Karkadann
Encyclopedia
The Karkadann was a mythical creature said to live on the grassy plains of India
, Persia
, and North Africa
. Referred to by Elmer Suhr as the "Persian version of the unicorn," its mention by Muslim writers may depend on earlier Greek texts and may have an origin in an account from the Mahabharata
. The karkadann is found also in Indian Muslim art. Like the unicorn, it can be subdued by virgins and acts ferociously toward other animals. Originally based on the Indian Rhinoceros
(one of the meanings of the word) and first described in the 10th/11th century, it evolved in the works of later writers to a mythical animal "with a shadowy rhinocerine ancestor" endowed with strange qualities, such as a horn
endowed with medicinal qualities.
(5th/6th century), and is echoed in the Kitāb al-Hayawān ("Book of Animals") by the 9th century Afro-Arab
scholar Al-Jahiz
. They recite an account that remained with the karkadann (and the rhinoceros) for the next centuries: it gores elephant
s and raises them up with a horn on its forehead.
An early description of the karkadann comes from the 10/11th century Persian scholar Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī (Al-Biruni, 973-1048). He describes an animal which has "the build of a buffalo...a black, scaly skin; a dewlap hanging down under the skin. It has three yellow hooves on each foot...The tail is not long. The eyes lie low, farther down the cheek than is the case with all other animals. On the top of the nose there is a single horn which is bent upwards." A fragment of Al-Biruni preserved in the work of another author adds a few more characteristics: "the horn is conical, bent back towards the head, and longer than a span...the animal's ears protrude on both sides like those of a donkey, and...its upper lip forms into a finger-shape, like the protrusion on the end of an elephant's trunk." These two descriptions leave no doubt that the Indian Rhinoceros is the basis for the animal. But the future confusion between the rhinoceros and the unicorn
was already in the making since Muslims had only one word, karkadann, for both animals, and this confusion is evident also in the illustrations of the creature.
After Al-Biruni, Muslim scholars took his description and formed ever more fanciful versions of the beast, aided by the absence of first-hand knowledge and the difficulty of reading and interpreting old Arabic script. A decisive shift in description concerned the horn: where Al-Biruni had stuck to the short, curved horn, later writers made it a long, straight horn, which was shifted in artists' representations from the animal's nose to its brow.
The Persian physician Zakariya al-Qazwini
(Al-Qazwini, d. 1283) is one of the writers who at the end of the thirteenth century links the karkadann's horn with poison, in his [[ʿAjā'ib al-makhlūqāt wa gharā'ib al-mawjūdāt]]. He lists a few beneficial effects: holding the horn opens up the bowels to relieve constipation, and it can cure epilepsy
and lameness. Later authors have the horn perspire when poison is present, suggesting the horn is an antidote
and connecting it to alicorn, though this connection is not made by all writers.
In the 14th century, Ibn Battuta
, in his travelogue, calls the rhinoceros he saw in India
a karkadann, and describes it as a ferocious beast, driving away from its territory animals as big as the elephant; this is the legend that is told in One Thousand and One Nights, in the "Second Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor".
The name appears also in medieval European bestiaries
, such as those from Escorial and Paris, where the name karkadann appears in the captions of unicorn illustrations.
, a somewhat enigmatic material possibly consisting of ivory or bone, had been ascribed alexipharmic properties. Both of these "enigmatic horns," Lavers argues, were used in making cutlery, and so became associated; this is how in the 13th century Al-Qazwini could consider karkadann horn as an antidote, and this is how the karkadann became associated with the unicorn.
kartajan, which means "lord of the desert". Fritz Hommel
suspects that the word entered Semitic languages
via Arabs from Abyssinia
. Other spellings and pronunciations include karkaddan, kardunn, karkadan, and karkend.
in his 1950 publication The Unicorn, a book highly praised and often referred to as a standard reference on the unicorn.
as "the strangest and most remarkable poem in the Arabic language."
