Akvan Div: The Trickster Demon Who Hurled Rostam into the Sea
- Daniel R
- Jun 3
- 13 min read
Introduction
The Akvan Div is one of the most memorable of the demons of the Shahnameh, the Persian Book of Kings: a shapeshifting trickster demon, or div, who matched his cunning against the strength of the greatest of heroes, Rostam. In a famous and strange episode, the Akvan Div lifted the sleeping hero into the sky and hurled him into the sea, only to be outwitted by Rostam's own quick thinking and at last slain.
The tale of the Akvan Div is one of the celebrated standalone episodes of Rostam's career, a contest not of brute force alone but of wits, in which the hero's cunning proves as important as his strength. It belongs to the world of the divs, the demons of Iranic myth, the malevolent beings who serve the spirit of evil and who appear throughout the epic as adversaries of the heroes of Iran. Among them, the Akvan Div stands out for the strangeness and the cleverness of his contest with Rostam.
Like all the figures of the Book of Kings, and like the wider world of the divs, the Akvan Div belongs to the shared mythological heritage of the Iranian peoples, a tradition the Kurds hold in common with the Persians, the Lurs, and others of the Iranic world. The demon itself, the div, is alive in Kurdish folklore and language as much as in any other Iranic tradition. To know the Akvan Div is to encounter one of the memorable demon-adversaries of the epic, and a tale in which the hero triumphs by wit as much as by might.
Contents
What Is the Akvan Div?
The Akvan Div, also spelled Akvan-e Div or Akwan Dev, is a demon of the Shahnameh, one of the divs or malevolent demons of Iranic myth, famous for his contest with the hero Rostam during the reign of the just king Kay Khosrow. A shapeshifter who could appear as a wild ass, vanish into the air, or become a storm, the Akvan Div first appeared as a strange and beautiful wild ass that savaged the royal herds. Sent to deal with the creature, Rostam found himself facing a cunning demon, who lifted him into the sky as he slept and offered him a mocking choice before hurling him into the sea. But Rostam, knowing the perverse nature of the demon, outwitted him, survived, and at last slew the Akvan Div with lasso and mace. He is remembered as one of the memorable trickster demons of the epic, whose tale is a contest of wits as much as of strength.
The Demon and the Wild Ass
The tale of the Akvan Div begins not with a monstrous demon but with a strange and beautiful wild ass. In the reign of the just king Kay Khosrow, a wild ass, marked with a black stripe along its back and of uncommon beauty and strength, began to savage the royal herds of horses, causing great trouble and destruction.
The king, sensing that this was no ordinary creature but a thing of sorcery, resolved to send the best of his heroes to deal with it, and so summoned the great Rostam. The wild ass was in truth the Akvan Div, a demon and a shapeshifter who had taken this beautiful form to work his mischief among the royal herds. This opening to the tale, with its strange and lovely wild ass that is secretly a demon, sets the tone for the whole episode, which is marked throughout by deception, shapeshifting, and the contest of wits. The detail that the creature first appeared not as a hideous monster but as a beautiful wild ass is characteristic of the trickster nature of the Akvan Div, a demon who works by guile and disguise rather than by open terror. The king's perception that the wild ass was a thing of sorcery, and his sending of Rostam to deal with it, sets the hero upon the strange adventure that would test his cunning as much as his strength. The demon and the wild ass are thus one and the same, and the beautiful disguise is the first of the Akvan Div's deceptions, the opening move in his contest with the greatest of heroes.
Key Takeaways
The Akvan Div is a shapeshifting trickster demon of the Shahnameh.
He first appeared as a beautiful wild ass savaging the royal herds.
Rostam was sent by Kay Khosrow to deal with the creature.
The demon lifted the sleeping Rostam into the sky and hurled him into the sea.
Rostam, knowing the demon's perverse nature, outwitted him and survived.
Rostam returned and slew the Akvan Div with his lasso and mace.
