Âraŝ, the Archer (Persian: آرش کمانگیر Āraš-e Kamāngīr) is a heroic archer of the Persian mythology. Being celebrated by poets such as Ferdowsi, the name Arash is one of the most popular in the Persian-speaking world.
Synopsis of Story
At the end of war between Iran and Turan, Turan had advanced close to the Damavand mountain area. Damavand in Iranian mythology is the very heart and centre of the Middle Clime where Iranian people reside. This Middle Clime or Iran Zamin, incorporating far larger area than present Iran, was reputed to have the best soil, most moderate weather and the greatest of peoples. However to the east of the Iranian plateau lay the vast expanses of the wintry Southern Siberia where the nomadic and covetous Turanians lived and the story of early Iranian civilizations is that of survival against Turan.
The humiliation of conquest was to be complete with a Turanian proposal to limit Iran to the radius of an arrow's flight from
the umbilical Damavand. Iranians were to shoot an arrow towards Turan and wherever the arrow landed, the new border between Iran
and Turan would be drawn. Âraŝ, an old man, volunteered to shoot the arrow. On the bright morning of Tirgan, Âraŝ stripped naked, faced north, strained his bow as never before, let the arrow fly and, exhausted,
became one with the arrow and disappeared. The arrow flew the entire morning and fell at noon on the far bank of the
History
The story of Âraŝ (Avestan Erexŝa) is also attested to in the Avesta composed sometime around, and after, 1000 BC. This points to the antiquity of the story and may be an archetypal remembrance of how superior archery of the sedantary populations of the Iranian plateau, against the nomadic raiders of Central Asia, saved them from permanent servitude. An alternative explanation is the association of Âraŝ with Tir, the ancient Iranian name for Sirius which is identified in zodiac calendar with Summer Solstice or Tirgan. Tir is portrayed as an archer in art and mythology and the story of Âraŝ may merely be the vague remembrance of the recession of glaciers from the Iranian plateau.
In Avestan times the ethnicity of both "Iran" and "Turan" was essentially the same, when the Scythians and other Iranian tribes presented the nascent civilizations on the Iranian plateau with the greatest threats to their survival. By Sassanid era the Scythians were largely replaced by the Turko-Mongolians who invaded from the East and the stories of Eastern Iran were adapted to rouse the patriotic fervor of the Iranians against the marauders of the eastern frontier.
In addition, the story of Âraŝ the Archer shows striking similarities to the story of the legendary Indian hero Arjuna of the Hindu mythology, pointing toward a common origin of the two tales which could date back to the indo-iranian era ca. 4000 BC.
The name Arash and the Parthians
The founder of the Parthian Empire and the liberator of Iran from Macedonian Yoke used the dimunitive form of the name Ârŝak. Âraŝ means "giver". Like the names Caesar and Augustus, the name Ârŝak and later the corruption of the same Aŝk (Ashk) became synonymous with the Emperor of Iran during the Parthian period. The parthian monarchy was thus named Aŝkâni.
In modern times, the publication of the Siavuŝ Kasrâie's poem, considered one of the jewels of twentieth century Persian poetry, popularised the story[citation needed]. Today, Âraŝ is one of the most popular names for boys in Iran[citation needed].
See also
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