WEBVTT - The Monstrefact Redux: Shad-Havar

0:00:03.360 --> 0:00:06.399
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:11.800
<v Speaker 2>Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the

0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:14.960
<v Speaker 2>Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow

0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:19.600
<v Speaker 2>Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters

0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:26.200
<v Speaker 2>in time. My wife recently gave me a copy of

0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:30.160
<v Speaker 2>the nineteen eighty five book Magical Beasts from the Time

0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:33.880
<v Speaker 2>Life Enchanted World series. This is a volume I didn't

0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:37.360
<v Speaker 2>have in my childhood set of the books, and as

0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:40.519
<v Speaker 2>with other volumes, this one contains a rich collection of

0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:44.960
<v Speaker 2>new and classic illustrations. Flipping through it for the first time,

0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:49.720
<v Speaker 2>I encountered the expected array of satyrs, harpees, and unicorns.

0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:52.400
<v Speaker 2>But then on page one hundred and twenty two, I

0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:56.800
<v Speaker 2>encountered a glorious illustration by none other than contemporary artist

0:00:56.960 --> 0:01:01.360
<v Speaker 2>Wayne Anderson, whose book Flight of Dragon was the inspiration

0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:04.320
<v Speaker 2>for the nineteen eighty two Rankin and Bass animated film

0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:10.040
<v Speaker 2>of the same name, recently featured on Weird House Cinema.

0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:14.240
<v Speaker 2>Anderson's interpretation of the creature is a splendid antelope like

0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:19.360
<v Speaker 2>creature with a single curved horn. This horn does not spiral,

0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:23.720
<v Speaker 2>but it does branch off into stunted hollow tubes. It

0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:27.000
<v Speaker 2>gives the horn an appearance of both coral and a

0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:31.240
<v Speaker 2>fluted musical instrument. It also reminded my wife of the

0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:35.480
<v Speaker 2>Grinch's dog Max, once he was augmented with a crude

0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:40.959
<v Speaker 2>antler in the cartoon. The text of Magical Beasts tells

0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:44.600
<v Speaker 2>us that this is the Persian creature known as Shahdhavar,

0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:48.640
<v Speaker 2>and when the wind passes over this horn and its apertures,

0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:52.760
<v Speaker 2>sweet music is produced, music so sweet, in fact, that

0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:56.000
<v Speaker 2>animals of the forest will draw near. It is then

0:01:56.080 --> 0:02:00.120
<v Speaker 2>that Shadhavar's predatory nature is revealed, as the creature pounces

0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:03.960
<v Speaker 2>on its enthralled prey, kills it, and devours its flesh.

0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:09.040
<v Speaker 2>Shadhavar is discussed in the nineteen fifty text The Unicorn

0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:13.440
<v Speaker 2>Studies in Muslim Iconography by the late Islamic art historian

0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:19.320
<v Speaker 2>Richard Ettinghausen. He writes that, according to Zakaria al Kuzwani

0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:22.480
<v Speaker 2>in his thirteenth century book The Wonders of Creatures and

0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:26.720
<v Speaker 2>the Marvels of Creation, the Shadhavar lives in remote regions

0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:30.800
<v Speaker 2>of room, and its horn contains no less than forty

0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:35.600
<v Speaker 2>two hollow branches. The fourteenth century writer al Damiri would

0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:38.840
<v Speaker 2>increase that count to seventy two, and it appears that

0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:45.120
<v Speaker 2>historian Hamdala Mustawafi contributed the predatory account, possibly grafting it

0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:50.000
<v Speaker 2>on from another imaginary creature, the Sirranas, which was originally

0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:53.560
<v Speaker 2>described as a marine animal with musical apertures on its

0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:57.320
<v Speaker 2>snout and later as a land animal with musical apertures

0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:00.240
<v Speaker 2>on its snout. In either case, the Sirranus was said

0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:05.000
<v Speaker 2>to lure in prey with its song as well. The

0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:08.960
<v Speaker 2>excellent blog A Book of Creatures features a nice illustration

0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:12.320
<v Speaker 2>of what this Syranus might have been expected to look like,

0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:15.480
<v Speaker 2>and mentions that the name of the creature may be

0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:19.480
<v Speaker 2>a reference to a Byzantine musical instrument that was used,

0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:22.440
<v Speaker 2>or said to be used to lure and capture animals.

0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:26.079
<v Speaker 2>There may also be some connection here to the sirens

0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:30.320
<v Speaker 2>of Greek tradition. At any rate, it's a wonderful, fantastic creature,

0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:33.480
<v Speaker 2>and also a reminder that monsters of myth and legend

0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:37.200
<v Speaker 2>are fluid. They may borrow their attributes from others of

0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:41.040
<v Speaker 2>their kind, and of course they may lend attributes to

0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:45.600
<v Speaker 2>other creatures as well. Tune in for additional episodes of

0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:48.920
<v Speaker 2>the monster fact or the artifact each week. As always,

0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:51.800
<v Speaker 2>you can email us at contact at stuff to blow

0:03:51.840 --> 0:04:00.440
<v Speaker 2>your Mind dot com.

0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:03.920
<v Speaker 1>Stuffed blow your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For more

0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:07.720
<v Speaker 1>podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:09.480
<v Speaker 1>wherever you listen to your favorite shows.