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| Mandaean Oral Traditions and Folklore #28 THE SIMURGH AND HIRMIZ SHAH |
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| The Simurgh is a 'hidden' bird, her ways are mystery. She lives like a queen in the mountains, but every Sunday she likes to forth and visit sons of Adam--kings of the earth. When she approaches she is like a cloud, for she is big, and as soon as she is perceived coming in the sky, they play the big drum the women utter joy cries, and all are glad because of her coming. This was in the old time. Especially did the ruler to whom she made visit rejoice. Zal, Rustam, Kai Khosru, Sarhang, Afrasiab, all hoped that she might pay them a visit one Sunday, and used to sav, "O God! Let the Simurgh visit me." These were the days of the Pehlewan It happened one Sunday that the Simurgh came to visit Hirmiz Shah, who had prayed to his Lord that she might come, and had prepared a castle for her reception on a hill, which was set with trees and watered by clear rivers, and adorned with a garden. She alighted on this place, and when Hirmiz Shah saw her, he rejoiced greatly, and went to her saying, "Be welcome! God causes you to live! A thousand joy-cries for you (Elf halla bik). In the lower room of the castle he had built for her --and from this room one looked out on the garden and upon a fountain--Hirmiz Shah had prepared a throne upon which the Simurgh could seat herself, so that she might rest and need not stand upon her two legs. It had a mattress covered with velvet, against which her breast might repose, and was like a nest in shape--her tail came out behind. The fountain of water was as clear as a lump of ice, and the water leapt straight up into the air white and pure, and spread out like a tree. Hirmiz sat before the bird, and, seeing that she gazed at the fountain, he looked at it, and saw in the water something, which resembled a being of light. The Simurgh knew that Hirmiz Shah had seen something When she turned away her head and did not gaze at the water, the appearance died away. The Simurgh aware that Hirmiz Shah was observing this, smiled and Hirmiz Shah smiled, too, far his heart felt rejoiced at that which he had seen. Then the servants of the Shah brought fruits of the mountain country-peas, quinces, and apples, and set them before the Simurgh in baskets. She thanked him and began to eat of what he had offered her. Said Hirmiz Shah, "I should like to kill a sheep and bring it to your honor, 50 that your honor may eat of it." She smiled and replied, "l do not eat that which has breath I eat fruit only." After she had eaten in the beautiful place which had been prepared for her, Hirmiz Shah said, "If your highness permits, I should like to show you how our women dance." She answered, "As you please! Favour me!' Now Hirmiz Shah had some maidens whom he had brought up from their earliest years. They were beautiful girls, intelligent, and carefully trained, and their voices were melodious and sweet. He sent for them and said, "I want you to dance and sing for the Simurgh." They replied, "Gladly!" and musicians were brought who played on the pipes, which in Iran they call ambubi. If two or three musicians play on them in concert, the sound is delightful. Six pipers were brought who played with the utmost skill and sweetness. The girls began to dance. Lady! So well did they dance that you would have thought them made of a piece. If they turned, it was at the same instant. They bent together and rose together, and turned together; all exactly in unison, not one was behindhand. As the Simurgh witnessed their performance, she exclaimed, "How cleverly they dance!" and was delighted with them. When the girls had finished and were resting, she said to Hirmiz Shah, "I am extremely grateful to you for the pleasure and delight you have given me, and, in return, I will grant you your heart s wish!" Hirmiz Shah was glad and said to himself, "God brought her here, and now I shall ask her the dearest wish of my heart!" To the Simurgh he said, "I only ask an answer to one question." Replied the bird, "Speak! What is your wish?" Said Hirmiz to her, "Simurgh the sons of Adam are nor persuaded of truth if they cannot see proofs with their eyes! We are children of Adam, and if nothing is revealed to our eve cannot speak with certainty about anything!" She smiled, for she knew what Hirmiz was thinking and wishing. Said Hirmiz, "We want to see the King of Light, with the melki and the 'uthri, so that our souls may receive certainty even in this world." The Simurgh replied, "How do you know that I have knowledge enough to grant your request?" Said Hirmiz, "When I saw you gazing at the fountain, I knew it, for when you turned your eyes upon the water, I saw a Being in it, a shape of light, crowned with light, in the water. Sometimes it was colored red, the color of flowers, at which my heart rejoiced. Sometimes it was yellow, but a yellow of great beauty, sometimes green, sometimes turquoise and exceedingly lovely, and sometimes blue like the robe of Ruha--a most beautiful blue. Sometimes it was black like a cloud, but even in the deepness of that black I could perceive a Shape, for my eyes were not dazzled by light. I saw this when you gazed at the water, and I was persuaded that you have knowledge, and that nothing can be hidden from you." The bird, the Simurgh laughed and said, "Aferim! Bravo! You have understood! I have visited many kings, but never before have I seen one as intelligent as yourself!" Said Hirmiz, "I ask you for this boon, that we may see the King of Light, with the melki and the 'uthri, so that seeing, our hearts may believe, and rejoice and rest!" Answered the Simurgh "Later on I will show you!" Hirmiz Shah was delighted and said to the dancing girls, "I will give you money! I will give you all the money in my treasury!" The dancing girls were overjoyed and said to him, "We