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Franklin Lewis, "Shifting Allegiances: Primordial Relationships and How They Change in the Shahnameh," In The Layered Heart: Essays on Persian Poetry, ed. A.A. Seyed-Ghorab (Washington DC: Mage, 2019), pp 363-409.
Franklin Lewis, "Shifting Allegiances: Primordial Relationships and How They Change in the Shahnameh," In The Layered Heart: Essays on Persian Poetry, ed. A.A. Seyed-Ghorab (Washington DC: Mage, 2019), pp 363-409.
Franklin Lewis, "Shifting Allegiances: Primordial Relationships and How They Change in the Shahnameh," In The Layered Heart: Essays on Persian Poetry, ed. A.A. Seyed-Ghorab (Washington DC: Mage, 2019), pp 363-409.
Franklin Lewis, "Shifting Allegiances: Primordial Relationships and How They Change in the Shahnameh," In The Layered Heart: Essays on Persian Poetry, ed. A.A. Seyed-Ghorab (Washington DC: Mage, 2019), pp 363-409.
Franklin Lewis, "Shifting Allegiances: Primordial Relationships and How They Change in the Shahnameh," In The Layered Heart: Essays on Persian Poetry, ed. A.A. Seyed-Ghorab (Washington DC: Mage, 2019), pp 363-409.
Franklin Lewis2019, The Layered Heart: Essays on Persian Poetry, ed. A.A. Seyed-Ghorab (Washington DC: Mage, 2019),
This paper first compares the statements about religious affiliation made by Daqiqi and by Ferdowsi, and then considers the section about the conversion of Goshtasp and Lohrasp to Zoroaster's call, and how the process of changing religious affiliation is presented in the Shahnameh. Next, we see how the two sisters or daughters of Jamshid, Shahrnaz and Arnavaz (who are the first two women named in the Shahnameh, despite several generations having gone by without the appearance of any women characters) introduced as undergoing a change of allegiance from the household of Jamshid to that of Zahhak. The threat of rape or death under which this process takes place raises the question of how these two sisters feel about being the consorts of Zahhak, a subject on which the Shahnameh gives only very subtle clues. After Feraydun conquers Zahhak's castle, he "converts" the women back by a process of purification, a process which is analyzed. There are long-term problems for all the characters who convert or change affiliation in these cases. From the publisher's website: http://magepublishers.com/the-layered-heart-essays-on-persian-poetry-a-celebration-in-honor-of-dick-davis/?fbclid=IwAR1YgKBOH8-jy331xzHhp72xqSGwkFfpCCJG4Fnh1zBp-vt_daopjRCp33k
Related Papers
Special Issue of the Journal of Iranian Studies, guest edited by Franklin Lewis, v. 48, # 3 (2015)
Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh was not conceived as a national epic, but it does encapsulate another kind of group identity: it provides context and meaning for the glorious pedigree of the Iranian aristocracy. Ferdowsi himself was a member of the Khurasani dehqān gentry whose collective effort in the 4th/10th century was turned towards preserving and reshaping their own history and literary heritage in the terms of the new era. This paper analyses the final section of the Shahnameh, dealing with the reign and death of the last Sasanian Yazdegerd II. As such, this section provides crucial clues for the function of the Shahnameh as a means to construct meaning for Ferdowsi’s own group in his own time. The description of this crucial moment in history, pivoting between the era of Iranian kingship and the Islamic era, suggested possible modes for interpreting the present. I read this section of the Shahnameh with close attention to the use of the word ‘nezhad’ (lineage) which circumscribes the identity of both the aristocrats of Ferdowsi’s present and the kings and heroes of the mythic past. In doing so, the transition between eras appears as a tragedy of nezhad, as the Sasanian dynasty is extinguished, raising permanent existential ambiguities for the entire class of Iranian gentry whose genealogies were associated with it.
The Zoroastrian Flame: Exploring Religion, History and Tradition, ed. A. Williams, S. Stewart & A. Hintze, London: I.B.Tauris
Literary Interest in Zoroastrianism in Tenth-Century Iran: The Case of Daqiqi's Account of Goshtasp and Zarathustra in the Shahnameh2016 •
The Tahmineh and Rostam episode, as presented in modern text-critical editions of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, is compared vis-à-vis both the pre-modern scribal interventions in the manuscript tradition of the poem, as well as two oral presentations of the same episode by traditional storytellers (naqqālān), as preserved in their prompt-books (tumārs) and in recorded performances from the twentieth century. The mise-enscène, the social circmstances, as well as the expansive nature of such oral performances, are described, and a translation of an oral version of the Rostam and Tahmineh episode is given. The narrative strategies employed to negotiate the intersection of new episodes or contemporary moralistic considerations with the written text of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh are then explored, analyzing the nature, motivations and functions of the scribal and oral interpolations to the Tahmineh episode, and demonstrating how modernizing reinterpretations impart a certain dynamism to the living Shāhnāmeh tradition. The naqqālān are shown to alter the Tahmineh episode to comply with the moral and religious values of their audiences, the requirements of extended narration cycles, and the horizon of expectation of the genre of epic. The article closes with a brief consideration of how moral and religious values apply differentially across various genres (heroic epic, romance, etc.), and how these differing horizons of expectation impact the reinterpretation of the narrative material.
The Necklace of the Pleiades 24 Essays on Persian Literature, Culture and Religion
Franklin Lewis and Sunil Sharma, eds. Necklace of the Pleiades: 24 Essays on Persian Literature, Culture and Religion2010 •
"The Necklace of the Pleiades is a volume on Persian literature, culture and religion by Persian scholars from around the world. This book reflects the state of the field of Persian literary studies and will be of substantial interest not only to scholars of Iranian culture, history and religions, but of Middle Eastern and South Asian studies, as well. The topics of the 24 essays range from the Persian Alexander romance, to Ferdowsi’s Shahnama and other epics, the poetics and imagery of the ghazal and the qasida, Mughal court poetry, Sufism, Ismaili history, Baha’i literature, Iranian linguistics, the modern writer Sadeq Hedayat, and the reception of Salman Rushdie’s novel in Persian translation. In Persian literature the Necklace of the Pleiades is a metaphor for the six or seven stars (Parvin, or Sorayyâ, high up in the constellation Taurus) which the heavens bestow, like precious pearls, upon a poet in gratitude and reward for composing a beautiful poem. The poem itself is compared to a string of pearls, with its carefully chosen words bored like unique pearls and strung in perfect metrical proportion. As Hafiz puts it: You’ve sung a ghazal, pierced the pearls, come and sing it sweetly, Hafiz! The heavens strew the very Necklace of the Pleiades upon your verse. " This volume was presented as a Festschrift for Prof. Heshmat Moayyad of the University of Chicago on his 80th birthday. Originally published by (Amsterdam: Rozenberg Publishers and West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press, 2007) Publisher's Website: https://www.lup.nl/product/the-necklace-of-the-pleiades/
This book was written with the educated non-specialists and Iranians born outside Iran in mind. It is addressed to those who want to learn about Iran's National Epic and its place in our culture. Following a brief survey of Iranian history from its beginning in the 7th century B.C. to Ferdowsi's time in the 11th century, it provides a history of the poem's background and a biography of its author. It offers an explanation of the Shāhnāmeh as a national icon and considers the implications of the poem for the present political tensions that mark Iran's relationship with the West. It may be used as an introductory text in Shahnameh classes and as supplementary reading in courses on epic or comparative literature. It is no longer in print and is offered at ridiculously high prices at various online bookstores. Therefore, it is offered here free of charge to those who may have some interest in it.
Ferdowsi's Shahnameh: An Attempt to Save Aryan Tradition through Diminishing the Concept of Filicide
Ferdowsi's Shahnameh is filled with different numbers of filicides. Mostly in each of them, the older side is privileged over the younger one. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to investigate the notion of conflict between these two sides specifically in the tragedy of Rostam and Esfandiar with respect to its reason. As it is evident, Ferdowsi devoted a great deal of effort to revive the Aryan tradition ruined by Arab invasion through writing Shahnameh. Therefore, in most of the old/new conflicts, he favored the older side so as to restore the glory of the past traditions. Moreover, Ferdowsi has tried to show the unjustifiable stand of new side against the reasonable stand of the older side. Indeed Ferdowsi's willingness toward filicides in Shahnameh is actually showing his willingness toward the older tradition of Iran which has been destroyed by Arab invasion.
2019 •
This is a revised and corrected version that supersedes the one published in Iran after the Mongols. Ed. by S. Babaie. The Idea of Iran 8. London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2019, pp. 235-269. In the published version, mistakes in numbering footnotes were inadvertently introduced in the editorial process, which are here rectified.
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A Ccfe6ration in I Ionor efDiEk Davis
THE LAYERED HEART
Essays on Persian Poetry
Edited by
A .A. SEYED -G HO RAB
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CnPY1uc.11 r ' 2019 \hci: PnH.ISHr.Rs
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CONTENTS
Preface, ix
Introduction.
Voyages in Literature,
21
rHsA~
YA.RSHATEH. c~.:\)
], lJMTi\
LN1vrnsrTY)
JOVE. WI t\E e_<i ROMA:\' CE
Continuity and Creativity: Models of Change in
Persian Poetry, Classical and Modern,
/\HMAD KAIUMI· HAl\.lC\K (l>~IVfRSTY
:!5
OF MARYLAl"D)
Betwt?en the \Yater and the \Vall: The Power of Love in
ss
Medieval Persian Rom~rnce.
SA[[D Hl)~AR:>.-L\J
(Crn t:\rnL"- U>irvmsrn)
\Vretchcd King Mobad J.oses the \Var of Love.
CHRISTl:'-\1: VAN RUYMLILKI:, (L~!VfRSITY
81
OF C:MvfTlRD(~E)
Of Love and Loyalty: ·1·he Middle English Floris and
Blanch~four
and the Persian \Varqa and Golshali, 99
J\~G!l;
.Snnl·(}JI()R:\I\ (1 f.IDF.>l UNIVERSITY)
\Vhat Kind of \Vine Did Rudaki Desire? Samanids'
Search for Cultural and National Identity, 127
KAf\HU}."
T\t.Arror (UN1vrns1TY
Song of the Cupbcarcr by Moham~1d
Mazand;.uant. r73
OF
:\1uzo.:--iA)
Stiff
PALL losF.N<;KY (1:-.iDIA.'lA Ll"1Vl:'.R.S1rY)
11
ST u n l Ls RE LAT r D T 0 TH E s ff/\} l N.A M £ fl
Zahhak's Story and l-Iistory.
199
S;\G fll GAztRAJ\: I (OHIO SlXfL UNI V FRS ITY)
\Vrcstling in the Sht1hnameh and
Later Persian Epics. 237
H.E. Curn .\BJ
(BOSTL)N
C:'i1vms1r..-)
Heroes. Husbands. and Rhino Hunters: Sckandar and
Bah ram Gur in the Shahnamch. 183
~liN
ri. SHARMA (Omo STA"l F UN1vrns1 n)
Shal111ameh-ye Naderi and the Revjval of Epic Poetry in
Post-·Safavid Tran, 295
A1rn..i.s AM~x
r (Y~n
C:--.i1vERs1n)
From cythia to Sistan: Reconciling
the Shahnameh and Herodotus to Discover the
Origins of t he Rostam legend. 319
RE ZA
HAGHAGHI ZARGH.AMH (C :--ilV[R\ITY o r ST ANDruws)
On the Sources of the Shdhnameh. i53
O t G:\ M . D.wrnsoN (Bosrol\ liNIVFRSllY)
Shifting Allegiances: Primordial Relationships <rnd
f Iow They Change in the shahnameh. 363
FR,.\Nl.:ll'N
I [\\' \ S (Till. l ll-\! VFHS ITY or C H ICAGO)
T he Shalinamch in lndia:
Tarikh-i Di1gush<i-yi Shamshir Khani.
4i1
C 1L\Rf r.s M c1.vn 1t (l il" rvrnsnY or C.urnruDGt)
Kok Kohzad in Afghanistan: Local Knowledge and
.sh,ilmamch Characters, 443'
M ARGA Rrr A .\1111.s
(Ouw S1xrr l:KJ VF.llSIT Y)
Side-Saddle Tazmin, or, the Post-Slwhnameh for
Victorian Children. 473
J-'rnuz:\ l'vlnvJLLl- (L.:\:1vrnstTY 01 C\MllR.CDG F)
STU DIES 01'\ MOD ERN PERS IAN LITJ::IV\TCRE
Poet and Ruler: T he C<l.sc of Dilsta1H gol. 1 ahuri's
Poem for Stalin . 52·3
N ATALL\
CrrA11sovA
1\:-\D Lr.YI.A LAll CTl
(R
us~IA.>:
Sr:u1:
L: N1vr.RSITY oF
\t1oscow)
(RussrA:\' STATF: UN tVLRSTTYOT tv1oscow)
T he Political and Litcrarv, J.ife of
(~
ysar
/\minpur.
