A Comparative Study of the Talking Tree Motif in Persian Versions of Qazvini’s Wonders of Creation

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A Comparative Study of the Talking Tree Motif in Persian Versions of Qazvini's Wonders of Creation

F. Heidari, S. Hosseini Corresponding author.

The scope of art is so vast that it covers everything ranging from reality to fantasy, nature, the internal and external world, social life, etc. An artist can apply his or her skills to create an illustration that inspires an aesthetic feeling. From the very beginning, Persian miniature exhibited a special aesthetic experience with its use of pure colors and special forms, freedom from adherence to nature, applying delicacies and its close connection to literature. Surprisingly, any subject that comes into Persian miniature, its factual and real aspect takes on an imaginational character. As symbolic as it is, accepting it is not out of the question and it appears that it is actually possible in the real world. On the other hand, due to the interplay between Iranian literature and miniature, motifs such as a talking tree (Waqwaq This word has different spellings in English. For the sake of consistency, “Waqwaq” is used through-out the article.) that have appeared in written works over many centuries have grown alongside the imaginative world of Persian miniature. Every artist started making artwork depending on the virtuosity that dominated the time, their unlimited mental imagination and what literature provided them. In addition, ancient beliefs and thoughts about trees and their value and validation have existed from the earliest times, and have been preserved from generation to generation. As a result of emphasizing it, the talking tree motif (Waqwaq motif) has been shaped and promoted in various art fields. The purpose of this research is to analyze the pictorial motif and also to identify differences and similarities in the illustrations of the talking tree in Persian versions of Qazvini's Wonders of Creation. Accordingly, the research questions are: 1. What is the pictorial motif of the talking tree in the Persian version of Wonders of Creation? 2. What are the differences and similarities in the talking tree motif in the Persian versions of Wonders of Creation? 3. What is the origin of aesthetic principles in the talking tree motif? By considering the aesthetic aspect of the works, comparing and matching the illustrations with the original text, the illustrations are analyzed. Given that other Persian language versions have also been illustrated in India, the statistical population of this study consists of Persian language versions illustrated in Iran and India. It should be noted that various research has been conducted from a historical aspect, and examining imaginary creatures such as the devil and the Giant in the Wonders of Creation have achieved valuable results. In contrast to previous research, the present emphasizes the identification of the legend of the talking tree and attempts to provide a rational analysis of the talking tree motif in each version. At the end of the article, the similarities and differences between the works are reviewed and presented in a table.

Methodology

The research method is descriptive-analytic and uses a comparative approach and documentary sources. The library method and the observation of works are used to collect information. The statistical population of this research includes 17 illustrations of 10 versions of Qazvini's Wonders of Creation, related to different historical periods that have been illustrated in Iran and have been analyzed using qualitative method.

Research Background

A review of research conducted to date demonstrates that many works involve introducing the version of Wonders of Creation or adapting motifs of demons and goblins into the illustrations, but none of them emphasized the talking tree motif in this version.

Valuable research has been carried out by European and Russian authors on Iranian painting, focusing more on historiography and analysis of the structure of Iranian painting. Among the studies conducted in the form of books and articles inside and outside Iran related to the subject of this article, the following can be mentioned:

1. Ajand, Yaghoub (2014). In his book entitled Seven Principles of Decoration of Iranian Art [1], conventional principles in the foundations of Iranian traditional arts in the post-Islamic era are represented and the seven principles of Iranian painting are examined. In the book, the Waqwaq motif is referred to as the sixth principle of Persian miniature and painting, and its emergence in Persian miniature is discussed.

2. Binyon, Laurence, James Vere Stewart Wilkinson, and Basil Gray (1993). Persian Miniature Painting: Including a Critical and Descriptive Catalogue of the Miniatures Exhibited at Burlington House [2]. In this study, Iranian thought and imagination mediates between Western spirit (focus on human beings) and Eastern spirit (focus on landscapes) and emphasizes that the Iranian worldview is basically imaginary and enjoys what is strange. It is claimed that Iranian painters do not intend to achieve realism.

