David of Sasun
The Armenian fairy tale legend based on historical background about the hero » David of Sasun « ( Armenian Սասունցի Դավիթ Sassunzi Dawit , also Armenian Սասնա ծռեր Sasna zrer , “daredevil from Sasun ”) dates from the 9th century. The story was passed on orally by village bards over the centuries, was first written down in 1873 and has been a national epic since 1936 under the title Sasna tsřer .
Rediscovery
The Armenian Bishop of the Armenian Apostolic Church , Garegin Srvandztiants, saved this story, which had been handed down orally, from being completely forgotten in 1873. Through his close contact with local people in inaccessible parts of western Armenia, he learned about the legends about the old national hero David von Sasun and brought them to the public in a written document the following year.
About 60 years later in 1936, the man of letters Manuk Abeghian and his colleagues began to rewrite and edit the story under the title Sasna tsřer (Armenian: Սասնա ծռեր). The work comprised three volumes with more than 2500 pages, the publication was carried out by the state publishing house in Yerevan (1944 (part I) and 1951 (part II). The book achieved greatest popularity and was in the more recent editions under the title "David von Sasun “To the national folk good.
The epic was illustrated in Yerevan in 1961 by Hakob Kodschojan (1883-1959), his remarks inspired and spurred on the Armenian tradition and folklore. In 1966, the Armenian-American author Leon Zaven Surmelian translated the epic into English. The research of the Soviet orientalist and armenologist Hovsep Orbeli in Leningrad (1956) and later of the Armenian philologist Manuk Abeghjan gave the fairytale epic a more historical character, first in an article (1981) and then in a book (1989). The Armenian folk epic was newly translated into German in 2006 by Elisabeth Jacobi.
Historical background
In the initial myth, the anachronism emerges strongly; instead of the time of the Arab caliphs, it goes back to the time of the Assyrians . The Sennachirim, who acts as the Arab caliph, refers to King Sancherib, who lived around 700 BC . Many pagan elements flow into the story, which indicate that influences from the Sassanid period of Persia are also clearly recognizable. For example, the Armenian name "Mher" (Mihr) refers to the god Mithra . The Sasun residence, located in the mountains, is now outside Armenia , in the northern part of the Batman province and borders the Diyarbakır , Muş and Bitlis provinces . The invaders named in the epic as Egyptians are synonymous with the invasion of the Arabs, who burdened the conquered countries of the non-Muslims with extreme taxes. The Sultan Msra Melik, portrayed as an enemy in the epic, forms the Arab-Islamic antithesis to Christian Armenia. The battles discussed point to the great uprisings of the Armenians against the Arabs, which fall in the years 747–750 and 774–775. The last part of the epic is based heavily on the old Persian Rostam (Shāhnāme) legend. The long struggle for freedom against the Arab caliphate was finally crowned with success under King Aschot I. Under King Gagik Bagratuni (989-1017), the Armenian kingdom reached a heyday.
action
The deeply religious Princess Tsovinar, daughter of the Christian King Gagik of Armenia, must serve as a hostage at the court of Sultan Melik von Musr in order to keep the peace. She gave birth to the divine twins Sanasar and Bagdassar on a pilgrimage in the Holy Land after quenching her thirst from a sacred spring. The union with the pure, holy water represents a manifestation of the fatherly component. The boys endowed with miraculous powers can escape to their original homeland from their evil father-in-law, the Sultan Melik. You have a magical lightning sword, the divine warhorse Djalali and the battle cross that lays itself on the wearer's right arm and leads to victory. In the homeland, Sanasar assumed secular power and established his fortified capital in Sasun, while Bagdassar assumed the celibate dignity of supreme priest.
Sanasar led a victorious heroic life and defeated the armies of the opposing copper city. To reconcile with the enemy, he married the inferior mistress of the copper city, Dechzun-Chatum, with whom he fathered three sons, including the youngest, the heroic Mher, who led a rich heroic life with the help of magic weapons. A widow of the Sultan of Mysr, Ismil-Chatun, seduced Mher so much with her magical powers that he was separated from his first wife Armaghan for seven years. Msra-Melik grew out of this relationship. The offended Armaghan forgives the returned mower only after some time. However, the new happiness in love is clouded by the couple's childlessness. Mher was visited by an angel who informed him that Armaghan would have a son after all. In exchange, both will die before the subsequent heroic son Dawid flourishes. The infant David was placed in the care of Ismil-Chatun, the widow of the Sultan of Mysr, and was nursed and raised with honey and milk. More and more overshadowed by the magnificently growing David, his half-brother Msra-Melik becomes the younger, who tries to destroy him. Meanwhile, Sasun Province was mourning seven years after Mher's death. In front of Thoros, Dawid's uncle, the peasants lament the decline in military readiness and await a savior in front of new requests for tribute that Arab troops under Kosbadin are trying to collect. The youthful David is able to escape the sultan's captors and returned to Sasun in time to continue the exploits of his father Mher.