551
L\TUvtnr SJ L\:VIS
(UNI VJ:RSlT Y OJ Pl>J"J SYl.VANIA)
Literature Beyond r~ o rde
s : 'tv1odcrn Persian Novels in
EngJish Tcmslation. The Case of Pezeshkzad's
My Uncle Napoleon. 589
S.ui:m.1-1
SHAH'JAHPUil
Astrolabe Hunting in the Punjab,
(LrrnlN
UNtV L:RS nY)
619
) 01-IN \VALRRfDGE ( l 'IDIA:"SA Ll' ! Vf.RS I TY)
fiibliography,
625
Fit
SHIFTING 1\lLEGIANCES
PRlMOR Dli\l RELAT IONSiliIP S AND I I.ow T HEY
CHANC ;E IN T HF. SH.~J-IN_;L\,f:
FRANKLIN LEWIS
T
he scholarly and literary endeavors of Dick Davis in the field
of Persian Literature are broad, ranging over a full millennium,
from the tenth to the twentieth century, a11d include not only
insightfully persuasive intcrpreiations of texts, source criticism, but
also literary interventions, in the form of bea utiful translations, many in
'crsc, situating multiple works of prose fiction and poetry in the wider
1:tcra1y consciousness of the modern anglophone world. Through Davis'
J::pic and Sedition: The Case ofFndowsi :~ S/zah11ameh (1992) and his
:ranslations (as well as those of Jerome Clinton), I overcame my bias
against thcShahnameh (a prejudice honestly inherited, through E.G.
Browne, as well as a Vietnam War-era aversion to batt le epics), and
fully em braced the majesty and psychological profund ity ofthc work.
It seems therefore fitting to address this essay in his honor to the
question of the Shahnameh, composed in Persian verse over a thirtythree year period, between abo ut 977 c1 a11d late winter of 1010 Cl
(400 All), by i"erd
ow
~ i of Tus (940- 1020 or 1025 CF.). However. a
significant po11ion of the argument here comes from a section of
the poem that Fcrdowsi did not \:\.' rite, \Vhicb he attributes to Daqiqi
(d. c. 976 cF:), from whom he took the task of composing the poem.'
~ja s p. " in f crdowsi, The Shahrwmeh,
I. Daqiqi, " Dastan-c jang-e Goshtasp baA
ed. Djalal Khalcghi-Motlagh, vol. 5 {Costa Mesa, CA, and New York:
Mazda Publishers and H ibliotheca Persica, 1997). pp. 76- 174. /\. Shapur
Shahhazi, Fe1·dowsi: .1. Critical Biography (Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda
Publishers and Ilarvard Uniwrsity Center for Middle Eastern Studies,
363
l\evcrtheless, this artic le treats t.he Shuhnameh as speaking with c:
unified voice, one which Ferdowsi fas hioned and del ibcratelv ed ited
'
'
into a coherent artistic form, even though he inherited the plot of the
story and at least a thousaod lines (abOlrt one-fifti eth o r the whok
text) fro m a uthors who came hefore him.
As is wel l known from his own cxordium to the poem, Fer dow
~ i
writes as a confirmed ' Alid, a Shiite, in a Persia \vhere S unni affiliation (specillca!ly of the f;Ianafi and Shalh riies) predomina ted.
and \vh ere the monarch ro whom he eventual ly dcdicatc.d the poem.
Sultan Mabnrnd of Ghazna, was staunchly Sunni. Ferdowsi assumes <!
defiant tone in his affirmarion of this minoritarian identity: the world
is laid o ut Iike an ocean and of the seventy sectarian shi ps of fa ith
with the ir sails ful ly rigged, Ferdowsi chooses to board the only one
in which both \1ul.1ammad and' Ali ride.: He refers to the Iladith that
descri bes M ul)ammad as the city o f knowledge and ' Ali as its gate.
twice naming' A li outright,' and twice more hy -.veil-known epithets.
vasl (legatee) of the Prophcr, and (laydar (lion), as fo llows:"
1991 ), p. 64, believes that Ferdowsi began versify ing the Shahnameh
independently of Daqiqi, so we should not assume that Ferdowsi began
composing on ly aflerDaqiqi 's death. Djalal Kha leghi.-Motlagh, "DaqiqI,
Abu Man~ur
AI:imad," Encyclop<Edia Iranica, vol. 6. fasc. 6 ( 1993 ), pp.
661-662, also available onl ine (last updated November 14, 20 11): http://
www.iranicaonline.org/articles/daqiqi-abu-mansur-ahmad-b, places Daqiqi's
deatb "in approximately 366/976" whi le his birth "can probably be placed
after 320/932." Note however that these Christian and Islamic dates do not
correctly align; the article has Ferdowsi 's work on the Shahnameh beginning
"in about 365/977," whereas Daqiqi's death occurs one year later by the
Islamic calendar (366) and one year earlier by the Gregorian (or Julian),
in 976 (the year 365 AH should run from September 975 through August
976, while 366 AH should run from September 976 through August 977).
2. Swnmarizing the first part of the section Goflar andar seLayes-e paygambar (In Praise of the Prophet) in Ferdowsi, The Shahnameh, ed. Ojalal
Kbaleghi-Motlagh, vol. I (New York: Bibliotheca Persica, 1988). pp.
10-11, IL 95- 104.
3. !hid .. p. 10, II. 96 and 101.
4. !hid., p. 11 . II. I 02 4 . Some manuscripLs reverse the order ( v
a .~· iy
o nabi) ,
though the mean ing of the pair in Shi ill! usage remains clear: the Prophet
and 'A Ii as his designated legatee.
_c.:hifr
.~
Allcgiilnm: Priflhinlial .Relatiorisl1ips in the Shal111a111eh
._sl..,. ~
~
~
.J
ol_; J :.r~
~
('.) :.,.:..
~
..,
~>
.J
<.S I y-: _}.~:,
014-
;jl..l
; l:. ~
~
.\..:& ~i
)~ ~
Y..Y. r-A
j,!1 J ...:....,1 ~:
...St:.. .,_s
"'-!.S
J6S
~
I
~ i.J:!j . .:. :i.J.
i'~lj
J
0.:..r.
If you'vc your eyes set 0.11 the next abode,
Sit with the Prophet [nahlj and his Legatee
lva,\'ll.
If this displeases you, tJie fault is mine Such is my religion and such my pa.th:
To this I was born and in this will die.
Know I am dust at the feet of rhat I .ion l[wydarl
Ferdowsi's fellow townsman and precursor in the atlernpt to
versify the Shahnameh, Abu Man~ur
i\l.1mad l)aqiqi (d. c.366 AH/976
l'F.}, also makes a trenchant assertion of religious adherence in the
followi ng poem:'
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5. Pers ian text as produced in Gi lbert Lazard, As 'iir-e pariikanda-ye qadimitarin fo 'ar{l-yejlir.1·i-=abi?n. vol. 2: Matn-e a.~ 'iir (Tehran: ()esmal-c
lranshenasL Em;titu-yc lr ~n va Faransa, l-341 s./J 962), p. 164.
THE L \YER F. n HIART: EssAY$ O .:--l J '~ : RsJA
1"
Po
LTALRUS CELLSTlAL, l A ljR US TERRESJ'RIA LJ 0
The parad isal cloud 's unfurled. my idol,
tile reg.al robe of Taurus on the grou nd.
Paradise - the fl clds of rose rescmhle it!
The May Queen tree be.decked - Heaven's
H ou
r i~
The world each moment shows such peace you 'd think
no pard hums, but on graven goblets, any deer.·'
The world 's turned peacock-plumed before our eyes:
so soft so me places: others, thic ket-dense.
The ground is like a blood-tinged s ilk brocade,
the air is like an awre sheer chiffon.
resembli ng ... what? You see its likeness
LO
the loved one, drawn in dust with wine and musk?
And from rich so il wafts attar scent so sweet,
it conj ures roses kneaded in the clay.
Tn taste. like nectar bubbling from a spring;
in tinge, stark contrast: wi ld doe's eyes, black/white.
An icon 's needed now, with sun-cheered checks a glowing orb, head cushioned on old Sol.
!\ goddess, cheeks tinged with the rubies' hue!
A wine, glinting like pagoda-goers' garb! 8
6. Frankl in Lewis, ·'Persian May-day Poem (Ordibehesbt - Taurus): Taurus
Celestial I Taurus Terrestial" [English translatfon of a poem by Daqiqi],
Facebook page of Frankl in Lewis, May l, 20ll(https://www.facebook.
com/note.php?note_id= l 0150167376 13841 2). My translation was inspired
by the use of blank verse in the stand-alone translation of Dick Davis
(trans.), Ferdowsi: The Legend ofSeyavash (London: Penguin, 1992),
even though Davis there (p. x.xvi) proposes blank verse as particularly
apt for the trans lation of the epic genre into English, whereas this is lyric.
7. Reading the word kasri, ship, in the sense ofa metal wine goblet or rhyton
which might feanlfe engraved images, such as a leopard biting the neck
or flanks of a deer. We might also read kosti, meaning wrestling, with the
sense that the lion and lamb are at peace and engage only in playful tussle
rather than as hunter and prey.
8. For kene.i·t. which can denote a Zoroastrian lire temple, a 'iynagogue. or
Shfftins AllcgianCt's: Primordial Rt:l11tio11sliips in tht SlinhnJmeh
3ii7
Daqiqi has chosen four qualities
from all things good and pgly in this world:
Garnet-colored lips and the tuned harp 's t\vang,
Rust wine sur lie and Zoroastcr·s creed.
This ghazal- like poem describes a scene in the month ofOrdibehest, the Persian solar-ca lendar name for the month of mid-spring
(April-May), a season of warm. full fo liage. corresponding to the
Zodiacal sign of Taurus but named after ;Ha Vahista (Midd le Persian
Ardwahi.Sr = Besi Truth), the hypostatsis of Truth and one of the !\m~sa
Sp::rnta hcpt.ad in Zoroastrian belier.·; The poet, or more properly his
persona, embraces in the taxallo,<;, or signature line. a Zoroastrian
identity who playfully scandalizes and tantalizes the reader with the
promise of wine, poignant lyrical (romantic) music, fragrant and
abundant fl owers, the suggestion of 'vhat sounds like a celebration
arou nd the may pole, and the promise of amorous dalliance with the
lips of the flower-bedecked beloved. ll strains cre<lul ity to th ink that
could be anything but a
a man called Abu Man!;iur Ab.mad cbn !\l~ mad
\.1uslim. The poet's given name, Al:unad (which points to the Prophet
Mu~amd),
and both his patronym (ebnJ\l)mad) and teknonym (Abu
Man::;ur) suggest that he was born to a Muslim father and likewise gave
his son a Muslim name. His taxullos of ''Daqiq i" also smacks of very
Arabophone origins and therefore li kely reflects a Muslim patronage
context. Despite this, a reasonable suspicion remains, due in part to
an i<lol remplt!, l have chosen "pagoda-goer."
9. The spring, specifically the spring equinox, is celebrated as a holy fesi ival in Zoroastrian tradition, at Nowruz, in the month of Farvardin, but in
th is poem we find ourse.lves thirty days plus into rhe new vernal year, in
Ordihchest. See \.fary Boyce, 'Ardw
a hi~
t,"'
in Encydopa:dia lranica. vol.
2, fasc. 4 (1986) pp. 389- 90; also available online (last updated August
11, 20 11): http:iiwww.iranicaonlinc.orgiarticlc<;fardwabist-av. We might
recall this time of year as Chauct:r's season or pilgrimages (''Whan that
J\prille with his shourcs soote. i The droghte of March hath perccd to the
rnote,i/ ....The tend re croppcs. and the yonge sonnc 1 1lath in the Ram
his halfe cours y-ronne//'').
this poem, that Daqiqi may have been born a. Zoroastrian , because the
sources that attribute his Muslim name to him arc not contemporaneous
to his lifetime, and scholarly opinion on the question of his affi liation
has been dividcd .'l: Dj alal Khalcghi-Motlagh has postulated he was
perhaps a Shiite like Fcrdowsi, since his hometown T us
had long been a Shi'ite city and in the time of the Samanid
· Abd al-RaLzaq had becorne the
governor A hu Man~Qr
cenkr of Persian nationalist activ ity as well, it b probable
that DaqfqT, like Ferdowsl, was of the Shi ' ite persuasion.
fn rhat period many adherents of Shi ' ism took pride in the
ancient culture of Iran, which led opponents to describe
them as Qarma{Ts and So' Qbis and to rank them among
the Miij us (Zoroastrians) and ZandTqs (Manichcans). 1
However that may be, Ferdowsi does not describe Daq iqi as
either Zoroas trian or Shiite, but as a yo uth o f bad temperame nt ,
10. The notion was early on rebuffed by H.H. Schaeder, " War DaqiqT Zoroasrrier?,·' in Festschrift Georg Jacob zum siebzigsten Geburtstag 26. Mai
1932 gewidmet von Freunden und Schiilern, ed. Theodor Menzel (Leipzig:
0. Harrassowitz, 1932), pp. 288-303. Mobammad Mo' in, Mazdayasna
va ta'sir-e an dar adabiyfll-e piirsi (Tehran: Capxana-ye Dan
e~ga h
, 1327
~. I 1948), pp. 315- 22, marshals the evidence pro and con, and though he
wants to credit a Zoroastrian allegiance (suggesting along with Foruzanfar
that the Muslim name of Daqiqi and his father was a matter of dissimulation, taqiya), Mo' in eventually concludes that Daqiqi was (outwardly)
a Muslim, his private predilections very much inclined toward Zoroastrianism (p. 322). Ojala! Khaleghi Motlagh, "Firdausiund seine Einstellung
zu DaqTqI," Zeitschrifl der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft,
124: I (1974), pp. 73- 93, discusses this point in passing, while establishing
Ferdowsi's relationship with and attitude toward Daqiqi's lines. More
recently, Ashk Dahlen. ·Thematic Features in Iranian National History
Writings : The Case of lhe Daslan-e Goshtasp (Tale of Goshtasp)," in
International Shlilmiime Conference: The Second Millenium Conference
Volume. ed . Forogh Hashabciky (UppsaJa: Upsala Universitet, 2014 ), pp.
13 -56, especially pp. 27- 32 and 51 - 2, vigorously renews the brief for
Daq iqi's Zoroastrian adherrnce.
