The ‘Solar’ Eye of the Dēn

This article studies some symbolic and mytholoigical aspects concerning the role of the "eyes" and their "vision" in the framework of the cycle attributed to the dēn in the Mazdean doctrine of the afterllife. We can infer from the limited data collected in this essay that a “good eye” of the dēn, bestowed with a solar power of visual penetration and enlightenment, also confers tolerance and rightfulness of judgment. The emphasis is then on the solar force of introspective analysis, not strictly on its potential destructive power. Thus, no wonder that the dēn, as a permanent force growing up in the human body and mind, could be bestowed with a solar gaze in order to scrutinize the external world, but also to have an introspective action, so that, at the moment of death, the dramatic meeting of the ruwān with the advancing maiden, the objective gaze of the dēn would be able to satisfy the necessary expectations of comprehension and right evaluation. This explains why the gaze of the dēn is so important, and also why the Mazdean iconography representing the young maiden who advances toward the ruwān emphasizes the mutual exchange of glances. Actually, it becomes not only the premise of an erotic game, but also the certainty of a more intimate fusion, which transcends sexuality, or rather sublimates it, and brings it up to a metaphysical level