of thinking, expressing surprise that the hero
rhythm and melody, that is to say, sounds trans-
dares to sleep in the face of the impending danger
formed into music, seems to have roots that lie
of his advance 9 The mythical creature then
in deep antiquity and which appear to have sur-
approaches the sleeping hero, who is twice woken
vived into the Islamic period 13 According to a
by his loyal steed Rakhsh, but the dragon vanishes
ninth-century Arabic text on the poisons of ser-
On the third approach it is unable to cloak itself
pents, attributed to Hermes Trismegistos, music
and is seen by the hero The exchange of words
attracts mythological serpents such as the large
that ensues between the hero and the dragon
serpent in the western sea, referred to earlier, with
serves to anthropomorphise the creature to some
cervid-type dendritical antlers and a mane like
extent Nevertheless, with the help of his horse,
the mane of a seahorse, which can be hunted with
the hero manages to slay the dragon
the help of music made with cymbals and
The speaking anthropomorphised serpent is
shawms 14 A comparable phenomenon is recorded
also known in the most famous Arabian col-
by Ibn Waḥshiyya in his late ninth-century text
lection of fairy-tales and other stories of the Alf
on poisons in which he states that people from
layla wa-layla in the Journeys of Bulūqiyā 10
Kasadān invented a particular type of bell which
Mythical serpents endowed with the power of
brings out serpents and vipers from their holes
speech appear similarly in Indian lore, such as in
when they hear the sound 15 That the sound of
the great collection of fables known as the
music can lure serpents out of their caves is sim-
Panchatantra 11 Armenian popular tradition also
ilarly reported by the late ninth-century author
preserves several tales that contain the motif of
Abū Hilāl al-ʿAskarī 16 The serpent as well as its
the speaking serpent such as the story of the Magic
larger relative the dragon may thus have been
Ring 12
considered susceptible to the transformative
To this may be added the speaking serpents of
influence of the medium of sound and music 17
antiquity in Ptolemy I’s account of the Siwah
This aspect of the dragon is given expression
expedition of Alexander the Great Arrian (II 3 2)
by its depiction on musical instruments, which
records the interesting story that Alexander was
appear in a number of early Ilkhanid paintings
guided to and from the oracle by two giant drag-
portraying a court scene with the enthroned ruler
ons uttering speech This aspect appears already
and his consort, housed in the Staatsbibliothek
in Hesiod’s account of the hundred serpent heads
zu Berlin and in the Topkapı Sarayı Library, Istan-
that issue from the shoulders of the dragon
bul 18 The court ceremony shows the enthroned
Typhon which spoke in many voices (phonai), at
couple surrounded by princely relatives and
times those of different animals and, at times,
courtiers, both male and female, accompanied by
sounds only the gods could understand ( Theogony
musicians playing a stringed instrument, which
825–52)
again resembles a harp, the arched string arm of
The belief in the serpent-dragon’s receptivity
which is fashioned in the form of a dragon’s neck
to sounds that create a pattern such as tone,
terminating in its projecting head (fig 177) Like
9 Cf Omidsalar, 2001, pp 259–93, esp p 269 and n 14
Grassmann, 1873, repr 1976, cols 376–7) This associates
10 Littmann, “Alf layla wa-layla,” EI 2 I, 358b
it with the Manichean demoniacal beings called mazan s
11 Cf Vogel, 1926, pp 20–1, 28, 173–4
which dwell in the ocean as sea dragons or dragon-like sea
12 Hoogasian-Villa, 1966, pp 193–7, for other tales with
monsters It is further notable that the gandarəβa survives in
this motif, see pp 224–9, 401 and 426–9
Sogdian as γntrw (Skjærvø, “Aždahā I,” EIr)
13
14
The Old Indic name gandharva represents a benefi-
Ullmann, 1994, p 28 81
15
cent mythical being who is said to be surrounded by the
Levey, 1966, p 36
16
heavenly waters, “which flow down at his look,” and who is
Ullmann, 1994, p 100 81
17
sometimes, mainly in later literature, portrayed as heavenly
See also the pact made with the tamed nāgarāja who
musician (Skjærvø, “Aždahā I,” EIr; Panaino, “Gaṇdarəßa-,”
lives to the northwest of Kapisa As soon as some unfavour-
