Dragon Spotlight 18: Biwar's Dragon

This week’s dragon doesn’t have a name of his own, but was slain by a legendary warrior whose name he will forever be associated with.

One day, a village in New Guinea formed a group to go and find sago, a kind of flour made from the centers of palm trees.  Twelve boats were made ready, and after three days the boats were nearly filled.  On their way home, they passed over a dragon, who began whipping his tail around creating huge waves.  Not only did many of the boats capsize, but the village itself was flooded.  One pregnant woman held onto a tree to survive, eating its fruit and roots.  When her son Biwar was born, there were so few villagers left that she had to raise him on her own away from the village.

Biwar was a talented young man.  He could start fires and create weapons, and he was also a great sailor.  One day, he came home with so many fish that his mother asked where they came from.  When he told her, she begged him to never go there again, for that was where the dragon had emerged and killed so many of her fellow villagers.  Hearing the tale, Biwar began setting up a trap for the dragon in the mouth of a cave.  He lured the dragon into the cave, and when the dragon’s head creeped in Biwar’s traps set off.  Arrows fired, spears were thrown, clubs rained down, and daggers flew through the air at the dragon.  Biwar ran home and told his mother that the dragon was dead.

The next day, Biwar and his mother sailed to home village of Mimika.  Everyone welcomed them back and celebrated Biwar, who had defeated the dragon that nearly killed him before he was even born.

Rachel’s drawing of Biwar uses a monitor lizard native to New Guinea (pictured below), grown to enormous proportions.  You can see his tail churning the water behind him.

Dragon Spotlight 17: Souvan and Soutto, the Mekong River Dragons

Welcome back from the holiday break, everyone!  Since last week probably revolved around food, and may have featured some bickering, we’ve decided to give you the story of Souvan and Soutto this week.

The mighty dragons Souvan and Soutto lived in a huge lake, too distant to visit every day but close enough to be great friends.  On one visit, Soutto brought Souvan elephant meat, and in return Souvan wanted to send a gift to Soutto.  However, the hunting went poorly and Souvan only caught a porcupine, so he sent the porcupine meat along with some of its quills, which were very beautiful.  Soutto was quite angry, for he felt that Souvan had cheated him.  After all, an animal that produces hairs as long and quick as a porcupine’s quills must be an enormous creature!  Souvan tried his best to explain the true size of porcupines, but Soutto would not admit to having never seen one and insisted he had been wronged.  He brought an army of dragons against Souvan and his dragons, and their fight threw mud onto the land and eventually blocked out the sun.  It only ended when the gods become so frustrated with the feuding dragons that they intervened, and punished them both by making them create rivers.  Soutto made the Mekong River and Souvan created the Nan, and even though the dragons became friends again, the water from those rivers is said to remember the feud so that putting water from each river in the same bottle will crack or even shatter glass.

In Rachel’s illustration, you can see Soutto furiously accusing Souvan of short-changing him.

Dragon Spotlight 16: Baruklinting

You may have noticed that there was no post last week - the semester is certainly beginning to “drag on.”  Get it?  “DRAG-ON”?  OK, we’ll get right to the myth.

This week we are focusing on a myth from Java about 1 shepherd boy who was picked on by the 9 other shepherd boys from his village.  One day this unpopular boy was resting under a tree, when he heard the other 9 boys planning to come pelt him with cow dung to drive him away.  Before they could throw the cow patties at him, just as he prepared to run, the sky opened up and rain poured down on them all.  The unpopular shepherd, a clever boy, found a cave to hide in.  The others followed him and shoved him out into the rain, laughing as his clothes were drenched.  But they only laughed for a few seconds, because suddenly the cave snapped shut!  It was not a cave at all, but the mouth of the dragon Baruklinting, who had received a vision that nine shepherds would be delivered to his great mouth.

The last remaining shepherd ran back to his village in horror.  He rallied the villagers, who grabbed weapons and prepared to fight the dragon.  But when they ran to the place where Baruklinting had been, the dragon was gone and the sun was shining.

For this drawing, Rachel chose to focus not on an indigenous species but on the cave formations Baruklinting would have had to imitate.  Stalactites form his upper row of teeth and stalagmites form his bottom teeth.

