[Mehrbod]

Bushyasta
aka:Bushasp

The Zoroastrian daeva (demon) of sloth who is known as "the long-handed". She is the embodiment of laziness and idleness and the cause of procrastination. She strives to keep the righteous from performing productive tasks. She is the cause of procrastination as she strives to keep the righteous from performing productive tasks. She lulls the world back to sleep and "makes th...
e faithful forget in slumber the hour of prayer." Although there are "as many demons as the sins that man commits" and Bushyasta is among the few daevas who are specifically mentioned in the texts, she is not among the fiends who are described in any great detail.

Towards dawn, before the demons are forced back into the darkness, Bushyasta rushes from the north murmering "Sleep on, O men! Sleep on, O sinners! Sleep on and live in sin". Bushyasta is named among the demons who flee at the sight of Mithra's mace.

In the Bundahishn, a Zoroastrian account of creation completed in the 12th century, Bushasp is one of the co-operators of the six arch-demons. This hierarchy mirrors that of the six Amesha Spentas and their helpers, the yazatas. In a fragment of the "lesser" Bundahishn, Bushasp brings a "unnatural lethargy" upon a hero, who then at that moment fails to defend the world against the fiendish deeds of Aži Dahaka. But the hero is protected by the "divine glory of the heavens", so he eventually wakes rested and kills Dahaka.

Art by Erebus88