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!