Quick Facts
Name: Akvan Div (also Akvan-e Div, Akwan Dev)
Type: A div, a demon of Iranic myth
Nature: Shapeshifter and trickster
First form: A beautiful wild ass with a black stripe
Era: The reign of Kay Khosrow
Adversary: Rostam, the greatest hero of Iran
Famous deed: Hurling the sleeping Rostam into the sea
Defeated by: Rostam's cunning, then his lasso and mace
Theme: A contest of wits as much as of strength
Heritage: Shared Iranic mythological tradition
The Hunt for the Demon
Sent by Kay Khosrow to deal with the strange wild ass that was savaging the royal herds, Rostam set out to hunt the creature. But he soon found that this was no ordinary quarry, for whenever he cornered the wild ass and sought to take it, the creature vanished, for it was the shapeshifting Akvan Div, able to disappear into the air.
For three days, the tradition relates, Rostam pursued the elusive demon in vain, for the Akvan Div, by his shapeshifting and his power to vanish, evaded the hero at every turn. When Rostam drew near and loosed an arrow or sought to seize the creature, it disappeared, only to reappear elsewhere, taunting and eluding the hero. This long and fruitless hunt, in which the greatest of heroes was frustrated by the demon's guile, establishes the trickster nature of the Akvan Div and the unusual character of the contest. Here was a foe who could not be overcome by strength alone, for he would not stand and fight, but vanished and reappeared, working by deception rather than open battle. The frustration of the hunt wearied Rostam, and at last, exhausted by the long and vain pursuit, the hero lay down to rest beside a spring and fell asleep. It was this moment of weariness and sleep that the cunning Akvan Div had been waiting for, and the demon now seized his chance to turn the tables on the hero. The hunt for the demon thus sets the stage for the famous and strange central episode of the tale, in which the sleeping hero would find himself at the mercy of the trickster demon.
Cast into the Sea
While Rostam slept beside the spring, the Akvan Div seized his chance. The demon, by his uncanny power, cut away the very earth on which the hero lay and lifted him, still sleeping, high into the sky, so that Rostam awoke to find himself borne aloft in the demon's power, far above the ground.
The Akvan Div now mockingly offered the hero a choice. He asked Rostam whether he wished to be hurled down upon the mountains, there to be dashed upon the rocks and devoured by lions and wild beasts, or to be cast into the sea, there to drown in the waters. The demon, in his cruelty and his confidence, gave his captive the choice of his own destruction, savouring his power over the greatest of heroes. This is the famous and dramatic heart of the tale: the hero, caught helpless and aloft in the demon's grip, offered a mocking choice between two deaths. The image of Rostam borne into the sky upon a piece of the earth, with the demon offering him the choice of mountain or sea, became one of the iconic scenes of the Shahnameh, depicted in many illustrated manuscripts of the epic. Yet the demon, for all his cunning, was about to be outwitted, for Rostam knew something of the perverse nature of the divs that would turn the choice to his own advantage. The casting into the sea, and the mocking choice that preceded it, is the dramatic and celebrated centre of the tale of the Akvan Div, the moment of the hero's greatest peril and the demon's greatest triumph, which would yet be turned about by the hero's cunning.
The Cunning of Rostam
The triumph of Rostam over the Akvan Div came not by strength, for he was helpless in the demon's grip, but by cunning. Rostam knew a crucial thing about the nature of the divs: that their minds were perverse, and that they would do the opposite of whatever was asked of them.
And so, when the demon offered him the choice of being hurled upon the mountains or into the sea, Rostam reasoned that to fall upon the mountains and rocks would be certain death, while he might survive a fall into the water. But he knew that if he asked for the sea, the perverse demon would do the opposite and dash him upon the mountains. Therefore the hero, with quick wit, begged to be cast upon the mountains, pretending to prefer that fate. The Akvan Div, true to his perverse nature, did the opposite of what was asked, and hurled Rostam into the sea, exactly as the hero had intended. By this clever trick, turning the demon's own perversity against him, Rostam saved himself from certain death and secured for himself the survivable fate. The cunning of Rostam is the heart of the tale's meaning, for it shows that the hero triumphs not by strength alone but by wit, outwitting the trickster demon by understanding and exploiting his perverse nature. This is a tale in which intelligence and quick thinking are as important as might, a contest of wits in which the greatest of heroes proves himself the cleverer as well as the stronger. The cunning of Rostam, turning the demon's own nature against him, is the celebrated and characteristic point of the tale of the Akvan Div.
The Slaying of Akvan
Cast into the sea by the deceived demon, Rostam survived, as he had intended, and swam to the shore, saving himself from the waters. But the contest was not yet over, for the hero was resolved to slay the demon who had so nearly destroyed him.
