Imra () was the chief creator deity of the Nuristanis before their conversion to Islam.[Klimburg, Max. "The Arts and Culture of Parun, Kafiristan's «Sacred Valley»". In: Arts asiatiques, tome 57, 2002. pp. 51-68. DOI:; www.persee.fr/doc/arasi_0004-3958_2002_num_57_1_1480] Imra was believed to be the creator of the earth. With his breath, it was believed, he created the three other main deities of the pantheon: Moni, Great Gish and Bagisht.[Lurker, Manfred. The Routledge Dictionary Of Gods Goddesses Devils And Demons. Routledge. 2004. p. 87. ]
Etymology
The name of the deity is considered a reflex of Indo-Iranian
Yama. The name
Imro or
Yum in Kamkata-vari is thought to derive from a borrowing of
Sanskrit Yama-rāja "King Yama" via a Middle Indo-Aryan form
*Yam(a)rāy(a) with the characteristic northwestern sound change of
j to
y.
[Allen, Nicholas Justin. "Some gods of Pre-Islamic Nuristan". In: Revue de l'histoire des religions, tome 208, n°2, 1991. Histoire des religions et comparatisme: la question indo-européenne. pp. 141-168. DOI:;
www.persee.fr/doc/rhr_0035-1423_1991_num_208_2_1679][Cacopardo, A.S. (2016). "A World In-between. The Pre-Islamic Cultures of the Hindu Kush". In: Pellò, S.(ed.). Borders. Itineraries on the Edges of Iran. Venezia, Eurasiatica Quaderni di studi su Balcani, Anatolia, Iran, Caucaso e Asia Centrale. Edizioni Ca' Foscari. p. 250. DOI:][Halfmann, Jakob. "Nuristani Theonyms in Light of Historical Phonology". In: 6th Indo-European Research Colloquium, 2022. DOI:; www.researchgate.net/publication/359109254_Nuristani_Theonyms_in_Light_of_Historical_Phonology][Halfmann, Jakob. " Nuristani Theonyms in Light of Historical Phonology". In: Roots of Peristan: The Pre-Islamic Cultures of the Hindukush/Karakorum. Proceedings of the International Interdisciplinary Conference ISMEO, Rome, Palazzo Baleani, 5-7 October, 2022. Part I. Edited by Alberto M. Cacopardo & Augusto S. Cacopardo. Rome: ISMEO, 2023. p. 322. .] It is likely a cognate of the
Bangani language title
Jim Raza 'god of the dead'.
[Zoller, Claus Peter. "Review Article: "Pagan Christmas: Winter feast of the Kalasha of the Hindu Kush" and the true frontiers of 'Greater Peristan'.". In: Acta Orientalia 2018, n. 79. 2018. pp. 217 and 232 (footnote nr. 174). ] He is also known as
Mara "Killer, Death", a term derived from the
Wasi-wari language.
[Parpola, Asko. The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization. Oxford University Press. 2015. pp. 143 and 264. ][Cacopardo, A.S. (2016). "A World In-between. The Pre-Islamic Cultures of the Hindu Kush". In: Pellò, S.(ed.). Borders. Itineraries on the Edges of Iran. Venezia, Eurasiatica Quaderni di studi su Balcani, Anatolia, Iran, Caucaso e Asia Centrale. Edizioni Ca' Foscari. pp. 251 and 253. DOI:]
Cognates of Kamkata-vari imro are found in other neighboring languages: Kalasha-ala yamrai,[Klimburg, Max. "The Arts and Culture of Parun, Kafiristan's «Sacred Valley»". In: Arts asiatiques, tome 57, 2002. pp. 51-68. DOI:; www.persee.fr/doc/arasi_0004-3958_2002_num_57_1_1480] Kalash (Urtsun) imbro,[Parkes, Peter. "Temple of Imra, Temple of Mahandeu: A Kafir Sanctuary in Kalasha Cosmology". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. University of London 54, no. 1 (1991): 85. http://www.jstor.org/stable/617315.] Askunu language imra and Wasi-wari yumr'a - all referring to a "creator god".[Zoller, Claus Peter. "Review Article: "Pagan Christmas: Winter feast of the Kalasha of the Hindu Kush" and the true frontiers of 'Greater Peristan'.". In: Acta Orientalia 2018, n. 79. 2018. p. 232 (footnote nr. 174). ]
Role in religion
This deity also acts as the guardian to the gates of hell (located in a subterranean realm), preventing the return to the world of the living - a motif that echoes the role of Yama as the king of the underworld.
[Boyce, Mary. "The Pre-Zoroastrian Religion of the Medes and the Persians". In: A History of Zoroastrianism, Zoroastrianism under the Achaemenians
]
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Popular culture
In John Updike's 1965 short story "God Speaks" (collected in "Museums and Women") Great Gish Imra is the name of one of the protagonists, the son of the assassinated leader of a Central Asian state called Nuristan.
See also