EIr) In the Rigveda these celestial beings are compared to
able weather phenomenon occurs, the sound of the ghantā
the luminosity of the Sun and the stars of the Moon’s orbit;
(cymbal or drum) will remind the dragon of his pact with
Rigveda 8 1 2 (with the Sun), Vājasaneyi-Saṃhitā 9 7 (the
king Kanishka, whereupon he will cause the danger to sub-
stars of the Moon’s orbit; cf Oldenberg, 1894, repr 1977,
side See p 91
18
p 245) Etymologically the name equals the sea monster
The dragon-headed string instrument is depicted on
Gandarəβa (Gandarw, Gandarb, spelled gndlp) which is
other fols featuring an Ilkhanid court scene, one of which
defeated by the hero Kərəsāspa/Garshāsp According to
is also preserved in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin ( Dschingis
Prods Oktor Skjærvø, “it is through “Iranian polarisa-
Khan und seine Erben, 2005, p 258, cat no 286) and another
tion” of the inherited Aryan mythological concepts […] that
in an album compiled in the late 1400s in Istanbul, Topkapı
gandarəβa has been turned into a sea monster” (“Aždahā
Sarayı Museum, Library, Ms H 2153, fol 166a (the painting
I,” EIr Cf Oldenberg, 1894, repr 1977, pp 245–50;
is attributed to the same period)
the dragon and sound
193
the overall pictorial scheme of the painting, the
whose head is turned towards the harpist (figs
dragon head is rendered in an east Asian manner,
178a and b)
the closed jaws characterised by fleshy folds on
Another indirect association of the dragon with
the bridge of the snout which is terminating in a
music is shown on one of the earliest wall paint-
prominent curl and with flowing mane and beard
ings at Panjikent, which has been dated to the
springing from the chin It is interesting to con-
late fifth century, on the eastern wal of the north-
sider the possibility of music as a civilising force
ern chapel of Temple II Here the dragon serves
which in turn would have had a subsuming and,
as zoomorphic throne for a goddess identified as
hence, taming effect on the nature of the dragon,
deity of the river Zerafshan20 to whose right is a
a change suggested by its appearance at the tip
rectangular musical instrument with attached
of a musical instrument
bel s The affiliation of the goddess with the instru-
The closest example to the Ilkhanid dragon
ment has led Martha Carter to point out an anal-
harp can perhaps be found in seventh- or eighth-
ogy with the ancient Hindu Saraswatī (who is
century Panjikent in Sogdiana In spite of the
also known in Buddhism), goddess of music and
learning, who is also a river goddess 21
tremendous chronological hiatus this may be of
Vestiges pertaining to elements of both the
some relevance Among the epic cycles portrayed
musical and the aquatic qualities of the dragon
on the Panjikent wall paintings there are at least
can still be found in the more recent history of
two that depict original Sogdian legends 19 One
Central Asia They recur in the songs of Kazakh
of these includes the wel -known figure of a musi-
shamans who also use a stringed musical instru-
cian that serves as a caryatid supporting an arch
ment (kobyz) of which they say:
The tip of her large harp-like stringed instrument
terminates in a dragon head with open mouth
I took in my hands a kobyz made of a pine-tree
and elongated, curved upper proboscis-like snout
And wind like a water serpent 22
19 Marshak, 2002, p 145 For a drawing of the entire
nāga s are said to exhibit great musical skill and possess
mural, see Belenitskii and Marshak, 1981, p 24, fig 3
magic musical instruments (as well as excel in other arts)
20 Belenitskii and Marshak, 1971, pp 42–5, and eidem,
Cf Bosch, 1960, pp 137, 174–5 See also the connection of
1981, p 70; Azarpay, 1981, p 140 and n 61
tritons (serpent-legged mermen associated with Tritōn, the
21 Carter, 1992, p 75 Revealed wisdom, which in
son of Poseidon) with music as visualised in Gandhāran art,
Brahmanism is personified in Vāch, the female Logos, and
for instance in a schist frieze from Andan Dheri near Chak-
later appears as Saraswatī/Prajñā, is essentially an aquatic
dara with tritons playing musical instruments Chakdara, Dir
element and had extensive influence on the formation of
Museum, inv no 505 (AND 533); Gandhara, 2009, cat no 75
22
the character of the nāga s This association explains why the
Basilov, 1991, p 278
194