will bring our birds to dance before the Simurgh." For the girls had birds which they had trained from nestlings to dance together as if they were human. They brought the birds, which were white, sky-blue, red, and other colors, and the birds stood in a row, one beside the other as their mistresses had trained them. The pipers began to play the pipes, the girls began to dance, and the birds struck their wings together in unison, like a drum, taq-taq-taq! It was very pretty. The Simurgh was astonished at the training of these birds and the cleverness with which they struck their wings together in unison, and, indeed, it was a strange thing. T Thus the night passed in pleasant amusement of this kind, in dancing and eating fruit and conversation: the Pehlewan and nobles and other guests sitting together with the Shah and his guest. At last the morning star, Ubreyha-her other name is Merikh-appeared in the sky. When she appears, the nomads go to milk their cattle, for she is seen shortly before dawn. The Simurgh when she saw the star said to the Shah, "The time has come, and I will now show you melki, and permit you to hear their voices and their incantations (lit. how they read). You shall see how they appear." She ordered two small bowls to be brought, and in the middle of each bowl was a small receptacle. She caused a thread to be passed through the receptacle of each bowl, and secured in the middle. Then the Simurgh put one bowl to her ear, and told Hirmiz to put the other to his ear and she rose and gazed at the fountain. Hirmiz looked, and, behold! seven personages appeared in the midst of the water, each of his own kind color and shape. When they conversed with each other, their colors intermingled, and the play of color was exceedingly beautiful. Their voices, like a melody in sound, chanted, Ya tali Ziwa (O rays of Light) Sharaghi Ziwa (Lamps of Light) Hirmiz Shah gazed and was amazed and cried, "Can there be those in the world who deny the existence of spirits?" After Ubreyha had gone, the moon appeared, and Hirmiz, looking, beheld one sitting in the water who had seven heads. Voices came from these seven heads, and they were very lovely and melodious. The seven-headed Personage sat thus--(the narrator sat upright with his hands on his knees). Then the sun appeared in the east, and the Simurgh began to smile and Hirmiz rejoiced, saying to himself, "Now I shall behold that which is the best of all!" The bowl was at his ear and the other bowl was at the ear of the Simurgh. As she gazed at the water, he gazed also, and he heard and perceived rounds, voices of great beauty and music like the rounds of flutes, a music far better than anything he had ever heard before. He thought he saw in the midst of the water a woman of such beauty and sweetness that he was entranced and exclaimed, Aka hei (Aka hiia) (There is Life) Aka marwy (Aka marai) (There is my Lord) Aka Manda t Heil (Aka Manda d Hiia0 (There is life Incarnate) So great was his joy that his understanding almost flew from him, and be cried, "Greater than this surely does not exist!" But the Simurgh said to him, "Simat Hei (Simat Hiia, Treasurer of Life) is great indeed! She is the Mother of all Life, the mother of all. All life in this world proceeds from her. The birds when they twitter, utter her praises; the fishes praise the Mother of All Life and are her dervishes; cocks chant at dawn in her praise, and delight when she appears. Bulbuls, doves, sparrows, and all birds utter their joy at her presence!" Said Hirmiz Shah, "l cannot confess or admit that there can be greater than this She. It would be difficult for me to do so." The Simurgh laughed. But Hirmiz Shah said, "Yet I wish to see further" She replied, "You shall see further" The sun turned, and arrived at the North Star. Then the Simurgh prostrate herself, and began to pray, saying: "Then, from the Life (I ask) your mercy, your healing power, your radiance, your compassion, yours, Great First Life! Forgive me, make me whole, awake me, have compassion on this my soul, mine, Nimrus Zaina, for whom this prayer which I have prayed and these devotions shall bring forgiveness of my sins. When the bird uttered the name 'Nimrus Zaina', Hirmiz Shah understood that she was none other than Ruha herself for Nimrus Zaina is one of the names of Ruha. And he fell before her, crying, "l crave your protection and that of your son" But she said to him, "Behold, I have more things to show you!" After he had prostrated himself, he arose and saw a King of great Brilliance, all of light, surrounded by many 'uthri and melki. He who was I their midst was so dazzling to the sight that Hirmiz could not gaze upon him, but cast down his eyes. Said the Simurgh, "You have seen Melka d Anhura the King of Light, Melka Ziwa, the Radiant Lord. The likeness of Simat Hei appears in the sun, but none can gaze upon her, none. Only I can show you--it" And from that time, Hirmiz Shah abandoned all things (jazz) and left the world and went into the wilderness and became a darwish. (((When commenting upon this tale, I said to the narrator, Hirmiz bar Anhar, "In your story the planets and Ruha are honored, and yet the Ginza Rabba says that they are the portion of darkness." The old man replied, "Lady, the enmity between Ruha and her children and the world of light does not exist in reality. Between the Darkness and the Light there in no enmity, because both are the creations of One and the Same. The enmity that you read is the creation of priests, and those who wrote the ginzi (treasures, holy books). Why should there be enmity between us and the powers of darkness or powers of darkness and those of the light? There is only love! Love holds all things together so that they form a whole) |
| The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran By E.S. Drower Clarendon Press, Oxford,1937 (Reprint Leiden:E.J. Brill 1962) pages 393-399 Narrator: Hirmiz bar Anhar |