|
volve with the sun: only in some plants it is apparent because of the lack
of humidity and in others it is latent. As for the expressed juice of the saffron which Hamzah has equated
with the dragon's blood lexicographists say that it is a reddish plant which occurs in deserts. It is said to be larger than the mandrake, i.e., hurf. Its reddish colour has become synonymous for reddish plants. Other authors have held it to be the sappan wood, as its decoction is
similar to the expressed juice of saffron. The poet, 'Ajjaj, says: Blood seeps out of his throat, like the froth of the sappan wood in
the sieve of the dyer.
Both the saffron and the sappan wood are thus compared to the
blood. The leaves of the sappan wood are like those of the rue plant. It is sold in Khaybar under the name of safir by being weighed in tab. One tal is equal to 100 qatiyahs and one qatiyah is equivalent to one manna and ruba'. 35 One tal is equivalent to a gold piece weighing 38.5 mithqals equivalent to four dariiqs dhahbi.36 The gold at Khaybar fetches a value
equivalent to half a Nishapuri dinar. 37 Some have called 'andam to be ayda'. 38 Ayda' is the fibre of the
berry. Abu Hanifah heard from a bedouin that it is a vegetable known as the nil. Its buds are bright red and are known as 'andam. Abu Hanifah says he has not heard it from anyone else. In the Diwan al-Adab (Collection of Literature) it has been stated that 'andam is the dragon's blood. In Persian it is known as khun-i-Siyawushan (the blood of Siyawushan) as it was the belief of the people of Iran that it grew out of the blood of Siyawushan, the son of Kaykaus who was killed despite his innocence. The Hindiya equivalent is also quite close to it, as the people of India call it Pandurat, that is, the blood of the Pandawas. Pandawas were a family, who waged wars with their paternal cousins, the Kurwas, and have become celebrated in history. Both sides lost a considerable number of men. 'Ajjaj says: The nation has put on garments of blood. Trickles of the dragon's
blood adorned their breast.
And further he says: That lion of Khaffan upon whose neck and breast the dragon's blood
has congealed and turned black.
There are several couplets of the like. There is no panegyric in Arabic literature that does not associate the dragon's blood with wine and blood. And yet there is controversy among them through ignorance as regards characteristics of the dragon's blood. All astrologers are familiar with the name of Almagest 39 since his book (i.e. Ptolemy's book) is a book of reference for them, and no more reliable book can be imagined. But they are unfamiliar with the meaning of his (its) name. Nor do they |
||
|
|
||
|
32
|
||
|
|
||