11. Khaleghi-Motlagh, ··Oaqi4i," in Encyclopacedia lranica. vol. 6, fa/ic. <i
( 1993), p. 662; also available on line (last updated November 14, 2011 ):
http://www.iran icaon Iine. org/arti clcsida4 iqi-abu-mansur-ahmad-b.
Sh!fting 1\llegia11m J>rimcJrdidl Rclationship5iii the Shuhnarnc:h
suggesting that this trait somehow led to his murder. and a terrible kind
of homicide in the Slwhnameh universe - being slain by the hands of
a social inferior. Ferdowsi te lls us in these lines that when the various
prose shahnamehs had gained popularity and were being read aloud
or rec itcd (hami x:wiind x wiinanda bar lwr kas i), an articulate youth
came a long, a good orator who had a fluid abi lity to compose verse,
and stated that he \Vould put this illustrious work (niima-ye niimvar)
into verse (be .\·e 'r i'iram), a statement which made the assembly
rejoice (az u sadmiin .fod del-e m?joman). This circle of litteratcurs
docs not breathe a word about the religious affiliations of this youth;
were he a Zoroastrian, we might expect Ferdowsi to mention it, citing
it e ither as an advantage in composing the work (a Zoroastrian might
be expected to speak more authoritatively about the period), or as a
subj ectively biased vantage point from which to compose a work
about the pre-Islamic past (certainly at least one among the assembly
or littcrateurs would have experienced at least a twinge of jealousy
and hence raised an objection). Again, Ferdowsi makes no mention of
Daqiqi 's religion, but does find fauli with his character, a lbeit perhaps
' ~ One \vould imagine thal if
attributing it to the impetu osity of youth.
Ferdowsi, who probably bases his comments about Oaqiqi on personal
experience rather than on a written source," might attribute Daqigi's
l2. Ferdowsi, The Shahnam eh, ed. Khaleghi-Motlagh. vo l. 1, p. 12, I. 124
(nama-ye niimvur), and p. lJ, ll. 126 34, quoting II. 126 (hami .w ..·and
... ) and l?.9 (he .fo 'r i'iram ... dl!.l-e anjonwn).
13. The internecine conflicLcontinues over the <kgrcc to which ferdowsi
follows a unitary written Xwaddy-numag namttivc. or incorporates other
written or oral sources, and its implications for editing and understanding
r crdowsi's Shanm
~li.
On this question, see, e.g., Dick Dav is. '·The
Prnblem of Ferdowsi 's Sources;' Journal o/the American Orie111al
Society , 116: I ( 1996). pp. 48- 58: Olga Davidson, "The Text of rerdnwsT's
Shiihniima and lhc I3L1rden of the Past," Journal ofrite American Oriental
Society, l 18: I (l 998). pp. 63-8; idem, Poet and Hero in rhe f'erxiun Book
f?/'Kings, 2nd ed. (Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2006), especially
pp. 61 82; Kumiko Yamamoto, The Oral Back.ground of Persian Epics:
Storytelling and Poetry (Le iden and RosLon : Brill, 2003): Mahmoud
Omid~alr,
''Editing the Shahnama: The Interface between Literary and
Textual Criticism." in The Necklace o/1he Pfeiade.1· (Studies in Persian
TH E L AY I IUD
H EAR.T;
£,~
AYS
ON P ERS I \t-.
Po[ 1 R1
wickedness to im piety or to a. crooked creed.• but he only laments that
~
fort\lne turned against Daqi:
1
.:i.,.; . J L~
"-i
;Jl.:i
;t..:; j,J.; - ~
~
ji ~ ~
~
.UL....
..:i.; 1...:
:J ~
"-AA
jl ~
..>! >-" 4..; J'.:i~
~
...}'>
;,,.::, d
;.~Y·:i"'-1
.i,;L., ~
J
l
l.l.>J
.) - ·
~
.
u' Li.::.'
..:i::,'..,. 4~
~ ~1.:
;.fi ~Li
.Y. ~
J Y.
_,jl ~
4...>Ll j ;l J JI
..::..:3.Y.
In his youth, he was shadowed by bad temper; 1;
he struggled all his years to tame th is bad ness.
He lost sweet life because of'ihat bad temper.
llis heart found this world held no joyful days,
then death, of a sudden, overtook him,
and closed the earth's dark visor on his face.
Fully, fiercely, Fortune turned away fro m him:
he was by the hand of a servant slain.
He wcm and left behind this book unverl'e-0.
Thus was his once woke fortun e put to sleep.
Literafure Presented lo !leshmal Moaxvad on His 801'1 Birthda;): 2.:/
Essays on Persian 1.itemture, Culture and Religion, ed. Franklin Lewis
and Sw1il Shanna (Amsterdam: Rozenberg, and West Lafayette. fN: Purdue
University Press, 2007; and new ed., Leiden: Leiden University Press,
20 I0), pp. 75- 94 ; Mahmoud Omidsalar, Poetics and Politics of Iran 's
National Epic, The Shiihnam eh (New York: Palgrave Macmil Ian, 2011 ),
especially pp. 63- 9; and Julia Rubanovich, "The Shah-nama and Medieval Orality: Critical Remarks on Lhe "Oral Poetics" Approach and New
t>erspcctives," Middle Eastern Litera1ures: lncorporoting Ldt1biym, 16:2
(201.3 ). pp. 217-26 (hllp:i/dx.doi.org/ I0.1080/ 1475262X.201 3 .843 263).
14. Ferdowsi, The Shcilmameh, ed. Khaleghi-\;lotlagh, vol. I. p. I J, II. 130 35.
1) . Or "Bad temper kept company with this youth ."
Shi/iiltlJ....., .1\//t•.:riarttt'S:
PrimtJrdial R
,_.,
...,
el: n iJH~
h1 p· 'Sin the s lrnJmameh
3JI
I would therefore understand Daqiqi's above-quoted Taurus poem
as an intervention in the shu uhzi;_rn (ethnic pride movement) dchalcs,
boasting of the Persian past and the values of the dehqcin (landed
gent ry), rather than an actual observance of Zoroastria n p recepts,
ritua ls, and laws."'
Since Daqiqi embarked on a verse retelling of' the Shahnameh as
did Fcrdowsi after him , we can safely say that both men shared more
than a passing interest in the pre-Islamic history of Persian monarchy,
and delighted in recovering its lore, its martial values, and its soc ial
ethics. Indeed, rhis project seems to have meshed with the political
zeitgeist of the Samanids, a mythic foundational histO•)' that bolslcre.d
Samanid c laims to authority, alongside a bardic docudrama of the
Sasanian era, su pposedly positioned as non-fictional, if not exactly
h istorical. 1' Fcrdowsi cspccia lly did so in a somewhat consc ious!y
archaizing language, designed as a linguistic and literary monunH.:nt
to stand the long-tem1 test oC time. By allowing Daqiqi to posthumously tell the episode of Zoroaster in what was otherwise f erdowsi 's
verse monument of the Shalmameh, Fcrdowsi m.ay have contributed
(unwittingly'?) to the Zoroastrian aura sunounding DaqiqiY
16. On this question. as it relates to Persia and Persian, see Roy Moltahedeh,
"The Shu 'uhfyah Controversy and the Social History of Early lslamic lran:·
/Jlfernaiional J ournal ofMiddle Easr Studies. 7:2 \April 1976), pp. 161 - 82;
while Lutz Richter-Bemburg. "I .inguistic Shu ' ubiya and Early NeoPe ~ian
Prose,'' Journal of the American Oriental Socie(v, 94: I (January-March
1974), pp. 55- 64, attempts a description of the change of ethos that took
place bdween the time in which Daqiqi and ferdmvsi \'t'rote. and the era
of later writers in Persian. Perhaps the fi rst lo pose the tem1 "linguistic
shu'ilb iyya" was Ignaz Goldzihc.:r. " Die Shu ·Qbi.i.ia'" and "Die Shu'C1bijja
und ihre Hckundung in der Wissenschaft," in Muha111medt.111ische Studie11,
I (Halle aS.: Max Niemeyer, 1888), pp. 147 -21 6.
17. Julie Scott Meisami, Persian His1oriography to the End ofthe fa'elfth
CenfufJ' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999). p. 53, argues that
the Shahnameh was " something or an anomaly, not quite literature and
not quite history." lt is certainly the case that Ferdov...-si expresses anxiety
that the rny1hical elements in the narratives he relates will be dismissed a ~
untrue fairy tales, whereas he wants the reader lo find metaphoric meaning.
IS. Daqiqi, The Shahnameh. ed. Khalcghi-Motlagh . vol. 5, p. 76, I. 13.
TH E T. 11.n Rrn Hu.RT: EssA rs ON J' r. 11.s1 A'I P onR1
Now I' ll relate the matter as he told it;
I'm ali ve. while he's embraced hy earth.
Ferdowsi is at pai ns to tell us, and his potential patron. that he doe;;
not think highly of Daqiqi 's verse or his poetic abilities in comparison
to his own: :9
?~i
.:
j!S....;Ll
. )~"Ll
fo
~
~
..........,
.l.il..).,l
f~
_;~
l ~
.~
~
u .i.S
;).!I
~
~.fi
~
-:;1j ,j,!1 ..:.;...
I looked into this verse and found it weak;
I found that mruiy lines in ii were marred .
I say this here so that the king shall kno\v,
discern th e faulty in composi11g speech.
Apart fro m proving lhe superiority of his own talent (and perhaps
saving himsel f about six months' work toward the cornpletion of
what was, after all. ru1 enormous and am bitious task of versification
of the e nlire Shahnameh), Ferdowsi's reasons fo r ventriloqui7.ing
the story of Zoroaster through the medium of Daqiqi may well have
included de-empha<>iz.ing si::ctarian rdigions conllict in Iranian history.
Ferdowsi adduces pride of lineage and " royal amour p ropre" as the
primary reason for the break between R.ostam and Goshtasp/ 0 and
whi le this more or less harmonizes with accounts by some medieval
historians (such as Tabar! and Tha'alabi), Dav is argues that quoting
19. Ibid., p. 175, JI . 1030· 31. On the relationship offerdowsi to Oaqiqi\
verses. sec Khaleghi-Motlagh, "h rdausT und seine Einstellung £ LI Daqfqi. ,.
w·hich argues that his attitude is actually somewhat ambivalent.
20. Sc\.! Dick Davis, "'Ri:digion in Lile Shohnamch," Iranian Studies, 48:3 (~ fay
20 15: special issue, "T he Shahnameh of f en.lowsi as World Literature.''
guest edited by franklin Lewis), pp. 337- 48. nt p. 34 1.
Shifting Allegiances: J>rimardiul Relarionsliip; in the Slrnhnamch
373
Daqiqi's account all ows Ferdowsi to sidestep a contrary view which
other historians (such as lbn lsJ:taq ?nd OTmnvarT) relate, atLribuLing
the falling out to Closhtasp 's acceptance and Rostam 's rejection of
Z oras
ter.~'
Ferdows.i seems little interested in religion an<l its ritual
and doctrinal speci ncs, except to some extent in t11c episode of Mazdak,
largely because the latter's radical (heretical'!) beliefs threaten the
social order. With the change of rdigious identity brought on by lhe
Arab Muslim conquerors, the problem seems to inhere less in the
new religion per se, and its doctrines or rituals (Ferdowsi expresses
admiration for the Muslim conquerors' ethical purity, as the trappings
of royal majesty at the Persian court do not seem to sway them in
the least), than in the new social order it brings, replacing the throne
with the pn lpii::: 2
The era is ' Umar's henceforth; he brings
religion, so the pulpit is now throne.
This conquest, unlike Alexander the Great's, breaks the aLJthority of
the Ira.11 ian monan:hical tradition and shakes up the aristocracy, whose
nobility and line.age (neiiid) constitute the bedrock of the old order.
Ferdows i seems to feel the aftershocks of those reverberations in his
The notion of continuity in lran ian identity, at once poli tical,
own day:~-;
religious, and ar.istocratic, seems central to the narrative messagt! or
Ferdowsi am! the Shahnameh. Therefore, pulling responsibility for the
narrative contours of Goshtasp's conversion to Zoroastrianism on the
21. Dick Davis, ·•Rosram and Zoroastriani:;m." in The Necklace o,fthe 1-'leiade.s, ed. t .ewis and Sharma, pp. 49-6 1.
.22. Ferdowsi, The Slwhnameh, ed. Djalal Khalcghi Motlagh, vol. 8 (New
York: Bibliotbeca Pi:rsica and Eiseubrauns, 2008), p. 485, I. 876.
23 . See Edmund Hayes, ' 'The Death o f Kings : Group Identity and the
Tragedy ofNezhad in fcrdowsi's Shahnamch,'' Iranian Studies, 48:3
(l'vll:ly 2015), pp. 369- 93.
374
shoulders o f Daqiqi may save Ferdowsi from appearing con t rovesial.~"
or from having to discuss 7,oroastrian be liefs (theology and doctrinal
specifit:s holding little intere.i:;t for him), and the way Ferdowsi does
inse11 Daqiqi's version of evcnL-; in the larger narrative hel ps minimize
the sense of rupture and maintain the impression of a un ified religious
tradition in pre-Islamic T ran.
