Following the Trail of a Peacock, from Northern Iraq to Singapore

The Peacock Cult in Asia

This fascinating paper reveals some hidden secrets of the mythology of the humble peacock and its place among ancient religion. This is a must read for all students of mythology.

Episteme: Jurnal Pengembangan Ilmu Keislaman, 2020

In various cultural and religious contexts, from West Asia to Southeast Asia, we come across a number of quite similar creation myths in which a peacock, seated on a cosmic tree, plays a central part. For the Yezidis, a sect of Sufi origins that has moved away from Islam, the Peacock Angel, who is the most glorious of the angels, is the master of the created world. This belief may be related to early Muslim cosmologies involving the Muhammadan Light (Nur Muhammad), which in some narratives had the shape of a peacock and participated in creation. In a different set of myths, the peacock and the Tree of Certainty (shajarat al-yaqīn) play a role in Adam and Eve's fall and expulsion from Paradise. The central myth of the South Indian Hindu cult of the god Murugan also involves a tree and a peacock. The myth is enacted in the annual ritual of Thaipusam, like the Nur Muhammad myth is still enacted annually in the Maulid festival of Cikoang in South Sulawesi. Images of the peacock, originating from South India, have moved across cultural and religious boundaries and have been adopted as representing the different communities’ peacock myths.

Epistemé: Jurnal Pengembangan Ilmu Keislaman, 2020

In various cultural and religious contexts, from West Asia to Southeast Asia, we come across a number of quite similar creation myths in which a peacock, seated on a cosmic tree, plays a central part. For the Yezidis, a sect of Sufi origins that has moved away from Islam, the Peacock Angel, who is the most glorious of the angels, is the master of the created world. This belief may be related to early Muslim cosmologies involving the Muhammadan Light (Nur Muhammad), which in some narratives had the shape of a peacock and participated in creation. In a different set of myths, the peacock and the Tree of Certainty (shajarat al-yaqīn) play a role in Adam and Eve’s fall and expulsion from Paradise. The central myth of the South Indian Hindu cult of the god Murugan also involves a tree and a peacock. The myth is enacted in the annual ritual of Thaipusam, like the Nur Muhammad myth is still enacted annually in the Maulid festival of Cikoang in South Sulawesi. Images of the peacock, origina...

