sent the demoness Jeh (
Jahi) to kill Gayomard. In this she was successful, but the moon (
Mah) captured his seed before the animal died, from which all animal life then grew. From Gayomard's corpse grew a tree, the seeds of which were the origin of all plant life, and from the branches of which grew Mashya and Mashyana.
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