In some versions of the myth, Baruklinting is actually the unloved shepherd boy and not the dragon, begging the question - is something more sinister going on?  Is Baruklinting both the boy and the cause of the other, cruel shepherds’ demise?  Since we’re just on the other side of Halloween, we’ll let you ponder the question!

Dragon Spotlight 15: Bakunawa

This week we’re departing from India and the Middle East to cover Southeastern Asian dragon myths!  There are some great ones ahead, so give yourself permission to get just a little bit excited.

Our first dragon is the bakunawa, a dragon indigenous to the Philippines who is famous for trying to eat the moon.  In fact, the stories say that there were once seven moons who the moon goddess Bathala created - but this was before the bakunawa ate them.  Bakunawa has two sets of wings, whiskers on his face, a red tongue, and an enormous mouth.  In most stories he is a serpent, but in some he is more like a shark.

There are several stories about Bakunawa, and why he ate most of our moons.  Some say he was irresistably attracted to the moons and their beauty.  Others say he was angry over the death of his sister, a sea turtle who laid her eggs and caused the tides to gradually rise until one night, the humans on the island she visited captured and killed her.  The goddess Bathala sided with Bakunawa, touched by his grief, and refused to punish him for eating six moons.  In another story, Bakunawa fell in love with a human woman, and their happiness was destroyed when the villagers found out and burned her home to the ground.  Bakunawa ate the moons in a fit of rage and vengeance, and Bathala punished him, banishing him to the sea.

But Bakunawa is not content to stay at sea.  Often the waters rise as he tries to come back home, and whenever there is an eclipse of the moon, it is said that he is trying to eat the last one.  In some places, the tradition is for people to bang pots and pans at an eclipse, driving the bakunawa away.

Rachel’s illustration of the bakunawa is based on a basking shark, since some descriptions of bakunawa make him seem shark-like.  The basking shark, as seen below, has a massive mouth (the better to swallow the moon with) and are found in the waters off of the Philippines.  She also gave it bioluminescent patches, like many creatures who live in dark deep-sea waters have, to help it in both its aquatic environment and during its missions to the darkness of outer space.

Dragon Spotlight 14: Vritra

In India, there is a Hindu god named Indra who brings rain and ensures the health of the land.  This mighty warrior god has an archnemesis in the powerful demon Vritra.

A snake so large his head reached into the clouds, Vritra is the demon of drought, a title he gained by stealing all of the world’s water.  He channeled all of the water in the world and kept it contained in a mountain without concern for the people of the world who were dying of starvation and thirst.  Despite how terrible the drought was, no warriors wanted to challenge Vritra - but Indra rose to the challenge.  He armed himself with several lightning bolts and rode an elephant to Vritra’s mountain.  There, the young storm god fought the great snake for many hours.  Vritra clawed at him, and he threw lightning at the dragon.  Finally, Vritra came too close to Indra and Indra struck at his legs, severing them.  As Vritra let out a terrible cry, Indra finished the dragon by cutting him in half.  He then released the water back into the world.

In this sneak peek of our illustration, you can see the water gushing out of Vritra’s mouth.  Rachel’s drawing of Vritra takes inspiration from both Indian statues and the bizarre horned toad species of Southeast Asia, pictured below.  

In recent pop culture, Vritra has been featured in the game Puzzle & Dragons as - fittingly - a dark dragon.

Dragon Spotlight 13: Ti'amat

The story of Ti’amat has undergone many changes over time.  In the Babylonian creation story, Ti’amat - like Illuyankas, from last week - is chaos personified in dragon form.  A brave warrior named Marduk eventually defeats her and restores order to the land.  However, in earlier Sumerian versions of the story, Ti’amat is the goddess of salt waters and creates the land along with her partner Apsu, god of the fresh waters.  

In addition to creating the land, Ti’amat and Apsu also have many children who are gods and goddesses themselves.  Because their children constantly kept them up at night, Apsu planned to spread them across the world, but one child - Ea - dissented.  He killed Apsu and tried to kill his mother Ti’amat, but she fought off his attack.  She then organized a war against Ea, with many of her children by her side, including her son Kingu as commander.  Ea chose his son Marduk to lead the rebel forces, and Marduk used not only spears and a club and a bow and arrow, but also his powers of wind and lightning.  Ultimately, Marduk triumphs and the story morphs from one of a rebellious grandson to a marvelous hero defeating the evil dragon.

