Stories from the Shahnameh

ZOHAK

A very pious and noble King by the name of Khrutasp ruled over Babylon. He had abiding affection for one of his maids, Vadak, and out of this weakness of the King, Zohak was born. Zohak was a rash, ill-tempered and troublesome child right from the beginning.

Nevertheless, his father loved him dearly and spared no pains in bringing him up in the best possible manner. Zohak had great love for horses. He possessed 10,000 horses, and hence he was also called Bivar-asp.

First encounter with Ablis

Once Ahriman, the Evil Spirit, decided to corrupt Zohak and use him as his pawn. He sent his stooge by setting up a temptation for him. He sent a man by the name Ablis who befriended Zohak and impressed him with his sweet talk.

Zohak did not realize the ill intentions of Ablis and came to be heavily dependent on his advice. Ablis knew that Zohak was too naive and impressionable and started manipulating him as per his evil plans. One day Ablis told Zohak that he had many interesting secrets which he would like to share with him. After generating curiosity in Zohak, he took a promise from him, that once the secrets were revealed, he would have to act on his instructions without asking questions. Further, the evil Ablis directed Zohak not to reveal to anyone whatever he may disclose.

The first secret that he told Zohak was that it did not befit him to live under his father as he himself was a grown up man and fit to be a king. However, since his father still had a long life ahead of him, he would not be able to become a king for a long time, so the only way out was to remove his father Khrutasp from the throne.

Zohak was terrified at this blasphemous advice, but he was bound by the promise to Ablis. Further, Ablis threatened Zohak with great misfortune if his instructions were not heeded. After some hesitation, Zohak agreed to carry out the plan laid down by Ablis.

It was Khrutasp’s daily practice to go to the garden for his early morning prayers. Taking advantage of the solitude of the King at that time and the dim light at the time of dawn, Ablis advised Zohak to dig a trench in the garden on the path on which the king traversed daily and place upright weapons therein. Zohak obediently followed the orders.

When Khrutasp went into the garden early the next morning, he fell into the trench and died. This was the first triumph of the Evil Spirit. However, he was not to stop here and would strike twice again.

Zohak becomes the King

Very shortly Zohak coronated himself as the King and Ablis left him by himself to deal with his guilt pangs. Here Firdausi says that however cruel a child may be, he would never contemplate killing his own father, and the reason Firdausi cites for Zohak’s ruthlessness is his low lineage.

Ablis strikes again

Ablis was not gone for long. Very shortly he returned to Zohak, this time in the guise of a young chef. He enticed Zohak with names of mouth watering dishes and convinced him to hand over the charge of his kitchen to him. Gullible as he was, Zohak was easily impressed by this glib talker and did accordingly. Thus started the second phase of the Evil Spirit’s treachery.

According to Firdausi, mankind was not eating flesh at that time. They were just eating fruits and vegetables. Ablis started the trend of cooking non-vegetarian food. He started with the humble egg and gradually went on to cook birds and cattle. Eating flesh made Zohak blood-thirsty and cruel like a wild beast. On the other hand Ablis started gaining more and more favor with the king due to his palatable cooking.

Zohak had become very fond of the cooking of the new chef. One day he asked the new chef to request for any favor from him. The chef said, "O great King, by your grace I have everything that I could ask for, and so I always pray for your happiness. I just wish you to be happy. However, I have a request, which I do not deem fit to ask because of my low profession. Nevertheless, I am putting forth my desire. If you think me worthy enough, please allow me to kiss your shoulders.”

Zohak did not understand the purpose of this strange request and was in fact flattered. He presumed that the chef may have asked for this wish in order to be famous. He granted the wish and Ablis immediately kissed his shoulders. No sooner did he kiss, he disappeared from the palace. Within a short time two black snakes sprang up from Zohak’s shoulders and started troubling him by night and by day.

As soon as Ablis kissed King Zohak’s shoulders, two hideous snakes sprang up from there

Ablis strikes the final blow

Zohak became restive and exasperated by the snakes. He tried all means but could not get rid of this scourge. Many medicine men and doctors tried their hands at removing the snakes but were not successful. No remedy seemed to get rid of or pacify the snakes. Highly aggravated, he ordered them to be cut. But as soon as one pair was cut another would take their place.

Ablis was aware that the time had come to deal his final blow. He came in the garb of a physician and made the pronouncement that there was no cure for this problem but to feed human brains to the snakes and keep them satiated so that they would not bother the King. He added that the snakes would only eat brains of young and healthy men. And so every day two young men would have to be killed and their brains fed to the snakes. The wicked objective of the Evil Spirit in this ploy was to make this earth bereft of good, healthy men.

