When Zoroastrians fled from Iran and came to India they brought a few things with them of the Persian origin and these Lamassu idols are one of them. In Zoroastrianism these idols are considered to be the bouncers for purity. They are always placed outside our fire temples and a lot of people think they are just show idols. People who have visited Iran or have known something about Perisan roots must have seen these idols. When Zoroastrians fled Iran and settled in India and started building their Fire Temples somewhere around in 18th and 19th centuries, they revived Persipolis as a memory of their long lost home. Our ancestors put a part of Persipolis at the doors of the Fire Temples.
The core idea of our religion is to maintain purity and keep it safe from being polluted by any type of decay or deceit. These Lamasu idols which are placed right at the entrance are the protection guardian angels that cut the chaos and all the impurities of the outside world when you enter the Temple. They have the power to ward off all evil.
If you look at them, they have wings, a bull body, a human head, a crown and legs. Spiritually it is believed that the wings can fly between the sky and earth, the bull body signifies strength and endurance, the human head and the crown is the symbol of intelligence and power, and they have 5 legs, behind there are 3 legs of which 2 are in walking positon and 1 in standing and the front ones standing, which means that these angels are protecting us no matter if we are moving around or in stillness. We do not pray to them, we just pass through them and we can express our gratitude to them for protecting us.
These Lamasus are a memory of our roots. Zoroastrians who once ruled the whole of Persia had to fled and become a tiny community on the coast of Gujarat in India. Today we are barely 100K in the whole world. These idols and the practices we still carry forward from our ancestors will remind our children and their children, of who we are and where we came from.
They will always be 2 of them at the entrance of every fire temple
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