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Showing posts with the label Persia

Hadhayosh

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  The hadhayosh was a giant bull from Persian mythology. It was also known as the sarsaok. The hadhayosh had six horns and a flaming mane. It's body was made of brass. There were multiple hadhayoshes made, each one exactly 52 feet tall and 57 tons in weight. The hadhayosh were created by 'the god of the forge'. While there are various angels or lesser gods in Zoroastrianism, I couldn't find exactly who this god of the forge was. Possibly Khshathra Vairya, the angel of metals, that would be my best guess. The hadhayoshes were primordial beings who were created right after the earth was finished. They were tasked with carrying the newly created humanity across the Voutkasha sea from the land of the gods to the know world. Once they had reached the mortal world the hadhayosh acted like normal cattle, grazing on the ample grasslands. The hadhayosh were slain and prepared like cattle by the newly arrived humans. When the hadhayosh were slain 55 species of grain and 12 spe...

Khara

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  To end off the one year anniversary month I'm featuring one of the strangest beast I've ever found in mythology, the khara. Also known as the three legged ass, it's a unicorn found in Zoroastrian mythology, which is like no other. Khara means donkey in Sanskrit, it's name in Persian is xar-i-se-pay. It's one of the oldest written accounts of a unicorn like creature and likely influenced every other unicorn from Europe and western Asia. The idea of unicorns purifying water with their horn certainly originated with the khara. The overall appearance is like a donkey, and the khara was said to be a divine donkey. It was as tall as a mountain. It had three legs that were like tree trunks. The khara had six eyes, two in the normal location, two on top the head, and two on the shoulders. With this arrangement of eyes the khara could see in all directions at once and no threat could sneak up on it. The strangest aspect of the khara is that it is covered in extra mouths...

Azi Dahaka

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  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 worshipp...