"... God bless and have mercy on our David from Sassoun, the fist of our nation, our righteous and immortal David ...″
"... David put on his armour,
Tied his belt, and took his Tur Gedzagi (Sparkling Sword).
The cross on his arm,
He mounted his faithful steed Dzhalali
His Lion father's horse.... "
At my younger ages, the probability of being descended from the tribe of David of Sassoun greatly encouraged me. In my childish imagination, the best of the epic heros David had made the impossible possible. There is hardly anybody who hasn't read Toumanian's "David of Sassoun", hasn't heard about the Lion Mher or hasn't seen Yervand Kochar's wonderful statue to David of Sassoun in Yerevan without feeling of being proud.
However, what do we know beyond the fighting between David of Sassoun and Melik of Muser, or the epic poem ″Daredevils of Sassoun″ in general?
Here, opening some parenthesis, it is necessary to remember Prof. Arousyak Sahakian’s fascinating "Daredevils of Sassoun and Statehood Issue" presentation made a decade ago and organized by the Hamazkayin Gladzor Chapter.
In her presentation, Arousyak Sahakian emphasized the relation of the epic poem to our nation and statehood.
In this regard, the Hamazkayin Book Club’s two-day Forum (23 November and 13 December 2016) took out from pages of history the main heroes and episodes, elucidated the characters and themes of the epic poem, the importance of water, dream and the promise, the hero’s character and virtues, the connection with the land and homeland, the place and role of "Have Mercy", the existing damnations and just the noticeable differences between the various stories and the common denominators thanks to Armine Torigian’s perfectly presented meticulous and lengthy research and her great narration ability.
Armine Torigian was born in Iran and got Armenian education, which automatically instilled love and interest in her towards the Armenian literature, although her university studies were in English literature. She sings in the "Gousan" Choir and is a member of Hamazkayin Literary Committee of Gladzor Chapter.
Armine started the first section of the Forum explaining the audience that the heroic epic was first recorded in 1800s by Bishop Garegin Srvandztiants, and later, various versions existed based on narrations of various authors. The epic poem, which had different titles, such as "Balds' Home", "Jojants Tun"(Patriarchs' Home), "Home of Sassoun" and others, consists of four cycles, the various versions of which (based on various narrations told by aged people of Sassoun) have certain distinctions.
For example, Young (or Little) Mher, the son of David of Sassoun, does not exist in some narrations. There are considerable differences in the use of dialects starting from Mokats dialect to the dialects of Sassoun and Mush. The character of David of Sassoun, which appears in the third cycle, exists in all versions. So does the character of Uncle Toros.
David's character sometimes differs from the one in our textbooks. In narrations, young David was naive and kind, and only after a certain age and after fighting with Melik of Muser, we see the matured character of David. It is a character dear and familiar to all of us. David is a patriot, freedom-loving person, superhuman and at the same time very humane. He is the defender of human rights, the hero of Sassoun, the hero of Armenia, and a hero, which every freedom-loving Armenian bears deep in his heart.
Armine, during the two presentations, took us to the world of epic heroes starting from Tsovinar to Sanasar and Paghtasar, Marouta Mountain, Kourkig Jalali and Tur Gedzaki (Sparkling Sword), Uncle Toros, Dzenov Ohan, Lion Mher, Ismil Khatun, David, Pretty Gohar and Chmshgik Sultan, Armaghan and Little Mher to Sasoun’s Kaptakogh and Agravakar. Aren Mnatsaganian read extracts from the poem and impressed the audience.
Armine Torigian opened new pages for us, awakened interest, and wishes to study the most prominent heroic epic about the Daredevils of Sassoun. Armine's work really deserves appreciation.
Let God have mercy on those who transmitted the priceless treasures of our culture, the epic poem of Daredevils of Sassoun to us, and on those who narrated it - our heroic fathers, and grandfathers.
Tamar Donabedian Kuzuian