Azi Dahaka

 


Azi Dahaka, also known as Zahak, was a dragon in early Persian mythology. He first appears in the Avesta and the later Denkard texts of the Zoroastrian religion. The legend of Azi Dahaka continued in folklore after the Muslim conquest of Persia, where he appeared in the epic poem Shahnama.

Azi Dahaka was described as a three headed dragon, unlike other person dragons, which are usually single headed and long bodied, like an evil version of far eastern dragons. In the Avesta Azi Dahaka was the son of Ahriman. Even though he was a dragon he had the intellect and cunning of a human, and could take human form. With his human cunning Azi Dahaka was so evil he committed every form of sin. Later in the Shahnama, Azi Dahaka, then named Zahak, was said to be a human 'blessed' with evil magic and foresight by Ahriman, but Ahriman's touch leaves two snakes which grow from Zahak's shoulders which must be fed with human flesh.

In the Avesta Azi Dahaka lived in Babylon and worshipped Anahita, the goddess of rivers, and Vayu, the god of storms, in an attempt to convince them to kill all of humanity. However, being good deities, the two of them refused to do this. In the Shahnama Zahak is born to a foreign ruler named Merdas. After the differing origins the Avesta and the Shahnama follow similar events concerning Azi Dahaka.

Azi Dahaka always wanted power and authority, especially ruler ship over the Persia. However it was ruled by Jamshid. Jamshid was a good and just ruler and therefor his khvarenah or glory of kings, was strong and protected him and Persia from evil. However, over time Jamshid became arrogant and lost his glory. This allowed Azi Dahaka to capture Jamshid and kill him by sawing him in half. He took control of the kingdom and took Jamshid's two daughters, Arnavaz and Sharhnaz as slaves. Azi Dahaka ruled over the kingdom as an evil sorcerer with the help of divs, or demons. As Azi Dahaka's snakes needed to be fed with human flesh he would have two people from the kingdom killed each day. 

One night Azi Dahaka had a dream that the hero Fereydun would kill him. He sent his agents out to find Fereydun. They found that Fereydun was still a baby, living high in the mountains among the cattle herders. The agents of Azi Dahaka found that the cattle herders had fled on hearing their arrival, but the agents killed all their cattle, including the blessed cow, Barmayeh, who's milk endowed Fereydun with the glory of kings.  

Unable to find the child who would grow to kill him, Azi Dahaka lived in a state of constant paranoia. His rule became even more intolerable. A blacksmith named Kava had all his sons but one killed to feed Azi Dahaka's snakes. When his final son was chosen to be a sacrifice, he rallied the people of Persia in secret and fled the city for the high mountains to find Fereydun. They found Fereydun, now a grown young man, and they became his army. Kava made a mace for Fereydun to use as a weapon against Azi Dahaka.

The army marches on the capitol and finds that Azi Dahaka had fled like a coward. Fereydun easily takes the city. He takes Arnavaz and Sharhnaz as his queens, who Azi Dahaka had kept magically in the prime of their lives for his own desires. Azi Dahaka's treasurer welcomed Fereydun to the capitol and pretended to accept his rule. Yet the treasurer secretly sent messages to Azi Dahaka in hiding. When Azi Dahaka learned that Fereydun had Arnavaz and Sharhnaz in his company he flew into rage. Azi Dahaka finds that Fereydun's army is too strong for him to retake the city. So he sneaks into the palace with the intent to assassinate Arnavaz and Sharhnaz. Fereydun catches Azi Dahaka and beats him senseless with his mace. As Fereydun hit Azi Dahaka all sorts of vermin and disease escaped from his body. An angel warned Fereydum that if he killed Azi Dahaka there would be endless plagues in the world that would kill all of humanity. So Fereydun had Azi Dahaka chained to Mount Damavand, where he would remain until the end of the world. Once this came about Azi Dahaka would be freed again to spread his evil across the world, but the ancient hero Kirsasp would be revived to finally kill him in one last battle.  


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