Astera

Prophet Astera Ⲁϣⲧⲁⲓⲣⲁ Aštaıra
19th-century depiction of Astera
Born	Southern Vaktria
Venerated in	Astrianism

Astera, also known as Ashtaira (Vaktrian: Ⲁϣⲧⲁⲓⲣⲁⲙ, Aštaıram), was a Vaktrian prophet who founded what is now known as Astrianism. His teachings began a movement that eventually became the dominant religion in Vaktria. He was a native speaker of Vaktrian and likely lived in southern Vaktria sometime between 1200 and 900 BCE, though his exact birthplace and birthdate remains uncertain.

Name and etymology

Astera's name in his native language of Vaktrian is Aštaıra. In Vaktrian, aštaı means "rain". There is debate about the origin of the -ra suffix. It potentially denotes someone who does something, similar to the -em suffix in modern Vaktrian; this would suggest Aštaıra means "someone who causes or brings rain". Other scholars think -ra is a corruption of the Proto-Vaktrian augmentative form of rain hazhdaımum, which would indicate Astera means "a large or great rain". The Iberic spelling Astera derives from a 1st century CE Romanyan inscription.

Date

There is no consensus about when exactly Astera lived. There are no written texts regarding Astera, besides a handful of hieroglyphic inscriptions of Ancient Vaktrian dating back to 850 BCE. Based on these inscriptions, the dating of the type of hieroglyphs used and the dialect of Vaktrian, and contextualization of oral stories (that were later recorded) with other historical events, scholars think Astera likely lived sometime between 1200 and 900 BCE.

Classical scholarship in the 2nd century BCE believed Astera lived one thousand years before Chernastum I declared himself Ultvar of the Kingdom of Vaktria (c. 1800 BCE).

Place

The birthplace of Astera is also unclear; however, the scholarly consensus is that he was born east of Dastivus in a village along the Maplas river. The oral traditions concur and this theory aligns with the place of origin of Astrianism's first practitioners. The most common place cited as his home is X.

Life

Astera is said to be of the Pavkar family, derived from the word for "white" in Vaktrian. His father was Ersachistam (Vaktrian: Eršafčistam, meaning "horse keeper"). His mother was Spiraza (Vaktrian: Spivraza, meaning "milkmaid"). All the names appear appropriate to the nomadic tradition.

Astera began learning about the spiritual traditions of Ancient Vaktria as a young child. He left his parents' home at adulthood to travel. After a decade of wandering from village to vilage and meditating, he experienced a revelation at the peak of a mountain. He saw a shining the heavens and earth shine and grow brighter into a blinding white light. Nav revealed itself to Astera. He then decided to devote his life to teaching others about Nav.

According to the tradition, he lived for several decades after this revelation. He managed to establish a faithful community that continously grew larger over the years. Astera married multiple times and supposedly had nine children.