206 BIRDS IN LEGEND 



fortunate man. The feather of that bird brings him 

 help . . . maintains him in his glory." According to 

 De Kay 18 the simurgh was a "god-like bird that discussed 

 predestination with Solomon, as the eagle of Givernberg 

 held dialogues with King Arthur. . . . The simurgh was 

 a prophet." 



But of all the fabulous birds that infest ancient Persian 

 mythology none is held so important as the falcon-like 

 "karshipta," which brought the sacred law into the 

 Paradise of Jamshid. "Regarding the karshipta they 

 say that it knew how to speak words, and brought the 

 religion to the enclosure which Yim made, and circulated 

 it: there they utter the Avesta in the language of birds." 



We read also of a gigantic bird in Iran, the "kamar," 

 "which overshadowed the earth and kept off the rain till 

 the rivers dried up." 



In the Hindu mythology Vishnu is the sun-god, while 

 Indra represents the lightning and storm, and the two are 

 in general opposites, rivals, enemies. Vishnu rides on an 

 eagle of supernatural size and power called garuda. In 

 the Pahlavi translation of the stories the simurgh takes 

 the place of the eagle, for their characters as well as their 

 names are interchangeable. Garuda was born from an 

 egg laid by Vinata, herself the daughter of a hawk and 

 the mother of the two immense vultures that in Persian 

 myths guard the gates of hell, and elsewhere figure boldly 

 in Oriental fables ; it is a mortal enemy, now of the ser- 

 pent and now of the elephant, and now of the tortoise — 

 all three connected with Indra. This bird carries into 

 the air an elephant and a tortoise in order to devour 

 them, and in one of the various accounts leaves them on 

 a mountain-top as did the simurgh and the rukh their 

 iniquitous "liftings." 