"~ As Davis has put it, "Ferdowsi apparently wishes to play do'i\'11 the moment of transition" and ''any strife
connected w ith whal was essentially a religious transition" and ''to
leave it almost unmarked in faeC or to put it in the mouth of someone
ef.se if it must be marked at all."' Other explanatio ns offored include
that Ferdowsi may have had trep idations about articulating his true
feelings about Zoro astrianism,27 or that be felt it awkwa rd lo attem pt
to ha rmo nize an Islamic view of history (and perhaps spccitically a
partisan Sh iite one) that sees the Islamic rel igion as abrogating the
past period of ignornncc (jiihiliya) with a s upposedly contrary Iran ian
view implicit in the Shahnameh. of a cyclical history in which a great
and j ust ruler founds a dynasty (Pishdadian, Kayanian, Ashkaniiin,
Sasiinian) wh ich endures until a hubri~1c
or otherwise bad mler brings
about its downfall , and a s ubsequent great ruler founds a ne\.v dynasty. 1 ~
This is an argument forwarded by the Warner bro the r~ in their translation; see Arthur George and l::dmond Warner (trans.). Thci Shahn{mw of
Firdausi, vol. 5 (l ,ondon: Kcgan PauL Trench, Tri.ibner & Cl), 191 0). p. 2J.
25. Davis, '·Religion in the Shuhnameh." p. 341.
'.2 6. Dick Davis, "llejccted Narratives and Transitional Crises wi thin the
Shahnflmc," in International Shiilmi'lme Co11/e1t?nce: Tile .)'econd Millenium
Conference ViJ/ume. ed. Hasbabciky, pp. 57- 66. at p. 59 .
27. Theodor Noldekc, Das iranische Nationalepos, 2nd ed. (Berlin and
Leipzig: Vercinigung wisen~chaftlr
Verleger. 1920), pp. 19-·23, first
broached the q ue ~tio
n (in the original J 896 publication of rhi::; work) or
Ferdowsi's relationship to Daqiqi and prtiposcd (p. 22) that the question
of Zoroastrianism may have been too sensitive for Perdowsi l<> confront
fu!l face, hence he preferred to stand behind the mask of Oaqiqi.
28. Julie Scott Meisami. ·'The Past in Service of the Present: Two Views of
l fotor) ' in Medieval Persia," Poeiic:s foday, 14:2 (Summer 1993 : " Cultural
Processes in \'1uslim and Arab Societies: Medieval and Early Modem
Periods..), pp. 247- 5, contrasts 13ayhaqi's vcrs.ion of history with that of
Ferdowsi's Slurhm1meh. This argument is expanded hy Ghazzal Dabi ri,
"The Shahrrncna: Between the Samanids and the Ghaznavids," Iranian
24.
Shffti.rig Allegiance'$; f>rimordfo{ Rcla1io11s'1ips in the Shai111,;in,·it
37S
\ n FerdO\vsi and Daq iq i, the11 0 we have two poccs from the same
town who, by taking a public posil,ion in verse on the question of
religious affiliation - Ferdowsi apparently in earnest, Daqiqi apparently in character on a literary stage - show they arc keen ly aware
of the dynamics of overtly affirming beliefs th at challenge the status
quo majority. Loudly embracing a heterodox pos ition or m inoritarian
identity, even on paper, shocks the reader's se n~iblty
and conslillltcs
an affront to. or titillation ot: public morality. In Daqiqi 's case, the
proclamation or Zoroastrian ism constitutes a kind of mock blasphemy.
aclcd out within the prosceni um arch of a lyrical poem by a persona.
Capi tal consequences could ensue for a Mu slim who committed
apostasy (ertediid) by converting to anothe r religion, and we have
already seen the strong indications of an established (at least out\vard)
Muslim identity in Daqiqi's name. But the Zoroastrian avowa l in the
lyrical poem we read above conforms to the genre expectations of
gha:Gal and comes w ith the poetic license of literary convention. also
apparent in earl ier Samanid-era poems celebrating pre-Islamic Iranian
custo ms in a pseudo-blasphemous way (such as Rudaki 's Madar-e
may ril be-kard bCtyad qorhlin).i.:; Fcrdowsi's profossion of Shiite
identity and his trenchant wording of the problem (""! f this displeases
you, the fault is mine,'" but I will not change my position). must he
taken, however, as forthright anti declamatory, coming as it dc)es in
the exordium of a poem that avows his allegiance to God and to the
Bal'am i's history. for
Studies, 43: I (February 20 I0), pp . 13 28, who ~c es
example, as successfully integrating a Perso-lslamic paradigm into the
story of the fall of Jamshid, whereas Ferdowsi maintains a ··solely frnnian
mythos'' (p. 2 l). On the other hand, Deborah G. Tor. "'The lslamisation of
Iranian Kingly ldeab in the Persianatc flirsteospiegel,'. Iran. 49 (20 11),
pp. 11 5- 22, argues that "the assimilation of the ancient Iranian ideal or
rulersilip into ls larnic political thought" that c<m be traced in the Shal111ameh
and elsewhere "was an act of reconciliation and synthesis rather than of
contl ict, and that the Iranian political model supplied a crucial alternative
paradigm after the abject fai lure of the sole Islamic model or legitimate
authority, the universal caliphate'" (p. l 16).
29. For this and other examples, sec Franklin Lewis, "The Spirituality of
Per~
ian
Islamic Poetry," in The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Islamic
Spirituality, ed. Bru<..:c Lawrence and Vincent Cornell (Hob<.ikcn, )JJ:
Wiley-Hlackwell. forthcoming. 20 19).
76
·'1
Prophet, and goes on to relate the 1,;.ircumstances of composing the
Shahnameh and to thank his patrons. This is no jocular statement to
be winked away as the words of a tictional persona adopted by the
poet lndeed, Fcrdowsi seems to anticipate that his declaration before
king and country could entail possihle ad verse career implications,
whereas Oaqiqi anticipates espousal of Zoroaster's creed will resu lt
in wine, women and song.
Keeping in mind the dynamics and the real-world stakes for faith
declarations, we may consider how chara.ctcrs in the .\'halmameh do
change allegiance, in the first test case below froni one faith to a new
one, and in the Sl!Cond test case from one mythical monarch/husband
to another. My aim is to establish some paradigms for careful reading
of such evenb throughout the Shahnameh.
The conversion narrative of Shah Goslnasp to Zoroastrianism occurs
midway through Ferdov..·si 's Shalmameh but quite early in the l 0 l 4line passage Ferdowsi incorporates from Daqiqi.' 0 The material for
did not. of course, originate with
the story of Goshtasp and A~j asp
Oaqiqi; it is found in an earlier Middle Persian poem, Ayadgi.ir-1 lar~
a n
(the so le surviving manuscript of which dates to 1322 CE) ," ; a short
Sasanian heroic epic th at retains traces of Parthian/Arsacid origin,
but has deeper roots in the Garhas and several Yasts of the Avesta,
which alludes frequently to '-Vistaspa" (Wistasp in Middle Persian:
Goshtasp in 't-icw Persian) and his support for Zoroaster, and mentions
30. Daqiqi, "'Soxan-c Oaqiqi," in Ferdowsi, The Shah11ame// , ed . Khalcghi-\lotlagh, vol. 5, pp. 76- 124, ll. 14- 1028.
31. f:{abih Bo~ ji a n , "Yadgar-e Zarirau : Carnnama-ye ·a$r-c pal:J lavani." Par.
I7: I (ii\ 93 , Bahman-mah 13 80 !'i./2002), pp. 12- 14, with the manuscript
date given on p. 13; for translations, 5ee the (neo-) Persian translation of
l.fabib Ho1jian (trans.), "Y a.dgar-e Zariran," Par 17:2 (if194, bfand-rniih
1380 (/2002), pp. 8 - 11: and the Engli<;h translation of E.W. West '·The
Yatkar-i-Zariran. or Memoirs of Zari ran." in Th e Sacred Books and Early
Literature q/rhe East, vol. 7: Ancient Persia, ed. Charles f. Horne (New
York and London: Purke, Austin and Lipscomb, 19 17). pp. 2 l 2- 24.
the name Zairivairi (or Zarir in Fcrdowsi). ;: lntemally. 1he Ayadgar-T
Zareran itself claims 10 have bceo written d<)WI\ contemporaneously
with the event oftb e conversion of Goshtasp - along with his sons,
I
brothers. supporters, and his whole clan - to the .. pure religion of
Mazdayasna from Ohrmazd.'' This results in Arji.isp, shah o f t he
Xyon people, sending a letter to Goshtasp explaining that this ne w
religion may cause his people much difliculty a nd hann; he therefore
promises to pay rich tribute to Goshtiisp if he would only accept the
Xyons' religion, othenvise he promises to lay \vaste to lran.; 3 Mary
Boyce speculates that. the Ayadgar-T 7.areran ep ic was incorporated
into the Xwaday-namag in Sasanian times. a nd provided, pe rhaps
along witli !he living oral trndition of northeast Iran, the sources fo r
D aqiqi 's (and therefore Fcrdowsi·s) telling of this story.'l'
Of course, the part of Daqiqi 's passage that describes the conversion orGoshtasp docs not occur in AyiidKar-1'Zaredin, which takes this
as afait accompli and s imply rnmates the ensuing war with A~j as p.
Apart from the now Jost Xwaday-niimag, other sources in Arabic
and in Persian may have influenced Daqiqi's version of Goshtiisp's
conversion, 15 including the no longer extant mid-eighth-century Arabic
translation of the Xwadfiy-namag (Siyar al- 'ajam) by lbn al-Muqaffa'
.32. See A. Shapur Shahbazi, ''Gostasp," in Em:y c:lopacedia franica. vol. 11.
fasc. 2 (2002), pp. l 71-6; also available onJine (last updated February 17,
2012): http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gostasp. Curiously, the actual
heroes who defeat Arjasp and his henchmen are Bastwar and Esfandyar,
not Zarir.
33. Horjian (trans.), ·'Yiidgar-e Zariran." p. 8; and West (trans.), "The !'01kllr- i-Zariran:' µ. 212.
34. Sec Mary Boyce. ··Ayi'idgarT Zarcran,'· in Encyclopacedia /ranica, vol.
.3. fac;c. 2 (1987). pp. 128- 9; also available onlinc (last updated July 20,
'2012): http://www. ininicaon Iine.org/articlcs/ayadgar-i-zareran.
35. r or a prehistory of f'erdowsi's Shahnameh, see ~ja l al Khalcghi-Motlagh.
·'Az Sahnama ta Xodayna.ma: Jos1ari darbara-yc ma'axer.-e mostaqim
vu gayr mostaqim-e S ahn
~m a (b~
yek payvast: Fehrest-e band motun-e
az dast rafta he l:aban-c pahlavi," Ntuna-ye fri'in-e biistii11. 7: l- 2 ( 1386
iU 2007), pp. 3-119. Available on line: http://www.cnsani. ir!storage!
f-ilcs/201 20614193429-7090-J00.pdf.
(killed . ca. 757 u:J l 39 ah)?' Abu al-Mo'ayyad-c Bal kbi's prose version
of the Shahnameh, known as .~ahnm-ye
bozorg, or /iahniima-ye
Mo 'ayyadi. a work that is also now lost but wh ich circulated before
963 ci.: (3 52 ah), since Ral'ami's adaptation ofTabarT's 'J"clri.x mention5
it;'? and the Abu Man
~ uri
Shahnameh commissioned in 957 ct (346
ah). Indeed, the ground-breaking scholar l:fasan Taqi:dida came already
in the 1920s to speak of this period as an "era of the shahnamas.''B Jn
fact, Goshtiisp is a co111plex figure, a bout whom pre-Is lamic sources
disagree, with a general ly pos itive view of the Kayanid king " Kay
Wi.~lsp
" c o ntra
~ 1ed
with a negative picture preserved of hi rn in sources
fro m Sistan, or perhaps the di ffercm:e may lie in courtJy Sasanian
v ersus religious sou
rc es. '~
A Ithough Daq iq i's version of Goshtasp's acceptance of the Zoroastrian faith , which as we have noted wac; composed possibly around
975 CE, is likely therefore constructed from or inOucnced by antecedent
versions and standard tropes comm.on to convt:!rs ion narratives in
36. J. Derck Latham. "Ebn al->.foqaffa' A bu 1 \ fo~amd
'l\.bd-AJlah RoLheh,"
in f ~1cy
clo
pa {l!.di
u lranica, vol. 8, fasc. l ( J997). pp. 39 -43: also available
online (last updated December 6, 2011): http:iiwww.iranicaonline.org!
a1ticlesiebn-al-rnoqaffa.
37. To Abu al-\4o'ayyad-e 13alkhi is also attributed a Gar.ffispnarna. but this
may be l:ln episode from his prose />[lhnama. Sec G ilbc1t Lazard. "Abtt '1 Moayyad 13alki,'" in E11cyc!opredia lranica, vol. 1, fasc. 4 (1 983 ), p. 340;
an on line version is also available (last updated July 21 , 20 l I): hnp:/iwww.
iranicaonline.org!articlesihalk i-abul-nioayyad. See also Nasrin 1 \~kari,
Flu:
Medie val Reception of the Shahncima as a Jiirror fo r Princes (Leiden
and Boston: UriJI. 20 16). p. 9 1.
38. Askari, The iHedie val R e c;E ~ ptfon
r~ lth
e Shahnama , pp. 89 -96, who
emphasizes, fo llowing Khalcghi-Motlagh, that the Xwadciy-Numag in
the Sasanian period was not a unitary source, but contained conflicting
accounts of the same narratives, which were tht.:n minored in confl icting
accounts given by various Arabic and Persian sources in the Islamic period.
