Traditions and Transitions folk narrative in the contemporary world
16-20
July 2001 The University of Melbourne, Australia
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Traditions and Transitions folk narrative in the contemporary world |
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The name Zahhak —the arabicised form of the legendary
dragon king Azdahak in the Iranian national epic — has acquired a symbolic
meaning in the Persian language. This name evokes an ugly image of evil,
cruelty and tyranny incarnate from the collective and popular consciousness of
Persians.
This symbolic concept of Zahhak has been formed through the most famous legend
of Fereydun and Zahhak that is narrated as a well-developed saga in the Persian
national epic. According to the epic version of the legend, Zahhak has unique
features, with two serpents growing upon his shoulders that have to be fed
every day with the brains of two human beings. He is a fearful tyrant of a
foreign race, who invades Iran, slays the glorious king of the golden age and
rules seven regions for a thousand years. To save the world from Zahhak's
ravages, the hero, Fereydun, whose father was murdered so his brain could be
fed to Zahhak's snakes, attacks Zahhak and overcomes him, binding him with
bonds that not even a huge elephant could snap. Fereydun conveys the captive to
Mount Damavand where he fetters him in a narrow gorge and studs him with heavy
nails.
By analysing the Zahhak legend, patterns of an old religious tradition can be
seen which show that this epic version is a transformation of a mythical
version.
In this paper I will attempt to show that Zahhak's myth preserves some traces
of an ancient mythical tradition of Iranian origin.
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