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Zoroastrian: Ahura Mazda
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[T]he one great difference between Angra Mainyu and the Judaeo-Christian Devil had disappeared by the time that any Jews could have experienced the full impact of Zoroastrian thinking. For if originally Angra Mainyu had been imagined as coeval with the supreme god, and almost his equal, he had ceased to be so in the version of Zoroastrianism known in the West in Hellenistic times, Zurvanism. That heterodoxy seems to have evolved under the late Achaemenians in their western lands, notably Babylonia, and to have been adopted by those monarchs as orthodox. Zurvanism was a monism: it postulated a high god, Zurvan (meaning 'Time'), who created both Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu. Such a doctrine could be more easily harmonised with Jewish belief than could the original Zoroastrianism. In the apocalypses and the Qumran writings the Devil is likewise a creature of God and subject to him.
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This remote site is the holiest and most visited of the Zoroastrian mountain shrines. Shrine legends tell of a conquering Arab army that had pursued Nikbanoo, the daughter of the Sassanian Emperor Yazdgird III, to this region. Fearing capture, she prayed to Ahura Mazda to protect her from the enemy. In the nick of time the mountain miraculously opened up and gave her protection. This legendary site, where a holy spring issues from the towering cliff, is ... called Chak-Chak, which means 'drop-drop' in Persian. Growing beside the source of the holy spring is an immense and ancient tree which legends says used to be Nikbanoo's cane, and the waters of the spring are believed to be tears of grief shed by the mountain for Lady Nikbanoo.
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Traces can be found in the Middle Iranian Central Asian languages of Sogdian, Bactrian and Khotanese - where, for example, Ahura Mazda survives as urmaysde 'sun' in Khotanese and the day-names in Sogdian and Bactrian are those of the Zoroastrian calendar. The most extensive evidence... comes from archaeological discoveries. Excavations at Sogdian cities such as Panjikent have revealed frescoes portraying gods and scenes of worship. More recently several sixth-century funerary monuments of wealthy Sogdian traders from Central China have come to light depicting specifically Zoroastrian scenes. For example, the priest wearing the padam (the white mask that Zoroastrian priests wear so as not to defile the sacred flame), with attendant dog before a fire altar, and deceased souls crossing the Chinvat Bridge to the next life.
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As demonstrated by Zoroastrian creed and articles of faith, the two terms are effectively synonymous. In a declaration of the creed — the FravarÄnÄ“ — the adherent states: "…I profess myself a devotee of Mazda, a follower of Zarathustra."
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Ahura Mazda