The Iranians invite trouble

Zohak started feeding the snakes daily with brains of two young men. By and by a shortage of young men was felt in his small kingdom. At this unfortunate juncture the people of Iran, disgusted by King Jamshed’s attitude, came to invite him to take over their country.

It was not difficult for Zohak to take over the control of Iran with the help of the Iranians themselves. He forced King Jamshed to flee Iran and became the King. Thus started Zohak’s reign, a thousand year period of misfortune for Iranians, brought about by their own folly.

In Zohak’s reign the wise were ridiculed and the wicked ruled the roost. Sorcery and black magic became the order of the day. People forgot their skills and trades, as they idled their time away in the house, afraid to go out lest they be spotted by Zohak’s soldiers and taken away to be fed to the snakes. People were afraid even to speak the truth. There was a reign of terror all over Iran.

In King Jamshed’s palace lived his two daughters Arnavaz and Shernaz, who were forced by Zohak to accept his evil ways. They were taught witchcraft and made queens in Zohak’s palace against their wishes.

A mild respite

The practice of daily killing two young men for feeding Zohak’s snakes went on for years. Two Iranian brothers, Armail and Karmail, decided to do something about this. They worked out a strategy and joined Zohak’s palace-kitchen as cooks.

Every day, the two brothers saved the life of one of the two men brought to be killed in the kitchen. The brain of the rescued man was replaced by the brain of a sheep, the two different brains were then mixed thoroughly and fed to the snakes. In this way the two brothers were able to save lives of hundreds of youths who were then strictly advised to flee to the forest and never come within city limits. These people started living nomadic lives in forests and on mountain tops, and Firdausi maintains that the present Kurds are their descendants.

Zohak was in the habit of having his own able bodied soldiers killed if he suspected them to be righteous and truthful. Further, he ordered his soldiers to seize any beautiful woman they saw in the kingdom, bring her to his palace to be kept in his harem. By his brutal practices Zohak had made the lives of Iranians a nightmare. Everybody lived under the shadow of death as they were not safe even in their houses.

Zohak’s dreams

One night Zohak had a dream in which he saw three young men riding towards his palace. The youngest of the three, who was riding in the middle, looked lustrous and stately and had a royal appearance. He carried a mace with him which was shaped like the head of a cow. He alighted from the horse, smote Zohak with his mace, tied his hands and feet and dragged him to a mountain, with a cheering crowd of people following them.

Zohak woke up from his sleep with a scream, startled and terrified. Arnavaz advised Zohak to ascertain the significance of his dream by consulting priests, astrologers and dream-interpreters. The following morning Zohak summoned the learned people of his court and asked them to explain the significance of his dream. For three days the wise men deliberated. When they interpreted the dream, it was so shocking that none of them dared to disclose it to Zohak, fearing his wrath.

Finally, Zirak, a courageous priest, went to Zohak and told him the interpretation of the dream thus, "O King, this dream forebodes evil tidings. The young lustrous man who bound and dragged you is Faridun. Though he is not yet born, he is destined to end your rule and be the next King of Iran.” Zohak was terrified on hearing this.

Trembling, he asked, "But why would he kill me?” Zirak replied, "To free the people of Iran from your rule and also to avenge the death of his father whom you killed to feed the snakes, and the death of a cow, which had nursed him during childhood, by your soldiers.”

On hearing this terrible news Zohak fell unconscious. As soon as he came to his senses, he realised that the only purpose of his life should be to find Faridun and kill him. Little did he realize that nobody, not even the greatest of kings, is able to avert the reactions of their past evil deeds.

The birth of Faridun

In due time Faridun was born to a noble lady by the name Faranak. Faridun’s father was a young and able bodied man by the name Abtin. He was always in fear of being caught by Zohak’s men and so he used to stay in hiding. However, one day Zohak’s guards carried him away and killed him. When Faranak came to know of this she was terrified. The only option open to her was to take infant Faridun and go into hiding. She went into a jungle and entrusted her child to a farmer who had a magnificent cow by the name Purmae.

Faranak requested the farmer to look after Faridun and have him nursed by this cow. She entreated the farmer to keep infant Faridun with great care, as the evil Zohak was after the life of this child. After the farmer promised to look after the child, Faranak left Faridun in his care, and left, with a heavy heart.