Comparative Study of the Visual Characteristics of the Wak Wak Tree in Demot's Shahnameh with the Story of Mashi and Mashianeh

Zekavat, Sahar; Ghazizadeh, Khashayar

doi:10.22051/pgr.2022.40948.1139

Comparative Study of the Visual Characteristics of the Wak Wak Tree in Demot's Shahnameh with the Story of Mashi and Mashianeh

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ PhD. student, Department of Comparative and analytical history of Islamic art, Faculty of Art, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran, Corresponding Author.

² Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic art, Faculty of Art, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.

10.22051/pgr.2022.40948.1139

Abstract

In the belief of the ancient Iranians and sources, such as Bondeheshn, Mashi and Mashianeh are the first human couple in the first creation and have human-plant characteristics. In the text of Shahnameh, have been quoted poems from a talking tree with human-plant characteristics in the story of Alexander in Conversation with Wak Wak Tree and a painting is illustrated with the same subject. The importance of human-plant property in both cases necessitates the present study. The purposes are to identify the characteristics of Mashi and Mashianeh in Persian mythology and ancient sources and to identify the characteristics of Wak Wak Tree in the poems and painting of Alexander in Conversation with Wak Wak Tree in the Demot Shahnameh and their similarities and differences.Research questions include: 1- What are the visual and structural features of Mashi and Mashianeh in the Persian mythology and the Wak Wak Tree in the poems and painting of the Shahnameh of Demot? 2- What are the similarities and differences in their form and meaning of them?
In order to answer the questions raised, first the myth of the first creation and the characteristics of Mashi and Mashianeh have been studied and then the talking (Wak Wak) tree is analyzed. Then the painting of Alexander and the talking (Wak Wak) tree in Demot's Shahnameh and the characteristics of this tree have been studied, and finally, the characteristics of Mashi and Mashianeh and the talking (Wak Wak) tree are compared to the painting of Alexander and the talking (Wak Wak) tree. In the present research, library information and documentary and visual data have been studied and compared with a descriptive-analytical and comparative approach, and the cases studies studied in the research include the painting of Alexander and the talking (Wak Wak) tree in the Shahnameh of Demot, which has the characteristics of Mashi and Mashianeh in mythological and Iran ancient sources. The results of the research show that Mashi and Mashianeh in mythology and the talking (Wak Wak) tree illustrated in Demot's Shahnameh painting, both have human-plant characteristics.
However, Mashi and Mashianeh have a plant identity of the type of rhubarb plant with broad leaves, while the talking (Wak Wak) tree in the painting and in the poems of the Shahnameh has the characteristics of a tree and does not have the characteristics of a bush. The tree in the painting has long leaves. Moreover, they have the power of speech in both humans-plants, Mashi and Mashianeh and talking (Wak Wak) trees and the appearance of both cases are described with two separate roots and twisted stems. The gender identity of none is clear and this feature is common in the painting and poems of the Shahnameh and ancient texts. In the painting, the gender identity of the faces is not clear and the elegance of the faces is almost the same. Mashi and Mashianeh are a human couple and two fruits of the same plant and in the poems of the Shahnameh, the talking (Wak Wak) tree has the identity of a human woman and a human man, while in the painting, the tree is depicted with human male and female heads and male and female animal headsbecause Mashi and Mashianeh had one female face and the other male face and the words female and male are used in the poems and the multitude of these faces has not been mentioned. Furtheremore,, in the Bondaheshn, Mashi and Mashianeh are described as standing with their hands on their ears and this situation is not seen in the poems of the Shahnameh and in painting of the Demut's Shahnameh. In general, from this comparison, it can be concluded that the talking tree originated from the ancient creation myths of Mashi and Mashianeh and it is another form of the first human couple. It has appeared in the form of a talking (Wak Wak) tree in the poems of Shahnameh and Iranian art over time.

Keywords

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URL(s)

URL 1: https://asia.si.edu/object/F1935.23/ (access date: 2020/08/06)

URL 2: https://ganjoor.net/ferdousi/shahname/eskandar/sh38 (access date: 2020/12/08)

URL 3: https://www.drsaina.com/cn-hrb-a632dc81cbc54e0c9ae6483cebd12691/%D8%B1%DB%8C%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B3 /(access date: 2020/12/11)