Verechelen ( Chuvash: ''Вӗрӗҫӗлен'' (; ) or ''Вӗриҫӗлен, Вӗриҫлен, Вриҫлен'', Russian: ''Вереселень'') also known as Chuvash dragons which are winged fire-breathing and shape shifting dragons. The legend originates with the ancestral people of the Chuvashians. The name means 'invisible snake'. These differ from their Turkic counterparts (such as

Zilant Zilant ( rus, Зилант; tt-Cyrl, җылан , translit=cılan/jılan, lit=snake) is a legendary creature, something between a dragon and a wyvern. Since 1730, it has been the official symbol of Kazan. This winged snake is mentioned in legends ...

), as they are supposed to reflect the pre- Islamic

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narra ...

Volga Bulgaria Volga Bulgaria or Volga–Kama Bulgaria, was a historic Bulgar state that existed between the 7th and 13th centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama River, in what is now European Russia. Volga Bulgaria was a multi-ethnic state wi ...

Varieties

Chuvash dragon is Věri Şělen (Вӗри Ҫӗлен, lit. "fire snake"). Like the Russian Gorynych, the creature has multiple heads and leaves a fiery wake when flying. The wood demon Arşuri (Арçури; Russian: Арзюри; Turkish: Arçura) often turns into a snake, but more often he looks like

Şüräle Shurale (Tatar and Bashkir: Шүрәле, �yræˈlɘ russian: Шурале) is a forest spirit in Tatar and Bashkir mythology. According to legends, Şüräle lives in forests. He has long fingers, a horn on its forehead, and a woolly body. He ...

. The

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

ian dragon, Ajdaha (Аçтаха), is also mentioned from time to time, probably due to Iranian influence to

Legends

According to one legend, when the Bulgars came to found the town of

Bilär Bilär (Tatar: Биләр) - was a medieval city in Volga Bulgaria and its second capital before the Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria. It was located on the left bank of the Small Cheremshan River in Alexeeyevsky District of the Tatarstan. Th ...

, they discovered a big snake living in the area. When they decided to kill it, the snake begged for peace and asked Allah to give him wings. Once he got wings, the snake flew away from Bilär. Another great snake, or dragon, was said to live in a pagan tower temple at Alabuğa. Although the Bulgars adopted Islam as early as the tenth century, the snake allegedly survived until the time of

Tamerlane Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...

's invasion.

Ibn Fadlan Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān ibn al-ʿAbbās ibn Rāšid ibn Ḥammād, ( ar, أحمد بن فضلان بن العباس بن راشد بن حماد; ) commonly known as Ahmad ibn Fadlan, was a 10th-century Muslim traveler, famous for his account of hi ...

, who visited Volga Bulgaria in the 10th century, referred to numerous snakes, especially on trees. Once he saw a big fallen tree, which was longer than a hundred ells. Ibn Fadlan wrote that he'd seen a big snake at the trunk that had been almost as large as the tree itself. The Bulgars allayed his fears, assuring him that the snake was not dangerous.

References

* Чӑваш халӑх пултарулӑхӗ: Мифсем, легендӑсем, халапсем. — Шупашкар: Чӑваш кӗнеке изд-ви, 2004. {{DEFAULTSORT:Chuvash Dragon Turkic legendary creatures Chuvash folklore European dragons Shapeshifting Culture of Chuvashia

Varieties

Legends

See also

References