"Thus sprang the Kurds, who know no settled home,
[321] Like the dragon of old, Dahhak is a coward who lives in constant terror because his death at the hand of Faridun has been predicted in a dream which he had one night when he was sleeping with one of Jamshid's sisters. Like the serpent of early myth, who roared at the blows of the storm-god, he yells with fright through fear of Faridun.
Dahhak is not merely a wicked and maleficent being, but is also the personification of tyranny and barbarity in contrast with Iranian civilization. Like rude tribes at war in all times, he knows only massacre, pillage, and arson. In his kingdom oppression reigns, and like all tyrants he desires the best of his subjects to give official excuse to his abuses.
"He called the notables from every province
All this is in complete contrast to the Iranian ideal of order, truth, and wisdom, and accordingly Dahhak is the type of the dregvant, the man of the Lie and the king of madmen.
"Zahhak sat on the throne a thousand years
[322] As if by a natural instinct of justice, the tyrant in his abuses is pursued by fear of punishment. After the dream which we have already mentioned Dahhak runs about the world, quarrelling and slaughtering men and nations to anticipate the attack of him who is to satisfy the popular conscience by causing his ruin. He has an army of spies, among them being Kundrav, a very ancient mythical creature of the Indo-Iranians (Sanskrit Gandharva, Avesta Gandarewa), who appears in the Avesta as a dragon killed by Keresaspa. Kundrav manages to penetrate into Faridun's tent when he is at table, and having gained his confidence, he notes all his preparations against Dahhak, after which, escaping from the hero's camp, he makes a full report to the tyrant. Dahhak endeavours to avert his destined ruin, but in vain, for he is opposed by Faridun, endowed with the kingly Glory of Yima, and tall and firm like a cypress (4). Abtin (i.e. Thrita Athwya), the father of Faridun (Thraetaona), had been killed by Dahhak to feed the serpents, and his son planned revenge for this ignominious murder, another task being the release of the two sisters of Jamshid (Yima), who had been surrendered to the monster when their brother fell.
"Trembling like a willow-leaf,
After Faridun had taken possession of Dahhak's palace,
"Then from the women's bower he brought two Idols
It is curious to see the old myth of the release of the women of the clouds transformed into a merely romantic episode, and one wonders whether the bath which the women must undergo is not a remnant of their sojourn in the waters on high.
Faridun then assails Dahhak with a lasso made of lion's hide, and while the dragon king, blinded by jealousy at the sight of
"dark-eyed Shahrinaz,
rushed about like a madman, the hero bound him around the arms and waist with bonds that not even a huge elephant could snap. He conveyed the captive to Mount Damavand, where he fettered him in a narrow gorge and studded him with heavy nails, leaving him to hang, bound by his hands, to a crag, so that his anguish might endure. He is not killed by the hero because in myth the storm-dragon does not die, but often escapes from the hold of the light-god.
Tradition knows little of Faridun outside of his healing power and his victory over the dragon. Nevertheless the Dinkart (8) mentions the division of his kingdom between his sons Salm, Tur, and Iraj; and the Bundahish (9) explains that the two former killed the latter, as well as his posterity, with the exception of a daughter who was concealed by Faridun and who bore the hero Manushcithra, or Minucihr, the successor of Faridun. The legends concerning these princes thus date back to a fairly ancient period, although it is doubtful whether they had the amplitude and the character which they assume in Firdausi's epic. These stories are not mythical, but merely epic, and they centre about the jealousy of two older brothers who, envious of the younger son of Faridun because he was braver and more beloved by his father, treacherously put him [324] to death. Manushcithra, grandson of the unfortunate Iraj, was to be the avenger of his grandfather, aided by Keresaspa (Garshasp), an ancient hero, who occupies a very secondary position in the Shahnamah, but is, nevertheless, one of the greatest figures of old Iranian tradition. Keresaspa, whose name means "with slender horses," is another son of Thrita Athwya, the father of Faridun (Thraetaona) and seems originally to have been a doublet of the latter, especially as his main exploit is also the slaying of dragons.
With his strength and his club Keresaspa is the Hercules of Iran, and it is not in the least remarkable that he is supposed to have slain many foes both human and demoniacal, among them being not only Gandarewa and Srvara, but also Vareshava, Pitaona, Arezo-shamana, the sons of Nivika and of Dashtayani, the nine sons of Pathana, Snavidhka, and the nine sons of Hitaspa, the murderer of his brother Urvakhshaya (10). Moreover he is one of the heroes who, at the end of time, when Azhi Dahaka (Dahhak) will escape from the place of concealment where Thraetaona (Faridun) has fettered him, will slay the dragon and free the world.
