An Analysis of the Phenomenon of the Rain-Bringing Stone and the Rituals and Beliefs Sssociated with it in Books of Wonders and Classical Persian Literary Texts
Document Type : Original Article
Authors
Associate Professor of Persian Language and Literature, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran.
Abstract
In the popular mythology and culture, there have been variant traditions and customs related to modification in the nature in order to generate precipitation or otherwise preventing them. In these traditions, intervention in the nature was deemed to occur through using specific objects, taking certain actions and casting spells. One of the most important instances of these practices which have been prevalent in the central Asia especially among Turkish societies, is resorting the rain stone to bring about snow and rain. The objective of this study, which was conducted in an analytical and descriptive method with citation of quite a few antiquated sources, is to critique and analysis of rain stone in age-old texts especially books of wonders, mineralogical and historical ones along with referring to the comparable traditions in popular cultures and mythology. The pivotal questions in this study concern the origin of this stone and its functions and modus operandi. The results of the investigation show that the ancient people have had both natural and mythological perspectives towards the rain stone as a sort of talisman, which [was believed to] empowered the operators and enabled the spellers to weaken and defeat the enemy by bring up snow and cold weather. This stone has also played an important role in agriculture by generating rain on the fields or preventing hail.
Keywords
Subjects
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