Modern Iraq
still has a tradition of "tears of the karkadann," dumiu al-karkadan, which are reddish beads used in the Misbaha, the Muslim prayer beads (subuhat). The accompanying legend says that the rhinoceros spends days in the desert looking for water; when he does, he first weeps "out of fatigue and thirst-pain." These tears, as they fall into the water of the drinking hole, turn into beads.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Persia
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, and North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
. Referred to by Elmer Suhr as the "Persian version of the unicorn," its mention by Muslim writers may depend on earlier Greek texts and may have an origin in an account from the Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
. The karkadann is found also in Indian Muslim art. Like the unicorn, it can be subdued by virgins and acts ferociously toward other animals. Originally based on the Indian Rhinoceros
Indian Rhinoceros
The Indian Rhinoceros is also called Greater One-horned Rhinoceros and Asian One-horned Rhinoceros and belongs to the Rhinocerotidae family...
(one of the meanings of the word) and first described in the 10th/11th century, it evolved in the works of later writers to a mythical animal "with a shadowy rhinocerine ancestor" endowed with strange qualities, such as a horn
Horn (anatomy)
A horn is a pointed projection of the skin on the head of various animals, consisting of a covering of horn surrounding a core of living bone. True horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae and Bovidae...
endowed with medicinal qualities.
Description and evolution
An early mention of a creature with features similar to the karkadann is found in On Animals, a work by the Greek grammarian Timotheus of GazaTimotheus of Gaza
Timotheus of Gaza was a Greek grammarian active during the reign of Anastasius, i.e. 491-518. He is the author of a book on animals which may have been the source of the Arabic Nu'ut al-Hayawan....
(5th/6th century), and is echoed in the Kitāb al-Hayawān ("Book of Animals") by the 9th century Afro-Arab
Afro-Arab
Afro-Arab refers to people of mixed Black African and genealogical Arab ancestral heritage and/or linguistically and culturally Arabized Black Africans...
scholar Al-Jahiz
Al-Jahiz
Al-Jāḥiẓ was an Arabic prose writer and author of works of literature, Mu'tazili theology, and politico-religious polemics.In biology, Al-Jahiz introduced the concept of food chains and also proposed a scheme of animal evolution that entailed...
. They recite an account that remained with the karkadann (and the rhinoceros) for the next centuries: it gores elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
s and raises them up with a horn on its forehead.
An early description of the karkadann comes from the 10/11th century Persian scholar Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī (Al-Biruni, 973-1048). He describes an animal which has "the build of a buffalo...a black, scaly skin; a dewlap hanging down under the skin. It has three yellow hooves on each foot...The tail is not long. The eyes lie low, farther down the cheek than is the case with all other animals. On the top of the nose there is a single horn which is bent upwards." A fragment of Al-Biruni preserved in the work of another author adds a few more characteristics: "the horn is conical, bent back towards the head, and longer than a span...the animal's ears protrude on both sides like those of a donkey, and...its upper lip forms into a finger-shape, like the protrusion on the end of an elephant's trunk." These two descriptions leave no doubt that the Indian Rhinoceros is the basis for the animal. But the future confusion between the rhinoceros and the unicorn
Unicorn
The unicorn is a legendary animal from European folklore that resembles a white horse with a large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead, and sometimes a goat's beard...
was already in the making since Muslims had only one word, karkadann, for both animals, and this confusion is evident also in the illustrations of the creature.
After Al-Biruni, Muslim scholars took his description and formed ever more fanciful versions of the beast, aided by the absence of first-hand knowledge and the difficulty of reading and interpreting old Arabic script. A decisive shift in description concerned the horn: where Al-Biruni had stuck to the short, curved horn, later writers made it a long, straight horn, which was shifted in artists' representations from the animal's nose to its brow.
The Persian physician Zakariya al-Qazwini
Zakariya al-Qazwini
Abu Yahya Zakariya' ibn Muhammad al-Qazwini , was a Persian physician, astronomer, geographer and proto-science fiction writer....