He has accomplished his exploits under the protection of a third part of Yima's Glory (Khvarenanh) and he is, therefore, worshipped by the warriors to obtain strength "to withstand the dreadful arm and the hordes with wide battle array, with the large banner, the flag uplifted, the flag unfolded, the bloody flag; to withstand the brigand havoc-working, horrible, man-slaying, and pitiless; to withstand the evil done by the brigand" (11).
Among Keresaspa's feats some are described in the Avesta and in the Pahlavi books (12). His most dreadful fight was with the dragon Srvara ("Horned"),
"Which devoured men and horses,
The Pahlavi sources further inform us that the dragon's teeth were as long as an arm, its ears as great as fourteen blankets, its eyes as large as wheels, and its horn as high as Dahhak. Undismayed, Keresaspa sprang on its back and ran for half a day on it, and, notwithstanding his alarm, finally contrived to smite its neck with his famous club, thus slaying the monster with a single blow.
In the case of Gandarewa the victory was no less brilliant. The personality of this demon is very interesting, for he is an Indo-Iranian spirit of the deep (14). In India his abode is
generally in the regions of the sky, where he hovers as a bright meteor, though he often appears likewise in the depths of the waters, where he courts the aqueous nymphs, the Apsarases, so that he becomes a genius of fertility. In Iran Gandarewa is a lord of the abyss who dwells in the waters and is the master of the deep. Sometimes he is a beneficent being who brings the haoma, but more often he withholds the plant as its jealous guardian. He is decidedly a fiend, although he has preserved the epithet "golden-heeled" to remind us of his previous brilliancy. He is a dragon like Azhi Dahaka or Srvara (15), rushing on with open jaws, eager to destroy the world of the good creation. As Keresaspa went to meet him, he saw dead men sticking in Gandarewa's teeth, and when the monster had seized the hero's beard, both began to fight in the sea. After a conflict of nine days and nights Keresaspa overcame his adversary, and grasping the sole of his foot, he flayed off his skin up to his head and bound him hand and foot, dragging him to the shore of the sea. Even so, the fiend was not wholly [326] subjugated, but slaughtered and ate Keresaspa's fifteen horses and pushed the hero himself blinded into a dense thicket. Meanwhile he carried off the hero's wife and family, but Keresaspa quickly recovered, went out to the sea, released the prisoners, and slew the fiend (16).
Of Snavidhka it is recorded that he used to kill men with his nails, and that his hands were like stones. To all he shouted:
"I am immature, not mature;
Arezo-shamana was a more sympathetic adversary, brave and valiant, always on his guard, and supple in his mode of fighting. Hitaspa was the murderer of Keresaspa's brother Urvakhshaya, a "wise chief of assemblies," and to avenge this crime the hero smote Hitaspa and bore him back on his chariot (19).
Moreover the Iranian Hercules purged the land of highway men, who were so huge that the people used to say, "Below them are the stars and moon, and below them moves the sun at dawn, and the water of the sea reaches up to their knees" (20). Since Keresaspa could stretch no higher, he smote them on their legs, and falling, they shattered the hills on the earth.
A gigantic bird named Kamak, which overshadowed the earth and kept off the rain till the rivers dried up, eating up men and animals as if they were grains of corn, was also killed by Keresaspa, who shot arrows at it constantly for seven days and nights (21). This story is evidently the adulterated form of an old myth of storm or rain.
[327] A wolf called Kaput or Pehin likewise fell, together with its nine cubs, at the hand of Keresaspa (22), who was also compelled to fight even with the elements of nature, the wind being tempted to assail him when the demons said, "See, Keresaspa despises thee and resists thee, more than anyone else." Aroused by the taunt, the wind came on so strongly that every tree and shrub in its path was uprooted, while by its breath the whole earth was reduced to powder, and a dark cloud of dust arose. When it came to Keresaspa, however, it could not even move him from the spot, and the hero, seizing the spirit of the wind, overthrew him until he promised to go again below the earth (23).
Unfortunately, the conqueror of so many foes was himself conquered by a woman, a witch (pairika) called Khnathaiti, who was in the court of Pitaona, a prince whom Keresaspa had also killed (24). Under the influence of his wife he became addicted to Turanian idolatry and completely neglected the maintenance of the sacred fire. On account of this grievous sin Ahura Mazda permitted him to be wounded during his sleep by one of the Turks with whom he lived in the plain of Peshyansai, and though he was not killed, he was brought into a state of lethargy (25). Since that moment he has lain there in slumber, protected by the kingly Glory which he took from Yima and by nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine Fravashis, or guardian spirits (26). Thus he will remain till the end of the world, when Dahhak (Azhi Dahaka), fettered by Faridun on Mount Damavand, will be released by the powers of evil, who will rally for the last struggle against good. Freed from his chains, Dahhak will rush forth in fury and swallow everything on his way: a third of mankind, cattle, and sheep. He will smite the water, fire, and vegetation, and will commit all possible abuses. Then the water, the fire, and the
vegetation will lament before Ahura Mazda and pray that Faridun may be revived to slay Dahhak, else fire declares that it will not heat, and water that it will flow no more. Then Mazda [328] will send Sraosha to rouse Keresaspa, whom he will call three times. At the fourth summons the hero will wake and go forth to encounter Dahhak, and smiting him on the head with his famous club, will slay him, the death of the arch-fiend marking the beginning of the era of happiness.
