Shahmaran

Şahmaran

Shahmaran (Persian: شاهماران Şahmaran‎, lit. 'Shah (king) of the Snakes'; Kurdish: Şamaran‎, Turkish: Şahmeran, Tatar: Şahmara[1] or Zilant, Зилант or Aq Yılan[2], Chuvash: Вĕреçĕлен, lit. 'Fire snake') or ਸੱਪ ਦੇ ਸ਼ਾਹ Punjabi; Sapa dē Shaha', is a mythical creature in Iran, Anatolia, India and Iraq. The name of Shahmaran comes from Persian words "Shah" and "Maran". Shah is the title for a king, primarily the leader of the Iranians and their land and "mar" means snake. In plural "Mar-an" means snakes. Shahmaran is known as the queen of the serpents. This story can be traced from the Middle East to India with different variations, one version is also found in the Arabian Night Tales as the story of Jemlia - the Sultan of Underground.[3]

Mythology

Form and function

The Shahmaran is often depicted as a wise, intelligent woman, having female features above the waist and those of a serpent below. She is described as the queen of the snakes. When the Shahmaran dies, it is said that her spirit will pass to her daughter. There are different versions to the legend, as follows:

Once there existed a wise snake woman, Shahmaran, who loved a traveler named Tasmasp. He was in love with her. He listened to her wisdom and stories. But when he thought she had no more stories to tell, he decided to return to his country, however he took Shahmaran with him and hid her. When Tasmasp returned to his land, the king had become very ill. One of the king's advisers exclaimed that the only way to recover was to eat Shahmaran. They took people, one by one, into the hamam to see if snake scales would come up, and when Tasmsp went, he was forced to tell where Shahmaran was hiding. When they found her, she said, "whomsoever takes a bite from my snake scales will gain the secrets of the world, but whomever takes a bite of my head will die instantly." Tasmasp took a bite of the head and the evil helper took a bite of the scales, but the helper died, and Tasmasp was not affected at all. Shahmaran had helped her lover while simultaneously killing her enemy.[4][5]

In Turkey, Shahmaran is believed to live in the Mediterranean town of Tarsus. A similar legend is told in the Mardin region. In this region her legend is commonly evoked, with her image still depicted in embroidery, fabrics, and jewelry.

Legend

Thousands of years ago, there were wise snakes living in the underground. Their names in Iranian are maran and they are extraordinarily intelligent and caring. They live in peace. The queen of the marans is called Shahmaran. She is all-knowing, beautiful, and leads with grace. According to legend, a young wood-seller named Cemshab is the first human to see the marans. As the story goes, he is exploring a cave full of honey with friends; but they abandon him in order to take more honey. Alone, Cemshab sees an unusually light-filled hole in the back of the cave. He pulls away the rocks and finds deep within the cave is a magnificent garden. He crawl in, and is surrounded with light, flowers, and snakes. One of the snakes is coloured milky-white, Shahmaran, she is the most beautiful. He gains her trust, staying to live for many years in the underground garden. Shahmaran tells Cemshab that he was able to find her, and only him alone because of his pure heart and his Ajna (third eye), which allows him to see past the physical world and into the other worldly realm. One day after many years, he decides he would like to see his family again. So Shahmaran helps him leave, provided that he promises not to tell anyone about the maran cave. He keeps his word for many, many years.

But one day The Sultan of land get very sick. The Vizier (the high official of the land) says that only cure is eating meat of Shahmaran, to acquire her youth and wisdom. Word gets out that Cemshab knows where to find her. He resists, but then is forced to show them the way, under the threat of pressure by the governing authority to lead them to Shahmaran or Cemshab's loved ones will be killed. Betrayed, the wise Shahmaran says to Cemshab: "make me boil in an earthenware dish. Let the sultan eat my meat and make The Vizier drink my boiled water." When that happens, the Vizier dies, and the Sultan keep living. Meanwhile, Cemshab become Vizier.

The Morality of the story looks to Cemshab who is mesmerised by the almighty Shahmaran, and his good intentions and good heart aren't to be overlooked when his family is under duress of death. It is said that Shahmaran sent a message to Cemshab before her death, in his sleep with her highly developed consciousness to tell him that he should bring the authorities to Shahmaran's cave. She is remembered as being the peaceful queen of the snakes, with a pure heart of kindness and selflessness, and also creates the message of not to judge those who live and walk among us. Snakes have a bad and evil connotation in almost every culture, this story focuses on the ideal that “looks can be deceiving”, where although Shahmaran is a snake, she is a kind, intelligent, gentle, peaceful, beautiful and extraordinarily caring creature from beyond our own understanding and from another dimension, where only one with Ajna can actually find, meet and connect with her.

A 1944 fairy tale book called The Ring of Shah Maran, A Story from the Mountains of Kurdistan by Raphael Emmanuel tells the folk story of a boy that shares bread with animals and earns the respect of Shahmaran.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Cyrillic: Шаһмара, Iske imla:شاهمار
  2. ↑ Cyrillic: Ак Елан, Iske imla: آق یلان
  3. ↑ Mardrus, 1992: Vol.7, 68-131
  4. ↑ Shahmaran, Queen of Serpents Archived March 15, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ Shahmaran Series Archived September 21, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑ "The ring of Shah Maran, a story from the mountains of Kurdistan". worldcat.org. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
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