Subhash Kak provides a lucid account of the hazy outlines of history of Yazidi people (his monograph is embedded for ready reference). There is a possibility that Yazidi may be Meluhha people who settled in the Iraqi region during the Bronze Age. I cite three evidences. Evidence 1: The word yazidi as a name of the people of ancient Iraq may be a variant pronunciation of yajata 'priest of yajna' (Vedic); yazata "divine being" (Avestan). yajata mf(ā)n. worthy of worship, adorable, holy, sublime, RV. yajata [cf. Zd. yazata] yajata m. a priest (= ṛtv-ij)(Monier-Williams) यजत yajata a. 1 Holy, divine. -2 Adorable. -3 Dignified, sublime. -तः 1 An officiating priest (at a sacrifice). -2 An epithet of Śiva. -3 The moon.यजतिः yajatiḥ 1 A technical name for those sacrificial ceremonies to which the verb यजति is applied; (see जुहोति for further information). -2 The act of offering something with reference to some deity; द्रव्यदवताक्रियार्थस्य यजतिशब्देन प्रत्यायनं क्रियते । ŚB. on MS.4.2.27. -Comp. -देशः, -स्थानम् a place south of the sacrificial altar.यजत्रः yajatraḥ [यज्-अत्र] A Brāhmaṇa who maintains the sacred fire (अग्निहोत्रिन्). -त्रम् Maintenance of the sacred fire. यजनम् yajanam [यज्-ल्युट्] 1 The act of sacrificing. -2 A sacrifice; देवयजनसंभवे देवि सीते U.4. -3 A place of sacrifice; उत्पत्तिर्देवयजनाद् ब्रह्मवादी नृपः पिता ।.(Apte) Evidence 2: Just as the Sarasvati Civilization women wore sindhur at the māng, parting of the hair, Yazidi wome have the traditon of wearing sindhur vermilion mark on the forehead. Yazidi tradition of wearing sindhur mark on the forehead Two terracotta toys of Sarasvati Civilization found at Nausharo; the women wear sindhur on the māng, the parting of the hair, an abiding Hindu tradition. Evidence 3: Peacock is an Indus Script hieroglyph. maraka 'peacocks' rebus marakaka 'copper alloy, calcining metal'. मारक loha 'a kind of calcining metal' (Samskritam) See: Counting the paternal founders of Austroasiatic speakers associated with the language dispersal in South Asia -- Prajjval Pratap Singh et al (2019) http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.com/2019/11/counting-paternal-founders-of.html Explains Indus Script hieroglyphs on Karen and Dongson Bronze Drums. Evidence 4: Hindu tradition of veneration of Skanda and Vedic tradition. See: Skanda, the progenitor of Vedic culture-- Jayasree Saranathan https://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2020/06/indic-past-series-5-skanda-progenitor.html I have posited 1) an Ancient Maritime Tin Route through Indian Ocean which linked the largest tin belt of the globe in Ancient Far East with Ancient Near East through ancient Meluhha; and 2) that over 8000 inscriptions of Indus Script are wealth-accounting ledgers, metalwork catalogues. It is significant that Indus Scrit hypertexts are used on Dong Son/Karen Bronze drums. https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tmQQ_-YoNzA/WVr-yq6D8fI/AAAAAAABHSU/6OMrig4CVy00ZRWXht0OGFS2RwKzQFgBwCLcBGAs/s1600/dongson.jpg This image shows Indus Script hypertexts of frog, peacock, elephant, tree on the bronze drum -- all of which signify metalwork catalogues reinforcing the Munda-Mon-Khmer links with shared vocabulary of the Tin-Bronze revolution.. Salavo bronze drums. Hieroglyphs: frog, peacock, elephant, palm tree. tALa 'palm' rebus: dhALa 'large ingot'. maraka 'peacock' (Santali. Mu.) Rebus: मारक loha 'a kind of calcining metal' (Samskritam) Skt. mūkaka- id. (DEDR 5023) Rebus: mū̃h ‘ingot’. Muha. The quantity of iron produced at one time in a native smelting furnace. (Santali) karibha 'trunk of elaphant' ibha 'elephant' rebus: karba 'iron' ib 'iron'. Hieroglyph: arka 'sun' Rebus: arka, eraka 'copper, gold, moltencast'. miṇḍāl ‘markhor’ (Tōrwālī) meḍho a ram, a sheep (Gujarati)(CDIAL 10120) Rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ ‘iron’ (Mu.Ho.) maṇḍa (Sanskrit) OMarw. mīḍako m. ʻ frog ʼ, mīṁḍakī f. ʻ small frog ʼ, G. me_ḍak, meḍ°m., me_ḍkī, meḍ° f.; M. mẽḍūk -- mukh n. ʻ frog -- like face ʼ. 1. Pa. maṇḍūka -- m., °kī -- f. ʻ frog ʼ, Pk. maṁḍū˘ka -- , °ḍūa -- , °ḍuga -- m., (CDIAL 9746) Rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ ‘iron’ (Mu.Ho.) kaṅká m. ʻ heron ʼ VS. [← Drav. T. Burrow TPS 1945, 87; onomat. Mayrhofer EWA i 137. Drav. influence certain in o of M. and Si.: Tam. Kan. Mal. kokku ʻ crane ʼ, Tu. korṅgu, Tel. koṅga, Kuvi koṅgi, Kui kohko] Pa. kaṅka -- m. ʻ heron ʼ, Pk. kaṁka -- m., S. kaṅgu m. ʻ crane, heron ʼ (→ Bal. kang); B. kã̄k ʻ heron ʼ, Or. kāṅka; G. kã̄kṛũ n. ʻ a partic. ravenous bird ʼ; -- with o from Drav.: M. kõkā m. ʻ heron ʼ; Si. kokā, pl. kokku ʻ various kinds of crane or heron ʼ, kekī ʻ female crane ʼ, kēki ʻ a species of crane, the paddy bird ʼ (ē?).(CDIAL 2595) Ta. kokku common crane, Grus cinerea; stork, paddy bird; kuruku heron, stork, crane, bird, gallinaceous fowl, aṉṟil bird. Ma. kokku, kokkan, kocca, kuriyan paddy bird, heron; kuru heron. To.košk heron. Ka. kokku, kokkare crane; kukku heron, crane. Tu. korṅgu crane, stork. Te. koṅga, kokkera, kokkarāyi crane; pegguru, begguru (< peru-kuru) adjutant crane. Kol. (Kin.) koŋga crane. Pa.kokkal (pl. kokkacil) id. Ga. (S) kokkāle (pl. kokkāsil) heron; (S.2) koŋalin (pl. koŋasil), (S.3) kokalin crane. Go. (L.) koruku id. (Voc. 921); (Mu.) kokoḍal heron, duck (Voc. 870); (Ma. Ko.) koŋga crane (Voc. 874). Kui kohko paddy bird. Kuwi (S.) kongi (Ṭ.) kokoṛa crane. Br. xāxūr demoiselle crane. / Cf. Skt. kaṅka- heron; Turner, CDIAL, no. 2595.(DEDR 2125) కొంగ (p. 0313) [ koṅga ] konga. [Tel.] n. A bird of the heron or stork kind. బకము (Telugu) Rebus: kang 'brazier' (Kashmiri) Two bronze peacocks, 11 ft. high bronze pine cone at Vatican are Meluhha hieroglyphs, metalwork catalogues. Archaeometallurgical analyses by Vatican suggested http://tinyurl.com/qz56u27 Vatican. The two peacocks are cast in bronze and covered with a thin layer of gold plate. Peacocks Cat. 5117, 5120 Early medieval sources record the presence of these peacocks in the area around Hadrian's Mausoleum (117-138 A.D.), known today as Castel Sant'Angelo. mora peacock; morā ‘peafowl’ (Hindi); rebus: morakkhaka loha, a kind of copper, grouped with pisācaloha (Pali). [Perhaps an intimation of the color of the metal produced which shines like a peacock blue feather.] moraka "a kind of steel" (Samskritam) https://www.academia.edu/50783227/Threads_of_Yazidi_History