3. Delavarei, Diana (2015). In her dissertation entitled “Analyzing and Investigating Illustrations of the Ancient Manuscripts of Qazwini's Wonders of Creation and Strange Things Existing Ajд'ib al-makhlьqдt wa gharд'ib al-mawjьdдt in the Munich Library Emphasizing the marine creatures)” [3], the illustrations of imaginary creatures and animals in the chapter “Wonders and Marine Animals” of this version is discussed.

4. Kianinejad, Ashraf (2014). In her article entitled “Introducing and Studying the Illustrated Manuscript of Qazwin's Wonders of Creation at the University of Cambridge” [4], which belongs to 1625 AD, images in four sections of planets, angels, islands, and industries are examined in terms of basic rules and principles including composition, color, human characterization, creation of space in the images and the artist's attitude to the subjects.

5. Taheri, Alireza, and Maryam Zand Haghighi (2012). In their article entitled “Picture of Demon, Giant and Jinn in the Qazwini's Wonders of Creation and Strange Things Existing” [5], a detailed description of the appearance and behavioral structure of these creatures is considered, especially the three species of Demon, Giant and Jinn and their types and names. In some cases, their traditional, narrative and religious roots have also been elaborated upon.

6. Grabar, Oleg (2003). Mostly Miniatures: an Introduction to Persian painting [6], is an attempt to discuss Iranian painting aesthetically. The author compares Iranian paintings and paintings in Christian lands and introduces Iranian painting as a kind of abstract painting that does not have specific principles but is accepted with certain rules among artists and their supporters.

7. Nazarli, Mais M. D. (2006). The Dual World of Iranian Miniatures [7]. This book provides a practical interpretation of Safavid paintings. It specifically examines the unique miniatures of the book in the Safavid period and Tabriz school. The author's goal is to discover the hidden meaning depicted in miniatures and the language used in these meanings.

8. Atila, Oya (2016) in his article, entitled “Waqwaq Style” [8], investigated the system of motif positioning on a spiral pattern and has analyzed examples from different Iranian and Arabic versions, and finally, by comparing the samples, mentions their differences and concludes that this motif has not been common in religious works.

9. Kumar, Ann (2011). In the article entitled “The Single Most Astonishing Fact of Human Geography: Indonesia's Far West Colony” [9], the land of Waqwaq and its people as well as how this myth emerged (the Genesis of a Myth) is explored. The problems of Arab geographical knowledge in transmitting information about the introduction of Arab lands in the third and fourth centuries, 10th and 11th AD, is described.

The Land of Waqwaq and the Genesis of a Myth

talking tree motif persian

Some ancient geographical books have spoken of the land of Waqwaq and the people of that area. Also, the wonders of that land have been described. In 10th century AD, a tree with human fruit appeared in ancient Arabic literature in a book entitled Al-Bed' va Al- Tarikh by Motahar ibn Taher Maghdasi, who described a tree with a wonderful character that grew in India. He considered this myth to be ancient. Waqwaq, according to Muslim geographers, mentions two islands, one in western India and the other near China. It is said that Waqwaq near China is the Sumatra Island and the Waqwaq in West India is the island of Madagascar [10, p. 3172]. It is also stated in Mo'in Encyclopedic Dictionary that the islands of the eastern Waqwaq are located in eastern China and the Waqwaq tree, which was mentioned first in Chinese texts, is one of the myths of that nation [11, p. 2185]. Mohammad Hossein ibn-khalaf Tabrizi wrote: “Waqwaq is the name of an island from the islands of the sea and some say that it is the name of a mountain, which is a gold mine, and there is a tree in the mountain whose fruits look like human and other animals and out of those faces comes a strange voice, talking and answering and when they fall from the tree or are picked, they do not sing and speak anymore; others have said that it is the name of a tree in India that blossoms every morning and falls at night” [12, p. 1462]. Ibn Khordadbeh is also one of the earliest Muslim geographers to have mentioned Waq Island [13, p. 16], and in his opinion the land of Waqwaq is located in eastern China, where gold is abundant, even people in that land make dog collars and monkey rings out of gold. It is said that there are woven fabrics of gold for sale and Ebony is good there [14, p. 67]. Another twelfth-century work, Al-Jughrafiya, relates the way young girls grow on this tree, from their feet upwards, and places Waqwaq at the end of the inhabited world to the east. Qazvini repeats this story and says that Al-Mubarak of Siraf traveled to this land and saw the queen seated on the throne naked, surrounded by four thousand virgin slaves, also wearing no clothes. The fabulous Waqwaq tree is depicted in Islamic art with both male and female “fruit” [9, p. 78].

