originally erected on the back of a pedestal in
dragon in ancient Turkish cosmology which saw
the form of a turtle, which was found nearby The
the creature living underground in winter then
front of the stele oriented towards sunrise bears
re-appearing in the spring and soaring into the
an inscription in runic Turkic script, whereas the
sky in the summer where it reigned at the zenith
back of the monument is inscribed in Chinese
as a divine creature 36
characters with the condolences sent by the Tang
The association of the Turks with the dragon
emperor Another example is offered by a frag-
is further corroborated by ethnogonic myths of
mentary monumental stone memorial stele carved
different Turkic tribes which are characteristic
with the arched body of a quadruped dragon
of Central Asian founder myths and legends of
(which formed the left side of an entwined pair
origin (for instance, the mythic formulae of the
of dragons) of the eighth Uighur qaghan (r 808–
origins of the ancient Scythian-Saka),37 such as the
821) at the Uighur capital Qarabalghasun (Ordu
tale of the origin of the Kimeks, recorded in the
Balïq), to the south of the palace remains, in the
eleventh-century account of the Ghaznawid histo-
Ötükän region of Mongolia (fig 166) The dragon
rian Abū Saʿīd ʿAbd al-Ḥayy Gardīzī 38 The legend
head is rendered with foreshortened snout ending
recounts how Shad, the ruler and “founder” of
in a tightly curled tip, holding a round object, per-
the Kimeks:
haps a pearl, in its open jaws and with a thick curly
…one day heard a voice coming from the water
beard at the lower jaw, extending into a promi-
as he stood on the banks of the Irtysh; the voice
nently protruding forehead with bulging eyes and
said, Shad, give me your hand in the water Shad,
large, cusped ears swept to the back The latter
seeing only some hair floating on the surface of the
touch upon an X-shaped motif enlivened with
water, tethered his horse and entered the water;
smal roundels in the interstitial areas that embel-
he grasped the hair, which turned out to belong
lish the dragon’s neck, while the scaled muscular
to his wife-to-be, Khatun, and upon enquiring,
body is slightly awkwardly arranged with large
he learned that she had been seized from the
projecting extremities terminating in unsheathed
riverbank by a water dragon 39
claws The fragment almost certainly formed one
The Kimek founder myth not only affirms the
side of an interlaced pair of dragons that once
sacredness of the river Irtysh in Siberia to the
crowned a colossal memorial stele inscribed, as
Turkic tribe but also involves the motif of an
surviving fragments reveal, with a trilingual text
ancestress that had been snatched by an aquatic
in Chinese, Uighur and Sogdian The doubling
dragon
aspect of the interlaced dragons has already been
Also noteworthy is the account given by the
touched upon in preceding chapters The pairing
Armenian historian Mattʿēos Uṛhayetsi (d 1142)
of the dragons, aimed at buttressing and doubling
of the Qun migration in the mid-eleventh cen-
the visual impact, was a noticeable feature that
tury, in which he mentions the “People of the
may have served to augment the intended effect of
Serpents” that attack the Pale Ones ( khartēshkʿ
the potent symbol This may moreover be associ-
= Cumans) 40 To this may be added the story of a
ated with the inherently ambivalent aspect of the
Qıpchaq chieftain, Tugorkan, recounted in Rus’
as source of the sun; a concept which is not adhered to in
“magician women” (magas mulieres), who consorted with
Chinese architecture Cf Hersek, 2002, pp 152, 156 The
“unclean spirits” of the steppes and whose offspring dwelled
cosmic meaning of the dragon in the art of the pre-Islamic
first in “swamps ” See Getica, tr and ed Mierow, 1915,
Türks of Central Asia was discussed by Emel Esin (1968–70
repr 2006, pp 85–6; Maenchen-Helfen, 1944–5, pp 244–51;
and 1973) and Gönül Öney (1969a)
Pohl, “Hunnen,” RgA, vol 15, 2000, p 248; DeWeese, 1994,
36 Boratav, “Drache,” WdM VII, 1, p 207 See also Esin,
p 496
1970–1, pp 161–82, and a review by Rogers (1970–1, pp 267–
38 Bartol’d, V V , “Izvlechenie iz Zain al-Akhbar,”
9), in which he disputes the cosmological significance
Sochineniia, VIII, p 27 (text), 44 (tr ); Marquart, 1914,
of the dragon in Turkish art In her reply (1973–4, pp
pp 89–91; Martinez, 1982, pp 109–75, esp pp 120–1 on the
151–2) Esin quotes, inter alia, from yusūf Khāṣṣ Ḥājib’s
Kimek All references as cited in DeWeese, 1994, p 494 and
Qutadghu-bilig (“Wisdom of Royal Glory”) completed in
n 3
462/1069–70, couplet 126: Yarattı, kör, evren, tuçi evrilür
39 DeWeese, 1994, p 494 See also Monchi-Zadeh, 1975,
Anıng birle tezginç yime texginür (“See, He created evren [the
p 234
dragon] which revolves continually, Together with it revolves
40 Marquart, 1914, pp 54–5 Sharaf al-Zamān Ṭāhir
the Ecliptic”) For a further dicussion, see Esin, 1981, p 834
Marwazī, tr and ed Minorsky, 1942, p 18 (Arabic), pp 29–30
37 Cf DeWeese, 1994, p 496, n 8 See too the Hunnic
(English) Minorsky (p 103) suggests that the “People of the
legend of origin which is rendered, albeit imperfectly, in Ior-
Snake/Serpent” were the Qun, whereas Marquart (p 55)
danes’ sixth-century Getica (“Gothic History”) which com-
leans towards identifying them with either the Qitan or Qay