Iran and The Caucasus, 2003

Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, 2019

Members and leaders of the Kurdish speaking Yezidi diaspora in Phoenix, Arizona-and transnationally-are in dialogue with members of the Indian diaspora about their common historical connections. "Are Yezidis from ancient India, or are Indians from ancient Mesopotamia?" Both of these claims and hypotheses situate Yezidis on the outside of a historical Muslim world, and have material effects. They add validity to non-Muslim traditions, by imagining a historical cultural root structure between India and Mesopotamia. They also help both Hindu nationalists and Yezidis to displace historical Muslim culture and dominance to somewhere else while reinforcing tropes of Islam synonymous with the "war on terror." By de-historicising Islam and its presence in the Middle East and in India, Hindu and Yezidi community leaders co-imagine a pan-polytheism with roots in ancient Persian (Kurdish) Yezidi culture and language. The symbols that can be recognized today that span both traditions-the peacock, the peacock statue (sanjak), and the use of fire in places of worship-give testament to that imagined past. The contradictions of that historical narrative point to the limits of this historical work in the two communities, and find limits in modern identity articulations of Yezidi identity and Hindu identity alike. Material effects of the historical narrative include Indian imagery on the wall of Lalish, online circulating images and articles equating Yezidis to Hindus, and common activism, fundraising, and humanitarianism between Yezidi and Hindu communities in Phoenix, India, and in the Middle East.