Nuzhat al-qulub talks about this legendary land: “The first gulf is China and Para- ma-China Sea which is the largest of all the gulfs and it has a great pelagic zone toward China and in this gulf there are three thousand and seven hundred islands. It is famous for the islands of Waqwaq, which reaches over a hundred islands and there, if the wind shakes the leaves of the trees, they will make a `Waqwaq' sound, and those islands are known by this name” [15, p. 229]. Ibn Lakis notes: “He has witnessed tremendous acts by the people of Waqwaq. It is thus that in 945 AD (945-6) they came upon Kanbalu in a thousand ships and fought them with the utmost vigor, without however achieving their end, as Kanbalu is surrounded by a strong defensive wall around which stretches the water-filled estuary of the sea, so that Kanbalu is at the center of this estuary, like a fortified citadel. They said that they had come from a distance of one year's sailing, that they had pillaged islands.” If these people spoke the truth and if their account was accurate, this would confirm what Ibn Lakis said of the islands of the Waqwaq: that they are situated opposite China [16, p. 141].

Sharif al-Idrisi, a twelfth-century Sicilian geographer, made the earliest Arab atlas [I]. It depicts the islands of Waqwaq, a colorful land with plentiful gold and trees with blossoms of girls, in the sea off China. Raymond Mauny notes that there are two main categories of Waqwaq, one from the “Far East” and the other from South East Africa. It is the former group with which we are concerned. It would take one year to sail from East Africa to these islands. Mauny concludes that there is no doubt that the Waqwaq archipelago is Indonesia [9, p. 77].

In contrast with other geographers, Abь Rayhдn Al-Birьni claims that the “Island of Waqwaq is one of the islands of Qomeir and that's just the name of the island and as the people think it is not a tree whose fruit resembles a human head. But Qomeir are short, pale people. They look like Turks in appearance and their rituals are like Indians and have split ears. The residents of Waqwaq Island are black and people are more interested in them. Until now, it is known that Waqwaq refers to islands located in the China Sea and famous Muslim writers have written about them and described them” [17, p. 164]. Therefore, it has been considered in the art of different ethnic groups, such as people of India, China, Japan, Thailand, Turkey and Iran especially in the field of painting and miniature of which many examples can be seen that will be mentioned below.

Qazvini's Wonders of Creation (Aja'ib al-makhluqat wa ghara'ib al-mawjьdдt)

Marvelous writing is a general name for a literary custom that appeared in Persian literature between the 11th and 15th centuries AD. It is, on the one hand, related with geographical books and books of travel, especially sea-travels, and, on the other hand, with books of Greek and Roman Physics, especially Aristotle's Physics [18, p. 70]. Writings related to this type of literature are part of the general interest of Muslim scholars who have studied natural phenomena including animals, plants and minerals, as well as historical monuments and buildings of countries including Egypt, Mesopotamia and ancient Iran. What aroused this interest in Muslims is the existence of ancient heritage, especially the heritage of ancient Greece, and the wonderful stories of the Holy Qur'an, such as the Companions of the Cave (Seven Sleepers) and other verses that constantly invite man to think about the signs of divine creation [18, p. 70]. The most famous book of this type is Wonders of Creation and Strange Things Existing by Zakariya Qazvini. Abu Yahya Zakariya' ibn Muhammad al-Qazvini was born in 1203 AD in Qazvin. He continued his higher education in Baghdad and excelled in intellectual and transmitted sciences prior to becoming one of the famous Shafi'i jurists. His proficiency in natural sciences became so widespread that European scholars called him Apollonios of Tyana Pythagorean philosopher and occult scientists in the first century AD. of Arab [19, p. 5]. His most famous work is Wonders of Creation and Strange Things Existing, written in 13th century AD. Qazvini first wrote this book in Arabic.