Ti’amat, after creating the lands, then literally became them - all of the features of the earth are said to rest upon her back.  In Rachel’s illustration of Ti’amat, you can see the mountains along her back.  Her design is based loosely on the sturgeon, as seen in the two rows of bony scutes running down her sides. Rachel chose the sturgeon because they are a primitive group of fishes, much like how Ti’amat is one of the first recorded dragon myths.

In popular culture, Tiamat is a queen, goddess, and mother of evil dragons in the game Dungeons and Dragons.  Tiamat is also the name of a 1980s Swedish metal band.  Rock on, Ti’amat!

Dragon Spotlight 12: Illuyankas

Our story this week revolves around the ongoing fight between Teshub, the storm god, and Illuyankas, the dragon of chaos.

In Hittite mythology, Teshub fought Illuyankas constantly.  In one of their fights, Illuyankas came close to defeating Teshub, and even though the god survived, he called upon his daughter the goddess Inara, to help defeat the dragon and protect mankind.  Inara then called upon a human man named Hupasiya to join on their quest.  Taking advantage of the dragon’s greed, Inara threw a great feast and lay enchantments on the food and wine so that it would never run out.  Illuyankas and all his serpent children ate and drank until they passed out along the tables.  Then Hupasiya, who had been hiding in the dining hall, bound them with ropes and had Teshub scatter them across the land.  But this only kept the dragons’ chaos at bay for another year.

There are many stories of battles between Teshub and Illuyankas, since their fight was to be everlasting.  Each year when the Hittite new year was celebrated, it was said that Teshub clashed with Illuyankas.

Rachel’s drawing shows the dangers of draconic drinking, with Illuyankas having partied just a little too hard at the feast.

Below is a carving depicting Teshub killing Illuyankas from 850-800 BC.  An outlined version of the picture shows the shape of the dragon more clearly.

Come back again next week for more Middle Eastern dragons!  

Dragon Spotlight 11: Gandarewa

Our featured dragon this week hails from Iranian mythology.  Gandarewa was so large that, although he lived in the ocean, the water merely pooled around his ankles.  As he grew ever larger, he began eating humans and livestock alike.  He also jealously guarded the haoma plant, keeping its powerful medicine for himself.  One brave man named Keresaspa went into the sea to fight Gandarewa and stop his destruction.

Keresaspa was losing the battle until he grabbed the skin on the sole of Gandarewa’s foot and, with a mighty yank, snatched his skin from his entire body.  He tied up Gandarewa in his very own skin, dragging him ashore.  But despite his immense pain, the sea beast suddenly slashed at Keresaspa’s eyes, blinding him for just a moment.  It was long enough for Gandarewa to escape, and he proceeded to wreak more destruction on humankind than ever before.  His turned his attention to the home of Keresaspa especially, eating all of his horses and stealing his wife and children to bring back to his undersea abode.  Keresaspa’s wrath over this was so great that he marched into the ocean, dragged Gandarewa ashore, and clubbed him to death on the beach.  Afterwards, Keresaspa’s family and all of Iran was safe from the dragon’s wrath.

In Rachel’s drawing of Gandarewa, he is guarding the haoma plant, displaying his greed and jealousy.  This version of Gandarewa draws influence from the Permian era fossil amphibian Diplocaulus. His skin and external gills are like those seen in extant larval salamanders. Of course, real amphibians cannot survive in salt water.  Below is an image of a Diplocaulus fossil, estimated to be at least 251 million years old.

Gandarewa shows up in pop media today, notably in the Final Fantasy series as a holy man who went into the mountains, fed on dragon blood, and was changed forever.

Dragon Spotlight 10: Leviathan

Greetings all!  As the semester continues, so does our weekly dragon spotlight!  As promised last week, we’ll be looking at the great water beast Leviathan, a monster so popular that its name can substitute for any enormous sea monster.

Leviathan is described in Job 41 in the Old Testament with many dragon like features:

14 Who dares open the doors of its mouth,

     ringed about with fearsome teeth?

