Totem of Bear in Ancient Iran

Totemism, belief to sacredness of an animal or plant, is one of the beliefs of primitive peoples that can also be found among Iranians. Shahnameh, as one of the old and valid Iranian resources, can give much information about culture, religion, rites and beliefs of Iranians and other ethnic groups. For gaining access to this information, we need to search the book very profoundly. In the present article, we study the name of Arash, a famous Iranian archer, from etymological point of view, and suggest that Arash means “bear”. After examining the race of people who have the name of Arash, we think that this name is originally a Parthian word, and there is a connection between it and the second part of the name of Siyavash, both ending with sound of "-ash". Also, based on nominal theories, bear can be a Parthian totem, for in Bundahishn bear is introduced as one of twenty five types of human species.