2020, Volume 17, Issue 2
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Hanna V. Vertiienko Understanding the Names and Functions of Mythical Fishes in the Avesta
Voprosy onomastiki, 2020, Volume 17, Issue 2, pp. 166–185 (in Russian) Received on 15 July 2019 Abstract: The article studies the names of two mythical fishes in the Avesta and their place in the ancient Iranian worldview. Each of the fishes in question is bestowed with a proper name and a constant epithet. The name of Vasi (Av. vāsī-) associates with the worship of the cosmogony elements. In Yasna 42.4, its epithet panchasadvar (Av. pancā.sadvarā-) means “that of fifty fins” or “that of fifty gates,” which presumably refers to the plates on the body of this mythical fish (similar to the Acipenser species). The description of the extraordinary size of Vaspanchasadvaran in Bundahishn (18.5–8) connotes its relation to the spatial worldview, which can functionally correspond to the image of a giant snake encircling the Universe. The name of the mythical Kara (Av. kara-) fish admits several etymologies, but it is highly probable that *kara- is a Uralic loan word from an early period of contacts between Indo-Iranian and Finno-Ugric tribes. The epithet of Kara, upāpa- ‘the one near the water,’ apart from its literal meaning, may also point to its habitat at the source of Ardvisur in the Sea of Frahvkard. In Avestan sources, the Kara fish is connected to the concept of vision; it inhabits the waters of the Rangha river (Yashts 14.28–33; 16.7) located in the north (Videvdat 1.19) and thus suggests tanathological associations. In Yasht 14, Verethragna girds Zarathushtra with the abilities to see underwater like the Kara fish, in darkness like a stallion, and at a distance like a vulture. This symbolically refers to the motive of Zarathushtra’s obtaining omniscience over the three different spheres of the natural world: water, earth, and air. 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