Till then, however, as long as Keresaspa is asleep, his soul must make its abode either in paradise or in hell, but since the heinous offence which he committed against the fire made entrance into paradise very difficult for him in spite of all his exploits, he was sent to hell, though Zarathushtra obtained the promise that he would be summoned by Ahura Mazda. He complained at the hideous sights which he saw in the realm of punishment and said that he did not deserve such misery, for he had been a priest in Kabul, but Ahura Mazda with great severity reminded him of the fire, his son, which had been extinguished by him. He then implored Mazda's pardon, reciting all the deeds which he had performed: "If Srvara, the dragon, had not been killed by me, all thy creatures would have been annihilated by it. If Gandarewa had not been slain by me, Angra Mainyu would have become predominant over thy creatures"; but Mazda was inflexible: "Stand off, thou soul of Keresaspa! for thou shouldst be hideous in my eyes, because the fire, which is my son, was extinguished by thee." Nevertheless, when the spirits in heaven heard of Keresaspa's valorous feats, they wept aloud, and Zarathushtra intervened, so that after a discussion between him and the spirit of fire, who pleaded against Keresaspa, Geush Urvan made supplication unto Mazda, while Zarathushtra, to propitiate Atar's wrath, vowed that he would provide that the sanctity of the fire should be maintained on earth, wherefore the hero's soul was finally admitted into Garotman ("House of Praise," "Paradise") (27).
[320] THE serpent-like dragon of the storm-cloud described as the three-headed monster in Indo-European myths has often appeared in our account of Iranian mythology. We have seen how the cloud was forgotten for the serpent, and how the serpent became a human monster, the conqueror of Yima. Of his dragon nature he preserves a dragon-like face and two snakes on his shoulders, the fruit of Angra Mainyu's kisses. As we find the legend in Firdausi in a completely anthropomorphized shape, it retains many features of the myth in the form in which it appears in its most complete version in Armenian books: the monstrous dragon Azhdak (Azhi Dahaka), with serpents sprung from his shoulders and served by a host of demons, is conquered by Vahagn (Verethraghna), the hero who replaces Faridun (Thraetaona) in Armenian Mazdean mythology, and the demon is fettered in a gorge on Mount Damavand, the serpents sprung from his shoulders being fed on human flesh. We find all these features in Firdausi's account. Dahhak every night sent to his cook two youths who were slaughtered so that their brains might feed the snakes. Two high-born Persians disguised as cooks devised a scheme to rescue one youth from each pair doomed to death, and when the young men who escaped, thanks to their contrivance, fled to the mountains,
But dwell in woolen tents and fear not God." (1)
To firm the bases of his sovereignty,
And said to them: Good, wise, illustrious men!
I have, as sages wot, an enemy
Concealed, and I through fear of ill to come
Despise not such though weak. I therefore need
A larger host men, divs, and fairies too
And ask your aid, for rumours trouble me;
So sign me now a scroll to this effect:
'Our monarch soweth naught but seeds of good,
He ever speaketh truth and wrongeth none.'
Those upright men both young and old subscribed
Their names upon the Dragon's document,
Against their wills, because they feared the Shah." (2)
Obeyed by all the world. Through that long time
The customs of the wise were out of vogue,
The lusts of madmen flourished everywhere,
All virtue was despised, black art esteemed,
Right lost to sight, disaster manifest;
While divs accomplished their fell purposes
And no man spake of good unless by stealth." (3)
...
Men bore them to the palace of Zahhak
And gave them over to the dragon king,
Who educated them in evil ways
And taught them sorcery and necromancy." (5)
Sun-faced, dark-eyed; he had them bathed, he purged
The darkness of their minds by teaching them
The way of God and made them wholly clean;
For idol-worshippers had brought them up
And they were dazed in mind like drunken folk.
Then while the tears from their bright eyes bedewed
Their rosy cheeks those sisters of Jamshid
Said thus to Faridun: 'Mayst thou be young
[323] Till earth is old! What star was this of thine,
O favoured one! What tree bore thee as fruit,
Who venturest inside the Lion's lair
So hardily, thou mighty man of valour?'" (6)
Who toyed bewitchingly with Faridun," (7)
Which was venomous and yellow,
Over which a flood of venom
Yellow poured, its depth a spear's length,
[325] On whose back did Keresaspa (13)
Cook food in an iron kettle
As the sun drew nigh the zenith.
