Nazar Research Center Journal of Art and Civilization of the Orient 2345-6612 13 50 2025 12 22 The East, the Embodiment of Light The East, the Embodiment of Light 5 5 237780 10.22034/jaco.2025.237780 FA Fereydoon Avarzamani Department of Science and Art History, Nazar Research Center, Tehran, Iran Journal Article The special sense of pleasure evoked by knowing the legendary and mythological East and the ancient historical East is not felt in other cases. Seven thousand years of the history of Eastern civilization reflect the fact that human civilization began in the East and, as the saying goes, "Light arises from the East," manifesting itself as an undeniable reality. From another perspective, there was nothing in the West at first. Deeply seeking Eastern history, including the writings and works of the world's elite, family signs of royal families, and other reliable historical documents, shows that the origin of the history of religions in polytheism and the worship of gods for protecting humans against natural factors is attributed to the East. With the availability of valuable works such as the Indian Vedas, especially the "Rik Veda," and parts of the Avesta being composed before Zoroaster, such as the "Yashtas" it can be said that human religious and spiritual thinking emerged in the mysterious East. Especially, the historical documents and records of that time show that the bonds of Adam with the sky and the stars, and then the knowledge of the One God and the world after death, and the entry of Adam into heaven and hell after assessing good and bad deeds, are quite visible and reflect how Adam has been associated with the sky from the east. Similarly, a look at the Torah supports the idea: "And the Lord God formed Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed into him life, and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put Adam whom he had formed. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it was divided and became four branches. The name of the first is Pishon, which surrounds the whole land of Havilah, where all the land is gold. The gold of that land is good, and there are pearls and onyx 2 stones. And the name of the second river is Gihon, which surrounds the whole land of Kush (Kushan). The name of the third river is Hadad, which flows eastward from Assyria, and the fourth river is the Euphrates” (Genesis, chapters 7 to 15 of the Torah). The same meaning can be seen in the Holy Quran in Surahs Al-Hijr and S, where God Almighty says: when we adorned him and breathed into him of our spirit, he fell down before him in prostration (addressing the angels). According to Attar Neyshaburi: <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Serr-e rūḥ az ‘ālam-e fekr ast o bas <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Pas nafakhtu fīhi min rūḥī nafas The mystery of the soul belongs solely to the intellect; Hence, I <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">breathed into him My Spirit, which became the soul. When Adam's body was made of clay by God's command and the soul was to enter the body, Adam was scared off, but the angels encouraged him with their heavenly song and forced him to obey: <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Ān rūz ke rūḥ-e pāk-e Ādam be badan Goftand darā, nemī-shod az tars be tan <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The day the pure soul of Adam was told to enter the body, <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">it hesitated, unwilling to go in, trembling with fear. <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Khāndand fereshtegān be laḥn-e Dāvūd Dar tan darā, darā, darā, darā, darā, darā, darā, andar tan <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The angels began to sing in David’s melody Enter the body—enter, enter, enter, enter, enter, enter—into the body. <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">A little reflection shows that, in God's will, music is the agent of fusion (I breathed my spirit into him). <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Bāng-e gardesh-hā-ye charkh ast ān-ke khalq Mī-navārandesh be tanbūr o be ḥalq <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> The turning sound of the wheels of heaven is what people <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">play on the tambourine or sing using their throats. <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Khoshk-e sīm o khoshk-e chūb o khoshk-e pūst Az kojā mī-āyad īn āvāz-e dūst? <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Dry strings, dry wood, and dry skin— from where does this voice of the Beloved come? The beginning of a long story of love and familiarity with what seekers and explorers bring out from the depths of their soil, and any discovery opens a new door to the very distant past of the East and the art of the East. But this is the beginning of Orientalism, and especially Iranian studies, which is a large part of the body and history of the East. As the great Persian-speaking poet Iqbal Lahori says: <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Gomān madār be pāyān resid kār-e moghān Hezār jarīḥe nākhorde dar del-e tāk ast <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Do