39. See Shahbazi, "Gostasp··: Boyce, "AyadgiirT Zareran•·; Davis, '·Rejeckd
Narratives and Transitional Crises"; and Davis. "Rostam and Zoroastrianism'"; as well as Dahlen. "Thematic f eatures in Iranian National History
Writings.'" See also Arthur G. and Fd1Mnd \.Varner (trans.). '/he Shcllmllma
q(Firdausi. vol. 5, p. 17, who over a Ct;ntury ago drew up a chmt to try to
trace the known and imagined sources of the Goshtasp story.
lvfiddle Persian or even new Persian of the Islamic period, ii consti tutes
an early surviving instance of this episode. and of Persian conversion
narralivcs more general ly. lt also mtrrors Ferdowsi's concerns for the
conflict hetween father and son over issLlCS of trust and the appropriate
time for a king to lransfor rule to his crown prince.
a r y of monarchs in the
Afler Kay Xosrow, perhaps the most ex~ mpl
Shohnameh. abdicates by disappearing into the snow, Loh rasp becomes
the founder of the next dynasty. His impetuous son, Gosh tii.sp, wants
to occupy the throne early (an ambition Goshtasp '.Vi II later wrongly
pn ~ j e cl onio his own son, Esfandyar). and after conflicting with his
father over th is question, he strikes out first to Jndia, then to Anatol ia
(Rum), where he marri es Katayun, daughter of the Qa y ~ a r (Caesar)
of Rum. Good King Lohrasp, like Kay Xosrow who appointed him}
eventually does abdicate -· pa1tly in <lefcrcnce to his son Goshtasp's
hankering to take the reins of power, and partly in preference !or
the worship of God (vazdi'in) at a temple in Ralkh, specirica lly the
Nowbahar, onc-e a Bu<l dhist temple and seminary, Nava Vihara. <1s
M o ~ a mad
Mo' in tirst s hcnved, and whic h therefore in dicates an
implicit assumption or memory upon the parl of Daqiqi or his sources
tha.t the religion of tho Iranians prior to Zoroastrianism might have
been l3uddhisrn,40 though this likely conflates the period prior to the
historical Zoroaster, with the period before Sasanian promotion of
Zoroastrianism :•• In any case, the narrat ive emphasizes Lohras p·s
retreat from the capital and from politics to a hermitage and the lifo
of a contcmplative. 41 Lohrasp's personal conversion, or reded ication
of purpose from ter e~ lria l to celestial concerns, leads Ferdowsi to
r i1 - e piirsi,. pp. 323 27.
40. Mo' in, Arfa:;dayasna va la · .~ir - e an dar adb~
The association of ~o w bahr
with l\ava Vihara was also later nutcd by
Richard Rulliett. ·'Naw Bahar and the Survival
Iranian Buddhism,''
lri"m , 14 (1976), pp. 140-45.
or
41. The Sasanians did not impose Zoroastrianism on !heir subjects as has
been sometimes assumed; several religious traditions co-ex isted in most
circumstances, as argued by R ichard Payne.A State ofMixture: Christians..
Zoroastrians, and Iranian Political Culrure in Late Antiquity (Berkeley:
Cn ivcrsity of California Press, 2015).
42. \ilo" in, 1\4tedayasmi va l a 'sir-e t111 dar
a dab~1
t-e
pars( pp. 322·-3.
think of national conversion, explicitly comparing the practice of the
Arabs at Mecca during Fenlowsi's lifotime to this pre-Zoroastri<in.
ancient Iranian (or Buddhist?) practice at the Nava Vihara in Balkh :''
...::...:.. )~.Y
)~
_, ·.; ·:
j~.)
JJ) .jl
~
jl .!.oi ~)
.:_;\:,...,;...>.! jbj:. ~
j;I jyjl.J I_; ~
.Y' ~
J I~ ,
·:.J'~
.
.b
. .; :.J
•.,T
'-5~
~
.\J
. . . . . . . . . . . .~
1.l
·.<: ,.:.1 .....
\_,.·
•
I_; ..UL;. .) y
Lohrasp then tnrne<l the reign over to Goshtasp,
desc:cndcd from the throne and packed his things.
He left for fair Balkh's temple: Nowbahar,
a house that God-worshippers in those days
would hold in equa l reverence and esteem
as tl1c Arabs do Mecca in these days.
The tt:>xt characterizes Loh rasp as a true God-worshipper, almost
putting. us in mind of the {Janlf. and thus asserting a kind of continuity
between ritual practice if not religious doctrine. Here then is the image
ofa true worshiper avant la leflre of divine revelation (.Zarathustri or
Islamic), though in contradistinction lo the Buddhist aura ofthe temple,
we see Lohrasp finally offering prayers to the sun in the way of his
distant ancestor: Jamshid, while simultaneously tying on a cincture
(haykal be-bast) that anticip<ltcs Zoroastrian practice, without actually
mentioning its technical nnme.';4 Likewise, Daqiqi uses a Zoroastrian
43. Ferdowsi. The Shahnami?.h.. ed. Khalcghi-Motlag b, vol. 5. pp. 76- 7, II.
14 -16.
44. Of course. it may be anachronistic in Daqiqi 's mfod to call the Zoroastrian sacred cincture. the kusti (or kushti), by its Zoroastrian ritual name
at this point, since the conversion to Zoroastrianism has not yet occurred.
He does use the word kosti later (Shahnameh. vol. 5. p. 81 , I. 55), ah hough
in much subsequent Persian poetry the kusti is not distinguished from the
Christian cincture. or =onniir (from Greek).
word for prayer (ni<~·e.v
reasons as nc:vayd):·1;
~
~
l _; .i:,I~
j~
.J
,,_;'G.,
~·,_
:..ft
which slwuld be read below for metrical
1.,~;
j
.i..i;._,_)
j
I_; ~-
_;;.jl ~
04
1J
..J,!)i
:._;~
~
.l?
J.l
J
..s......4-
~
~-Jf.
S3.) :..ft p.:!l:. ~
J.J S,_.
...;r ~
.:i.ft e ...:·Y. ~
._sl~ ~·u
,J....,;T
.s'~
J ..... ;s""; .T. ~
~
Y.
Y.
4-i ~
1_; ~_;,.:
;_fo. ~
'-';4-i
That God-worshipping Shah rode to that I rouse,
dismounted, tied the kusti on his frame.
11c flnn ly shut that house of praise's door
and left no stranger to remain within.
He donned the garb of worship, cotton, coarse:
thus must we show to Wisdom gratitude.
He cast off royal arm lets, shore his hair,
and set his face toward the portal [row.San] of the Judge.
He stood before Him for foll thirty years -
That is the titting way to worship God.
He made his prayers lniclydj constantly to the Sun;
such had been the path of Jam sh id of old.
If the sins of the fathers arc passed on for generations, so too arc
their good deeds. Goshtasp begins his reign ascending his father's
throne, basking in his father's Farr (or divine glo1y) and good fortune,
putting his paternally gifted crown upon his head, which indeed appears
fitting when gracing a regal noble brow. Goshtasp proclaims himself
as the God-worshipping shah, and though perhaps we may sec a slight
touch of fon.~shaJwig
hubris in his claim that it is God (rather than his
father) who gave him the crown (man-am go/i ya=diin-parastanda .vah
/man~
izad-e pak tl<~d
in koliilt I. :25). the occa5ion of royal ascension
45. ferdowsi. The Shalmameh, ed. Khaleghi-Motlagh, vol. 5, p. 77, II. I 7-22.
and proclamation perhaps calls for a degree of imperiousness, and,
in any case, he does confess in the subsequent lines that the divili\e
purpose in giving the reins o f state to him is to make the lamb He
down with the wolf in peace and justice. 46 Goshtasp continues, setting
a hopeful tone fo r his reign, which already involves promotion of
divine religion, though not yet Zoroaster's specific rites and creed:47
As long as we observe the rites of the kings
Well gu ide the had to the creed of God.
Cioshtasp fathers two children with Katayun (also called Nahid),
na1nely Esfandyar and Farshidvard (or Farsh-avard), ~ and dispenses
justice throughout the realm, so that all the kings pay tribme (gazit)
to him, except for the lord of Turan, before whom tJ1e demons stand
ready to serve, and who refuses to pay tribllle, but rather expects to
receive it. 1'' This creates a neat parallel that allows us to see Arjasp in
the virtual role of Ahriman, king of tl1e demons and creepy-crawlies
(Avcstan xrafastra), and Goshta.sp as the lord of the noble and the
suc~or
ofthe pre-lapsarian Jamshid: in fact he boasts of his lineage
from Feraydun in a passage that Fcrdowsi writes, and later, in the
section Oaqiqi writes, the narrator calls Goshtasp another Fcraydun.5<'
1
After some years pass, a mammoth tree appears in the earth, with
deep roots and many branches, growing in the palace of the shah, as
high as the domed roof (iwin). Its leaves arc good counsel and its fruit,
46. Fenlowsi, The Shafmc1111eh, ed. KhaJeghi-Motlagh. vol. :'i, pp. 77-8, 11.
2J 7 and 29.
47. Jbid ., p. 78.1. 28.
48. The read ing Pasutan that appears in many manuscripts is wrong; see
Djalal Khalcghi-Motlagh, Yid - da.~r
- ha-y
e Siihnama, vol. 2 (Winona Lake.
IN : Pl!rsian Heritage foundacion und Eisenbrauns, 2006), p. 220, I. 33.
49. ferd owsi, The Shahnwneh. ed. Khaleghi-Motlaglt, vol. 5, pp. 78-9, 11.
30 -38.
50 . Ibid., p. 19. l. 225, and p. 78, I. 34 .
wisdum. He who nu11ures Wisdom, the text tells us in an as ide, will
not die (kasi k-uz xerad bar xwarad kay merod, l. 41 ). The name of
this auspicious arbor of faith is Zo~ast
er (Zardahosht or 7ard host,
1. 42), who had washed the world of Ahrimanic stain.' ' Zoroaster
announces to the Kayani k ing, Goshtasp: "I am a prophet/messenger
[payg,/mbar-amj, leading wisdom toward the king" (su-ye to xerad
rahnamun avaram). 5" The common trope of a prophel, saint , or leader
appearing in a dream as a tall and wide-branchi ng tree symbolically
predicts the spread of the lineage of the founder. In I. 42, Daqiqi seems
to transform tl1e oneiric or metaphorical tree into a historical personage
(especia lly ifwc readxojusla pay-i as "one of auspic ious step"), in
order to deliver this command (or is it good advice?) to accept his
religion, about which Gosbtasp as yet kn ows nothing concrete, only
the organic stature of the e mblematic trcc.5'
l3ut it now seems that God the Creator (jahcm.-afarin) is speaking,
through Zoroaster, or perhaps directly and without inkm1Cdiary, to
5
Goshtap.
~ Laconic, like Zoroaster, God gets straigl1t to the poi nt:
51. The Moscow edition, .~i" hnima-ye
Ferdowsi, ed. f:lamidiiin, p. 647, I.
42, reads xojasw pay o nii111-e u Zardaho!it I ke aha1·man-e bad-famd
be-kost (His footstep auspicious, his name Zardhost ! who had slain the
Joul-deede.d Ahrimirn ).
52. Ferdov.·si, The Shahnc1meh, ed. Khakghi-Motlagh, vol. 5, pp. 79-80,
II. 39- 43 .
53 . l'<otc that in the Bundahishn. Chapter 14, the seed ofGayomard, the first
mortal (or hull), fall s to the earth as he passes away. and after forty years,
it forms a twin plant. :V1ashyc and lvash
y~ne,
a. male and female rair who
arc visually indistinguishable until they then grow into human bodies, arc
ensou lc<l, and subsequently generate other male and fema le pairs. thus
populating humanity. See Mary Boyce (ed. and trans.), Textu al Sources
/()r 1he S1udy of /.oroaslricmism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1984), pp. 51-2; also Ojala! Khaleghi-Morlagh, Women in the Shahnameh:
Their HisloJJ' and Soc ial Status wiihin the Framework qfAnciem and
A1edieval Sources, ed. Nah id Pirnazar and tran.5. Brigitte Neenschwandcr
(Costa Mesa, CA: Maida Publishers, 20 12), pp. 15-16. ls it possiblt.: tha1
Daqiqi':s vis ion of Zoroaster, and his fa ith as a tree, also metamorphosizes
into a prophet in human form?
54. lt is pos~ibk:
to understand the scene as Zoroa:.;kr telling Goshti:isp, "I am
"Accept this religion'· (he-pzirdin, I. 44). The divine voice now gives
reasons: '·See how I've created the heavens and the earth withoqt
water or carLh. None but me, who holds the world in my hands, could
do this. l f you here and now a<.:kn owledgc that I have done this, then
you must call me the Creator. Therefore, a<.:cepl from this speakcr;5
his 'good/best rel igion ' lbeh din] and learn his path and rites [rah o
l"i 'in, I. 48). Look lo what he says and do it. Choose wisdom (xeradj
and true speech [soxa11i saxon] in this world."' 5(' God then reveals the
name of this Zoroaster's "path and rites'' :5 ;
Learn this best rite and this Bes\ Religion;
it"s not good the great should lack religion.
God dirc<.:tly calls the king to accept din from Him - an offer one
cannot refuse. This is religion tout court (be-pzir din) the first time the
vo i c~
says " religion" (din, I. 44); the second time it is qualified as "his
Best Re ligion" (or "Good Re ligion"), meaning the "13cst Religio n of
Zoroaster" (be-pzir beh din-e uy, I. 48); and ag.ain the third time, ihc
·' Religion of Goodness" or "Best Religion" (din-e hehL I. 50). This
is no mere call to confession, but lo action : accept the faith; foll ow
'visdom and true speech ; learn and observe the rites of Zoroaster's
Good Religion.
a prophet, 1 will lead wisdom to you. The world-Creator told me, 'Accept
religion ... ' ," with the fo llowing speech proving the Creator's identity.
