Kai Kawus

Kai Kawus ( [kəi kɔːˈvuːs] ; also Kay Kāvūs , Kaykawus , Kaikāwus , Kai Kaus , Kay Kā'ūs ) is a mythical old Iranian king (Persian kai means king or great king), the sixth king of the heroic age and brother of Ārasch . His myth is told in the Persian or Iranian national epic Shāhnāme .

The princes Kawus and Arasch , sons of Kai Kobad , were already mentioned in the writings of Zarathustra . They were probably rulers of the ancient Aryan peoples who immigrated to Central Asia and Iran and became ancestors of the Bactrians and Sogdians , and thus the ancestors of today's Persians and Tajiks .

Kay Kāvūs during his attempt to fly

Kai Kāwus in Shāhnāme - sagas XII and XIII

Driven by his greed for fame and power, he set out, seduced by a demon, to conquer the land of wizards and demons . Through the folly of this endeavor ("he wants the throne of the world and cannot even sit on a stool") the Shah Kai Kawus and the whole Persian army were captured by the white demon, ruler of Mazandaran, and all became blind beaten.

The seven trials of Rostam

In Sage XII, Rostam , the loyal servant of the ruler, finally becomes the all-out hero. He has to pass seven exams to prove his outstanding qualities. Rostam embarks on his hero's journey to free Kai Kawus as the captive of the white demon:

In the first test, Rachsch , Rostam's horse, fights a lion and kills it while Rostam has gone to sleep.
In the second test, Rostam finds a source of water in the desert and thus escapes death by dying of thirst. When he is attacked by a dragon, Rostam fights the dragon. Rachsch comes to his aid, and in the end Rostam cuts off the dragon's head.
In the third test, Rostam falls into the clutches of a sorceress who had turned into a beauty in order to seduce him. But when he realizes her true nature, he ties her up and kills her.
In the fourth test, Rostam gets into a "black hole" that catches light and stars. He walks through the black hole and comes into a hall of eternal youth.
In the fifth test, Rostam captures the ruler Aulad. He tells him the way to Kai Kawus.
In the sixth stage, Rostam fights with Erscheng the Dewen and comes to Kai Kawus.
In the seventh test, Rostam defeats the Dew Sepid (white demon) and frees Kai Kawus.

With the shed blood of the demon, which he dripped into the eyes of the Shah, he was able to see again. Kai Kawus, thirsting for revenge, then wanted to roam the country with looting, robbery and murder. Rostam brought him to his senses ("Murder gives birth to murder").

The marriage with Sudabeh

The marriage of the king's daughter Sudabeh with the Persian king did not let the defeated ruler of Hamaweran (area of today's Yemen) rest (throne and daughter robbed) until he was able to set a trap for Kai Kawus in his palace. Once again the latter was freed from this predicament by Rostam.

The flight of Kai Kawus to the moon

Another folly of Kai Kawus, wanting to fly to the moon, required the mass breeding of eagles. He wanted to conquer the sky on a frame to which he attached the eagles. The birds, exhausted from the flight, landed rudely in a tree with him. Purified by this and laughed at by the people, he came to rest and finally controlled his thirst for action.

Siyâwasch, son of Kai Kawus - Legend XV

Kai Kawus married Sudabeh and the granddaughter of Gersiwas, the brother of Afrasiab. Nine months later she bore him a son, whom he named Siyâwasch . The astrologers called after the birth, however, do not predict a good future for the child. Thereupon Rostam, who had killed his son Sohrab with his own hands without having met him during his lifetime, asked Kai Chosrau to entrust him with Siyâwasch in order to raise him and train him to be the heir to the throne, in order to save him from a possible tragic fate to be able to.

Siyâwasch grew up near Rostam in Zabulistan. As a young prince he returned to his father Kai Kawus, who welcomed him with great joy and, after seven years of testing, gave him the land of Kawarschan , which is also known as Mawarannahr .

literature

Friedrich Rückert : Firdosi's Book of Kings (Schahname) Sage I-XIII. Edited from the estate by EA Bayer. 1890. Reprint: epubli GmbH, Berlin, 2010, pp. 312–376.
Friedrich Rückert : Firdosi's Book of Kings (Schahname) Sage XV-XIX. Edited from the estate by EA Bayer. 1984. Reprint: epubli GmbH, Berlin, 2010. pp. 1–168.
Werner Heiduczek: The most beautiful sagas from Firdausi's Book of Kings retold (based on Görres, Rückert and Schack). Der Kinderbuchverlag, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-7684-5525-4 , new print (Werner Daustein) Hanau undated, pp. 62–187.
Uta von Witzleben : Firdausi: Stories from the Schahnameh. Eugen Diederichs Verlag, Düsseldorf and Cologne 1960, p. 49 ff. ( The legend of Kai Kawus' high spirits ).

Individual evidence

↑ Jürgen Ehlers (ed. And trans.): Abū'l-Qāsem Ferdausi: Rostam - The legends from the Šāhnāme . Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 2002, p. 366 ( Hāmāvarān , Hamūr )

predecessor	Office	successor
Kai Kobad	King of Shāhnāme 1800–2300 after Gayomarth	Kai Chosrau

[1] Jürgen Ehlers (ed. And trans.): Abū'l-Qāsem Ferdausi: Rostam - The legends from the Šāhnāme . Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 2002, p. 366 ( Hāmāvarān , Hamūr )