Khuda

Khuda (Persian: خدا, romanized: xudā, Early New Persian, Classical Persian and Dari pronunciation [xu.ˈdaː]) or Khoda (xodâ, Iranian Persian pronunciation [xo.ˈdɒː]), is the Persian word for God. Originally, it was used as a noun in reference to Ahura Mazda (the name of the God in Zoroastrianism). Iranian languages, Turkic languages, and many Indo-Aryan languages employ the word. Today, it is a word used to refer to God. It has wide usage from its native country Iran, along with Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan; and many Muslim-majority areas of India, parts of Europe under the Ottoman Empire (especially the Balkans, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, and Kosovo), as well as Armenia, Georgia, southern Ukraine and southern Russia. The term derives from Middle Iranian terms xvatay, xwadag meaning "lord", "ruler", "master", appearing in written form in Parthian hwdʾy, in Middle Persian hwtʾy (𐭤𐭥𐭲𐭠𐭩), and in Sogdian hwdʾy. It is the Middle Persian reflex of older Iranian forms such as Avestan xᵛaδata (𐬓𐬀𐬜𐬀𐬙𐬀) "self-determined (in the sense "not dependent on anything/anyone"), self-defined; autocrat, despot, dictator" (cognate with Sanskrit svadhā́ (स्वधा) "custom, habit, natural state, inherent power" and svátavas (स्वतवस्) "valiant, inherently powerful"), an epithet of Ahura Mazda. Menog-i Khrad also has zaman-i derang xvatay "epithet of time", i.e., Zurvan. The Kurdish term Xwedê (خودێ) and the Pashto term Xdāi (خدائ) are both variants of this. Prosaic usage is found for example in the Sassanid title katak-xvatay to denote the head of a clan or extended household or in the title of the 6th century Khwaday-Namag "Book of Lords", from which the tales of Kayanian dynasty as found in the Shahnameh derive.