prises an account by the Byzantine historian Priscus who
All references cited after Golden, 1997, p 89 and n 13 On
travelled among the Huns According to “old traditions,”
the eleventh-century migrations of nomadic peoples in the
the Huns are descended from “witches” (haliurunnae), or
Eurasian steppe zone, cf Vásáry, 2005, esp pp 4–12
the knotted dragon motif
163
literary tradition (byliny), who carries the pat-
executed under Uighur patronage adds fur-
ronymic “Tugarin Zmeevich” (“the son of the
ther weight to the possibility that the inter-
serpent-dragon”) 41
laced dragon figure was introduced into Islamic
While it may not be possible to trace the chain
art from Central Asia via the Turkic dynas-
of transmission of the interlaced dragons, they
ties 43
are considered to be variations in the context of
It is significant in this regard that some of
a possible sensus communis However, not only
the earliest extant examples of the quadripar-
are the dragons portrayed as pairs with necks or
tite knot in Islamic art seem to appear in the
bodies entwined to form a single central loop,
wider Khurasan region A key document, the
but occasionally their own bodies incorporate a
starting point for the discussion that follows,
knot at mid-section The shape of the knot varies,
is a large, elongated copper alloy matrix with
though it is often quadripartite in form
cusped arch terminals, distinguished by a pair
yet before discussing the motif in the Western
of confronted dragons in mirror image whose
Central Asian region it is interesting to note that
scaly bodies form a central quadripartite inter-
the iconography of dragons joined by means of a
lacing knot (fig 169) 44 Both arch-shaped ends
quadripartite knot also makes an appearance in a
are filled with the protomes of the paired con-
Buddhist context in the art of eastern Turkestan
fronted dragons The latter have rounded heads
Depictions appear in the wall paintings of cave
with wide-open snouts showing finely demarcated
monasteries in Shorchuk, dated between the sixth
flews and inward-curled tips and revealing pro-
and the eighth century, and Bezeklik in Qocho
jecting tongues that touch at the centre Their
(Chinese Gaochang, the former capital of the west-
elongated twisted horns with upward-curling tips
ern Uighur kingdom, Dakianusšhahri, located c
curve towards the back above the slender cusped
30 km east of present-day Turfan), which has been
ears The heads are separated from the curving
dated to the late tenth century 42 The Shorchuk
bodies by a finely moulded “collar ” Their angled
wall painting shows donors facing confronted
ribbed front legs with rounded feet nearly touch
dragons knotted at mid-section in a similar
at the tips The serpentine bodies of the four drag-
manner (fig 167) An analogous composition of
ons form a large, central quadripartite knot that
knotted dragons is portrayed on a now destroyed
is enlivened at the centre by a small quatrefoil
wall painting from Bezeklik which survives
with elongated lozenge-shaped petals which may
only in a drawing by the German archaeologist
represent a stellar emblem
Albert Grünwedel made during the third German
This matrix, now in the al-Sabāh Collection,
expedition to Chinese Turkestan in 1906 to 1907
Kuwait National Museum, is part of a set of 77
The drawing shows a pair of superimposed vegetal
copper alloy matrices for belt/strap fittings, one
stems each terminating in a blossom growing out
of which bears an inscription in the name of
of a water pool At the point of juncture, a pair
Muḥammad ibn Sām above the figure of a lion 45
of addorsed Chinese-derived dragons project
As discussed earlier, the inscription connects the
horizontally, their hind limbs entwined to form
set directly with the Ghurid sulṭān Ghiyāth al-Dīn
a central quadripartite knot, while the upper blos-
Muḥammad ibn Sām or his younger brother,
som forms the seat of Padmapāṇi, the Bodhisat-
Muʿizz al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Sām This set of
tva of Compassion (fig 168) The painting
matrices could thus have appertained to either
displays a fusion of Buddhist and Manichaean
one, or both, of the brothers, although Ghiyāth
elements which evolved under Uighur patronage
al-Dīn clearly remained the elder statesman 46
in the late tenth century The fact that it was
The set was, moreover, reportedly found near the
41 Rybakov, B A , Drevnjaja Rus’. Skazanija, byliny, leto-
44 Three further matrices feature seated lions with up -
pisi, Moscow, 1963, pp 102–4 In a bylina verse Tugorkan is
ward-arching tails terminating in large horned dragon-heads;
depicted as riding forth with two grey wolves preceding him;
Kuwait, al-Sabāh Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah,
Rybakov, B A , Kievskaja Rus’ i russikie knjazhestva XII–XIII
Kuwait National Museum, inv nos LNS 2558 J a-x2 ‘x2,’ ‘s2’
vv. , Moscow, 1982, p 156 (in which this verse is cited); both
and ‘t2 ’
sources as cited in Golden, 1997, p 89 Cf the discussion in
45 Kuwait,
al-Sabāh Collection, Dar al-Athar
Schirmunski, 1961, pp 23–4
al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait National Museum, inv no LNS 2558 J
42 Cf Russell-Smith, 2005, pp 230–2
a-x2 ‘g’; length 4 42 cm, width 2 81 cm
43 Azarpay, 1978, p 366, n 20
46 Cf Flood, 2005, p 266
164