Vishapakar

Vischap (Armenian Վիշապ, in the meaning " dragon ", " big snake " ), other transcriptions Vishap or Višap, is a predominantly evil spirit of the Armenian mythology that appears in fairy tales and legends and is sometimes included in the group of devs. The Armenian Vischap and his performance is related to the widespread in Asia Dragon Snake Motif in conjunction.

Etymologically, the name is interpreted as a variant of the Dragon, since the mind is usually represented in form of a snake. In this context, the popular name of a thunderstorm in Armenia can be seen. It is designated as a Vischap hanel, freely translated as "dragon rise". A Vischap can also take other forms such as a mule, camel, a giant fish or a giant snake. The people he steals the crop from the threshing floor, and carries her away. In the blood of a Vischap dipped spears were supposedly indestructible and had fatal.

The dragon comes in Armenian mythology also with a helpful for people capacity as master of the water before. Here he is in connection with the irrigation practiced since ancient times the dry summer fields, which makes him embody fertility and riches in a figurative sense. On the positive side Vischap - pictures is a demon repellent ( apotropaic ) function attributed with which they defend as the Tree of Life.

The most visible sign of the dragon - snakes - cult are like menhirs erected in many places in the country, large cigar-shaped Vischap stones. The since the 1st millennium BC or earlier known cult stones are with their iconography as a precursor of the Christian Chatschkare ( cross-stones ). Dragons and snakes emerge from the Middle Ages back to the cross stones.