See: Indus Script hypertext mōri 'peacock' rebus moraka 'steel', Rāṣṭrī, R̥gveda is Peacock Angel Melek Taus of Yazidi-s https://tinyurl.com/y7p3kcok Peacock is venerated by Yazidis. Peacock is also venerated on the bronze artifacts of Vatican. Both symbols of veneration are related to the ancient Bronze Age revolution which provides evidence of working with calcining metal called marakaka, a copper alloy. This is signified by maraka 'peacock' in Meluhha rebus renderings of Indus Script tradition. Yazidis Kurdish: ئێزیدی OldIranian yazata "divine being"(Av) < yaj "to worship", yajña – "worship" R̥gveda yajatá 'holy' Gk ἅγιος hagios ". A priest applying Sindhur, a Yazidi wearing sindhur on the forehead, Monumental bronze Peacocks and pinecone adorn the Vatican These monuments trace back the Peacock Angel go the days of Sarasvati Civilization. Water installation with bronze pine-cone and peacocks on the top register in the atrium of Old St Peter’s Basilica, Rome. Drawing by Cronaca (1457-1505). Uffizi, Florence, 1572. Bronze peacocks, together with 11 ft. high pine-cone of bronze in the Vatican are made by Bharatam Janam and Indus Script hieroglyphs. मोरकम् 1 A kind of steel. मोरक [p= 835,3] n. a kind of steel L. (Samskrtam) Mora [the contracted, regular P. form of *Sk. mayūra, viâ *ma -- ūra>mora. See also Geiger, P.Gr. § 27 & Pischel, Prk. Gr. § 166. -- Vedic only mayūrī f. pea -- hen] a peacock J ii.275 Perhaps also as morakkha "a peacock's eye" at VbhA 63 (morakkhaka loha, a kind of copper, grouped with pisācaloha). It is more likely however that morakkha is distorted fr. *mauryaka, patronymic of mura, a local (tribal) designation (cp. murala), then by pop. etym. connected with mora peacock. With this cp. Sk. moraka "a kind of steel" BR. (Pali) mayūˊra m. ʻ peacock ʼ VS., in cmpds. RV., mayūrīˊ -- f. ʻ peahen ʼ RV. 2. *mōra -- . 3. *majjūra -- (< *mayyūra<-> with early eastern change -- yy -- > -- jj -- ?). [mayūka -- , marūka -- 1 m. lex. -- J. Bloch BSL 76, 16 ← Drav. (cf. DED 3793); J. Przyluski BSL 79, 100 ← Austro -- as. (cf. also Savara māˊrā ʻ peacock ʼ Morgenstierne); H. W. Bailey BSOAS xx 59, IL 21, 18 connects with Khot. murāsa -- as orig. an Indo -- ir. colour word. -- EWA ii 587 with lit.]1. Pa. mayūra -- m. ʻ peacock ʼ, Pk. maūra -- , maūla -- m.; Sh. (Lor.) maiyūr m. ʻ cock munāl pheasant ʼ; A. mairā ʻ peacock ʼ, B. maür, maur, Or. maïram., °rī f., Si. mayurā, miyurā.2. Pa. mōra -- m., mōrinī -- f., Aś.gir. mora -- , Pk. mōra<-> m., °rī -- f., K. mōr m., S. moru m., L. P. mōr m., Ku. Mth. Bhoj. mor, OAw. mora m., H. morm., °rī, °rin f., OMarw. moraḍī f., G. M. mor m., Si. mōrā; <-> H. (dial.) mhor, murhā m., Ko. mhōru.3. Aś.shah. man. majura -- , kāl. majula -- , jau. majūla -- , N. majur, mujur, Or. (Bastar) mañjura, OAw. maṁjūra m., Si. modara, monara.*mayūrapakṣala -- .Addenda: mayūˊra -- : WPah.kṭg. (kc.) mōr ʻ peacock ʼ.(CDIAL 9865) See: Bronze peacocks in the Vatican are made by Bharatam Janam and an Indus Script hieroglyph 'a type of steel' http://tinyurl.com/z2xcphj Two bronze peacocks, 11 ft. high bronze pine cone at Vatican are Meluhha hieroglyphs, metalwork catalogues. Archaeometallurgical analyses by Vatican suggested A possible representation of Melek Taus Melek Taus also known as Azazel "was the Master of Metals and Minerals. In "Genesis of the Grail Kings", Laurence Gardner says this: "It is said in Enoch that Azazel made known to men 'all the metals and the art of working them...and the use of antimony' (otherwise known as stibium [Sb] Element No. 51)...The cuneiform symbol is the number 2 beloe, in Archaic Cuneiform style, dating 2,500 B.C. and means God, Heaven. (Note that it looks more like a brightness, a star)." " http://morrigandunn.blogspot.com/2010/04/melek-taus-peacock-god-of-yazid.html Yazidi may be a derivation from Old Iranian yazata (divine being). An important festival is the ṭāwusgerrān (circulation of the peacock) where qawwāls and other religious dignitaries visit Yazidi villages, bringing the senjāq, sacred images representing the peacock and associated with Malak Ṭāʾus. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/yazidis-i-general-1 The word senjāq is cognate with a metallurgical word : sañcaka m.n. ʻ mould, figure ʼ Naiṣ. [Sanskritization of MIA. *saṁcaa -- < saṁcaya -- (moulds being made in mounds of earth LM 418) is unlikely in view of A. B. Or. < *sañca -- , P. < *saccaa -- , WPah. < *śacca -- ]P. sañcā, saccā m. ʻ mould ʼ, WPah.bhad. śeccu n., Ku. N. sã̄co, A. xã̄s, B. sã̄c, chã̄c, Or. chã̄ca, Bi. H. sã̄cā m. (→ P. sã̄cā m., S. sã̄co m., K. sã̄ca m.), G. sã̄cɔ m.; M. sã̄ċā m. ʻ mould, quantity cast in a mould ʼ. Kur. xajj earth, mould, clay, mud, corpse. Malt. qaju earth, mud. Te. cēnu (pl. cēlu) field; (Inscr.) kayya a rice-field; kaili field (DEDR 1958) Addenda: sañcaka -- [~ Drav. DED 44](CDIAL 13396). See: Decipherment of T symbol of Indus Script Corpora as ingot castings using a sã̄ca साँच mould https://tinyurl.com/yy5l452v Ur III Sumerian cuneiform for the sky god An (and determinative sign for deities see: DINGIR) in ancient sumerian religion and also in the symbol of Melek Taus. Yazidis and India