In writing this book, Qazvini mainly used the works of his predecessors. Qazvini's sources in the book's compilation include Canon of Medicine of Avicenna Iranian physician, mathematician, astronomer and philosopher and one of the most famous and influential scientists in the world (980-1037 AD)., Abu Rayhan Al-Biruni Iranian scientist, mathematician and astronomer (973-1048 AD)., and Al-Jahiz's One of the well-known Arab writers famous for his skill in literary techniques (776-868 AD). Al-Hayawan (Book of the Animals) [5, p. 27].

Wonders of Creation and Strange Things Existing is related to cosmology and consists of two parts. In the first part, he talks about celestial bodies such as the moon, the sun, and the stars, and discusses the inhabitants of heaven and angels, mentioning the Arabic and Syrian calendars and timepiece problems. The second part is terrestrial, which starts with an article about the four elements. He divides the earth into seven regions or climates according to Ptolemy's hypothesis, enumerates seas and rivers, and explains the cause of earthquakes and the formation of mountains and valleys. He then goes on to describe in detail the three worlds of nature, which are the world of animals, the world of plants, and the world of minerals. Then, he reaches the human world and the description of the racial and tribal characteristics of human beings. He also discusses jinns and giants. According to many informants, this book is the first regular and considerable work on the cosmic chronology in Islamic countries. For this reason, it was fully considered and interested in the Islamic world at that time. The original book, which is in Arabic, and its Turkish and Persian translations were made into manuscripts in relatively large numbers and some were later published [20, p. 528]. Ten versions of this book have been illustrated in various Iranian and Indian art periods and they are the subject of this research.

Backgrounds of the formation of the talking tree motif in Islamic art

Considering the content expressed related to the tree motif, especially the talking tree and the Waqwaq motif in Eastern culture, particularly in the rituals and sacred texts of different ethnic groups as well as its status in Iranian painting, it can be concluded that this legendary motif has spread in Islamic art due to several reasons:

1. The close connection between literature and painting.

2. The importance of narrative culture in Iran.

3. The close connection between different branches of Islamic arts and their influence on each other, on the one hand, and the symbolic view of artistic elements even in the illustration of religious works, on the other hand.

4. The prohibition of portraiture in Islam, which led to illustration, is one of the most important reasons that can be mentioned. In fact, Islam's prohibition against portraiture and painting of the living model resulted in portraiture giving way to illustration. The illustration of stories and legends is not hindered because it is not designed from a living model and in connection with oral literature and mystical literature, it should have a high position and cause the emergence of creativity by artists in different periods.

5. The visits of Iranian and Arab scientists, tourists, sailors and geographers from different lands and their familiarity with different cultures, myths and legends and description of what they have seen and heard in their books is another thing that can lead to such a motif, especially in the field of painting.

6. The migration of artists from one country to another. Therefore, the transfer of ideas, stories, and myths, and thus the transfer of motifs and arrays, seems possible.

7. The tendency of cultures to overcome and influence each other is one of the cases that can be considered as weaker possibilities.

8. The belief of the people of ancient times in myths and legends and their belief in the existence of the transcendental.

Analyzing and matching the talking tree motif in the versions

1. The version of the Wonders of Creation and Strange Things Existing of 1550-1560 AD