not think the work of the Magi has come to an end; there are still a thousand unwounded wounds in the heart of the vine. The special sense of pleasure evoked by knowing the legendary and mythological East and the ancient historical East is not felt in other cases. Seven thousand years of the history of Eastern civilization reflect the fact that human civilization began in the East and, as the saying goes, "Light arises from the East," manifesting itself as an undeniable reality. From another perspective, there was nothing in the West at first. Deeply seeking Eastern history, including the writings and works of the world's elite, family signs of royal families, and other reliable historical documents, shows that the origin of the history of religions in polytheism and the worship of gods for protecting humans against natural factors is attributed to the East. With the availability of valuable works such as the Indian Vedas, especially the "Rik Veda," and parts of the Avesta being composed before Zoroaster, such as the "Yashtas" it can be said that human religious and spiritual thinking emerged in the mysterious East. Especially, the historical documents and records of that time show that the bonds of Adam with the sky and the stars, and then the knowledge of the One God and the world after death, and the entry of Adam into heaven and hell after assessing good and bad deeds, are quite visible and reflect how Adam has been associated with the sky from the east. Similarly, a look at the Torah supports the idea: "And the Lord God formed Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed into him life, and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put Adam whom he had formed. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it was divided and became four branches. The name of the first is Pishon, which surrounds the whole land of Havilah, where all the land is gold. The gold of that land is good, and there are pearls and onyx 2 stones. And the name of the second river is Gihon, which surrounds the whole land of Kush (Kushan). The name of the third river is Hadad, which flows eastward from Assyria, and the fourth river is the Euphrates” (Genesis, chapters 7 to 15 of the Torah). The same meaning can be seen in the Holy Quran in Surahs Al-Hijr and S, where God Almighty says: when we adorned him and breathed into him of our spirit, he fell down before him in prostration (addressing the angels). According to Attar Neyshaburi: <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Serr-e rūḥ az ‘ālam-e fekr ast o bas <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Pas nafakhtu fīhi min rūḥī nafas The mystery of the soul belongs solely to the intellect; Hence, I <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">breathed into him My Spirit, which became the soul. When Adam's body was made of clay by God's command and the soul was to enter the body, Adam was scared off, but the angels encouraged him with their heavenly song and forced him to obey: <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Ān rūz ke rūḥ-e pāk-e Ādam be badan Goftand darā, nemī-shod az tars be tan <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The day the pure soul of Adam was told to enter the body, <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">it hesitated, unwilling to go in, trembling with fear. <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Khāndand fereshtegān be laḥn-e Dāvūd Dar tan darā, darā, darā, darā, darā, darā, darā, andar tan <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The angels began to sing in David’s melody Enter the body—enter, enter, enter, enter, enter, enter—into the body. <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">A little reflection shows that, in God's will, music is the agent of fusion (I breathed my spirit into him). <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Bāng-e gardesh-hā-ye charkh ast ān-ke khalq Mī-navārandesh be tanbūr o be ḥalq <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> The turning sound of the wheels of heaven is what people <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">play on the tambourine or sing using their throats. <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Khoshk-e sīm o khoshk-e chūb o khoshk-e pūst Az kojā mī-āyad īn āvāz-e dūst? <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Dry strings, dry wood, and dry skin— from where does this voice of the Beloved come? The beginning of a long story of love and familiarity with what seekers and explorers bring out from the depths of their soil, and any discovery opens a new door to the very distant past of the East and the art of the East. But this is the beginning of Orientalism, and especially Iranian studies, which is a large part of the body and history of the East. As the great Persian-speaking poet Iqbal Lahori says: <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Gomān madār be pāyān resid kār-e moghān Hezār jarīḥe nākhorde dar del-e tāk ast <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Do not think the work of the Magi has come to an end; there are still a thousand unwounded wounds in the heart of the vine.

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