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THE IMAGE OF THE DRAGON IN UZBEKISTAN MYTHOLOGY
Akhmedova Madinabonu Makhmudjonovna
Acting Associate Professor of the Department of Foreign Languages -2
University of Tashkent for Applied Sciences
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15259054
Abstract
. The article examines the image of the dragon in Uzbek mythology.
Based on the presented material, it can be concluded that the image of the
dragon mythological image in Uzbek legends is reflected in the mythology of
different countries and therefore can be considered universal. This means that
the image of the dragon in Uzbek mythology is related to European and Chinese
dragons, despite some differences in its appearance, which have a cultural
significance in many of its features and characteristics.
Keywords:
dragon image, legend, mythological image, characteristics, plot
The mythopoetic tasks that the dragon performs in the mythological
arsenal of Uzbek mythology also include the motif of kidnapping a person in the
village. In Uzbek mythological texts, the person kidnapped by the dragon is not
only a girl, but can also be an old man or a man. In Uzbek mythological
imaginations, the dragon also breathes fire from its mouth, kidnaps and feeds on
villagers. In legends and fairy tales, the epic hero fights the dragon, and after
defeating it, takes a piece of its skin and puts it on his belt. Mythological
imaginations related to the dragon also indicate that the dragon performs a
dualistic task. Let's pay attention to the legend of "Khorezm and Hurjamal":
"Once upon a time, there was a large city ruled by Mahmud of Ghaznavi. One day,
a strong storm arose, and sand began to move from all sides, gradually covering
all the gates of the city with sand. The people of the city, as if under siege, could
not leave their homes and began to live their lives.
As if adding insult to injury, an enemy more terrible than a sandstorm
appeared before the city's inhabitants. A dragon appeared around the city,
howling in terror, causing endless suffering to the people, who were already
exhausted from hunger and lack of water. The evil dragon threatened the
townspeople that if they did not give him one beautiful girl every morning, he
would scatter the ashes of the entire city to the sky, and destroy your homes and
belongings. The people were afraid, and every morning, at the dragon's request,
they would bring one beautiful girl out to the castle gate, and the greedy dragon
would eat the food in one gulp. Soon, the city was deprived of all its treasures.
The families with daughters would wake up in terror, waiting for that fateful day
to come. In the end, all the girls in the city were devoured by the dragon, and
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there was no one left except the daughter of Mahmud Ghaznavi. The king had a
minister named Qulubjon, who explained everything to the ruler in bed.
The sultan, whose heart was torn apart by the fire of judaism, was forced to
submit to the will of the majority. He had not one, but three, each of them
beautiful daughters. On one side, his daughters, who would not spare his eyes if
he sent them, but if he did not send them, the dragon stood at the threshold of
the city, and with one blow would scatter the ashes of the city to the sky. The
king summoned his courtiers. They cast lots and advised that the king's
youngest daughter, Hurjamol, be sent to the dragon's grave. The next morning,
the king's soldiers tied Hurjamol's hands and feet with ropes, threw her heart
and soul under the castle wall, ignoring the cries of the intercessors, and fled
into the city, locking the gates so that the dragon would not see them. Outside
the city's citadel was a large cemetery. While Hurjamol was crying, she suddenly
saw two men from the cemetery. After a while, they got closer. Hurjamol saw
that they were two young men. The name of one of the men who came out of the
cemetery was Khorezm, and the name of the other was Habash. They untied the
girl's hands and feet and asked her how she was. Hurjamol told these heroes
who were wandering the world everything without a drop of water. Hearing the
story of the dragon, Habash's eyes filled with tears, and his complexion turned
pale like a three-washed gray. After listening to the girl's story, Khorezm, who
learned that a great calamity had befallen the people of the city, asked about the
dragon:
- I have not seen him, answered Hurjamol. - But they say that his div is
like a mountain, his mouth is like a large coil, and each tooth is like the tongue of
a dragon. He swallows everything cleanly, without saying that he has seen so
many things. Hearing this, Habash's heart burst, and he was so frightened that
he felt like he was suffering from a seven-year fever, and he ran away without
looking back or forward. Khorezm consoled Hurjamol and did not leave the girl.
Show me the way to the dragon, O beautiful girl! I will try, if I can, kill that
bloodthirsty creature and save your country from disaster. Unless I am weak, do
not be afraid, I will surrender myself to the dragon's will in your place. He
consoled the girl, saying, "You will return to the city in peace".
