WEBVTT - The Monstrefact: Shad-Havar

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. Hi,

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<v Speaker 1>my name is Robert Lamb and this is the Monster Fact,

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<v Speaker 1>a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind,

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<v Speaker 1>focusing in on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters in time.

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<v Speaker 1>My wife recently gave me a copy of the nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>eighty five book Magical Beasts from the Time Life Enchanted

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<v Speaker 1>World series. This is a volume I didn't have in

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<v Speaker 1>my childhood set of the books, and as with other volumes,

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<v Speaker 1>this one contains a rich collection of new and classic illustrations.

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<v Speaker 1>Flipping through it for the first time, I encountered the

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<v Speaker 1>expected array of satyrs, harpies, and unicorns. But then on

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<v Speaker 1>page one hundred and twenty two, I encountered a glorious

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<v Speaker 1>illustration by none other than contemporary artist Wayne Anderson, whose

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<v Speaker 1>book Flight of Dragon was the inspiration for the nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>eighty two Rankin and Bass animated film of the same name,

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<v Speaker 1>recently featured on Weird House Cinema. Anderson's interpretation of the

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<v Speaker 1>creature is a splendid, antelope like creature with a single

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<v Speaker 1>curved horn. This horn does not spiral, but it does

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<v Speaker 1>branch off into stunted hollow tubes. It gives the horn

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<v Speaker 1>an appearance of both coral and a fluted musical instrument.

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<v Speaker 1>It also reminded my wife of the Grinch's dog Max,

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<v Speaker 1>once he was augmented with a crude antler. In the cartoon.

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<v Speaker 1>The text of Magical Beasts tells us that this is

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<v Speaker 1>the Persian creature known as Shadhar, and when the wind

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<v Speaker 1>passes over this horn and its apertures, sweet music is produced,

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<v Speaker 1>music so sweet, in fact, that animals of the forest

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<v Speaker 1>will draw near. It is then that Shadhavar's predatory nature

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<v Speaker 1>is revealed, as the creature pounces on its enthralled prey,

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<v Speaker 1>kills it, and devours its flesh. Shadhavar is discussed in

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<v Speaker 1>the nineteen fifty text The Unicorn Studies in Muslim Iconography

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<v Speaker 1>by the late Islamic art historian Richard Ettinghausen. He writes that,

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<v Speaker 1>according to Zakaria al Kuzwani in his thirteenth century book

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<v Speaker 1>The Wonders of Creatures and the Marvels of Creation, the

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<v Speaker 1>Shadhavar lives in remote regions of room, and its horn

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<v Speaker 1>contains no less than forty two hollow branches. The fourteenth

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<v Speaker 1>century writer al Damiri would increase that count to seventy two,

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<v Speaker 1>and it appears that historian Hamdalla Mustawafi contributed the predatory account,

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<v Speaker 1>possibly grafting it on from another imaginary creature, the Serranus,

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<v Speaker 1>which was originally described as a marine animal with musical

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<v Speaker 1>apertures on its snout and later as a land animal

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<v Speaker 1>with musical apertures on its snout. In either case, the

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<v Speaker 1>Serranus was said to lure in prey with its song

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<v Speaker 1>as well. The excellent blog A Book of Creatures features

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<v Speaker 1>a nice illustration of what this Syrianus might have been

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<v Speaker 1>expected to look like, and mentions that the name of

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<v Speaker 1>the creature may be a reference to a Byzantine musical

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<v Speaker 1>instrument that was used, or said to be used to

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<v Speaker 1>lure and capture animals. There may also be some connection

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<v Speaker 1>here to the sirens of Greek tradition. At any rate,

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<v Speaker 1>it's a wonderful, fantastic creature, and also a reminder that

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<v Speaker 1>monsters of myth and legend are fluid. They may borrow

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<v Speaker 1>their attributes from others of their kind, and of course

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<v Speaker 1>they may lend attributes to other creatures as well. Tune

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<v Speaker 1>in for additional episodes of the Monster fact or the

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<v Speaker 1>Artifact each week. As always, you can email us at

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<v Speaker 1>contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff

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