A literary history of Persia

ii4LITERATURES OF ANCIENT PERSIAthe Hindus, he is the first great mortal to pass over into theAfter-world, and hence appears asa kind of Pluto, or King ofHades. In the Avesta he is " the fair Yima of goodly flocks,"the son of Vivahhao (aname which, though absent fromthe Shdhndftia, occurs in earlyMuhammadan historians likeDinawari and Tabari as Vlvanjhdn^ described as son of Iran orArfakhshad, son of Sam or Shem, son of Noah), who is invited,but declines, to be the bearer of Ahura Mazda's message tomankind, and who is commissioned to build "the four-corneredVarena " for the protection of his people from the plague otcold created by Arira Mainyush (Ahriman), the Evil Spirit.In the Shdhndma he appears as a great king, who reigns for700 years, not only over men, but over demons, birds, andfairies ;invents weapons of war and the textile art ;teachesmen the use of animals ;institutes the priestly, military,agricultural, and artisan classes ; compels the demons to practisearchitecture ;introduces the use of precious stones and metals,perfumes, and medicines builds; ships ;causes himself to betransported (like Solomon in the on anMuhammadan legend)aerial throne whithersoever he will ;and establishes the greatnational festival of the Nawruz, or New Year's Day,at thevernal equinox, when the Sun enters the sign of Aries.Thereupon his luck turns, for he becomes so inflated withpride as to claim divine honours, whereon he is overthrown andultimately slain by the usurper Dahd^.This Dahdk represents the snake Azlu Dahc.ka (laterAzhdahak, AzhdaM, " a dragon ") of the Avesta ; and, withthe two snakes growing from his shoulders wiiichAzlDahdkkrstands forrequire a daily meal of human brains,the three-headed dragon of other Aryan mythologies.By Firdawsi (in whose time the memory of the ArabConquest was still alive, and race hatred still ran high) he ismetamorphosed into an Arab, and his name is consequentlygiven an Arab form, DahhAk (with the hard Arabic d and h]\he appears as a parricide, tyrant, and chosen instrument of the