Msra-Melik had grown to become the new master of Mysr, gathered an army to forestall the danger that threatened David and moved to Maratuk. David stood up against it, prepared himself and camped his troops on the mountains of Seechersar. David was self-confident through his supernatural miracle weapons, mostly acted naively, but remains on the right path and confident of victory under the advice of his uncle. He pursues the reconstruction of the temple of the mother god Maruta, which was destroyed by the Arabs, and his further campaigns resulted in the return of the treasures stolen by the Arabs to the rural population of Armenia. Sultan Msra-Melik renounces the open battle, on the one hand calls for a duel, but on the other hand is afraid of David's strength and tries to act underhand against him. By cunning he succeeds in locking David in a pit where his miracle weapons cannot be of any use. With the help of his uncle, who has a powerful voice, David can quickly free himself and prevailed in a duel between the opponents to make a decision. Msra-Melik protected herself from the encounter under 40 millstones and 40 buffalo skins. David struck Msra-Melik with a club seven cubits deep into the earth and split his body in two with the lightning sword. Then he conquered Mysr and ascended the throne there. After another victorious campaign to Khorasan, the warlike daughter of the Sultan of Kachiswan, the beautiful Khandut-Chanum, became aware of David's bravery and wished to see him. The sultana promises him the hand of the daughter, but first demands a knightly duel with one of her warriors, which she wants to lead under a hidden visor. After twists and turns it is not carried out, but the promise made by David's side. With the consent of the Sultan, the wedding takes place, the wedding celebrations last seven days and seven nights. During his stay David fathered a son with Khandut, Mher the younger. Then David - renouncing love and breaking his promise - moved away from Mysr and, following Sasun's call for help, came back to his hometown, where he resided from then on. Because David broke his knightly oath, even his magical powers can no longer protect him sufficiently. After 15 years, Sasun is again at war with Mysr. During the war, David faces his unknown son Mher the younger, whom he does not recognize. In a duel, his miracle weapons are no longer useful, his victory cross turns black, he has to shrink back from Mher's blows, and Khandut clarifies the relationship in good time. David angrily realizing his powerlessness, curses his own son who cannot have offspring as a result. Even before the promised duel with the Sultana, David is murdered from behind by assassination. After four days, Khandud committed suicide by throwing herself from the tower of her castle. However, the young Mher remains cursed and restless, when he later finds his young wife Gohar dead and has no chance of offspring, he falls into resignation. At the suggestion of the voices of his ancestors he goes to the sacred rock of the empire and splits the rock with the lightning sword he has taken over, where he is said to be forever locked in with the horse Djalali. Waiting there forever for the unrealistic redemption until the world is free from war, falsehood and hatred. Presumptions about the tremendous power of nature and about the origin of man in the spiritual world pervade the epic to the end.
Culture of remembrance
During the Soviet period, a statue of David of Sasun on horseback was erected in front of the station building in Yerevan in 1959. The fairytale horse Kurkik Schalali swings in full motion with the national hero wielding the sword as a rider on a basalt cliff. The monumental, around 12.5 meters high and 3.5 tons heavy monument replaced a smaller version from 1936. It is located in the center of an oval water fountain with a diameter of 25 meters. The work was carried out at the suggestion of the artist Vanush Khanamiryan by the sculptor Yervand Kochar (1899–1978) in collaboration with the architect Michael Mazmanyan.
literature
- Jasmine Dum-Tragut : Discover Armenia - 3000 years of culture between West and East. Trescher Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-89794-095-7 , pp. 136-137.
- Grikor Chalatianz: fairy tales and legends. (= Armenian Library. Volume 4). Verlag von Wilhelm Friedrich, Leipzig 1887, OCLC 163504010 , pp. 112-116.
- Dato Barbakadse: Chances and Difficulties of Intercultural Dialogue. Lit Verlag, Vienna 2016, ISBN 978-3-643-50714-3 , pp. 89-100.
- Emanuel Sarkisyanz: History of the oriental peoples of Russia to 1917. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1961, DNB 454277857 .