Heated grew the fiend and sweaty,
Forth from neath the kettle sprang he
And the boiling water scattered.
To one side in terror darted
Manly-minded Keresaspa."
But if I attain to manhood,
Of the earth a wheel I'll make me,
Of the sky I'll make a chariot;
I'll bring down the Holy Spirit
From the House of Praise (17) all radiant,
Angra Mainyu I'll make fly up
From the hideous depths of Hades;
And they twain shall draw my chariot,
Both those spirits, good and evil,
If the manly-minded Keresaspa slay me not.
The manly-minded Keresaspa slew him." (18)
Entering the cavern where the demon lurks, the hero hews him limb from limb and finally slays him. In this miniature the sole traces of the animal nature of the demon are the horns springing from his head. From a Persian manuscript of the Shahnamah, dated 1605-08 A.D., now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Garshasp appears for the first time as a prince who helped Minucihr (Manushcithra) to take revenge for the death of his grandfather Iraj at the hands of his two brothers. Firdausi does not make it quite clear whether this Garshasp is identical with the one who reigned as the tenth Shah, but it seems more than likely that the two Garshasps are the remnants of a hero who has been stripped of his exploits by the popularity of the new comer Rustam and his family, the deeds of the Rustamids being the central subject of Firdausi's epic throughout the reigns of several Shahs, beginning with Minucihr.
Minucihr himself seems to be a faded personality. His name, Manushcithra, appears in the Avesta (29) and means "offspring of Manu" (the Vedic name of the first man), whereas in Pahlavi literature it was held to signify "born on Mount Manush" (30). Besides his punishment of his grandfather's murderers, the Bundahish records that he mounted a sheep of the kind called kurishk, which was as high as a steed. He had a prosperous reign during which he made canals to regulate the course of the rivers, but for twelve years he was a captive of the Turanian king Afrasiyab (Pahlavi Frasiyav, the Frangrasyan of the Avesta), who confined him in a mountain gorge and kept him there in misery till Aghrerat (Avesta Aghraeratha, Persian Ighrirath) saved him from his distress and consequently was slain by the tyrant (31). This is not much, but is more than is told by the Shahnamah, which, indeed, devotes its account of Minucihr's reign to the facts in connexion with Rustam's birth.
Sam is the most prominent vassal of Minucihr. He is, as already noted, a fragment of Keresaspa's personality and betrays his origin in telling stories of dragons slain by him with a club that weighed three hundred mans (32). His adversary was
[330] "Like some mad elephant, with Indian sword
In hand. Methought, O Shah! that e'en the mountains
Would cry to him for quarter! He pressed on,
...
Then like a maddened elephant I dashed him
Upon the ground so that his bones were shivered."
More striking still is the slaying of the dragon which haunted the river Kashaf:
"That dragon cleared the sky
Of flying fowl and earth of beast of prey.
It scorched the vulture's feathers with its blast,
Set earth a-blazing where its venom fell,
Dragged from the water gruesome crocodiles,
And swiftly flying eagles from the air.
Men and four-footed beasts ceased from the land;
The whole world gave it room.
I came. The dragon seemed a lofty mountain
And trailed upon the ground its hairs like lassos.
Its tongue was like a tree-trunk charred, its jaws
Were open and were lying in my path.
Its eyes were like two cisterns full of blood.
It bellowed when it saw me and came on.
When it closed
And pressed me hard I took mine ox-head mace
And in the strength of God, the Lord of all,
Urged on mine elephantine steed and smote
The dragon's head: thou wouldst have said that heaven
Rained mountains down thereon. I smashed the skull,
As it had been a mighty elephant's,
And venom poured forth like the river Nile.
So struck I that the dragon rose no more." 33
All these details strikingly resemble the story of Srvara.
A son is born to Sam in his old age, but the white hair of the babe so disgusts the father that he commands the child to be carried to the famous mountain Alburz (Hara Berezaiti). There, fortunately, it is found by the Simurgh, the mythical bird Saena, which we have described above and which takes care of the infant until he becomes a tall and sturdy youth.
[331] In the meanwhile Sam regrets his fault, and being told in a dream where the child is, he goes to Mount Alburz and fetches home his son, to whom he gives the name of Zal. Zal falls in love with Rudabah, the daughter of the prince of Kabul, a descendant of Dahhak; but though the maid is fair and graceful, the marriage is opposed first by her father and then by the Shah because she is of the race of the devilish King. This is the subject of a tale which Firdausi narrates with much talent, but it is no mythology, although the love for an Ahrimanian woman recalls the errors of Keresaspa. Finally, of course, every obstacle is removed, and Zal marries Rudabah.
