eclipse monster were identified with the lunar
Candimā-sutta, “Discourse on the Moon”) the
nodes, which play a crucial role in the eclipses 61
Buddha reprimands Rāhu and directs him to
At the beginning of celestial motion the head
release the Moon at once which Rāhu does, know-
or forepart, Rāhu, that is to say the ascending
ing that otherwise his head will be split into seven
node of the Moon’s orbit upon the ecliptic, was
pieces 69 The Buddha thus delivers the Moon (the
in Gemini and Ketu, the tail or hindpart of the
god dwelling in the Moon), who had appealed
bisected serpent-monster, in other words the
to him for refuge, from Rāhu’s clutches 70 The
descending node, was in Sagittarius ( al-qaws,
contextual and conceptual metamorphoses of the
lit “bow”), often represented as an armed cen-
motif thus attest to a mechanism of continuity of
taur 62 The 180° extent of the dragon reflects the
these essential thought systems which governed
fact that the nodes occupy diametrically opposite
the Central Asian world and beyond
points of the ecliptic Hence the dragon’s body is
yet even when the scientific causes were clear,
conceived as arched across the sky 63
the mythological interpretation of the phenom-
The demon of the eclipses Rāhu is well-known
enon survives This fact and the ensuing syncre-
not only in the Brahmanic tradition, but also in
tism is expounded by Hartner:
Buddhism 64 In the Buddhist Jātaka stories of the
We might suppose that clear insight into the
previous births of Gautama Buddha, which were
physical causes of eclipses could have thrown
familiar throughout the Central Asian region,
mythological tradition into the background But
repeated reference is made to the Moon gripped
this has not been the case What we observe is
between Rāhu’s jaws, or being liberated from the
that mythological and astronomical elements
latter 65 Thus, in the Gandhāra Jātaka, the king of
contract an intimate fusion The nodes of the
Gandhāra chose to become an ascetic after observ-
moon’s orbit are simply identified with the eclipse
ing a lunar eclipse, explaining that:
monster itself: with the Hindus, Rāhu becomes
the ascending, Ketu the descending node; with
Taking the moon’s orb seized by Rāhu as my
Persians and Arabs, the head and tail of the
theme I forsook my great kingdom and took the
Djawzahr play the same role 71
religious life
In Islamic astronomy the Persian gōchihr, called
because:
al-jawzahar or al-tinnīn (also azhdahā, “the giant
There is the moon’s pure orb become dark by
dragon”), was sometimes represented as a bi-
trouble from outside; now this kingdom is a
partite or double-headed dragon It is the cir-
trouble to me: I will take the religious life so
cumpolar constellation Draco, “represented as
that the kingdom does not make me dark as Rāhu
a very long serpent with many convolutions; it
does the moon’s orb 66
is coiled around the north pole of the ecliptic,”72
In the Buddhacarita Siddhārtha’s son is called
which is sometimes metaphorically applied to
Rāhula “with the face of Rāhu’s adversary ”67
the Milky Way 73 The Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṅa
It is of note that in some Pali texts the demon
(III 67) describes how the first sacred waist band
Rāhu is said not to devour the Sun and the Moon,
or girdle ( ayyaṅga which is closely related to
“but merely to caress them with his hand ”68 In
the Iranian aiwiyaonghen that is worn by every
the well-known story of the Candrasūtra (Pali
devout Zoroastrian) was presented to the sun god
61
67
Cf Hartner, 1938, p 131, and idem, “Al-Djawzahar,”
Johnston, 1936, repr 2004, p 29 Cf Santoro, 2006,
EI² II, 501b
p 547 The concept is evoked in yet another line: “Deliver
62 Brunner, “Astronomy and Astrology in the Sasanian
Rāhula from grief for his parent as the full moon from eclipse
Period,” EIr, II, p 867 The dragon head projecting from the
by Rāhu ” See Johnston, 1936, repr 2004, p 129
68
centaur’s tail represents the descending node’s exaltation in
Malalasekera, G P , Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names, 2
Sagittarius; however, although the latter is the dragon’s “tail”
vols , 1938, repr 1974, vol 2, pp 735–7, cited after Strong,
(dhanab) and not its “head” (raʾs), and hence the representa-
1992, p 156
69
tion of the “head” is an iconographic inconsistency, it has
Idem, p 156 The Candrasūtra was also translated into
come to symbolise the astrological association Hartner,
ancient Uighur, see Zieme, 2000, pp 65–80
70
1973–4, p 110
Waldschmidt, 1970
63
71
Bundahishn 5 4, p 49 13–5, cited after Brunner,
Hartner, 1938, p 131
72
“Astronomy and Astrology in the Sasanian Period,” EIr,
Al-Bīrūnī, Kitāb al-Tafhīm, tr and ed Wright, 1934,
p 867
p 71
64
73
Cf Santoro, 2006, p 547
MacKenzie, 1964, pp 521–2, n 53, 525 The Mystical
65 Cf eadem, p 547
and Visionary Treatises of Suhrawardi, tr Thackston, 1982,
66 Cowell, 1897, repr 2000, vol 3, pp 222–3
p 113, n 42
the dragon and astrology
139
