Bahamut

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For the dragon of the role-playing game, see Bahamut (Dungeons & Dragons).

Bahamut (Arabic: بهموت‎ Bahamūt) is a vast fish that supports the earth in Arabian mythology.[1] In some sources, Bahamut is described as having a head resembling a hippopotamus or elephant.[2]

Contents

[edit] Overview

In Jorge Luis Borges' Book of Imaginary Beings, Bahamut is a beast of Arabic mythology "altered and magnified"[1] from Behemoth. In Arabic myth, Bahamut is a giant fish, described as so immense that a human cannot bear its sight; "[a]ll the seas of the world, placed in one of the fish's nostrils, would be like a mustard seed laid in the desert."[1]

Borges cites one Muslim tradition that describes Bahamut as a fish floating in a fathomless sea. On the fish is a bull called Kujata,[3][4] on the bull, a ruby mountain; on the mountain, an angel; over the angel, six hells; over the hells, earth; and over the earth, seven heavens. Another tradition places the earth's foundation on water, the water on a crag, the crag on a bull's forehead, the bull on a bed of sand, the sand on Bahamut, Bahamut on a stifling wind, and the wind on a mist; what is beneath the mist is unknown.[1] In a similar telling of the hierarchy, Bahamut supports a layer of sand, on which stands a giant bull, on whose forehead rests a mountain of rock which holds the waters in which the earth is located.[2]

According to Borges, Bahamut is the giant fish that Isa (Jesus) beholds in the 496th night of the One Thousand and One Nights. Bahamut in this telling is a giant fish swimming in a vast ocean. It carries a bull on its head; the bull bears a rock, and above the rock is an angel who carries the seven stages of the earths. Beneath Bahamut is an abyss of air, then fire, and beneath that a giant serpent called Falak.[5]

Upon seeing Bahamut, Isa passes into unconsciousness:

At this sight Isa fell down aswoon, and when he came to himself, Allah spake to him by inspiration, saying, 'O Isa, hast thou seen the fish and comprehended its length and its breadth?' He replied, 'By Thy honour and glory, O Lord, I saw no fish; but there passed me by a great bull, whose length was three days' journey, and I know not what manner of thing this bull is.' Quoth Allah, 'O Isa, this that thou sawest and which was three days in passing by thee, was but the head of the fish; and know that every day I create forty fishes like unto this.'[5]

Borges cites the idea of Bahamut as part of a layered cosmology as an illustration of the cosmological proof of the existence of God, which infers a first cause from the impossibility of infinite prior causes.[1] He also draws parallels between Bahamut and the mythical Japanese fish Jinshin-Uwo.[6]

[edit] Fictional inspirations

Various role-playing games, including computer and console games, have made reference to the mythological figure of Bahamut. Bahamut is also the title track of the 2006 debut album by the Blues band Hazmat Modine; the song includes a spoken-word interlude in which band leader Wade Schuman recites a version of the Bahamut myth.

[edit] Dungeons and Dragons

Further information: Bahamut (Dungeons & Dragons)

In Dungeons & Dragons, Bahamut is portrayed as a platinum-coloured, dragon or draconic deity, the "King of Good Dragons." He is opposed by Tiamat, the "Queen of Evil Dragons." Both made their debut in the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons's Monster Manual, (1977).

[edit] Final Fantasy series

Further information: Common elements of Final Fantasy

In the Final Fantasy Series by Square Enix, Bahamut is a recurring name for either a major "Boss" enemy or an allied "Summon" creature, or both. Bahamut makes an appearance in every numbered Final Fantasy game, except for Final Fantasy II, and makes appearances in other Square Enix games such as Bahamut Lagoon. In these games, Bahamut is portrayed as a gigantic creature, variously as a demon or as a mechanical entity, but more often as a dragon. In Final Fantasy III Bahamut is a boss monster which the heroes must escape from at the Dragons Peak. Just east of the town of Canaan on the floating continent. As a summon, Bahamut's attack is almost always Mega Flare, where he generally flies to a high height, then fires a giant beam onto the battlefield. In Final Fantasy XII, Bahamut (as with all the traditional summons) is a military airship. He also makes an appearance in Chocobo's Dungeon.

Sometimes Bahamut is referenced only by in-game items named after it, such as the Tales of series and Valkyrie Profile, in which there is a weapon named "Bahamut's Tear".

[edit] Other video games

  • In MapleStory, Bahamut is a summon used by Bishops. It is pictured as a dragon.
  • In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, a MagiKoopa summons a Bahamut to hide behind during a boss fight.
  • In the Battle Ogre series, a Bahamut is a third-stage form of a Platinum Dragon.
  • In the game Rappelz, Bahamut is a server.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e Borges, Jorge Luis; Margarita Guerrero, Norman Thomas di Giovanni (trans.) (2002). The Book of Imaginary Beings. London: Vintage, 25-26. ISBN 0099442639. 
  2. ^ a b Rose, Carol (2001). Giants, Monsters, and Dragons : An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 37. ISBN 0393322114. 
  3. ^ Borges, 89.
  4. ^ Sykes, Egerton; Alan Kendall (1993). Who's Who in Non-Classical Mythology. London: J. M. Dent, 28. ISBN 0460861360. 
  5. ^ a b Burton, Richard F.. The Book of a Thousand Nights and One, Volume 5: The Adventures of Bulukiya. Wollamshram World. Retrieved on 2007-12-21.
  6. ^ Borges, 87.