Div-e Sepid

The demons of Mazandaran

In the Shahnameh the divs (from Avestan daeva, the false gods rejected by Zoroastrianism) are demons of great strength and sorcery. The reckless King Kay Kavus, tempted by a demon's song about the beauty of Mazandaran, invades it against all advice; the White Div, chief of its demons, answers with a storm of hail and darkness that strikes the king and his army blind, and holds them captive.

The seventh trial

Rostam rides to the rescue by the shorter, deadlier road, passing seven trials (Haft Khan): a lion, a waterless desert, a dragon, a sorceress, a warrior-demon, the demon lord Arzhang, and finally the White Div. Guided by the captured Olad, he waits until midday, when the demons sleep, enters the dark cave, and finds the White Div, huge as a mountain. They fight savagely; Rostam tears off one of the demon's legs, and at last kills him and cuts out his liver. The blood of the White Div, dropped into their eyes, restores the sight of Kay Kavus and his men.

In art

Rostam's combat with the White Div, often showing the spotted white demon in the cave, is one of the most frequently illustrated scenes in Persian manuscript painting.