1. In the Avesta, the rooster is known as paro-darsh, which literally means “he who foresees the coming dawn.” Its main function is to crow at dawn to scare away Bushyãsta, the demon of sloth and laziness.

2. While the demon Bushyãsta makes people drowsy and puts them to sleep, the rooster wakes up people by crowing. While crowing at dawn it seems to say “Oh men! Wake up. Sleeping for long is not good for you.” However, lazy people do not appreciate the rooster waking them up. So they rebuke it by calling it Kahrkatas “a croaker.”

3. Being an opponent of an evil being, a rooster naturally becomes an ally of the good divine forces of the Universe. It has a special connection to Sarosh Yazad. It is said to be the keenest and most faithful follower of Sarosh Yazad, and is considered one of his closest allies.

4. It is believed that the rooster protects the world from the evils of Zohak, who is bound under the Demavand mountain and is waiting to unleash his evils on the world by trying to free himself. Tradition has it that throughout the night Zohak tries to free himself by licking at his chains making them thin, but as they are about to snap, dawn draws near, and the crowing of the rooster foils his attempts to escape and his chains resume their thickness. Actually the crowing of the rooster indicates the rising of the sun, and it is the good energy of the sun that neutralises the strength of evil collected during the night.

5. Another oral tradition associated with the rooster in Parsi culture is that one should not eat a rooster, the reason being that it is a representative of Sarosh Yazad and an opponent of Bushyāst dev.

6. The rooster is highly regarded at the Pier-e-Banu Pars in Yazd, Iran. When princess Banu Pars was fleeing the Arabs, night came on, and the exhausted princess went to sleep on the mountains. In the morning, the tired Banu Pars was not able to wake up and the pursuing Arabs came close to her. It was at that time that the rooster crowed and woke her up, and she was able to escape the clutches of the Arabs.