Having reached the shore and recovered himself, Rostam sought out the Akvan Div once more. This time, when he found the demon, the hero was ready, and he brought to bear his great strength and his famous weapons. He cast his lasso, the kamand with which he was so skilled, and snared the demon, and then, with his mighty mace, or in some tellings with his sword, he struck and slew the Akvan Div, beheading the trickster demon and ending his menace at last. With the slaying of Akvan, the long and strange contest came to its end, the demon overcome at last by the hero he had so nearly destroyed. The tradition adds that Rostam, returning to the spring, found that his great horse Rakhsh had wandered off, and that he recovered the horse from a herd belonging to the enemy, taking the herd with him and fighting off the enemy soldiers who pursued him, a final flourish to the adventure. But the heart of the tale is the slaying of the Akvan Div, the triumph of the hero, by cunning and then by strength, over the trickster demon. The slaying of Akvan brings the famous episode to its satisfying close, with the hero victorious and the malevolent demon destroyed, having been outwitted by Rostam's cleverness and then overcome by his might.
Symbolism and Meaning
The Akvan Div embodies, above all, the theme of the contest of wits, the triumph of intelligence and cunning over a deceptive and dangerous foe. Unlike the demons overcome by brute strength, the Akvan Div is defeated chiefly by the cleverness of Rostam, who turns the demon's own perverse nature against him. In this, the tale celebrates the hero's wit as much as his might, and teaches that some foes are overcome by intelligence rather than by force.
The Akvan Div embodies, too, the trickster nature of the divs, the demons of Iranic myth, who work by deception, shapeshifting, and guile rather than by open force. As a shapeshifter who appears as a beautiful wild ass, vanishes into the air, and lifts the hero into the sky, the Akvan Div represents the deceptive and uncanny power of the demonic in the epic, the malevolent being who works mischief by trickery. And in his ultimate defeat, the Akvan Div embodies the triumph of the hero and of the forces of good over the deceptive evil of the demon. In all this, the Akvan Div is a meaningful figure, embodying the contest of wits, the trickster nature of the divs, and the triumph of cunning and might together over a deceptive foe. He is the trickster demon whose strange and famous contest with Rostam is one of the memorable demon-tales of the Shahnameh, a story in which the hero conquers by his wits as much as by his strength.
The Akvan Div and the Kurds
The Akvan Div, like all the figures of the Shahnameh and like the wider world of the divs, belongs to the shared mythological heritage of the Iranian peoples, a tradition that the Kurds hold in common with the Persians, the Lurs, and others of the Iranic world. The demons of Iranic myth are part of the ancient and common store of Iranian mythological tradition, and the div in particular is a figure alive across the Iranic lands.
For the Kurds, the demon, the div, is a living figure of folklore and language as much as in any other Iranic tradition. In Kurdish, the word is dew, meaning a giant, ogre, or monster, descended directly from the same ancient Avestan root, the daeva, from which the Persian div also comes. The dew is a common figure in Kurdish folktales, the man-eating giant or monster whom the clever hero must outwit, often by guile rather than strength, much as Rostam outwits the Akvan Div. In this sense, the trickster-demon tale of the Akvan Div, in which cleverness overcomes a monstrous foe, has its echoes in the folktales of the Kurds and of all the Iranic peoples. It is honest and accurate to understand the Akvan Div, and the whole world of the divs, as part of this shared Iranic heritage, rather than as uniquely Kurdish material; yet the figure of the demon, the dew, is genuinely alive in Kurdish tradition, and the tale of the hero who outwits the monster is part of the common store of Iranian myth and folktale that the Kurds share with their neighbours and value as their own.
Debates and Misconceptions
Is the Akvan Div the same as the White Demon of Mazandaran? No; the two are distinct demons of the Shahnameh, though both are divs overcome by Rostam. The White Demon, the Div-e Sepid, is the great demon of Mazandaran whom Rostam slays in the last of his seven trials, a foe overcome by strength in a mighty combat. The Akvan Div is a different demon, a trickster and shapeshifter from a separate and later episode, who is defeated chiefly by the hero's cunning. The two should not be confused, being distinct demons of distinct tales.