15 Its back has rows of shields

     tightly sealed together;

…

18 Its snorting throws out flashes of light;

      its eyes are like the rays of dawn.

19 Flames stream from its mouth;

      sparks of fire shoot out.

As time moved on, Leviathan was paired with increasingly fierce descriptions, so that in many Christian texts the Leviathan is given an more evil connotation and has even been said to swallow the souls of the damned on Judgement Day.  

Rachel’s drawing of Leviathan is based on the mosasaur. Mosasaurs (which were recently featured in the film Jurassic World) are an extinct group of marine reptiles, distantly related to modern monitor lizards. These aquatic predators are thought to have swallowed their prey whole like a snake, and so they make for perfect inspiration for Leviathan, who is associated with swallowing souls.

Like our friend Behemoth from last week (and the Leviathan’s possible partner in crime), this fearsome sea dragon has inspired films.  In fact, Leviathan has been the title of two films, one in 1989 and another, from Russia, in 2014.

If you've ever seen either one, or have the time to watch them, let us know what they're all about! Until next week, dragon fans!

Dragon Spotlight 9: Behemoth

     With the start of a new semester, we are back and bringing dragons back with us!  This semester at UMass Amherst our developing text, A Discourse on Dragons, will be used in a 3-credit course on dragon mythology around the world, taught by our own Dr. Jean Foward!

    Picking back up on our weekly dragon spotlight, this week we'll be looking at Behemoth, from the Old Testament. Behemoth is often depicted as either an ox or a hippopotamus, but is usually described alongside Leviathan, who will be our dragon spotlight next week. Some texts describe God creating the male Behemoth as a counterpart to the female Leviathan. Still other iterations speak of God slaying both Behemoth and Leviathan when Israel is delivered from all enemies to be served as food for the righteous.

   In Rachel's drawing of Behemoth, seen above, he towers over the mountains like a gargantuan sauropod dinosaur. He is historically depicted as a bull, so he is drawn here with bull-like horns and ears.

   Many Christian sources draw a link between Behemoth and dinosaurs, especially Brontosaurus.  Often Behemoth is depicted as a Brontosaurus, Brachiosaurus, or a comparable dinosaur.  Additionally, such a Biblically inspired monster was featured in a 1959 sci-fi horror flick, "Behemoth the Sea Monster," in spite of the fact that Behemoth  was more often related to land, while Leviathan was associated with the sea.

       

Check back in next week, when we’ll be taking a look at Leviathan!

Dragon Spotlight 8: Azi Dahaka

     Our next myth from the Middle East is from Zoroastrian oral tradition.  Azi Dahaka was a great dragon with a great hunger.  He began by eating cattle, but soon they were not enough and he began eating people as well.

     One man, Thraetaona, challenged the dragon, but nothing seemed to phase him.  In fact, wherever Thaetaona's sword pierced Azi Dahaka's skin, terrible creatures spilled out instead of blood.  Thraetaona was afraid that these foul creatures would dominate the lands.  So, he backed Azi Dahaka into a mountain cavern and imprisoned him there.  Whenever there are earthquakes in the area, it was said that the dragon was attempting to escape his chains.

     Later stories tell of Azi Dahaka returning by possessing the body of a man with his spirit.

     In these stories, a young prince is tempted by a sorcerer to kill the king and take his throne.  He begins eating meat and finally grows snakes from his body.  The snakes, as hungry as Azi Dahaka ever was, demand human flesh.  This terrible ruler controlled the Persian empire for many years until finally a young man defeated him.  Some stories say that this young man was Kereshapa, who freed the Persian people from their oppression.

     Rachel's drawing of Azi Dahaka reflects many stories where the dragon has multiple heads.  For inspiration she looked to Cerastes cerastes, a venomous viper from Africa and the Middle East.  Their cryptic patterning helps them camouflage in their desert environment, and their supraorbital horns are a distinguishing feature of the species.

     Join our blog next week for more dragons of the Middle East and India!

Dragon Spotlight 7: Apalala

     This week we move into Middle Eastern and Indian dragons.  Our first dragon, Apalala, lived in modern-day Pakistan high in the mountains.  For many years, he protected the local people from destructive dragons, and in their gratitude, they gave him tribute.  However, the people began to take Apalala's protection for granted, and eventually forgot both him and the tribute they used to give him.

