Creativity • Mythology •
by Rezwan on 12/19 at 09:52 PM
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Arash(e) kamAngir is my current favorite mythological hero.  The guy was an archer.  In a Buddhist way, he became the arrow, and he is flying still.

OK, if you have any links about Arash, let me know.  I don’t even know where to look him up in the shAh-nAme.  50,000 lines and no concordance.

Anyway, the story I’m told is that Iran and...TurAn? were at war.  The irAnians suffered a defeat, and terms of surrender were drawn up.  The terms were that Iran could get its best archer to stand on some spot and shoot an arrow.  Wherever it landed would be the new border.

So they get Arash.  And he comes at the appointed time, pulls back on the bow, and releases the arrow.  And into this arrow he pours his soul, so that he, in fact, dies.  The arrow flies on and on.  Some say it was never found, some say it was found 400 miles north.

I just like the determination, the symbolism of putting everything into your goal (the arrow), and of infinitely expanding borders.  Don’t fence me in.