This would render I. 48 as Zoroaster speaking to Goshtasp saying that
God told him to tell Goshtasp to accept his (Zoroaster's) religion from
the speaker (Zoroaster).
55. ze guyanda. "from the speaker," by which he either means himself, the
Creator - 1-k who is currently speaking: or perhaps the speaker, namely
Zan.lahosht/Zoroaster. who has a few lines earLier said, "f am a prophet."
56. Fcrdowsi, The Shahnumeh. ed. Khaleghi-Motlagh, vol. 5, p. 80. II. 44- 50.
57. Ib id., I. 50.
Shah Goshtasp's conversi1..\n ensues. wordless yet at the same
time emphatic and definitive, in a ;;ingle line: 55
I
When the good king heard from him this Best Religion,
he aL:ceptcd from him that best path and rite.
Goshtasp's brother, Zarir, and his hoary father in l3alkh immediately convert, though the narrator neglects LO tell us how they learn of
this faith from (loshtasp. They tic on the ritual Zoroast1ian kusli cincture
(using now the Zoroastrian technical Lenn, kosli), having apparenlly
learned immediately how to follow the new rites, and accept (''come
to") the religion (be din amadand, I. 55). This causes the divine Farr
of Goshtasp to shine brightly and his detractors to have a change of
heart. The charnel towers (d<cmw) arc illuminated by heaven· s light,
and the seeds of lineage are cleansed of impurity. lhc noble Goshtasp
sends out his armies, and a host of priests (mohedim) are dispatched
to every corner of the workL with Goshlasp constructing domed fire
temples·· th~ first for the Mehrborzin {ire in Kashmar (Torshiz), where
he also plants a noble cypress frorn paradise in front of the fire templ.~"
On this tree he writes a simple declaration of faith: 50
~
:.;~
\)
:jo..l
~
..u..:..ilj ji Y ,_./:: '"!;
1_;
..ii)
.J.>-" Y'
He wrote upon that noble cypress tree:
·'Goshtap accepted the Good Religion.
He plants this noble cypress to bear witness:
'Thus Wisdom spreads a canopy of justice.,,.
58. Ibid., p. 81, I. 51.
59. Ibid .. pp. 81-2, II. 52-61.
60. Ibid., p. 82. II. 62-3.
;_fi 1~
T rrE LAY F. n r n l lt .. AR1' : E SSA Y:i :) N Pr RSJ A 'J P c.' F.TR )
We are not told whether he carved this in the bark, or inscribed
it on a plaque or tablet hung around the tree, but perhaps it does not
matter, because as the tree continues to grow in girth, a rope can no
longer reach to tie around it. Goshtasp has a large, fine palace buil t
around it, without using water or mud (the common materia ls for
building); instead, the floor is laid with silver, the walls raised of pure
gold, and the ground perfum ed. Upon this palace Goshtasp paints a
picture of Jamshi.d tend ing to (or worshipping?) the moon and sun,
and also orders the image ofFeraydun to be pa inted there wiLh his
ox-headed mace, along w ith a depiction of aJI the sacred tires (azariin)
on the walls. When the palace is fi nished, the walls are inla id w ith
jewels, and he builds an iron parapet around it, making tbjs his royal
home. We are invited to exult in Goshtasp's great fortune (kiimgiiri,
I. 71 ), and he in turn instructs others to come marvel at the cypress of
Kashmar, sending out a royaJ proclamation in which Goshtasp explains
that "God sent me [a message] from heaven telling me to turn from
here toward heaven [minu], and now, all ye who hear my counsel,
come ye on foot in a pilgrimage to the Kashmar cypress to hear advice
from Zoroaster, and to stop bowing in obeisance01 toward the idols of
China. All should don, in fidelity to the war mace [symbolic scepter
of royal strength and defense of Iran] and the Farr of the shah of all
Iranians, the Zoroastrian kusti as a s ign of conversion.'><>2
At th is juncture we may conclude from Daqiqi's account of
Goshtasp's acceptance of Zoroaster that it brings temporal as well
as transcendental benefi ts. The proper response of a king is to accept
- the operative verb in this passage was paziroftan - the theological
teachings, the instructions of the prophet, to spread the message, build
temples. and visibly memoriaJ ize one's embrace of it, in this case with
is t hl~ tentative reading en!ered by Khaleghi-Motlagh, in which case
61. Ya~t
we perhaps will read '/.ardhai">t in the first me,1ra '.Although the otl -rhyme
of short vowel -a with -o (-ho.i:t / ya.~
t) i$ not rare in the Siwhnameh, the
expectation of a full rhyme has led many to read this as po.i:t. Ibid ., p.
83, I. 77, and 1111. 28 and 29. Sec also Khakghi-Motlagli, Vi"td-dast-hi'i-ye
.S'a/miima, vol. 2. pp. 221 - 2.
62. r er<lowsi, The Shahnameh, c<l. Kl1alegh i-'.'v1otlagh, vol. 5, pp. 82-4, 11.
64 79.
an in:>cription. Such unhesitating a.:cepta nce of lhe Good Religion
brought with it j usl ice. peace. and r..:-119\\ n for GoshUisp. I le cannot
know these benefits of con vers ion ahead 1.) f ti Ille, of course, but he
never once wonders who this Zoroa:,(c r is. nor does he question his
status as a prophet. There is no fear or trepidation about whai this
may mean for the future, nor any sense of surprise that God wants to
change the religious practice of the rea lm. Readers in Daqiqi 's day
would well understand the Islamic paradigm of prophecy, but ironically
for the character Coshtasp, living within the world of the Slzahnameh
text, there is little to compare the messengership of Zoroaster with,
other than lhe occasional appearance of the angel Sorush. Of course,
God ta ilors the message to (joshtasp in a \Vay that, at least in Daqiqi 's
narration, closes off any doubt; if the king accepts God as the Creator,
it is impossible for him to reject Zoroaster. Quite apart from this
reasoning, the logic of history as it \Vas understood mandated acceptance: according to scripture and trad ition, Goshtasp is the king who
a.ccepted and protected Zoroaster, so he cannot do otherwise in rhe
Shahnameh. /\ !though he already held the reins of power, and seemed
to want fo r noth ing. he now draws his legiti macy and authority from
Zoroaster and his God. and takes counsel fro m the fom1er.
Meanwhile, (ioshiasp's father, Lohra.sp, having retreated fro rn
the world, having given up society and lhe markers of status, having
adopted coarse robes and shorn hair, lives for decades at a temple
performing acts of devotion and service. ll" this kind of piety does
not make one deserving of div ine gu idance and reward, what docs'?
J,ohrasp, unsurprisingly, also accepts the new faith, although the
manuscrirt tradition of the Shahnameh preserves some disagreement
about how c.xactly this comes ahout. In one version he falls ill until
Zoroaster instructs (ioshtasp to tell him of the new rel igion, whereas
in the Khalcghi -Motlagh edition of the Shahnameh. both fath er and
son appear, for the lime being at least. successful and content with
the new religion and their conversion.<1;
63 . Tho account prefen ed by the editors oflhc Moscow edition, .Sahnama-ye
Ferdowsi. ed. J)amidian, p. 647, ll. 52-9, suggests that Lohrasp grew ill
because he did nol know of the true religion ; 7..oroastcr instructs Uoshtasp
------·
In the end, however, we may '~ondcr
whether this conversion
is nor ultimately punished by heaven. Zoroaster incites Goshtasp to
demand tribt1te from the Turanian king Arjasp, on grounds that appear
neither wise nor nobly motivated: primarily rhar the Tw·anians are of
an inferior religion and sratus ro the Iranians. Arjiisp, meanwhile, is
stirred to belligerence by the counsel of a demon, set.ting in morion
an anack by A1jasp that leads to the slaying of Zarir, the sacking of
Balkh. the killing of Loh rasp, and the abduction of Esfandyar's sisters.t;.i
Rostam breaks wirh Goshtasp; Goshtasp's son, Esfandyar, is killed
by Rostam; and finally Rostam is killed. Cioshtasp loses interest in
rule and in life itselt: describing the stars as having taken vengeance
on him (axtar-e kina-kaf).65 Docs the youthful arrogance of Goshtasp
toward his father, or perhaps the change to a new religion, con~1ilute
a moral failing that somehow accounts for his unhappy end?
\VO:\tt:°?'J
AND
P Rf M ORD! Al
Al.L ECIA 'i\:CE
Speaking of Esfandyar's abducted sisters, woml.!n arc absent from
Daqiqi '<>conversion episode, except for the passing mention of Katayun
as the motherofGoshtasp's sons, noted ahove. This is not the only place
in the epi<: where women are absent; indeed, ihe absence of women
from the primordial world of ferdowsi's Shahnameh is breathtaking.
Ka~
umars may be the fast man ("Gayomart,'. or Earth Mortal), and
\\ c may take it for granted that he appears on the scene in media res.
to inform Lohrasp of the new creed as a means of healing him. at which
poinl he ctnd Zarir both accept it.
64. Esfandyar later frees his sisters from captivity, in a parallel to Feraydun
freeing the sisters/daughters of Jamshid from {'.ahhak, which we will see
below. The rescuer of female captives is expected to marry them, as Feraydun does with Amavaz and Shahmaz (see below). There is no mention of
whether Esfandyar marries bis sisters upon freeing them from captivity
in Turan, neither in the Avesta (Ya~t
9:31), nor in the Shahnameh. See
Khaleghi-Motlagh, Women in the Shahnameh, pp. 59, n. 114. pp. 162-3.
and p. 162, n. 28.
65. Ferdowsi, 1he Shahnameh, l.!d. Khaleghi-Motlagh, vol. 5, pp. 465- ·66.
quoting l. 329.
already rex. ~ 0 Rut where arc the women? The audience Ferdowsi first
imagines for the Shahnwneh is tnak. as impl ied by the third line in
the reign of Kayumars, where Ferdbwsi laments that few sons now
learn from their father who the kings of pre-Islamic Tran were:<· 7
No one remembers nowadays which kings
donned roval
crown in davs
er _,vore
,,,
,,, of vest
_.
unless some son has from his father learned
to tell the tale one by one, start to e nd.
Kayumars has a ch ild, apparently motherless, named Siamak,''&
v.:ho in turn h imself has a son named Hushang. 69 Still tlicrc are no
women, nor do we see any in the reign of Tah1nures (or Tahmurat),
nor during Lhe lengthy ce nturies of Jamshid 's rule, in which humanity
attains full civilization, though apparently without the identifiable
intervention of any wom1,;n. From this point the tale shifts lo the first
non-Iranian, Mcrdas, and the first ignoble human character, his son
Zahhak.'') Merdas is said to be a spear-wielding desert rider (;e da.5t
.wmiran-e nay;a-1::0£ar, l. 75) with an abundant menagerie of animals
(milch cows, thoroughbred horses, goals and sheep for mil ki ng). \Ve
hear about milkers (dufondegiin, I. 80) to whom Mcrdas entrusts the
milk animals, perhaps milkmaids, like the Gopika girls devoted to
Krishna (though not all C.iopis arc female). We hear noLhing of Y:icrdas'
wifo, hut this 1ightcous man (pak din, literally "of pure religion," I.
66. Ibid., vol. I, pp. 21 - 5, 11. I 70.
67. Ibid., p. 21, II. 1-4.
68. Ibid., p. 22, II. 14-15.
69. Ibid., p. 24, II. 50-51 .
70. Ibid.. pp. 45-46, II. 75 - 83.
39Cl
80) must have had one lo bear him 1hc son he so dearly loves. This
son is Zahhak (also called Rivarasp. I. 84).
All of this takes place before the advent of Zoroastrianism, but
religious devotion and ritual in the Shahnomeh is generally not well
defined, requiring on ly that one be thankful to Ciod, not succumh to
hubris, and to pray in gratitude. Bui it cc1tainly does not countenance
patricide, in which deed Z ahhak is spurred on by £ blis,' 1 who next
manages to make a snake grO\v from each of Zahhak's shoulders by
placing a demonic kiss upon them .12 Feeding each of these snakes their
daily dose of brains from two freshly slaug.htcred Iranian youths drives
7
Zahbak into gradually depopulating the country.
~ In the meanwhi le,
however. Jams hid has ungratefully turned away from God, failing
in humility and ohcditmce toward Him (ze ya::diin be-piCid o .fod
niJ-sepos),7"1 and since fear (harcis) creeps into the heart of evciyone
~ the Farr begins to kavc
who becomes ungra(ef'ul (nii-seplis) to God/Jarnshid, and his people hcgin to h1rn away from him. until finally
Zahhak captures him and .saws him in half'1° From the scvcn-hundrcdycar reign of this unparalleled king, what advantage <lid be Hltimately
gain from his troubles, Ferdowsi asks in a narrntorial aside (bediJn
ranj bordcm i:e limad-.r- sud / gowJla bar u siibi'in haft.5od). 7'i
Only now, after Zahhak ascends the throne, and thus in the post, do we first hear of women.
lapsarian world (after the fall of Jam~lid)
Acforc Zabhak as<.:cnd.s the throne, Ebl is,, disguised as a cook, has
converted him into a meat-eater throllgh the lasty viands he preas.
~
This conversion to demonic cooking leads to Eb Iis' kiss of ostensible
gratitude and the rubbing of his face and eyes on each of Zahhak's
shoulders, which produces those snakes that cause Zahhak, not to
7
7 l. Ibid., pp. 46-8. JI. 88-1 20.
72. Ibid., p. 50, 11. 155- 6.
73. lbid., pp. 55- 6, ll. 12· 14.
74. Ibid .. p. 44, I. 62.
75. Ibid.,µ. 45, It. 73 -4.
76. lbid.. l. 74. and pp. 5 l -2. especially I. l 86.