Before long the princess is found to be pregnant, but no deliverance comes, and Rudabah suffers in vain. Then a thought occurs to Zal. On his departure from the nest where he had spent his infant years the Simurgh had given him one of its pinions as a talisman, bidding him burn the feather in case of misfortune, whereupon the bird would immediately come to his rescue. He did so, and the Simurgh, arriving instantly, told him that the birth would be no natural one. It bade him bring
"A blue-steel dagger, seek a cunning man,
Bemuse the lady first with wine to ease
Her pain and fear, then let him ply his craft
And take the Lion from its lair by piercing
Her waist while all unconscious, thus imbruing
Her side in blood, and then stitch up the gash.
Put trouble, care, and fear aside, and bruise
With milk and musk a herb that I will show thee
And dry them in the shade. Dress and anoint
Rudaba's wound and watch her come to life.
Rub o'er the wound my plume, its gracious shade Will prove a blessing." 34
The mandate of the Simurgh was scrupulously obeyed, and when Rudabah awoke and saw her babe, she joyously cried, "I am delivered" (birastam), which in Persian happens to be a pun on the name of the future hero, Rustam, the ancient form of which (if the word were extant) would be Raodhatakhma [332] ("Strong in Growth") (35). When little more than a child the promising youth breaks the neck of an elephant with a single blow of his mace and with some companions takes possession of a stronghold on Mount Sipand. Henceforth Rustam will be the Roland or the Cid of the Persian epic and he puts his sword or rather his club at the disposal of all Iranian kings in succession. There are no traces of mythology in his adventures, which are of a warlike character par excellence, although occasionally they are at the same time romantic, as in the story of his son Suhrab, who was brought up among the Turanians, and whom his father killed in single combat, not knowing that he was his son (36). The feats performed by Rustam in the service of the Iranian kings against the Turanians are attributed in Pahlavi literature to the monarchs themselves, and it is evident that Rustam is a personality whose importance has been made much greater in comparatively recent times. He is the hero of Seistan and has clearly taken the place of Keresaspa and other Persian or Median heroes.
If Rustam is the Roland of Firdausi, Afrasiyab plays the part of the Emir Marsile, the chief of the Saracens in the French epic; he is the arch-unbeliever, the leader of the Turanian hordes.
In the Avesta he is known as Frangrasyan and has a much more mythical character than Rustam. Judging from the episode of his fight with Uzava, in which he is said to have detained the rivers so as to desolate Iran by drought, he belonged originally to a rain-myth. Ancient legend says that he lived in a stronghold (hankana) in the depths of the earth, where he offered an unsuccessful sacrifice to Ardvi Sura Anahita in the desire of seizing the kingly Glory of the Aryans which had departed from Yima and, escaping Azhi Dahaka, had taken refuge in the midst of the sea Vourukasha (37).
The figure of the king, bending over the son whom he has unwittingly slain, is full of pathos. Rustam's famous steed, Rakhsh, stands in the upper background. From a Persian manuscript of the Shahnamah, dated 1605-08 A.D., now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Both will I confound together,
All things that are dry and fluid,
Both great and good and beautiful;
Sore distressed, Ahura Mazda
Formeth creatures that oppose him."
Thus, according to this legend, he became a maleficent fiend, a drought-demon, who was made prisoner by haoma and finally killed by Haosravah (38). All these elements are preserved in Firdausi's legend, but the story has become a regular conflict between two nations or, at least, between two dynasties. This warfare is the kernel of the Iranian epic material, the struggle being divided into several episodes.
The first is the defeat of Naotara (Persian Naudhar), a son of Manushcithra (Persian Minucihr). Although Firdausi places the event after Minucihr's death, the older tradition (39) connects the facts with the reign of the latter king. The Iranians are made prisoners in the mountains of Padashkhvargar (Tabaristan), but though Afrasiyab afflicts them with starvation and disease, his brother Aghraeratha (Persian Ighrirath) sympathizes with the captives and releases them, whereupon Afrasiyab, in anger, kills his brother. Aghraeratha, although living among unbelievers, was a pious man, and after his death was placed among the immortals. Under the name of Gopatshah (40) he dwells in the region of Saukavastan, near Airyana Vaejah, his form being that of a bull from his feet to his waist and of a man from his waist to his head. His home is on the sea-shore, where he continually pours holy water into the sea for the worship of God. Thus he kills innumerable noxious [334] creatures, but if he should cease doing so, all those maleficent beings would fall on earth with the rain (41).
