A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 47. (Nyíregyháza, 2005)

Régészet - János Makkay: The Miracle Stag in Ancient Greek mythical stories and their Indo-Iranian counterparts

Makkay János "Prince Rusvanshad, son of the Chinese Emperor, while hunting in the forest, espied a wondrous stag whose hair was blue, whose eyes were like ruby, and whose hoofs shone like pure gold. This stag sped on before him, and chase as he would, could never bring it down. At last, the stag jumped into a small lake and vanished. Rusvanshad, who fell asleep, was awakened later by gay music and rippling laughter. Following the voices, he soon found himself in a gorgeous marble palace where, surrounded by a dozen maidens, he caught sight of a maid of wondrous beauty seated upon a throne. To his question who she was she answered, T am only a gentle doe, my name is Shehristani. I am the Queen of Fairyland.' After several trials they got married, and went through many other adventures...

(LÁSZLÓ 1974. 97., LÁSZLÓ 1970/1974. 93-94.)

24 It is obvious, that here a maiden was transformed into a stag, i.e. became an antlered hind. Not only this tale, but a similar story of the Indo-Aryan Djataka (the collections of stories telling Buddha's former rebirths) contains related motifs, in this case about a stag. 'Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisattva lived in the forest, having been born as a stag. Now the king much delighted in hunting. ... One day as he went a hunting he said to his courtiers, „Whoever lets a deer go by him, such and such shall be his punishment. ... When a deer is put up, by hook or by crook we must drive him to the place where the king is." They made a pact among them to this effect, and posted the king at the end of the path. Then they surrounded a great covert and began to beat the ground with cudgels and the like. The first to be put was our stag. Thrice he went round the thicket, looking for a chance to escape: on all other sides he saw men standing without a break, arm jostling arm and bow bow; only where the king was could he see a chance. With eyes glaring, he rushed at the king, dazzling him as though he cast sand in his eyes. Quickly the king saw him, shot an arrow, and missed. You must know these deer are clever to keep clear of arrows.

25 ... Up rose the stag, swift as the wind he was off, breaking the circle of men. ... [Then the king] girding up his loins, on foot, and sword in hand, set off at speed crying: „I will catch the stag!" He kept him in sight and chased him for three leagues. The stag plunged into the forest, in plunged to king also. Now in the stag's way was a pit, a great hole where a tree had rotted away, sixty cubits deep, and full of water to a depth of thirty cubits, yet covered over with weeds. The stag sniffed the smell of the water, and perceiving that it was a pit, swerved aside somewhat from his course. But the king went straight on, and fell in.

... Then the stag drew up the king from out of the pit, and comforted him, and set him upon his own back, and led him forth from the forest, and set him down not far from his army.' After a short discussion, refusing the offer of the king, the stag returned into the forest (COWELL 1990. 169-171. For similar details see p. 258.). These two tales, of Rusvanshad and Shehristani and that of king Brahmadatta, together with the representation on the Luristan bronze cheekpiece (see point 'g' above), clearly show that the mythical belief of the wondrous deer did not only belong to the Steppic Iranians, but was also an important part of the religion of Indo-Aryans and Early Iranians who occupied their historic homelands around the middle of the 2

nd Mill. B.C., both in India, and also the Middle East. Similarly, the statuette of an antlered horse figurine from Povince Shansi (see point 'i' above) refers to Early and Old Iranian influences on the development of West Chinese territories in ancient times.

26 All this 24 László did not give a correct reference to his source. It surely was the 1930/1984. paper of KERÉNYI (38-31), who had made a long comment on the importance of this story when discussing the questions of the Miracle Stag. Originally, as he wrote, the story was part of an Indian literary variant of the Arabian Nights, the Persian translation of which later was translated into French. This literary form of th legend was the connecting link between the oriental (and the totemistic Hun) variant and the European-Greek version. In this intermingled version the hind changes to a beautiful girl and becomes the wife of his pursuer. Cf. KERÉNYI 1930/1984. 27. 25 My emphasis. Here a comparison can be made with the mythic duel of St. Ladislav and the Cuman when both side seems to be invulnerable, cannot be hurted either by arrows or spears. See LÁSZLÓ 1993. 184. 26 For a general survey of Iranian presence and influences in Western China, see MALLORY-MAIR 2000. passim.