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Garshasp
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Garshasp is the name of a monster-slaying hero in Iranian mythology. The Avestan form of his name is K?r?saspa and in Middle Persian his name is Kirsasp.
he Zoroastrian religious text of the Avesta, K?r?saspa appears as the slayer of ferocious monsters, including the Gandar?ßa and the Aži Sruvara. In later Zoroastrian texts Kirsasp is revived at the end of the world to defeat the monster Dahag.
K?r?saspa is the son of Trita and belongs to the Sama family.
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Garshasp is the name of a monster-slaying hero in Iranian mythology. The Avestan form of his name is K?r?saspa and in Middle Persian his name is Kirsasp.
K?r?saspa / Kirsasp in Zoroastrian literature
In the Zoroastrian religious text of the Avesta, K?r?saspa appears as the slayer of ferocious monsters, including the Gandar?ßa and the Aži Sruvara. In later Zoroastrian texts Kirsasp is revived at the end of the world to defeat the monster Dahag.
K?r?saspa is the son of Trita and belongs to the Sama family. Trita is originally the name of a deity; cf. the Vedic Trita.
K?r?saspa and the Aži Sruvara
According to the Avesta, K?r?saspa once stopped on a hill to cook his midday meal. Unknown to K?r?saspa, the hill was actually the back of a dragon -- the Aži Sruvara. As the heat from K?r?saspa's fire woke the dragon, it woke up, overturning K?r?saspa's kettle. K?r?saspa fled, but returned to slay the dragon.
Later texts, the Persian Rivayat and Pahlavi Rivayat, add more details. According to them, the Az i Sruwar was a dragon with horns, with huge eyes and ears, and teeth upon which the men it had eaten could be seen impaled. It was so long that K?r?saspa ran along its back for half a day before he reached its head, struck it with his mace, and killed it.
K?r?saspa and the Gandar?ßa
Another monster that Kirsasp fought was the Gandar?ßa, Middle Persian Gandarw. (This name is cognate to the Indic gandharva, but the exact way by which the word attained its specialized meanings in Indic and Iranian cultures is uncertain.) The Gandarw lived in the sea. It was also enormous, big enough to swallow twelve provinces in a single gulp, and tall enough that when it stood up the deep sea only came up to its knee, and its head was as high as the sun. The Gandarw pulled Kirsasp into the ocean, and they fought for nine days. At last, Kirsasp flayed the Gandarw and bound him with his own skin. Kirsasp, weary from the combat, had his companion Axrurag guard the Gandarw while he slept, but it proved too much for him – the Gandarw dragged Axrurag and Kirsasp's family into the sea. When Kirsasp awakened, he rushed to the sea, freed the captives, and killed the Gandarw.
Kirsasp and Dahag
The Zoroastrian text called the Sudgar tells that when the monster Dahag, who is now bound in chains on Mount Damavand, bursts free of his fetters at the end of the world, Kirsasp will wake from death (his corpse having been guarded from corruption) to destroy Dahag and save the two thirds of the world that Dahag has not devoured.
Garshasp in Persian literature
Garshasp in the Shahnama
Garshasp is only tangentially mentioned in the Shahnama. There he appears as a distant ancestor of the hero Rostam, who lived about the same time as King Fereydun. Garshasp is the father of Nareman, who is the father of Sam, father of Zal, who is in turn Rostam's father.
Garshasp in the Garshaspnama
Garshasp received his own poetic treatment at the hands of Asadi Tusi, who wrote a Garshaspnama about this hero.
In the Garshaspnama, Garshasp is the son of Esret, the equivalent of the Avestan Trita, and grandson of Sham (Avestan Sama). His genealogy goes back through other characters not mentioned in the Avesta: Sham is the son of Tovorg, son of Šedasp, son of Tur, who was an illegitimate son of Jamshid by the daughter of Kurang, king of Zabolestan, begotten at the time that Jamshid had been deposed was fleeing from the forces of Zahhak.
Zahhak reigned for 1000 years, and so was still king at the time that Garshasp was born. On one occasion when Zahhak was traveling in Zabolestan, he saw Garshasp and encourages him to slay a dragon that had emerged from the sea and settled on Mt. Šekavand. Equipped with a special antidote against dragon-poison, and armed with special weapons, Garshasp succeeds in killing the monster. Impressed by the child's prowess, Zahhak now orders Garshasp to India, where the king – a vassal of Zahhak's – has been replaced by a rebel prince, Bahu, who does not acknowledge Zahhak's rule. Garshasp defeats the rebel and then stays in India for a while to observe its marvels and engage in philosophical discourse.
After returning from India, Garshasp woos a princess of Rum, restores his father Esret to his throne in Zabol after the king of Kabol defeats him, and builds the city of Sistan. He has further anachronistic adventures in the Mediterranean, fighting in Kairouan and Córdoba.
When he returns to Iran, his father dies, and Garshasp becomes king of Zabolestan. Although he has no son of his own, he adopts Nareman as his heir, who would become Rostam's great-grandfather. The poem ends with another battle and dragon-slaying, followed by Garshasp's death.
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