77. Ibid .• p. 52 , 11. 188- 9.
78. Ibid., pp. 48- 50, 11. 125· 4 6.
mention the land of Iran, so much consternation.;'; Althoug h \VC have
gone ihrough a handful of gem:ratiL)l1S r.,f male kings by this point in the
narrative, when Eblis/Satan, a stan d-in for Ahriman, 1empts 7.ahhak,
effectively turning him into an unbeliever and a henchman of the
devil in the war between good and ev il , we still have no counterpait
to Eve. We have Satan (Cb lis), and a snake (two, in fact), bul we have
no female counterpart to the biblical Evc. 80 Or do we? t\n elliptical
suggestion is made by Ferdowsi after Zahhak conspires with Eblis
to kill his father that, even among lions, if a male child bas a bad
character, it will not dart: spill its father's blood:x1
Unless there be some other hidden cause.
Seek out the sec.ret from the mother's side.
At first blush this sounds like an egregiously misogynistic thing to
say: since we have not met the mother nor heard anything about her,
why suggest here th at, if a son kills the father, the fau lt must lie wirh
the mother 's character or her method of child-rearing'? l3ut Fcrdowsi 's
cryptic reference must reflect an awareness of traditions rec.ordcd in
Middle Persia11 works s11ch as the Bundahishn and DMestcm-i Denig
(d1aptcrs 72 and 78), \:vhich report that the lineage of Zahhak 'smother
traces back to Ahriman, and that she was the first woman to comm it
adultery.~
Zahh,1k's absem or otiose mother is to blame, which gives us
79. Ibid., pp. 50-51, II. 147-{)6.
80. For a de,scription ol'how some women in the Shuhnameh arc otherwise
linked to serpents or to demonry. sec Laurie Pierce, "Serpents and Sorcery:
I lumanity, Gender and the Demonic in r~dows
i's
Shahnameh,'' Iranian
Studies, 48:3 (May 2015), pp. 349-67.
8 1. Ferdowsi, The Shahnameh, ed. Khaleghi-Motlagh, vol. I. p. 48, II.
115 18, at p. 118.
82. Khaleghi-Motlagh, Women in the Shahnameh, p. 17. See also Mahmoud
Omidsalar, "Waters and Women, Maidens and Might: The Pass11g,e ofRoyal
Authorit} in the Shahnama," in 1-Y'omen in !ran: From the Rise of Islam to
392
a parallel dynamic to the Hebrew Bihk's story of the Pall (in Genesis
3) with Adam. Eve, and a snake. In the Shahnameh we sec a man with
two serpents growing from his shoulders atter Satan deceives him,
and a woman who is not even on the scene is said to be culpable!
Following the counsels of Eblis (k illing his father and changing
his culinary habits) does not ultimately go so well fbr Z.ahhak, though
he docs gain the throne oflran for a thousand-year rcich (co 1.~hik
bar taxi .fod .fohriiir I har u sliliii.n anjoman .fod heziir). 31 l mmediately
after the reader is introduced to .Zahhak, Ferdowsi forcsha<lo\\'S his
destiny by describing his impure (ni.l-piik) 34 nature. After he commits
patricide, the na1rntor makes these insinuations about his unnamed
mother. but she has no name and no speaking lines in the poem , anc.I
thus exists not as a character, but as a foil.
Atler Zahhak ascends the throne, women finally do ma.kc their
appearance in the narrative by name, several of them, in fac t. 6 ' The first
woman in the Shahnameh appears as a pair of women, in the opening
lines ofZahhak's reign, in an atmosphere of oppression where acts of
wisdom are no longer practiced (nehiin ~a.1
kerdiir-efarzanegiin) and
righteousness remains hidden (nehiin riisti), whereas the dcn1011s have
~{' [n
a free hand to work iniquity (ioda bar badi dast-e diFiin dare~)these ominous circumstances, we meet "two pare ones" (do plikiza),
st1ggesting an immediate opposition between them and Zahhuk's
1800. ed. Guity Nashat and Lois Beck (Urbana und Chicago: University
of Illinois Press, 2003), pp. 170- 85, especially p. l73.
83. Ferdowsi, The Shalmameh, ed. Khalcghi-Motlagh, vol. l, p. 55, I. I.
84. Ibid., p. 46, JI. 80 and 83. Note that some manuscripts read na-biik
(foarlcss), which makes sense in context of the line. This reading is indistinguishable from ntr-piik ia older manuscripts that do nol lL5C three dots
to dif!ercntiate between the Persian letter p and the Arabic b. The Jay~un
i
e11teqadi,
edit.ion reads na-hcik: Ferdowsi, Siihniima-ye Ferdowsi: Ta~ · bi-e
moqaddamu-ye tal:if ili. nokta-hii-ye now-yiifta, ed. Mos\afli Jay~uni
, vol.
l (Isfahan: Siihnama-paiuhi. 1379 s./2000), p. 38.
85. Omidsalar. "Waters and Women. Maidens and MighL' ."pp. l 73- 5, noks
the role of Zahhiik's mother, ofFaranak, of Ban11iiya the cow who raises
feraydun. and of the women whom he rescues/steals from Zahhak·s palace.
86. FcrdO\~i.
TheShahnameh. ed. Khaleghi-Motlagh. vol. l. p. 55.11. :;-5.
393
firs t impure (11ii-pt'ik) and now adder-adu Iterated nature. These pure
ones are first introduced as members of the household ofJarnshid \a=
I
xt"ina-ye Jam.~id),
and then as .lamshid's sisters \xwiihar). Given the
Zoroastrian practice of encouraging kin marriage (xwc'c:lddah in Middle
Persian)
,~ thesc sisters of Jamshid may well also be his spouses; the
narrative ev inces some ambiguity about Lhc ir relationship, with at
leasr eight manuscripts ca lling them Jam shi d·s daughters (doxtar).'~
a kinship relationshi p that would also not prec lude consangui neous
9
marriage with Jamshi<l in a Zoroastrian co ntexl.~
The pureness or
tJ1cse sisters is asserted io a form ulation that either suggests they arc
virginally chaste, or at any rate emphasizes their fidel ity to .lamshid
or their purity as memhers of his harem.w
7
As we are iniroduced to these pure s iste rs of .lamshid, we sec
them trembling (larztin co bid, I. 6), presumably from the fear of
rape, ens lavement or death. The chastity of these sisters is t.hc most
87. Prods Oktor Skj~rv
0. "Marriage ii: !\ext-of-Kin \.farriage in Zoroastrianism,·· in f;ncyclopat£dia Iranica on line (last updated January 30. 2013):
http:/!www.iranicaon linc.orgiarticles/marriage-next-o!'-kin.
SR. Ferdowsi, ?'he S//ahnameh, ed. Khaleghi-Mot lagh, vol. 1, p. 55, n. 13.
The Moscow edition call:; them daughters: Siihnama-ye Ferdm1,.s i, ed.
l:lamidian, p. 18, I. I.
89 . 1-'crdowsi does in one place overtly acknowledge a consanguineous
m arriage, xwedodah, in the marriage bct•veen Bahman Dar
z - da ~ t with
his sister Homa, which he describes merely as a Pahlavi religious custom
(pedar dar parsirofl-aJ az nikovi I bar iin din ke xwclni hami pohlavi !!
Homa-ye delajhiz -e 1iihanda mah! confm bod k.e <lbestan amad ze scih);
Fcrdowsi, The Shahnameh, ed. Khalegl1i-Motlagh. vol. 5. p. 483, JJ. 141-2.
90. The diction do paki:.a perhaps echoes with a metrically identical buL
somcwhar less semantically charged way that Fcr<lowsi m ighl have chosen
to introduce unmarried girls: do dufo:a. This later word. du~i=c
· 1, does
appear once in the reign ol'l3ahrarn-e Gur (Moscow edition, -~i hn Cima
- ye
Ferclowsi. ed. }:{amidian , p. 957, I. 4 79} in connn .1ion with nubile girls
of marriageable age: rosida bedin sat du.vizu and I be du.(izagi niz piiki::a
and (They've reached this age and are unmarried stil Ii but in thi!ir maidenhood are chaste and pure).
394
salient thing about them, affir111cd two lines later when we learn !hat
they li ve in. seclusion in the women 's quarters: 9 :
.l:!-!
.:~
-~
.:;1_;) ~_;,
_r.:!1
J,_; .),
L;U
i'l_j
.lJ.l..>:i-""
Two pun~
~
1.J :A
.......,
j:.~
i
uJ.>!
,~
~
..:_'-"l.:.s'':! ~
.: .J1
.:_ 1
.:..i.i; ..:/" l Y,. _,.i _;A
.:
~
_,·.1
·J; ~
.r ..,,..-r~
I; ~
<. w
.·1,_;•.J.,..,
., ~
A.$
~
~
._,"
.:_;L..:;.:..;..iy ...SL.!...-o 0 1..HI ~
ones from the house of King Jamshid
were brought our, like willows trembling in wind,
for they were both to King Jam sh id, sisters crowning pride of all ladies in the I.and.
One was Shahma.z, am ong those veiled of face,
the other Arnavaz, both unsullied.
They carried the m away to Zabha.k's palace,
entrusted them to that dragon of a man.
Thus, our first encounters with women in the Shahnameh, and in
mythical il!o tempore as it is remembered in the Iranian epic, have us
respectively blame Zahbak 'smother in a narratorial aside (she is not
1T1!!11tio11ed at all in the plot), and wring ou r hands over the th real to
Jamshid 's vulnerable womenfolk and the possible despoliaiion of their
purity through miscegenation wilh non-fra11ian, patricidal, demonic
blood. l'crdowsi heightens our worries, depicting the degenerate
(varuna xuy, l. 38) i ahhak as rapaciously taking chaste beautiful girls
out of their homes and making them personally attend to him, at his
beck and call (parastanda kardi-s dar p H-e xwi.\:, I. 4 I), contrary lo
the customs of eiu·lier Kayaoid kings."1
In the next sub-section, before we learn of .7.a.hhak's dream, we
meet two men whose rhyming names. per Iranian naming conventions.
9 1. Ferdowsi. The 5.'hahnameh, ed. Khalcghi-Motlagh, vol. l . p. :55, II. 6 -9.
92. Ibid., p. 5 7. IJ. 38· 4 l.
Slifjiing Allcgianct'S: Primordi<11Rcic1 r:cnsfiips in thr· S1iah11amc:h
395
s uggest they were brothers: Arma ycl the righteo us (pak din) a nd
Garm aye l the foresi ghted (pi!; hin) i They pl an to resist the tyranny
of iahhak by introducing themselves as cooks to the royal court.
The brains of two young Iranian men are daily slated to be turned
into snakemeal for 7 ahhak, but by substituting sheer·s brains for
one of the man-brains, and mixing these together into a hurnan-ov ine
brain burg.er, the two cooks manage to save o ne young Iran ian rer
di em
:~ Introduced by Ferdowsi as "two pure ones from the kingdom
9
of the shah" (do piikiza a= ke.<ovar-l' pa d.M)
~ these men constitute
male doppelgangers for the two pure women (do pakiza az xana-ye
.J am.~id)
Both sibling tandems, the male t\ rmayel!Garmayel and
the female Amavaz/Shahrnaz, outwardly su bm it to the m le of King
Zahhak, and do nor ope nly challenge or rebel against him . But the
male pair secretly undermine the orders of Zahhak, working together as
paLriot ic citizens for the welfare of Iran in clandestine insubordination.
Given that the male pair stand as doppelgangers for the fem ale pair,
docs Ferdows i expect us lo infer that the sisters of Jamshid covertly
res ist Zahhak.'s cvi I rule in some parn lie I way? Perhaps, but the fi rst
thing we learn about these two sisters is that, once they have been
traosforred to his palace, Zahhak sustains them through sorce1y (jlidovi)
and teaches them crookedness and ill-temper (be-yamuxtefan kaiii o
bad-xov1).~i
If we harbored hopes of these \:vomen refonning lhc nc\\'
king's behavior, the narrative quickly disabuses us: Zahhak knows
no other way to behave, but prai.;licing badness. killing, plunder, and
o g<.irat o
scorching (nadii1ws1 xwodjoz had iimuxlan / jo:: a:: ko.~tan
1
snrran).' '; Does this example rub off on Shahrnaz and Amavaz and make
them complicit in his twisted rule? Perhaps not, but in comparison to
the. active and resourcefu l resistance shown by Faranak in raisi ng her
93 . Ibid., p. 56, 11. 15-14.
94. Jbid .. I. 15. The lhi11y men per month thus saved were sent away into
hiding in the wilderness, where they become th1: progenitors of the Kurds.
or so tJ1e Shahnameh claims (p. 57. II. 34-7).
95 . Ibid., p. 55, I. 10.
