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Siyāvoš as a Vegetation Deity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2022
Abstract
Because of annual communal lamentations dedicated to Siyāvoš, he is considered to be a unique character among heroes of the Šāhnāmeh. The elements of the rituals revolving around Siyāvoš are compatible to those of vegetation deities in some other religions. Of particular interest is the cycle of birth-death-rebirth of vegetation deity that takes place according to a specific sequence of events. In the present article, the author attempts to trace conformities and nonconformities in the Siyāvoš tale as described in the Šāhnāmeh and correlates them with the life-death-rebirth cycle of vegetation deity.
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- Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 2008
References
1 Yaršāter has analyzed the notable fresco in Zarafšān valley in Tajikistan and attributed the depicted dead body to Siyāvoš, whose coffin is carried by people while gods and goddesses accompanied them. By referring to some verses in Sahnāmeh, Yaršāter concludes that Siyāvoš has a heavenly nature before being an epic figure; see Yāršāter, Ehsān, “Ta'zieh and Pre-Islamic Mourning Rites in Iran,” in Ta'zieh: Ritual Drama in Islam (New York, 1997)Google Scholar.
2 Ja'far, Naraxši Abūbakr Mohammad ibn-e, Tārixe-Boxārā (Tehran, 1317), 27–28Google Scholar.
3 I consider the black-faced men's ritual dancing at the beginning of every New Year a heritage from ancient Iran originally held to celebrate Siyāvoš's rebirth; see Tavousi, Maryam Nemat, “Mard-e Siyāh Čehreh: Az Ostūreh ta Sahneye Namāyeš,” Honar-ha-ye Zibā 19 (1383): 95–102Google Scholar. Mehrdād Bahār has also mentioned Key Xosrow's Feast, an ancient festival among Zoroastrians. Though nowadays forgotten, the origins of this festival can be traced back to Siyāvoš's rebirth and Key Xosrow avenging his murder; see Bahār, Mehrdād, “Darbāreye Asātir-e Iran,” in Jostāri Čand dar Farhang-e Iran (Tehran, 1367), 46–47Google Scholar.
4 Mehrdād Bahār points out the parallels between Siyāvoš and the vegetation deity, attempting to illuminate the hidden aspects of Siyāvoš's character in several articles. But in none of them did he investigate the whole story systematically from this point of view; see Mehrdād Bahār, Jostāri Čand dar Farhang-e Iran.
5 For further information, see Eliadè, Mircea, Traitè d'histoire de Religions (Paris, 1970): 1XGoogle Scholar.
6 There are many remaining elements throughout Iran that have survived until today. I only mention two of them here as examples: Meskūb has recorded lamentations common among some Iranian tribes called Sursiūš recorded by Anna Kresnowlskā, Čand Čehr-e-ye Kelidi dar Asātir-e Gāhšomāriye Irani (Tehran, 1382), 148, footnote no. 54; and in Iranian music tones mentioned as Bāq-e Siyāvošān, see Rūholah XāIeqi, Sargozašt-e musiqi-e Irani (Tehran, 1380), 489–492.
7 Bahman Sarkārāti, “Bonyān Asātiriye Šāhnāmeh,” in Sāyeha-ye Šekar Šodeh (Tehran, 1378), 95–96.
8 George Dumézil, Myth et épopeé II (Paris, 1970), 137–283.
9 Abolqāsem Ferdowsi, Šāhnāmeh: Matn-e Enteqādi (Moscow, 1965), 3: 8, verse 35.
10 Ferdowsi, Šāhnāmeh: Matn-e Enteqādi, 3: 9.
11 Sarkārāti, “Bonyān Asātiriye Šāhnāmeh,” 95.
12 Bahman Sarkārāti, “Pari: Tahqiqi dar Hāšiyeh-e Ostūrešenasi Tatbiqi,” in Sāyeha-ye Šekar Šodeh
13 Sarkārāti, “Bonyān Asātiriye Šāhnāmeh,” 21–22.
14 Mommad-Ali Rahimi and Amir Rahbin, Rišehay-e Namayeš dar Iran (Tehran, 1383), 115–116.
15 For a study of different attitudes toward gods among hunter-gatherer and farming communities, see Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (New York, 1991).
16 Mehrdād Babār, “Siyāvoš Gerd va Kang Dej,” in Jostāri Čād dar Farhang-e Iran (Tehran, 1367), 11–68.
17 Mircea EIiadé, Le Myth de L'Ěthernel Retour (Paris, 1949).
18 Fesdowsi, Šāhnāmeh: Matn-e Enteqādi, 3:141, verses 2186–2189.
19 Fesdowsi, Šāhnāmeh: Matn-e Enteqādi, 3:151, verses 2321–2325.
20 Frank A. Salamone, ed., Encyclopedia of Religious Rites, Rituals and Festivals (New York and London, 2004), B: 35.
21 Ferdowsi, Šāhnāmeh: Matn-e Enteqādi, 3:152, verses 2339–2342.
22 Ferdowsi, Šāhnāmeh: Matn-e Enteqādi, 3: 153 footnote.
23 Ferdowsi, Šāhnāmeh: Matn-e Enteqādi, 3: 153, verse 2343: “A dark wind with, a dark dust/blown that sun and moon were covered.”
24 This plight took place before war broke out between Iran and Tūrān during Garšāsp's reign. It was explicitly mentioned they were being punished with drought; see Ferdowsi, 2:44–45, verses 20–40.
25 Mehrdād Babār, “Šāhnāme, Az Ostūreh tā Hemāseh,” in Jostāri Čād dar Farhang-e Iran (Tehran, 1367), 135–136.
26 Ferdowsi, Šāhnāmeh: Matn-e Enteqādi, 3:158, verses 2427–2428: “Leave this sweet sleep / recall the end of the world / this is a new day, new feast and rite / this is the feast of Key Xosrow, the liberate man.”
27 Ferdowsi, Šāhnāmeh: Matn-e Enteqādi, 3: 167, verse 2552: “That from the great fair god / a new tree was brought in the world.”
28 The name “Siyāvaš,” or Siyāvāršan as mentioned in Avestā, consists of two morphemes: “Siyā” meaning “black” and “vāršan” meaning “man, hero, bear.” The second part of “Bezād Šabrang,” means the color of night, namely, black.
29 According to Dumézil, a tripartite cognitive model in terms of which the ancient (and not so ancient) Indo-European speakers ordered their social and supernatural universes. The salient features, or functions, as Dumézil labelled them, of this ideology are as follows: (1) the maintenance of cosmic and juridical sovereignty; (2) the exercise of physical prowess; and (3) the promotion of physical well-being, fertility, wealth, and so on. Indo-Iranians attributed white, red, and blue (blue or green being equal to black) to the three functions as their symbols. The color black, like green, was dedicated to the third function and served as a sign for the mother earth. See Dumézi, George, l'ouble de l'homme et l'honneur des Dieux (Paris, 1985), 228Google Scholar.
30 Cooper, J. C., An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols (London, 1979), 188Google Scholar.
31 Razmjo, Hussein, Qalamrov-e Adabyāt Hemāsi Iran (Tehran, 1381), 2:286Google Scholar.