Are the divs the same as the jinn? No; this is a common confusion, but the two belong to separate traditions. The div is the demonized daeva of the ancient Iranic tradition, a malevolent demon of Iranian myth such as the Akvan Div, while the jinn belong to a separate Arabian tradition. Though they were often confused in the Islamic period, the div of the Shahnameh, including the Akvan Div, belongs properly to the Iranic mythological tradition and not to the Arabian world of the jinn.
Is the Akvan Div a specifically Kurdish figure? No; like all the figures of the Shahnameh, he belongs to the shared mythological heritage of the Iranian peoples, a tradition the Kurds hold in common with the Persians, the Lurs, and others of the Iranic world. Yet the demon, the div or dew, is genuinely alive in Kurdish folklore and language, descended from the same ancient Avestan root, and the tale of the hero who outwits the monster is part of the common store of Iranian myth and folktale that the Kurds share with their neighbours. The Akvan Div is thus best understood as part of the shared Iranic heritage, a figure of the common tradition rather than a uniquely Kurdish one, though one genuinely at home in Kurdish as in all Iranic tradition.
Related Topics
The Divs: the demons of Iranic myth, of whom Akvan is one
Rostam: the greatest hero of Iran, who outwitted Akvan
Kay Khosrow: the king who sent Rostam against the demon
Afrasiab: the Turanian king whose herds figure in the tale's end
Ahriman: the spirit of evil whom the divs serve
The Simurgh: the great benevolent bird of the epic
The Shahnameh: the Persian Book of Kings, the great epic of Iran
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Akvan Div in the Shahnameh?
The Akvan Div is a shapeshifting trickster demon of the Shahnameh, one of the divs or demons of Iranic myth, famous for his contest with the hero Rostam during the reign of Kay Khosrow. He first appeared as a beautiful wild ass savaging the royal herds, then lifted the sleeping Rostam into the sky and hurled him into the sea. But Rostam, knowing the demon's perverse nature, outwitted him, survived, and at last slew him with lasso and mace.
How did the Akvan Div throw Rostam into the sea?
While Rostam slept beside a spring, weary from the long hunt, the Akvan Div used his uncanny power to cut away the earth on which the hero lay and lift him, still sleeping, high into the sky. The demon then mockingly offered Rostam a choice: to be hurled upon the mountains, to be dashed on the rocks and devoured by beasts, or to be cast into the sea, to drown. When Rostam, by cunning, asked for the mountains, the perverse demon did the opposite and threw him into the sea.
How did Rostam outwit the Akvan Div?
Rostam knew that the divs were perverse and would do the opposite of whatever was asked of them. When the demon offered him the choice of being hurled upon the mountains or into the sea, Rostam reasoned that the rocks meant certain death but the water was survivable. So he begged to be cast upon the mountains, knowing that the perverse demon would do the opposite and throw him into the sea, exactly as he intended. By this trick, turning the demon's own nature against him, the hero saved his life.
How was the Akvan Div killed?
After being cast into the sea, Rostam survived and swam to shore. Recovering himself, he sought out the Akvan Div once more, and this time he was ready. He cast his lasso and snared the demon, and then with his mighty mace, or in some tellings his sword, he struck and beheaded the trickster demon, ending his menace at last. The slaying of Akvan brought the strange contest to its close, the hero victorious by cunning and then by strength.
Is the Akvan Div the same as the White Demon?
No; they are distinct demons of the Shahnameh, though both are divs overcome by Rostam. The White Demon, the Div-e Sepid, is the great demon of Mazandaran whom Rostam slays in the last of his seven trials, overcome by strength in a mighty combat. The Akvan Div is a different demon, a trickster and shapeshifter of a separate episode, defeated chiefly by the hero's cunning. The two should not be confused.
Is the Akvan Div a Kurdish figure?
The Akvan Div belongs to the shared mythological heritage of the Iranian peoples, a tradition the Kurds hold in common with the Persians, the Lurs, and others of the Iranic world, rather than a uniquely Kurdish figure. Yet the demon, the div or dew, is genuinely alive in Kurdish folklore and language, descended from the same ancient Avestan root, and the tale of the hero who outwits the monster is part of the common store of Iranian myth and folktale that the Kurds share with their neighbours.
References and Further Reading
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