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Overview

The Bundahishn describes a righteous white ass standing in the ocean, spiritually fed and possessing three feet, six eyes, nine mouths, two ears and one horn. Its mouths are distributed among head, hump and flanks; its eyes also occupy several parts of the body. The hollow golden-looking horn bears numerous branches and disperses corruption from noxious creatures.

The animal’s cry promotes reproduction among Ohrmazd’s water creatures while causing hostile aquatic creatures to lose their young. Its urine purifies the sea, and it assists Tishtar in drawing water from the ocean. West’s translated account even assigns ambergris to its dung. These functions join extravagant anatomy to the religious text’s opposition between beneficial and harmful creation.

The account scales its body against familiar landscapes and communities. Each mouth is compared with a cottage, its body with Mount Alvand, and the area beneath a foot with a thousand sheep lying down. Two eyes occupy the head, two the top of the head and two the hump. Three mouths belong to the head, three to the hump and three to the inner flanks. Its hollow horn branches into projections compared with camels, horses, oxen and asses.

The enormous ears are compared with the expanse of Mazandaran. When the ass lowers its neck into the ocean, the movement of its ears agitates the waters. The text consequently makes its strange bodily arrangement functional: the creature observes, disturbs and cleanses the cosmic sea rather than merely ornamenting it. Its cooperation with Tishtar places the marine purifier within the larger account of water circulation.

Three feetSix eyesNine mouthsBranched hornWater purification
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Origins & earliest records

Iranian Zoroastrian textual cosmology

02

Records & interpretation

Bundahishn translated primary paragraphs directly read.

Selected bibliography

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  1. 01

    Bundahishn (Indian recension)

    E. W. West (translator) · 1897

    Hosted source attributes SBE5 Oxford 1897 edition; chapter/paragraph 19.1–12. Edition date is not text-origin date.

Family & connections

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Direct primary record

Bundahishn

Indian recension, West translation. Chapter/paragraph 19.1–12

Actual numbered translated passage read. No primary illustration or natural-animal identification inferred.

The account scales its body against familiar landscapes and communities. Each mouth is compared with a cottage, its body with Mount Alvand, and the area beneath a foot with a thousand sheep lying down. Two eyes occupy the head, two the top of the head and two the hump. Three mouths belong to the head, three to the hump and three to the inner flanks. Its hollow horn branches into projections compared with camels, horses, oxen and asses. The enormous ears are compared with the expanse of Mazandaran. When the ass lowers its neck into the ocean, the movement of its ears agitates the waters. The text consequently makes its strange bodily arrangement functional: the creature observes, disturbs and cleanses the cosmic sea rather than merely ornamenting it. Its cooperation with Tishtar places the marine purifier within the larger account of water circulation.

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References

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  1. Historical religious primary-text translationBundahishn 19.1–12 — West translationResearch access: 2026-10-05

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