The second episode is the battle between Afrasiyab and Uzava Tumaspana (Persian Zav), this hero being a nephew of Naotara, and his mother being the daughter of Afrasiyab's sorcerer. Afrasiyab had invaded Iran, stopped the course of all the rivers, and by his witchcraft prevented rain from falling, thus producing drought and starvation (42); but Uzava, who, though a child, had the maturity and the strength of an adult (43) frightened the sorcerers and their chief and caused rain to fall. In two myths, therefore, Afrasiyab inflicts starvation on the Iranians, and in the latter he does it by withholding the rain, so that his original nature as a rain-demon is scarcely open to question.
The third invasion is connected with the name of Kavi Kavata (Persian Kai Qubad), the first king of the dynasty of the Kaianians. In India the word kavi means "a sage," a respectable person in ancient days; in Iran it was applied to princes in olden times, and since those rulers originally were not Zoroastrians, kavi (Persian kai) in the Avesta often has the signification of "unbeliever," though this pejorative sense does not apply to the group of legendary kings who are regularly provided with that epithet and who, therefore, are called Kaianians. Like Zal, Kai Qubad is said to have been abandoned on Mount Alburz at his birth, and there, protected only by a waist-cloth, he was freezing near a river when Zav perceived him and saved his life (44). He remained on Alburz until, Zav and his successor being dead, the Iranian throne was vacant; but meanwhile Afrasiyab had again invaded the country. Thereupon Zal sent his son Rustam to Mount Alburz to fetch Qubad and to make him the sovereign of all Iranian tribes; and then it was that Rustam, who had received Sam's club (i. e. the mace of Keresaspa), began to distinguish himself and to beat back the invaders.
The successor of Kavi Kavata is Kavi Usan (Persian Kai Kaus), [335] whose name has been compared with that of an ancient seer who is known as Kavya Usanas in the Vedas, where he is renowned for his wisdom. There he is said to have driven the cows on the path of the sun and to have fashioned for Indra the thunderbolt with which the god slew Vrtra. The identification is not quite certain, however, because the character of Usan is completely altered in Iran into that of an ordinary king, although a trace of his quality of driver of cows may perhaps survive in the legend of his wonderful ox, to whose judgement all disputes were referred as to the boundary between Iran and Turan (45). Yet Kai Kaus was not really wise, for he was, at least according to Firdausi, an imperfect character, easily led astray by passion (46). Legend has transferred wisdom to his minister Aoshnara, whose epithet is pouru-jira, "very intelligent" (47). While yet in his mother's womb, he taught many a marvel and at his birth he was able to confound Angra Mainyu by answering all the questions and riddles of Fracih, the unbeliever (48). This story is a replica of the legend of Yoishta, a member of the virtuous Turanian family of the Fryanas (49), who preserved his town from the devastations of the ruffian Akhtya by resolving the ninety-nine riddles asked by that malicious spirit and by confounding the fiend with three other enigmas which he was unable to answer (50), a tradition which reminds us of the legend of OEdipus. Aoshnara became the administrator of Usan's kingdom and taught many invaluable things to mankind, but unfortunately the inconstant monarch at last became tired of his minister's wisdom and put him to death.
Kai Kaus was not only inconstant but presumptuous, for he ascended Mount Alburz, where he built himself seven dwellings, one of gold, two of silver, two of steel, and two of crystal. He then endeavoured to restrain the Mazainyan daevas, or demons of Mazandaran, only to be led into a trap by one of these evil beings who tempted him by making him discontented with his earthly sovereignty and by flattering him so as to induce him [336] to aim at the sovereignty of the heavenly regions. Yielding to the tempter, he sought to reach the skies by means of a car supported by four eagles, and he also began to display insolence toward the sacred beings to such a degree that he lost his Glory. His troops were then defeated, and he was compelled to flee to the Vourukasha, where Nairyosangha, the messenger of Ahura Mazda, was about to slay him when the Fravashi of Haosravah, yet unborn, implored that his grandfather might be spared on account of the virtues of the grandson (51).
During this expedition or during one to Hamavaran, which is only a duplicate of the other the land of Iran, being abandoned by its ruler, was laid desolate by a fiend called Zainigav, who had come from Arabia and in whose eye was such venom that he killed any man on whom he gazed. So dire was the calamity that the Iranians called their enemy Afrasiyab into their country to rid them of Zainigav, and for that task the Turanian received the kingly Glory which had abandoned the frivolous king Kai Kaus. Afrasiyab, however, abused his power, and the Iranians had once more to be saved by Rustam, who released Kai Kaus and expelled the Turanians.