by the king of serpents, Vāsuki, and represented
the period of the Prophet Muḥammad’s resi-
the starry band of the Milky Way 74 In a verse of
dence in Medina 80 On this occasion the Prophet
the late eleventh-century Iranian poet Labībī the
is reported to have said “that he had never been
seven heads of the dragon represent the heavenly
so greatly filled with fear,” and the commentaries
spheres and the universe 75
add to this, “that he thought that the Hour had
Together with the acculturation of astronomi-
come, and to illustrate it he is reported to have
cal knowledge, astrological iconography emerged
said that he saw Paradise and Hell so close to him
in the form of visual conceptualisations that were
that he could have gathered a bunch of grapes
regularly featured in medieval imagery These
from the land of the blessed, had he stretched
were emblematically transferred onto architec-
out his hand ”81 According to Abū Saʿīd al-Sijzī’s
tural sculpture as well as portable objects, in
comprehensive tenth-century astrological com-
particular metalwork and ceramics Astrological
pilation on the “Conjunctions and Revolutions
considerations also had a profound bearing on
of the years of the World” which was based on
the artistic conventions of the iconography of the
earlier sources, a solar eclipse indeed indicated
dragon Its representation in medieval Islamic
the death of Muḥammad as well as the accession
astrology has been addressed in a number of
of the first caliph Abū Bakr 82
studies, foremost among which remains Hart-
The significance accorded to the eclipse is
ner’s, in which he demonstrates the influence of
reflected in the bi-partite “dragon” that was seen
the conceptualisation of the two “lunar nodes”
as temporarily “devouring” the Sun and the Moon
(al-ʿuqdatāni) on Islamic artisans 76
at certain irregular intervals, and then disgorg-
As seen in sources that pre-date the Islamic
ing or “delivering,” them – since the two planets
period, the crucial aspect of al-jawzahar is that
always appear to emerge unscathed from their
it consists of two nodes of the Moon’s orbit or
temporary eclipse by the “dragon ” This non-
“points at which (the) two [great] circles of the
Ptolemaic concept played a prominent role in
sphere intersect,”77 in other words the two points
astrological associations whereby the two nodes
where the course of the Moon crosses the plane of
were treated as though they were real celestial
the ecliptic from south to north: the “head of the
bodies, in other words extra, albeit invisible,
dragon” (raʾs al-tinnīn) is formed by the ascending
“planets,” or fictitious nodes 83 They were con-
node of the Moon’s orbit, and, correspondingly,
ceived as an eighth and a ninth planet, the only
the “tail of the dragon” (dhanab al-tinnīn) by the
difference between them and the original seven
descending node 78 This associates it with both
planets being that contrary to the others their
solar and lunar eclipses; the latter were attributed
movement was westwards or “retrograde,” rather
to the occurrence of a conjunction, or opposition,
than eastwards 84
of the Sun and Moon (New Moon or Full Moon,
Ghaznawid and Ghurid military campaigns
respectively) in or near the lunar nodes
in India brought not only extensive booty, but
In medieval Islam especially, the astrologi-
resulted at the same time in an influx of scholars,
cal influence of the eclipse of the Sun is consid-
craftsmen and a variety of artisans, all of whom
ered one of the foremost signs of the impending
came with their own indigenous iconographies,
destruction of the world 79 In the Qurʾān the latter
contributing perhaps to the diffusion of the ico-
is repeatedly described among the signs of per-
nography of al-jawzahar The great scholar Abū
turbations of heavenly bodies ( sūra 75, 8–9; and
Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Bīrūnī had
81, 1) Early Islamic tradition frequently describes
accompanied sulṭān Maḥmūd, possibly as offi-
the occurrence of an eclipse of the Sun during
cial astrologer, on several of his military expedi-
74
79
Carter, 1981, p 80 and n 27
Wensinck, 1923, p 193
75
80
M Dabīrsīāqī, Ganj-i bāz yāfta, Tehran, 2535/1355 Sh ,
Al-Bukhārī, Mawāqīt al-Ṣalāt, b 51, cited by Wensinck,
1976, cited after Khāleqī-Moṭlaq, “Aždahā II,” EIr
1923, p 193 and n 6
76
81
Hartner, 1938, and idem, “Al-Djawzahar,” EI² II, 501b
Al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-ʿItq, b 3, cited by Wensinck, 1923,
Cf Öney, 1969a, pp 193–216; Otto-Dorn, 1978–9, pp 125–
p 193 and n 7
82
36; Azarpay, 1978, pp 363–74
Al-Sijzī, Kitāb al-qirānāt wa taḥāwīl sinī al-ʿālam, as
77 See the definition of al-jawzahar in Abū ʿAbd Allāh
cited in Pingree, 1968, pp 70–127, 118–9 (the table of the
Muḥam mand al-Khwārizmī’s Mafātīḥ al-ʿUlūm, cited after
horoscope of the solar eclipse foreboding the death of the
Hartner, 1938, p 120
Prophet)
78
83
Cf Kharegat, 1914, pp 126–8; MacKenzie, 1964,
Beck, 2004, p 161 and n 29
84
p 515
Idem, p 161
140