     Denied this sign of respect, Apalala grew angry and laid waste to the surrounding villages.  Transformed by his anger, he had the face of a man, the body of a serpent, and two clawed arms, terrifying those who saw him.  He only stopped his reign of terror when approached by the Buddha, who converted him and showed him the error of his ways.  The Buddha also helped Apalala seek a resolution with the humans around him.

     Rachel's drawing of Apalala mixes the upper body of a modern monitor lizard with the lower portion of a serpent.
   

     Apalala's human face is represented by the mask attached to his head.

     Join us again next week for more dragons from the Middle East, India, and surrounding areas, as well as more previews of the original drawings to be featured in the book Discourse on Dragons!

Dragon Spotlight 6: Ouagadou-Bida

Our final African dragon myth is of Ouagadou-Bida, protector of Ghana.

As Ghana developed trade routes and began to prosper, Ouagadou-Bida emerged from a cave and pledged to protect the new kingdom as long as they sent their most beautiful girl to him every year.  For many years the people agreed, the dragon protected them, and the kingdom of Ghana prospered.

However, when a lovely girl named Sia was chosen, her true love could not bear the thought of losing her.  Instead, he lay in wait outside of the dragon's cave and cut off its head in a surprise attack.  Many times the dragon's head grew back, but eventually the young warrior won and save the love of his life.

Yet without the dragon's protection, the kingdom of Ghana fell to a terrible drought, causing all of its people to gather their belongings and abandon their homeland.

Rachel chose this myth as the full color drawing for our African chapter in A Discourse on Dragons.  She used the Kenyan sand boa (Eryx muelleri) as her inspiration, picture on the right.  These snakes have unique eyes designed to help them look over the sand while they are buried in it, and a tail which they use to push themselves forward while tunneling underground.

Stay with our blog as we continue to share short stories and sneak previews of our book, Discourse on Dragons!  Next week, we'll start posting dragon myths from the Middle East.  Stay tuned!

Dragon Spotlight 5: Grootslang

The dragon of the week is a personal favorite of ours, the grootslang (also known as the grote slang, with both words coming from Dutch and Afrikaans for "big snake").  The grootslang, native to South Africa, is described as part elephant, part snake.  In fact, when the gods realized that the grootslang was too powerful and intelligent, they split its component parts to create two separate creatures - snakes and elephants.

Like other, more "traditional looking" dragons, the grootslang has a lust for diamonds and, despite its tendency to kill humans, one who offers the grootslang a jewel may be granted his life.

Depictions of the grootslang always include references to snakes and elephants, though in different combinations.  You can see some that have been posted to the internet here.

When drawing the grootslang, Rachel made his skin pale due to the fact that the grootslang lives in caves away from the sunlight.

Despite his unusual appearance, the grootslang covets diamonds and jewels, is clever and powerful, is related to snakes, and lives in caves.  Do you agree with us that he is a dragon?

Dragon Spotlight 4: Isa Bere

From the Futa Jallon mountains, Isa Bere was responsible for drinking the entire Niger River, causing massive drought and suffering.  He was defeated in battle by King Samba and his bard Tarafe, though the battle raged for 8 years before his defeat.  One version of the story tells us that 80 swords broke against the scales of the dragon, until finally the youngest son of one of the country's smiths made a sword that was, at last, successful in helping King Samba kill the best.

Rachel's drawing of Isa Bere is inspired by the Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus), which she used not only because it lives in the area of Futa Jallon, but also because the myth heavily featured water and the crocodile is an aquatic animal.

The Nile crocodile is the second largest reptile in the world, after the saltwater crocodile.  While it is rarely found in saltwater, it can survive saline environments.  We felt that it was the perfect inspiration for Isa Bere!

Join us next week when we take a look at the mythical Grootslang!

Dragon Spotlight 3: Carthaginian Serpent

Our third dragon spotlight is on the Carthaginian Serpent, and comes from Roman accounts of the beast.

During the first Punic War, General Regulus and his troops had to cross the Bagradas River in modern-day Tunisia.

When confronted with the great serpent across the river, Regulus decided to cross the river at a different place, but the snake pursued them until they face off against it in a great battle.

