The story of Iskandar and the bloodthirsty monster: how did the master of his craft Kamal ad-din Behzad interpret it?

While traveling across the Chinese Sea, Iskandar falls into a dangerous whirlpool made by bloodthirsty monsters attacking ships that are wrecked.

On the advice of the sage, he builds a temple on the seashore and installs in it a copper idol with a large drum. When the drum is hit, the sea calms down, and the monsters scatter from its sounds, and the ships c an continue on their way.

In the miniature, Iskandar beats the idol's drum, and his comrades-in-arms prepare the ship for sailing. Behzad fills this fantastic scene with many real details, various movements of people, introduces the characters that he has already used in his other works, turning this scene into an exciting sea adventure. A young on the yard raised the sail; a man became ill from experiences, and two young men support his motionless body; on the shore, two sailors remove the ship from anchor; one boat filled with people is already sailing; seeing a man o verboard, they express their surprise with gestures and facial expressions. One of the sailors, naked, is already hurrying to his aid, the other throws a rope along which he can climb aboard, and the musicians sitting in it scare away the sea dragon with the harsh sounds of a large karnay and a small wind instrument – surnay. The coloring of the miniature gives a fabulous character to the image of the plot.

A miniature of the work “Khamsa” by Nizami Ganjavi is kept in the British Library.‌‌