The basic story of the bowman runs as follows: In a war between the
Iranians and
Turanians over the "royal glory" (
khwarrah), the Turanian general
Afrasiab has surrounded the forces of the righteous
Manuchehr, and the two sides agree to make peace. Both reach an agreement that whatever land falls within the range of a bow-shot shall be returned to the Manuchehr and the Iranians, and the rest should then fall to Afrasiab and the
Aniranians. An angel (in
al-Biruni it is
Isfandaramad, i.e. the
Amesha Spenta Spenta Armaiti, in
Middle Persian called
Spendarmad) instructs Manuchehr to construct a special bow and arrow, and Arash is asked to be the archer. Arash then fires the specially-prepared arrow at dawn, which then traveled a great distance (see below) before finally landing and so marking the future border between the Iranians and the Aniranians. In Talebi and
Bal'ami, Arash is destroyed by the shot and disappears. In
al-Tabari, he is exalted by the people, is appointed commander of the archers and lives out his life in great honor. The distance the arrow travels varies: in one, it is a thousand leagues (
farsakhs), and in another, forty days' walk. In several, the arrow traveled from dawn to noon; in others, from dawn until sunset. A few sources specify a particular date for the event. The Middle Persian
Mah i Frawardin notes the 6th day of the 1st month (i.e.
Khordad of
Frawardin); later sources associate the event with the name-day festivities of
Tiregan (13th of
Tir) "presumably" provoked by the homonymity with the
Yazata Tir or
tir "arrow." () The location from which Arash fired his arrow varies as well. In the
Avesta (which does not mention places in Western Iran), it is
Airyo.khshaotha, an unidentified location in the
Middle Clime. Islamic-era sources typically place the location of the shot somewhere just south of the
Caspian Sea, variously in
Tabaristan (Tabari, Talebi, Maqdesi,
Ibn al-Athir, Marashi) and (al-Biruni,
Gardēzī);
Amol fortress (
Mojmal);
Mount Damavand (Balami) or
Sari (Gorgani). The place the arrow landed is variously identified as 'Mount Khvanvant' in the Avesta (likewise an unknown location); a river in
Balkh (Tabari, al-Atir); east of Balkh (Talebi);
Bactria/
Tokharistan (Maqdesi, Gardizi); the banks of the
Oxus River (Balami) or
Merv (Mojmal). According to al-Biruni, it hit a
walnut tree between "
Fargana" and Tabaristan "in the furthest reaches of Greater Khorasan|[Greater] Khorasan." The name Arash remains a popular name among Iranians. == Modern legend ==