Этнография / Etnografia., 2023

ABSTRACT. In India the peacock was domesticated and exported to Sumer as early as the era of the Indus Valley Civilization. Funerary urns of the “Late Harappan” Cemetery H culture reveal mythological ideas associated with peacocks: their role was to conduct souls to the other world. The peacock’s ability to kill and eat serpents and yet be immune to their poison gave rise to its link with immortality and rebirth. The pre-Aryan mythology of the peacock was passed down to the archaic worldview of early Indo-Aryans. The spread of soteriological religions that gave the highest value to the cessation of any rebirth relegated the image of the peacock as a psychopomp to India’s cultural margins. In Indian Classical poetry, the connection between peacocks and the rainy season comes to the fore, the peacock’s “dance” being associated with the renewal of life, fertility and the seasonal awakening of sexual desire. In Viṣṇuism, the peacock is a constant witness to Kṛiṣhṇa’s love games and it is present both in Gokula, the heavenly paradise, and in Vṛndāvana, the earthly one. In the middle of the 1st millennium BC, peacocks traveled to Greece via Persia and later to Rome. The mythology of the peacock that took shape in ancient Greece and Rome shared basic motifs with Indian archaic mythology. The peacock became a sacred bird linked with metemphsychosis ideas and the soul’s immortality. In the Roman Empire, a peacock was the bird of the Empress, while the eagle was a symbol of the Emperor. After the Empress’ death a peacock was thought to carry her up to heaven. Christianity turned the image of the peacock into an important symbol linked with the immortality of the soul, resurrection, the mystery of communion and bliss in paradise. The article seeks to identify factors that might have contributed to forming similar peacock mythologies in distant world regions where direct borrowing can be ruled out.

2019

Since ancient times, humans would have found the expression of mysterious power in powerful animals such as beasts with their own strength, beasts with horns or fangs, and raptors with wings and claws. The image of these animals was also given to the symbol of an unbearable natural phenomenon. And ancient people, including Mesopotamia, expressed symbolic forms including various "fantastic animals" that combine animals and humans. They are the appearances of gods and spirits, and it can be said that people were in an overwhelming natural providence, confronting their own destiny, and a strong expression of prayer that always pursued bliss. Even in such a form, important signs common to a certain period and region are observed. This essay is an attempt to approach the expression of prayer that embraces these sacred symbols that can be glimpsed through a series of works of MIHO MUSEUM (hereinafter "MM") from ancient West Asia and western Central Asia.