Shahmaran: Kurdish mythology

Shahmaran is a mythical creature from the folklore of the Kurdish people in Eastern and Southern Turkey, Iran and Iraq. It’s one of the most prominent Kurdish Mythologies.

Due to its antiquity, there are many variations of the same story among the Kurds and other Middle Eastern people.

Shahmaran is as the queen of the serpents. A Shahmaran is often depicted as a wise and benign woman with the features of a woman above the waist and those of a serpent below the waist. And in Kurdish folklore she is wisdom goddess to protect secrets.

She is the queen of the snakes. When a Shahmaran dies, her spirit passes on to her daughter.

The legend is that she was in love with a travler man whose name was Tasmasp. Tasmasp adored her and her stories.

When she had no more stories to tell, He went back to his country to visit his family, and She accepted his choice. When Tasmasp returned home, He discovered that his king had become very ill.

One of the king’s helpers told him that the only way to get better was to eat Shahmaran. They took people, one by one, into the hamam to see if snake scales would come up.

When Tasmasp went to find the Shahmaran The King’s guards forced Tasmasp to tell where She was hiding. When they found her, she said, “whoever takes a bite from my snake scales will gain the secrets of the world, but whoever takes a bite of my head will die instantly.”

Tasmasp took a bite from her head and the King’s evil helper took a bite of her scales. The King’s helper died and and Her head scales didn’t affected Tasmasp at all. She protected her lover and killed her enemy by tricking them into believing that her head was her most poisonous feature. And Tasmasp gains all knowledges and secrets of hers.

The myth of the Shahmaran is the foundation of the Kurdish mythology. In many Kurdish regions, Kurdish girls are fond of Shahmaran , as they prepare their dowry (marriage gift), with a picture of Shahmaran.

This is the most important feature of the dowry. The Shahmaran’s picture is hung in the couple’s bedroom. As Shahmaran is symbol of love, loyalty and respect.

Kurds believe that Shahmaran provides fertility and happiness.

The myth of the fertility still exists today in Kurdistan another myth is the belief that the snake is bearing immortality, which associates with the shedding of the snake’s scales.

There is also a belief that if the snake is dead, and throw into water and not taken out, a flood will occur. That is why today in some areas of Kurdistan, snakes are tied to a rope, throwing into the rivers. When the right amount of rain has come, Kurds brought the dead snake out and buried it.