As the Iran-Israel-US war continues and the global spotlight remains fixed on the West Asian country, Down To Earth decided to cast the spotlight on Iran’s leopards, which have for centuries, been a recurring motif in culture, mythology, folklore and poetry.
The leopard is not the only big cat that Iran has been or was home to. The Asiatic Lion (Panthera leo leo, formerly called Panthera leo persica) called Shir in Farsi and the Caspian tiger (Panthera tigris virgata) called Babr in Farsi have inhabited the land, as has the famous Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus), called Yuz in Farsi.
But the Persian leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana or Panthera pardus saxicolor), called Palang in Farsi, is a great survivor. It still is around even as lions and tigers have vanished, and the cheetah is on its last breath.
In Status assessment of the Persian leopard in Iran (2016), Sanei et al noted this, when they wrote in the abstract:
“The Persian leopard is the last remaining Panthera species in Iran after the extinction of the Asiatic lion Panthera leo persica and the Caspian tiger Panthera tigris virgata. The leopard has therefore a unique importance for the ecological health of wide areas of natural ecosystems in the country and for the cultural heritage of Iran. The writings of various Persian authors (e.g. Ferdowsi 940-1020 CE, Manuchehri Damghani 1040, Baba Taher 1000-1055, Saadi 1184-1283, Mowlana 1207-1273) frequently referred to the leopard as a symbol of strength, intelligence, bravery, justice and valour for the public and the kings.”
The leopard has, for long, been an influence on Persian culture.
In Leopard and its mythological-epic motifs in Shahnameh and four other epic works (Garshasbnameh, Kushnameh, Bahmannameh and Borzunameh) (2021), Nasrin Sharifizad, Mohammad Shah Badi’zadeh and Reza Ashrafzadeh write about a black stone statue of a sitting leopard being found in Persepolis, the ancient capital of the powerful Achaemenid or First Persian empire. This, they noted, showed the Achaemenids’ respect for this animal.
Centuries later, when the Second Persian Empire of the Sassanids wrote, the influence of the leopard still lingered. “In Sassanid metalworking art on a copper tray, we see a scene where the king is hunting a leopard. Certainly, this scene is somehow the repetition of the motif of lion-hunting by the Achaemenid king.”
Perhaps the most famous use of the leopard as a motif comes from the Shahnameh (Book of Kings), the national epic of Iran written by Ferdowsi (940-1025 Common Era).
As Sharifizad, Badi’zadeh and Ashrafzadeh write:
“Many epic heroes also wore leopard skin garment (Palangineh) during the war, and Rostam is at the forefront of these heroes. It has been previously mentioned that Rostam’s war garment was sometimes called Babr-e Bayan (armor made of tiger skin) and sometimes Palangineh. The cover of heroes’ horse or their hat is sometimes leopard skin:
This guardian of the plain went to him shouting,
While he was holding his hand to his bleeding ears,
He told him: He was a man like a black demon,
Who was wearing leopard skin clothing and an iron hat,
The whole plain is full of demons,
Or is like a dragon asleep in a war suit.
(Ferdowsi, 2007: 33).
When he enters the war, he wears a war suit,
And another person fastens its strap,
Another one has a leopard skin garment,
And wears it and enters the war,
It is called Babr-e Bayan,
Which is considered something more than a war suit.
(Ferdowsi, 2007: 187-188).
The leopard motif in Iran goes beyond the clothing of the brave and the courageous. In fact, it goes to the very depths of the human heart.
Baba Taher Oryan (meaning “the naked”), was a Sufi Dervish and poet who lived during the 11th century CE. He lived in Hamadan, where the mighty Medes once ruled in northwestern Iran.
The mountainous, rock, forested and wild terrain around Hamadan was and is home to Persian leopards and they feature in Baba Taher’s mystical poetry.
Take for instance, the following quatrain (translated by E.G. Browne and A.J. Arberry):
“Lion or leopard fierce thou surely art,
Ever at war with us, 0 heart! 0 heart!
If I can catch thee, I will spill thy blood
And see of what strange hue thou art, 0 heart!”
Here, by ‘spilling the blood’ of the ‘leopard-heart’, Taher seeks to slay the ego and achieve union with the Divine, in line with Sufi principles. The ferocity of the leopard represents the intensity of the struggle between human desire and divine love.
The leopard again features in the Bustan (Orchard), one of the most famous works by Saadi Shirazi, a 13th-century Persian poet.
While in the plain of Rudbar, Saadi is filled with fear upon seeing a man riding a leopard and using a snake in his hand.
The rider tells Saadi, “From the mandates of God your own neck do not turn / And the orders you issue no being will spurn”.
The lesson here is that when a person’s inner life is aligned with divine will, the outer world—even dangerous elements—becomes subservient to them.
As Kamran Pashaei Fakhri writes in Ideological leadership in Boostan of Saadi (2014): “According to Saadi, the leader who obeys God, God assists him…”
The leopard thus has never been absent from Persian life. As Arezoo Sanei, Hossein Mohamadi, Shirin Hermidas & Hamid Reza Asgarian write in A King for the Mountainous Landscapes: An Overview to the Cultural Significance and Conservation Requirements of the Persian Leopard in Iran (2020), “Similar to the other big cats of Iran (i.e., the Asiatic lion Panthera leo persica and the Caspian tiger Panthera tigris virgata that are extinct in the region), the Persian leopard Panthera pardus saxicolor has a unique importance in the Iranian art, history, and literature. Symbolization of these species over centuries to emphasize on strength, intelligence, and bravery of the kings and national heroes indicates the significance of the big cats including the leopard, for the Iranian society.”