The young man took his bow in his hand and looked around, when he saw a
gazelle grazing. He shot the gazelle and ate its meat as kebabs, and the two of
them were satisfied. Recognizing the young man's bravery, Khurjamol Khorezm
decided to stay by his side in difficult moments, no matter how much he begged
him to leave. Then Khorezm said: Khurjamol, I have traveled for a long time, the
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hardships of the long journey, the constant battles and the intense battles have
drained my strength. After all, it is not for nothing that they say that the journey
is a torment! I am very tired. My princess, if you say so, I will rest my head on
your knee and take a nap before the upcoming battle. "If you feel the dragon
coming, wake him up immediately," he said, and he fell asleep, resting his head
on Hurjamol's lap.
After a long time, Khorezm did not wake up. Hurjamol also sat motionless,
despite his knees being numb. At one point, it seemed as if dust was rising from
behind the distant dunes. Before long, the sound of a dragon's hissing could be
heard. When he tried to wake Khorezm, the young man was sleeping so sweetly
that the girl did not want to disturb his sleep. The dragon kept crawling towards
the girl. At that moment, tears welled up in Hurjamol's eyes. A single tear rolled
down his pink cheeks and fell onto Khorezm's face. Khorezm, who felt a hot tear
dripping down his face, opened his eyes and asked:
- Why are you crying, my princess?!- he asked.
"Look over there," said Hurjamol, pointing in the direction the dragon was
coming from. When Khorezm turned around, he saw a dragon crawling
majestically over the dunes to the west. The dragon, whose bloodshot eyes were
burning, was shooting fire from its mouth, and its huge div was dragging along,
its paws, each of which was like a maple tree, on the ground, so long that it was
impossible to tell where its tail was. Its eyes, shining like fire, were as sharp as
sunlight, and the wind that arose with each breath was burying the surrounding
area in dust.
Khorezm immediately put on his armor and shield, took his magic sword,
which could be one gas when folded and forty gas when extended, and set out on
the dragon's path. The dragon, who was accustomed to devouring one girl every
morning, when he saw a young man in full armor standing in the place of the
girl, thought, "The townspeople have broken their covenant," and rushed
towards Khorezm in a rage. The brave young man also waited for the right
moment and drew his sword with one blow, but the dragon did not even notice
that his head had rolled away like a piece of paper. The headless div of the evil
dragon was covered in blood mixed with dirt and died. Khorezm cut a strip of its
skin and tied it around his waist.
Having found peace after killing the dragon, the young man took Hurjamol's
hand and headed towards the city. But when the gatekeepers saw the king's
daughter holding hands with some strange young man, they stoned them and
drove them out of the city. After all, none of the guards, who thought that if the
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girl sent to the dragon's lair returned, the dragon would destroy the city, were
aware of what had happened!
Khorezm and Hurjamal were forced to return to the place where the dragon
was killed. Before the dragon died, it was said that there was another dragon,
and Khorezm should kill it and gain great wealth. Khorezm followed the
dragon's trail, found their place, and the treasurer killed the dragon. After that,
he loaded the lifeless heads of the dragons and countless treasures into carts and
arrived at the city gate. The castle guards, knowing that the dragon had been
killed, were overjoyed and opened the gates. Mahmud of Ghaznavi, who heard
that his beloved daughter had returned safe and sound and that the bloodthirsty
dragon had been killed, was overjoyed. Khurjamol, recognizing the bravery of
Khwarazm and secretly smitten by him, Khwarazm also fell in love with the
beautiful girl. The Sultan held a forty-day and forty-night wedding for the entire
nation and married Khurjamol to Khwarazm.
A large city was later built on the site where the dragons were found in
Khorezm. The people named this new city Hurganj in memory of the sultan's
beautiful daughter Hurjamal and the treasure (ganj) of dragons. Years later, the
name of the city in the vernacular became Urgench” [1]. Thus, the dualistic
function of the dragon is expressed in the mythological legend. Initially, it was
depicted as a mythological creature that devoured the inhabitants of the city, but
the motif of its appearance before Khorezm with a sword, which reveals the
secret of another dragon and treasure before its death, shows that the epic
function of the mythological image has undergone an evolutionary change as a
result of dualistic imagination. The most common image of the dragon is its
lizard-like appearance of enormous size with four clawed paws and wings, a
long tail, a long neck, a toothy mouth and a horned head. In general, it can be
concluded that the dragon is a reptile. In legends, dragons are assigned horns,
wings and other additional functions. This additional unnatural appearance is
the basis of the dragon’s The arena of mythopoetic functions can be expanded.