Kai Kaus had married a Turanian woman named Sudabah, a vicious creature who made shameful propositions to Syavarshan (Persian Kai Siyavakhsh), who was the son of a previous wife of her husband and a superb youth. Since, however, the pious young man rejected her love, she calumniated him to Kai Kaus, so that Syavarshan had to flee to Afrasiyab, who received him well and even gave him his daughter in marriage; but the honour with which he was welcomed roused the jealousy of Keresavazdah (Persian Garsivaz), the brother of Afrasiyab, who by false accusations persuaded the king to put Siyavakhsh to death.
"That of all the yoked horses
I may drive my steeds the foremost
O'er the long length of the racecourse;
That we break not through the pitfall
Which the foe, with treacherous purpose,
Plots against me while on horseback." (53)
The war waged by Haosravah against Afrasiyab is a long one, full of incidents of a fine epic character as we find them in the Shahnamah, but all this has been grafted on the old legend of Frangrasyan's death, which originally was in close connexion with the story of the vain attempts of the impious king to seize the Glory of the Aryan monarchs. As we have already seen, Frangrasyan, enraged by his failure, was swearing, cursing, and blaspheming in his subterranean abode; but at that very moment he was overheard by haoma (probably the "White Haoma," the tree of all remedies, which grows in the sea Vourukasha), who managed to fetter the Turanian murderer and to drag him bound to King Haosravah.
"Kavi Haosravah then slew him
Within sight of Lake Caecasta,
Deep and with wide spreading waters,
Thus avenging the foul murder
Of his father, brave Syavarshan." (54)
In this contest, being helped by the fire of warriors that was burning on his horse's mane, so that he could see in the subterranean darkness where the Turanian was living and where he had his idols (55), Haosravah destroyed everything and then established the fire on Mount Asnavand. The intervention of [338] haoma (the drink of the gods when they fight the demons), and the presence of a supernatural fire, of the white steed, and of the cavern, as well as the location of the contest on a lake, point to some natural myth as the origin of the story, though it is too adulterated to admit of any convincing inter pretation. Firdausi, of course, introduces still more profound alterations. Instead of being in his own subterranean palace, Afrasiyab is supposed to have taken refuge in a cavern after having been completely beaten by Kai Khusrau and having taken to flight, while haoma has become the hermit Hum, who overhears him bewailing his defeat and tries to capture the fugitive, who escapes by plunging into the lake. Kai Khusrau is called immediately and seizes Garsivaz (Keresavazdah), the murderer of Siyavakhsh. To compel Afrasiyab to emerge from his retreat his beloved brother Garsivaz is tortured, and finally both brothers are put to death (56).
Having achieved the greatest exploit of the epic and having avenged his father, Haosravah fears that he may lapse into pride and meet the same end as Yima. He becomes melancholy, resolves to resign the throne to Aurvat-aspa (Persian Luhrasp), and finally rides with his paladins into the mountains, where he disappears. A few knights follow him till the end, but are lost in the snow, so that he alone, guided by Sraosha, arrives alive in heaven, where, in a secret place and adorned with a halo of glory, he sits on a throne until the renovation of the world (57).
This very noteworthy legend of the retirement of the mighty king and warrior has been compared by Darmesteter (58) with an episode of the Mahabharata, the great Indian epic, where the hero Yudhisthira, weary of the world, designated his successors and with his four brothers set out on a journey northward toward the mountains and the deserts of Himavant (the Himalayas). One after the other all his companions expired exhausted on the way, but he with his faithful dog, who was Dharma ("Righteousness") in disguise, entered heaven, not [339] having tasted death. Unless the story has been borrowed from the Indians, it is Indo-Iranian, the latter explanation being the more probable since the immortality of Haosravah is already known in the Avesta (59).
Among the companions of Haosravah who died on the way were Giv, son of Gudarz, both gallant heroes who played an important part in the war against Afrasiyab, and Tus, son of Naotara (Persian Naudhar), the last monarch of the Pishdadian dynasty. He had been barred from his realm by the accession of the Kaianian kings because he was too frivolous, but after having been the competitor of Haosravah, he became his friend. An epic of Naotara's sons seems to have existed in which Tus was the conqueror of the sons of Vaesaka (Persian Visah), the uncle of Afrasiyab, for he is said to have besieged them in the pass of Khshathro-Suka on the top of the holy and lofty Mount Kangha (60); and as a reward for his exploits and after his death he will be among the thirty who will help Saoshyant at the end of the world (61).
His brother Vistauru ("Opposed to Sinners" (62)) is famed for having obtained from Ardvi Sura, when he was pursuing idolators, the power to cross the River Vitanguhaiti.
