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Mirzaei D. (2023). A Comparative Study of Jamšid’s Myth In Persian Literature with Osiris and Indra’s Mythes Based on Nature-Mythology Approach. Parseh J Archaeol Stud. 7(25), 339-360. doi:10.30699/PJAS.7.25.339
URL: http://journal.richt.ir/mbp/article-1-681-en.html

Abstract
Persian literature, either in its oral or written forms, is full of pure myths which arise from the depth of human nature. And in order to understand human civilization better it is required that Iranian myths which have gained universal form today. Therefore, Jamšid’s myth (including Freydun’s era) has been considered as Iranian paradigm-myth In Persian literature domain and has been compared to its Egyptian and Indian equivalents. Narrative style of Jamšid’s myth is significantly similar to that os Osiris’s myth. Also its narrative Equivalent could be fragmentarily found in the fight between Indra and Veritra and also between Trita Aptya and višurpe. In this study, instead of a mere narrative comparison, it has been tried to consider the formation aspect of these myths regarding the centrality of the Iranian myths and based on the nature-mythology Approach. So, these myths have been studied in three parts, namely water, the sun, and water and light with regard to elements of nature, in particular the natural phenomena so that their common formation aspects could be properly cleared.
Keywords: Jamšid, Freydun, Osiris, Indra, Nature-Mythology, Water, The Sun, Light.

Introduction
The myth of the fight between Jamšid, Freydun and Garshāsp with Zahhāk and the story of Kāve Āhangar’s lawsuit that led to Kāve’s uprising can rightly be considered as the paradigm-myth of Iran. In other words, this myth is the only myth that contains the essence of Iranian thought, including: the conflict between the two forces of good and evil, chaos, light and darkness in nature, history, and human life, to Iranian mythological optimism, which means the victory of goodness at the end of the world with the killing of Zahhāk by the brave Garshāsp, as well as the character of individualization and personification of single concepts and corporeality to the extent that it is difficult to distinguish a myth from a legendary or historical character. This myth includes the history of Iranian thought from the Indo-European era and the independence of the Iranian branch to the present time. Therefore, it is not possible to reconstruct the history of this thought only by knowing the ancient Aryan texts, because this myth is still dynamic and alive due to the richness of thought and the ancient pattern of anti-tyranny, and it can be traced to the present time.
On the other hand, looking at the current state of the science of mythology and also looking at the latest theories related to the explanation of the nature of myths and legends, folk tales and legends, perhaps regarding the origin and origin of these narratives, the school of “nature-mythology” considered one of the most important schools of opinion in this field. This is the approach based on which this research will discuss the components of the myth of Jamšid, Osiris (as an Egyptian paradigm-myth) and Indra (as an Indian paradigm-myth). This school has basically flourished in Germany and the scientists who follow this school claim that primitive people paid a lot of attention to natural phenomena and the nature of this attention and interest is theoretical, contemplative and poetic. Based on this, primitive men weave poetic imaginations by interpreting and explaining the houses of the moon or the regular but changing movement of the sun in the sky. According to the followers of this school, the center of every myth or the reality that the myth deals with is a phenomenon of nature that has permeated the body and soul of the story.
Some of the followers of this school have this eclectic view that primitive man created his myths by mixing celestial objects and natural objects. This approach seems much more reasonable than the other approaches of this school and provides the freedom of action of the mythologist or researcher in a better way, and based on it, even the intensity and weakness of primitive man’s attention to natural elements can be justified.

Discussion
Our view in this article is more in line with this approach. Of course, one should be aware that the naturalist theory may neglect the cultural function and move in a direction that ignores many other components. In fact, it should be noted that before human imagination is idle, myth is a very important cultural force whose influence is well evident. Regarding this point, although this is not the opportunity to deal with cultural influences, but based on this, human culture can be divided into two parts, moon culture and sun culture (and of course, a combination of the two) based on its manifestations. In the ancient symbols: Maghrib (left), moon, femininity, [cow, earth,] night and rain on the one hand, and Mashriq (right), sun, day, masculinity [lion, snake] and summer are mixed together on the other hand. In this research, it has been tried to examine these two cultures with the focus on their most central element (in three sections with the theme of water, sun, and water and lighting; in addition to the sub-sections related to each section) and analyze them in the discussed mythology. Based on this, in the culture of the moon, water and rain should be considered the most vital element, but in the culture of the sun, the sun itself is the most vital element, and in the body of the article, we will deal with each of them in a systematic way.

Conclusion
In this research, the discussed myths have been examined in four sub-branches from the approach of nature-mythology, i.e. from the point of view of moon-thinkers, sun-thinkers, atmosphere-thinkers and eclecticisms, focusing on the latter sub-field. What we learned from this research about the origin of the mentioned myths, clarifies the point that they should not be definitively attributed to one of the origins and consider it sufficient to explain and understand the researched myths, but the common images that appear in all they can be seen and should be the basis of work in reviews. Based on this, although we cannot show the original origin with certainty, the image that is the common product of all of them, i.e. the cause of all the mentioned myths, can be shown, and that common image is nothing but the cycle of nature and, as a consequence, the cycle of life. , such as the cycle of sunrise and sunset, spring and autumn, the cycle of the moon in its homes, the cycle of water and drought, the cycle of light and darkness, the cycle of life and death, etc., which are prominently expressed in these myths: Osiris was killed by Set and in Horus is born, defeats the enemy and becomes another Osiris; Jamšid is killed by Zahhāk and is reborn in Freydun, he defeats Zahhāk and becomes another Jamšid himself; The same is said in the Indian equivalent. Also, the most important finding of this research, which was obtained with the focus of Iranian mythology, was to show the remarkable similarity of the mythological thinking of primitive people with poetic thinking, with examples of Iranian poets, the main reason of which should be found in their common source of inspiration, which is nature.

Acknowledgment
Special thanks to the good opinion of the respected referees and the publication who took the trouble to judge the article.

Conflict of Interest
The author declares that there is no conflict of interest in this research.