Stony Lion Statue; Symbol of Bakhtiari’s Courage
Stony Lion Statue; Symbol of Bakhtiari's Courage
Stony Lion Statue; Symbol of Bakhtiari’s Courage
One of the traditions of Bakhtiari people is to make stony lion statue on the tombstone of famous people, for example, if Babak Khorramdin was Kurd, they would put stony lion statue on his tombstone.
Bakhtiari people name these stony statues as BordShir which are symbol of courage. Stony statues have blades, gun, knife and etc. Name of the dead person is written on them. Size of the lions is based on the popularity of the person.
Bakhtiaries believed that the lions are divided into 2 groups; Muslim and Pagan. First types are lighter and white. Second types are darker and brown. The Muslims believe that if a lion attacked a person, he or she should swear Imam Ali to be forgiven while Pagans, in the funerals, they take the corpse from under the stony lion.
They believe that by doing so, the fear of corpse from the world after death will be decreased. In the past, lion with a sun was a national figure showing residential of power. The oldest stony lion is from Safavid era. In Persepolis, Sassanid Palaces, and other historical places you can see figure of lion.
Bakhtiaris have chosen lion as their popular figure. They were putting stony status of lion on the tombstones of their heroes. You can also see the shape of lions on Bakhtiari’s carpets.
You can find Stony Status of Lions in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiary province.
In some parts of Khuzestan province, you can see stony status near the monument of Yaqub Leis in Dezful.
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