"This is true, in sooth veracious,
Ardvi Sura Anahita,
that as many demon-worshippers have been slain by me as I have hairs on my head. Therefore do thou, Ardvi Sura Anahita, provide me a dry crossing (63)
O'er the good Vitanguhaiti. Ardvi Sura Anahita hastened down
With a lovely maiden's body,
Very strong, of goodly figure,
Girded high and standing upright,
Nobly born, of brilliant lineage,
Wearing golden foot-gear shining
And bedecked with all adornment.
Certain waters made she stand still,
Others caused she to flow forward,
And a crossing dry provided
O'er the good Vitanguhaiti." (64)
[340] After the reign of Kai Khusrau the scene of Firdausi's epic shifts toward Balkh in Bactria, and the military character of the poem yields to more religious interests. We have, indeed, arrived at the point where legends, which are for the most part of a mythical character, are brought into connexion with traditions concerning the origins of the Zoroastrian religion, of Zoroaster himself, and of the persons around him.
In Firdausi's view the successor of Kai Khusrau is Luhrasp, the Aurvat-aspa of the Avesta, who is renowned only as the father of Vishtaspa, the first Zoroastrian king, and of Zairivairi ("Golden-Breastplated"; Persian Zarir). The deeds of the latter are of much the same kind as those of other Iranian heroes. He is a slayer of Turanians, and near the river Daitya he killed Humayaka, a demon-worshipper who had long claws and lived in eight caverns, and he also did to death the wicked Arejat-aspa (65), but was treacherously assassinated by the wizard Vidrafsh and avenged by his son Bastvar (66). All this savours pretty much of a combat with dragons.
In the Greek author Athenaeus (67) Zairivairi appears under the name Zariadres and is said to be a son of Adonis and Aphrodite. This is a truly mythic genealogy, for Aphrodite is the usual Greek translation of Anahita, the goddess of the waters, and her most natural lover is Apam Napat, "the Child of the Waters," whose name the Greek writer here renders by Adonis, the habitual paramour of Aphrodite. A very frequent epithet of Apam Napat is aurvat-aspa ("with swift steeds"), which is precisely the name of Zairivairi's father. Accordingly, Darmesteter thinks (68) that Zairivairi is a mythical being and extends the conclusion to his brother Vishtaspa and even to the prophet Zarathushtra.
Vishtaspa himself is known for heroic exploits. He defeated some unbelievers, like Tathryavant, Peshana, and Arejataspa (Persian Arjasp), king of the Hyaonians, although it is difficult to say whether these are more or less historical facts in connexion with the protector of Zoroaster or are mythical exploits attributed to some other Vishtaspa who became identified with the prophet's patron. The old tradition concerning the latter reports that he was the husband of Hutaosa, a name which is the same as that of Darius's wife Atossa. He had in his possession the Iranian Glory, which he is said to have taken to Mount Roshan, where it still is; and he was converted to the new faith after having imprisoned Zoroaster, who had been falsely accused by priests of the old religion, but had proved his innocence by miraculously curing the favourite horse of the king (71). In Vishtaspa's court was the important family of the Hvogvas, containing Jamaspa, the minister of Vishtaspa, who became the husband of Zoroaster's daughter Pourucista and who was one of the prophet's first protectors; while his brother Frashaoshtra was the father-in-law of Zoroaster through the latter's marriage to Hvovi.
Zoroaster (Zarathushtra), of the Spitama family, was the son of Pourushaspa, who is said to have been the fourth priest of Haoma, (72) but we know very little about him from the Avesta [342] itself. Later literature, on the other hand, concocted a life of Zoroaster which is full of marvels and in which the prophet is in continual intercourse with Ahura Mazda and the Amesha Spentas, achieving all manner of prodigious deeds. These legends appear comparatively late in Mazdeism, centuries after Zoroaster's life, and probably contain very few historical elements, although they have accumulated stories borrowed from various sources and even include pious forgeries.
Zoroaster has left three germs in this world, and they are like three flames which Nairyosangha, the messenger of the gods and a form of Agni (73), has deposited in Lake Kasu (the Hamun Swamp in Seistan), where they are watched by ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine Fravashis. Near that lake is a mountain inhabited by faithful Zoroastrians, [343] and once in each millennium a maiden, bathing in the waters, will receive one of those germs. Thus three prophets (Saoshyants, "They Who Will Advantage") will be born in succession: first Ukhshyat-ereta (Hushetar), then Ukhshyat-nemah (Hushetar-mah), and finally Astvat-ereta, the Saoshyant parexcellence. They will reveal themselves in periods when evil will be prevalent and will put an end to wickedness. The last Saoshyant will come when Dahhak will have desolated the world after having broken his fetters on Mount Damavand; but Keresaspa, as we have seen (74), will slay him at the very instant when Saoshyant appears with the kingly Glory (Khvarenanh), and when he will definitely conquer the Druj (the principle of falsehood), Angra Mainyu, and the evil creation.
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