Keyumars

Keyumars (کیومرث), older Persian Kayōmart, was the first Shāh of the world according to the poet Firdausī's Shāhnāma. The character of Keyumars is based upon a figure from a Zoroastrian creation myth, called in the Avesta Gayō Marətan and in later Zoroastrian texts Gayōmard or Gayōmart.

Etymology

In the Avestan language, gaya means "life", and marətan means "mortal" or "human" (cf. Persian mard مرد "man"). Gayō Marətan, being in the beginning the only human in the world, is "human life" in its entirety.

Gayōmart in Zoroastrian literature

According to the Zoroastrian creation myth, Gayōmart was the first human being, created by Ahura Mazda after he had created the Earth. Gayōmart was neither man nor woman. Angra Mainyu, the force of Evil, sent a demon to kill Gayōmart, from whose body sprang a tree, which bore the first man, Mashya, and the first woman, Mashyana.

Keyumars in the Shāhnāma

Firdausī's great epic poem, the Shāhnāma, begins with the story of Keyumars. He was the first king to arise among humans, who at that time lived in mountain caves and wore the skins of leopards. God (Ahura Mazda) granted him the supernatural radiance called farr (Avestan xvarənah), reserved to kings. His son was Siyāmak, Siamak, (سیامک), who was beloved of all except the devil Ahriman. Ahriman raised an army under the command of his own demonic son, and when the angel Sorush (Avestan Sraoša) warned Keyumars, Siyāmak led an army of his own. But when Siyāmak accepted a challenge to single combat, he died at the hands of the demon.

Keyumars mourned for a year, and then Sorush advised him to fight Ahriman once more. Siyāmak's son Hushang was grown by this time, and he led an army that defeated Ahriman's son, who was bound and beheaded. Keyumars died after a thirty-year reign, leaving his throne to Hushang.

Donate to Wikimedia