(Al-Qazwini, d. 1283) is one of the writers who at the end of the thirteenth century links the karkadann's horn with poison, in his [[ʿAjā'ib al-makhlūqāt wa gharā'ib al-mawjūdāt]]. He lists a few beneficial effects: holding the horn opens up the bowels to relieve constipation, and it can cure epilepsy
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...
and lameness. Later authors have the horn perspire when poison is present, suggesting the horn is an antidote
Antidote
An antidote is a substance which can counteract a form of poisoning. The term ultimately derives from the Greek αντιδιδοναι antididonai, "given against"....
and connecting it to alicorn, though this connection is not made by all writers.
In the 14th century, Ibn Battuta
Ibn Battuta
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta , or simply Ibn Battuta, also known as Shams ad–Din , was a Muslim Moroccan Berber explorer, known for his extensive travels published in the Rihla...
, in his travelogue, calls the rhinoceros he saw in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
a karkadann, and describes it as a ferocious beast, driving away from its territory animals as big as the elephant; this is the legend that is told in One Thousand and One Nights, in the "Second Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor".
The name appears also in medieval European bestiaries
Bestiary
A bestiary, or Bestiarum vocabulum is a compendium of beasts. Bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals, birds and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beast was usually accompanied by a moral lesson...
, such as those from Escorial and Paris, where the name karkadann appears in the captions of unicorn illustrations.
Horn
Al-Qazwini, one of the earliest authors to claim the horn is an antidote to poison, also notes that it is used in the manufacturing of knife handles. According to Chris Lavers, The Natural History of Unicorns, khutuKhutu
Khutu was the name given to a material used by medieval Islamic cutlers for knife handles. The ultimate source of the material has been a matter of conjecture for more than a thousand years; Islamic polymath al-Biruni was among the first to investigate it and debate about the material—especially...
, a somewhat enigmatic material possibly consisting of ivory or bone, had been ascribed alexipharmic properties. Both of these "enigmatic horns," Lavers argues, were used in making cutlery, and so became associated; this is how in the 13th century Al-Qazwini could consider karkadann horn as an antidote, and this is how the karkadann became associated with the unicorn.
Name
The name karkadann is a variation of the SanskritSanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
kartajan, which means "lord of the desert". Fritz Hommel
Fritz Hommel
Fritz Hommel was a German Orientalist.Hommel was born in Ansbach, Germany. He studied in Leipzig and habilitated in 1877 in Munich, where he in 1885 became an extraordinary Professor for semitic languages....
suspects that the word entered Semitic languages
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 270 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa...
via Arabs from Abyssinia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
. Other spellings and pronunciations include karkaddan, kardunn, karkadan, and karkend.
Scholarship on the karkadann
Much of the available material on the karkadann was collected by Richard EttinghausenRichard Ettinghausen
Richard Ettinghausen was a historian of Islamic art and chief curator of the Freer Gallery.-Education:Ettinghausen received his Ph.D...
in his 1950 publication The Unicorn, a book highly praised and often referred to as a standard reference on the unicorn.
Notable appearances and references
The karkadann is the topic of a long poem by Tawfiq Sayigh (d. 1971), "A Few Questions I Pose to the Unicorn," which was hailed by Jabra Ibrahim JabraJabra Ibrahim Jabra
Jabra Ibrahim Jabra was a Palestinian author of Syriac-Orthodox origin born in Bethlehem at the time of the British Mandate...
as "the strangest and most remarkable poem in the Arabic language."
Modern Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
still has a tradition of "tears of the karkadann," dumiu al-karkadan, which are reddish beads used in the Misbaha, the Muslim prayer beads (subuhat). The accompanying legend says that the rhinoceros spends days in the desert looking for water; when he does, he first weeps "out of fatigue and thirst-pain." These tears, as they fall into the water of the drinking hole, turn into beads.
External links
- Image of Karkadann from MS Munich Cod. Arab. 464, containing Al-Qazwini's ʿAjā'ib al-makhlūqāt wa gharā'ib al-mawjūdāt