Author and illustrator Rachel based her drawing of the Carthaginian Serpent (seen above) on the African Rock Python, below

Native to the area where the myth is set, the African Rock Python can grow up to (or even beyond) 20 feet and has been known to swallow antelope!  Surely it would have made an impression on a foreign Roman soldier encountering it for the first time.  

Let us know if you've heard of the Carthaginian Serpent, or simply have made the acquaintance of a particularly large and ill-tempered African Rock Python.  Next week we'll be back with another dragon spotlight, complete with never-before-seen illustrations inspired by local fauna!

Dragon Spotlight 2: Nyami Yamaninga

In honor of Valentine's Day, we're posting a particularly romantic dragon today.

Nyami Nyami, sometimes called Nyami Yamaninga prior to colonization, is a unique dragon from Zimbabwe.  A god of the Zambezi River, he is a large serpent with the head of a fish who looks over the Ba Tonga people with his beloved wife.  

Due to increased development, the Ba Tonga people have been forced to relocate, and Nyami has been separated from his wife by a dam built on the Zambezi River near the Kariba Gorge.  However, the Ba Tonga insist that Nyami will one day destroy the dam to reunite with his wife, and restore them to their homeland.

In fact, many strange things have happened since the construction of the dam, and many say that Nyami is at work behind them.

If you’ve heard of Nyami, let us know in the comments section, and look for more dragons to come every week along with sneak peeks of the artwork we’ll include in our book, A Discourse on Dragons.

Dragon Spotlight 1: Aido Hwedo

Our first featured dragon is Aido Hwedo, from stories of the Fon people in Dahomey, Africa.  Aido Hwedo is also known as Oshunmare, Oxumare, and Oshunmaire, and is of both genders.  For this reason, in our book we plan to call Aido Hwedo either "it" or possibly "they" (since although it's not human, it is very intelligent).  When the Creator feared that the earth with all its creatures would be too heavy and would collapse, Aido Hwedo bravely volunteered to allow the earth to sit on its coils while it holds its tail in its mouth.  As such, the image of Aido Hwedo is that of an ouroboros, a giant dragon or snake with its tail in its mouth.  Many world cultures have this image.  Below we have posted a sneak preview of our illustration of Aido Hwedo done by illustrator and co-author Rachel:

Rachel's drawing of Aido Hwedo takes its inspiration from many animals, including a python (an example taken from an internet source is pictured below).  

Working in the UMass laboratory with snakes and reptiles, she often gets an up close and personal view!  Next week we will post another dragon with a preview of its illustration and an abbreviated version of the story we'll be telling in the book.  In the meantime, if you've ever heard the story of Aido Hwedo yourself, let us know in the comments section!

Welcome to a Discourse on Dragons!

Dragon myths are a unifying feature of cultures across the world, and they have also long been the personal obsession of one professor, one graduate student, and one undergraduate student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Fortunately, these three met, and we decided to put together a comprehensive book on dragons myths! Of course, we know that we're not the only ones who love dragons, and so we invite you to come on a journey with us as we compile stories, develop original dragon artwork, and dig into dragon stories from the world over.

In our developing book, we have chosen to define dragons as any variation upon the great serpent mythologies. In other words, a supernaturally powerful creature of serpentine form. These great serpents predate our modern definitions of dragon and almost certainly inspired their creation. We posit that it is from these ancient serpents that the more modern, limbed and winged dragons, evolved. In this way, we hope to challenge the reader to redefine the term dragon for themselves, and come to understand more fully the relationship between dragon myths and human culture. There exist countless myths and variations of myths which involve dragons throughout the world. We aim to focus especially on those myths with a large cultural significance like creation stories or tales that explain the world around us.

For this, we need your help! Every week we will post a dragon myth from around the world and the artwork as it develops. If you've ever heard of the dragon in question, let us know what stories you've heard in the comments section! If there is a dragon story from your culture or from your very own hometown (we're looking at you, Darlington County SC, Fresno CA, and Gloucester MA) then pass it along to us, and it just may make it into the final book. We hope that this book will shine a spotlight on both the superstars of dragon mythology as well as some humble dragons who haven't yet gotten the respect they deserve.

Prepare yourself; here be dragons.

Sincerely,

Jean, Rachel, and Virginia