![]() He is described as a sorcerer who ruled with the aid of demons, the daevas (divs). Another late Zoroastrian text, the Mēnog ī xrad, says this was ultimately good, because if Dahāg had not become king, the rule would have been taken by the immortal demon Xešm ( Aēšma), and so evil would have ruled upon the earth until the end of the world.ĭahāg is said to have ruled for a thousand years, starting from 100 years after Jam lost his Khvarenah, his royal glory (see Jamshid). Īccording to the post-Avestan texts, following the death of Jam ī Xšēd ( Jamshid), Dahāg gained kingly rule. Together they attack the hero Yima ( Jamshid) and cut him in half with a saw, but are then beaten back by the yazata Ātar, the divine spirit of fire. In one Avestan text, Aži Dahāka has a brother named Spitiyura. Being representatives of the Good, they refused. Aži Dahāka asked these two yazatas for power to depopulate the world. Based on the similarity between Baβri and Old Persian Bābiru ( Babylon), later Zoroastrians localized Aži Dahāka in Mesopotamia, though the identification is open to doubt. In the Avesta, Aži Dahāka is said to have lived in the inaccessible fortress of Kuuirinta in the land of Baβri, where he worshipped the yazatas Arədvī Sūrā ( Anāhitā), divinity of the rivers, and Vayu divinity of the storm-wind. His mother is Wadag (or Ōdag), herself described as a great sinner, who committed incest with her son. The name Dahāg (Dahāka) is punningly interpreted as meaning "having ten ( dah) sins". In a post-Avestan Zoroastrian text, the Dēnkard, Aži Dahāka is possessed of all possible sins and evil counsels, the opposite of the good king Jam (or Jamshid). Īži Dahāka appears in several of the Avestan myths and is mentioned parenthetically in many more places in Zoroastrian literature. In other respects Aži Dahāka has human qualities, and is never a mere animal. He is described as a monster with three mouths, six eyes, and three heads, cunning, strong, and demonic. The Azhdarchid group of pterosaurs are named from a Persian word for " dragon" that ultimately comes from Aži Dahāka.Īži Dahāka (Dahāg) in Zoroastrian literature Īži Dahāka is the most significant and long-lasting of the ažis of the Avesta, the earliest religious texts of Zoroastrianism. ![]() ĭespite the negative aspect of Aži Dahāka in mythology, dragons have been used on some banners of war throughout the history of Iranian peoples. The name also migrated to Eastern Europe, assumed the form " azhdaja" and the meaning "dragon", "dragoness" or "water snake" in Balkanic and Slavic languages. The Avestan term Aži Dahāka and the Middle Persian azdahāg are the source of the Middle Persian Manichaean demon of greed Az, Old Armenian mythological figure Aždahak, Modern Persian ' aždehâ/ aždahâ', Tajik Persian ' azhdahâ', Urdu ' azhdahā' (اژدها), as well as the Kurdish ejdîha (ئەژدیها) which usually mean "dragon". In Persian mythology, Dahāka is treated as a proper noun, while the form Zahhāk, which appears in the Shāhnāme, was created through the influence of the unrelated Arabic word ḍaḥḥāk (ضَحَّاك) meaning "one who laughs". Khotanese daha), "huge" or "foreign" (cf. Sanskrit dahana), "man" or "manlike" (cf. Among the meanings suggested are "stinging" (source uncertain), "burning" (cf. The original meaning of dahāka is uncertain. It is cognate to the Vedic Sanskrit word ahi, "snake", and without a sinister implication. ![]() ![]() In the Shāhnāmah of Ferdowsi, Zahhāk is the son of a ruler named Merdās.Īži (nominative ažiš) is the Avestan word for "serpent" or "dragon". In Zoroastrianism, Zahhak (going under the name Aži Dahāka) is considered the son of Ahriman, the foe of Ahura Mazda. In Middle Persian he is called Dahāg ( Persian: دهاگ) or Bēvar Asp ( Persian: بیور اسپ) the latter meaning "he who has 10,000 horses". Zahhāk or Zahāk ( pronounced ) ( Persian: ضحّاک), also known as Zahhak the Snake Shoulder ( Persian: ضحاک ماردوش, romanized: Zahhāk-e Mārdoush), is an evil figure in Persian mythology, evident in ancient Persian folklore as Azhi Dahāka ( Persian: اژی دهاک), the name by which he also appears in the texts of the Avesta. Zahhak awakens in terror from his nightmare at the birth of Fereydun.
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