The characterization of the appearance of any mythological creature with
unnatural signs serves to enhance its mythological properties. In the image of
the dragon we are considering, the fact that the snake spreads wings, flies, a
crown and a horn appear on its head, and a fire spray from its mouth serves to
explain its power. The power of mythological images is seen in the fact that it
can perform tasks that people cannot perform, and is stronger than human
children. In ancient times, in China, almost all creatures with some amazing
properties were called dragons without exception [2]. And this means that
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various reptiles can fall under this definition. Nevertheless, in ancient China, a
universal image of the dragon was formed, which has survived to this day and,
unlike European dragons, had uniformity. This single image is “Lu-wan, the
dragon king of China, with the div of a snake, deer horns, demon eyes, carp
scales, camel’s head, tiger paws, and eagle’s claws” [3]. Other Chinese dragons,
although they differ from Long-wan in size and the presence or absence of
horns, are generally similar.
Adding many heads to the image of a dragon in folklore, according to the
“theory of good and evil,” can indicate the many facets of evil that this snake
embodies. Another frequently mentioned feature of the snake-dragon is its
ability to fly. Its important feature can also be called the ability to breathe fire,
which indicates its fiery nature. In our opinion, the historical foundations of the
images of dragons and drakons in world folklore are of great importance, since
they go back to the cults of water, fire, and fertility of our ancient ancestors. The
image of the dragon, formed in the imagination of primitive man, has evolved in
human thought over time. The image of the dragon emerged as a result of the
development of thought, when the image existing in the mythical imagination
acquired a poetic essence at the stage of the emergence of artistic thought. As a
result of the later embodiment of the mythical image, which was formed on the
basis of dualistic theory in primitive mythological imaginations, it has now
moved from the field of myth-epic imagination to the platform of poetic
interpretation of legends. In the subsequent stages of thought, it has become
prominent in the plots of fairy tales and epics.
The theory that dragons never existed is also of particular interest.
According to it, people believe that the fact that various adverse weather
phenomena are caused by terrible monsters, based on the appearance of
thunder or lightning in the form of snakes, gave rise to the idea of a fiery
monster flying in the sky. However, supporters of the "natural theory" still put
forward hypotheses against each other. However, people have recognized
mythical monsters in natural phenomena for centuries. Because reptiles already
exist in nature, it is more common to perceive them as dragons. Thus, A.
Soyustov [4] compares the characteristic features of the dragon as an epic
creature (hero) and information about the medieval artillery of nomads and
concludes that on this basis this was the reason for the formation of the image of
the mythical dragon. The fear of our ancestors of the unknown and deadly
firearms of nomads, and therefore the firing of artillery, acquired metaphorical
features. In connection with the need to resist foreign invaders, the idea of
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\u200b\u200bthe fight against dragons arose in world mythology, which led to
the spread of its symbolism, including the image of the "winged serpent".
At the same time, in all Uzbek legends, the dragon was considered and
interpreted as a mythological image. The dragon is not considered a giant form
of a serpent. The reason is that the mythical function of the dragon described in
the legend reminds of its genetic roots. Thus, the image of the dragon appeared
in the mythological arsenal and, as a result of the evolution of thought, was
interpreted mythopoetically in works of folk applied art, in the details of ritual
folklore, and later in oral epic works.
References:
1. Silk Road Legends. Prepared for publication by M. Zhuraev. - Tashkent,
Science. - B. 34-38.
2. Field notebook: Zap. Kolodin D.M. horse Kuznetsova Nikity Lukicha, 70 let, s.
Shigaevo Kabanskogo r-na RB (Piskov GU)
3. Korinfsky A. A. "Zmey Gorynych" // Narodnaya Rus: Kruglyy god skazaniy,
poveriy, obychaev i poslovits russkogo naroda. — M.: Izdanie knigoprodavtsa M.
V. Klyukina, 1901. — S. 601-616.
4. Soyustov A. Skazki na noch. https://www.livelib.ru/author/234965-andrej-
soyustov