96. Ib id., I. l l.
J.Q6
regal son Feraydun ro avenge her husband Abtin, slain by Zahhak, we
can say that Jamshid's sisiers merely cope with Zahhak 's tyranny.'.> 7
Indeed, after the interlude w ith Annayel and Garmayel, when we
next find Amavaz (in the section Gqftiir andar .. r--ab didan-e iahhiik),
Zahha.k is sleeping with her in his royal bedchamber one long night
(dar ivan-e sahi fabi dir-ya: ! be x"ah andarun bud ba Arruffoz).98 We
may nore here that the Avcstan Yashts describe AZi Dahiika (lahhak
in New Persian) as accompanied by 1wo beautiful lovers, Arnavach
and Sohavach (Amavaz and Shahmaz), whom Thraetona (Feraydnn)
eventually rescues and marries.9':'
In his sleep Zahhak has a fearful dream about three warriors.
the youngest of v..hom lunges at him and crashes a heavy mace on
his head and then binds him up. This nightmare causes him to shout
out, making the hall tremble (larzfm), in an echo of the two sisters'
earlier trembling.10!1 This ~tanlcs
the "sunny-faced ones" from their
sleep (he-jasumd::r;-'ar.\·id-n1yiin zejl~V)
. :i The "sun-faced ones'' arc
cvokoo in the plural, referring perhaps to the ladies of the harem
generall::r, or perhaps solely to Arnavaz and Shahrnaz, reun ited as a
pair in the narrator's minJ (though only Amavaz was inside the room
\\ith Zahhak). Arnavaz is solicitous toward Zallhak and appears to
be a dutiful consort to him -- slt:eping next to bim, despite those two
ravenous snakes growing from his monstrous shoulders, slithery phallic
symbols of danger and despoliation. "What is wrong?" she asks. "Will
you nor tell me the secret?" (ke .\iihii 11a-g11 'i fr bud-at be~rilz).
:i
1
1
1
111is question perhaps betrays something intimate between them.
even conspiratorial; does Amavaz hope or expt!ct J,ahhak. to treat her
as a confidante, implying that he can trust her? On the other hand.
either our of curiosity or out of cunning, perhaps she seeks to pry
97. Ibid .. pp. 64 -6, IL 108-83.
98. fbid .. p. 58. l. 43.
99. Khaleghi-Motlagh. Wnmen in th;: Shahnamd1. pp. 17, :21-22. and Hi2.
I00. Ferdowsi. fhe Shahnameh. ed. Kl1aleghi-Motlagh, vol. I. p. 58. II. 5 J -2
101. lbi.d., I. 53.
I 02. Ibid., I. 54.
397
information from him, coaxing ii 0111 "-.rh.: :ff·Jm:se Lhat others will
not become privy to it (presumabl). a ..:0 11111:00 t::-ar i:l cou11 intrig11cs).
She continues: "What made you so afraid c~ ) r y0ur life. asleep in your
the beasts, both wild
own palace. when you rule the sewn dim.;:,_ a1~d
and tame, and human beings are pledged in fealty to you?" 10:1 Now
we find, however, that Zal1hak responds by addressing the '·sun-faced
ones" in the plural, indicating that Arna a7 is no longer alone with
the king. but has been speaking on behalf of the other ladies, either
in her capacity as that night's conso11 to the king. or perhaps because
.she holds a regular role ao; leader of the harem. The world-ruler replies
that the strange dream would better remain unspoken, for if they heard
the tale, first the astonishing secret cou ld not be kept, and secondly
they \,vould foar for his Jifo. 11v Indeed. the reader becomes aware of a
certain irony here, for the section of the poem about Zal1hak 's dream
leaves us in no doubt about the truth it foretells; the narrator opens the
scene by telling us that Zahhak's days arc numbered (recall that his
was supposed to be a thousand-year reign), and that God is working
behind the scenes to smite him: 1' 1'
.l..il.. Ji..... : . \,,__.._ ' .,:; ..;':i.S .JJ..J
•, 0 I
~._
.. ,
..J
. • • ""'
-..r.:
\Vhcn of his span but forty years remained,
look what God brought down upon his head.
In th is conversation beLween Amavaz and Zahhak, neither party
communicates any threat or enmity: Zahhak appears to assurne 1ha1
Arnava7. wil l have his welfare at heart, and Amavaz seems submissive
and so licitious. He does noi want to trouble her wiih his premonition;
she does not want him to worry about something that could be easi ly
averted and counteracted, given the power he wields. We arc not
I 03. !hid .. 11. 55 6.
104. lbid ., p. 59. II. 57 8.
105. Ibid ., p. 57 . I. 42.
398
Lold how· AmaviiL foels, bm no outward indication s uggests that she
dislikes or fears him , or tlwt she does not care for him.
Arnavaz is individuated in this narrative, presumably because
the conjugal implications of the scene require a single consort to be
sleeping with the king, so tha1 the other sister must be off waiting, or
sleeping, in the wings. However, Shahrnazand the others cannot be very
far off, since when Zahhak sc.rearns, a bevy of lad ies comes running.
Arn avaz seems to speak on their collective behalf, asking iahhak to
tell "us" (ma, tavlinim) the secret (niz) . As already noted, he replies
lo ·'them" (bedWJn) , the ·'sun-faced beauties" (xwa6id-ruyiin), in the
plural,'''6 possibly meaning just tht: sisters Arnavaz and Shahrnaz, bllt
more logically involving all the women in the harem. 1" 7 Arnavil.7. asks
Zahhak to reveal th ~ secret to us (mii), since "we" (which can function
as a colle.ctive plural or a humble singular pronotm ) perhaps can figure
out a recourse. ArnavaL then offers an aphorism: no c.alamity is without
a remedy. Within the space of six lines (IL 54·-9), Arnavaz pronounces
thl! word raz (secret) twic:c in the rhyme position. and one begins to
wonder ifthis repetition may reflect something more than a convenient
other
word to rhyme with Amavaz (rhyme-rich Persian bas s~veral
rhyme options for -az, so repetition could be avoided here, especially
given that repeating rhyme pairs in proximity is considered a fault).
Does she importune him to tell the secret of the dream because the
womenfolk genui nely wish to help him . or does she suspect that she
and the others could be released from their captivity if they could but
learn from this dream to watch for some future circumstru1ce or sign
106. Ibid .. p. 59, II. 59- 60 .
107. Since Persian has no dual pronoun, we cannot grammatically ascertain
whether all the ladies or just lhe two sisters are intended. Logically, however,
we may sunnise that the harem has many concubines, all of whom have
wakened, or roused one another. with the commotion. After this scene,
in which Amaviiz is named alone, the text resumes dual invocation of
Amavaz with her sister Shahmaz (shades of Shahrazad and Dunyazad in
tJ1e JOO! Nigh1s). We may also speculate whether this individuated mention
of Amavaz is meant to hint at a differentiated reaction on the part of the
two captive sisters: Amavaz as a passive collaborator, and Shahmaz as
a defiant resister.
399
of his demise, which they then mighr help to hasten or precipitate?
Indeed, there is a possible doubk .::ntc.ndrc
in "no calamitv• is without
I
a. remedy" (ke bi cara 'i nist po(vi'iro 'i.l, which might also mean that an
adversary, or more particularly an evil or shrewish woman (patyara),
is not helpless or without recomsc. ·' s If th is is \.vhat the texl suggests
(i.e., that Arnavaz here cal Is or considers herself, as the conso1t of a
demoni1.: king, among the minions of Ahriman), it does so quite subtly.
We may note that, either way, Arnavaz has not adamantly insisted on
preserving her chastity and fidelity while in captivity, as Sita does in
the Ramayana.
Women do sometimes act with great subtlety in Ferdowsi's
Shahnameh. Sometimes pre-modern scribes interfered in his narrative, interpolating lines into the text that qualify or clarify the actions
of a given characrer. Certain aporias in the plot apparently generated
a strong reader-response need for elaboration and explication, such
that not only professional reciters of the Shahnameh, the naqqiils. but
even copyists. would supply motivations or olher details to back up a
character's actions in order to resolve deliberate narrative ambiguity
in Ferdowsi's urtext (assuming the urtcx.l comprised a relatively lean
narrative, I ikc the text established by the KhaJeghi-Motlagh edition,
in contrast to the Moscow edition). Amhiguity could aJso arise in
the receplion of the text as various plot clements intersected with
controversial cultural questions over the centuries. In the case of the
tryst between Tahmina and Rostam, for example. when the young
princess throws herself sexually at the hero Rostam in the middle of the
night, without her father's knowledge, some readers in Iran from Lhe
108. Ferdowsi, The Shahnameh, ed. Khakghi-Motlagh, vol. I, p. 59, I.
The Jaybuni edition includes an additional line after lhis, whid1 Lhc
Khaleghi-Motlagh edition notes as appearing in two manuscripts, hut
60.
docs not admit as original lo f'crdowsi: hama kcir-ha-yejehiin fsicl ,.c; dar
ast / magur marg rii k-iin dari digcw asr (All earth's affairs are opened
by some door. ; exccpl for death, which is the exit <loor). See Ferdowsi,
.~<ihn{mw-ye
Ferdowsi, ed . .layl)uni, vol. 1, p. 50, I. 64. In Zoroastrian
scripture, the word paryCira has the meaning of <m evi I-doer. a demon
or other Ahrimanic creature brought into being to destroy the creatures
of Ahurnmazda: in modern Persian it means a slU'eWi$h woman or wife.
T 11t L AYI Rrn
!I f \ RT:
E s '- AY'> ON P rRS I AN P orTR1
thirteenrh thrm1gh the twentieth century were apparent ly scandalized .
Therefore. as Asghar Scycd-Clhorab has recently shown, 1 ·~ recilers or
copyisls inserted an additional scene in which a priest is called in lo
pcrronn a ma1Tiagc befo re l ahmina and Rostam consummate what
Fcrdowsi originally characterized a.'\ an illicit tryst, or they have the
girl go to her fath er seeking his permission.
One might also propose an alternate reading of the episode, one
in which Tahm i na 's moti vations for giving hersclr sexually to Rostam
are explicitly patriotic: she perhaps uses (possibly at the instigation
of the Sama11gani king, her father?) the fortuirous circumstance of
Rostam 's unhorsing to forge an alliance V\:i th him whil e they relocate
his steed; or perhaps this was all part of a Samangani plot -- lo steal
Rostam 's horse, lure him into their royal castle, and capture his seed
to produce a hero that might make Samangan a match fo r Iran or
Turan? It is beyond the scope of this artidc to lay out the evidence for
such a readi ng, 11 0 but I wish to stress the opacity or compl ex ity of the
motivations of some characters in the Shahnameh, part icularly those
who are laconic. This includes fem ale characters, who may be fo rced
by gender conside rations to express their protest in generic fo rms
that downplay forthright oppos ition, as Olg.a Davidson has argued in
regard to ·iahmina 's lamentation over the death of Sohrab.! 11 We may
also note that sometimes scribes try to malign women with malicious
interpolated connnents that are not thought by textual sch olars to be
109. Asghar Seyed-Ghorab, "Corrections and Elaborations: A One-Night
Stand in Narrations of Ferdowsi's Rostam and Sohriib," Iranian Studies.
48:3 (May 2015), pp. 443- 61.
110. Tahmina 's motivations, to the extent she articulates them to Rostam, are
given in Ferdowsi, The Shahnameh, ed. Kha leghi-Motlagh, vol. 2, (Costa
Mesa, CA, and New York: Mazda Publishers and Bibliotheca Persica,
1990), p. 123, lines 72- 8.
111. Olga Davidson, " Women's Lamentation as Protest in the Shiihniima,"
in Women in the Medieval Is lamic World, ed. Gavin Hambly (New York:
St Martin's Press, l 998), pp. l 3 l-46. As Davidson states, p. 132: "The
poetics of protest inherent in Talunina's lament are thus safely framed
within the overaU poetics of kingly and heroic legitimization inherent in
the overarching narrative ofFirdawsT's Book of Kings."
· 1 \II egu11w:s:
·
P· rtmor
· d11i1
· · RC!,l1 I 'C· r!;np~
,,<'/'!'f't111g
• ·
1
1
• lli<'
'
"
'
111
:-11o.!1l!lr.m1m
from the pen of hmlowsi,· 'and may thus tend to resolve ambiguity
in pa11icularly ideological and misogynistic directions,
.
Returning to the royal boudoir, i\rna vaz prevails upon Zahhak to
reveal the secret of the dream and its pm1iculars (I. 61 ). Her face now
like a moonbeam, Arnavaz tells him not co let this come to pass, to
find a recourse (I. 62). "Your throne can command the world, and the
world is briglu witl1 your famed fortune" (l. 63 ), she says, in a statement
diHlcult to swallow, given how evil we know Zahhak lo be. but she
does not seem lo choke on it, nor are there signs of insincerity. She
continues (ll. 64- 8): ·'You command lhe world with your ringseal beasts. men, fowl. demons, and fairies. Gather round the elders from
all tbe realms, the star-readers and magicians. Tell the whole saga to
the e.lders and seek out the truth. Find out who holds your life in his
hands, be he man. demon, or fairy. Once this is known, then devise
a remedy; don't worry needlessly about the evil an ill-wisher might
do you:· This seems like eminently reasonable and genuinely caring
advice to this reader, and Ferdowsi tells us that the angst-ridden king
also liked the words which that smooth-skinned cypress spoke, and
hence takes up her suggest ion.">
We may note that the priests (mowbeds) and sages at court delay
for four davs before tell in!! Zahhak the truth about his dream.. lurnin!.!
parch-lipped and tearful, with none daring to risk their lives by telling
him the unhappy forecast. until he threatens them with crucifixion
if they do not speak up. If we arc meant to be sympathetic to their
plight· which is drawn out at some length (II. 77-83) until Zirak, an
especially enlightened, wise, and astute priest tells the truth to lahhak
(II. 84-6) - then we must also empathize with Arnavw. who surely
faces similar repercussions should she provoke the wrath of Zahhak
by denying him. In the end. Zirak predicts that a certain Feraydun,
yet to be horn, will kill Zahhak in revenge for having killed his father
and the cow that nursed him, Barmaya (JI. 93-102). Zahhak's days are
~
~
-
112. Abu al-Fazl Xa~ib,
''Bayt-ha-ye zan-satizana dar Sahniima." in Darbara-.ve Sahm1ma: Hmgozida-ye maqiila-hc'i-ye Nafr-e Dune.~
(Tehran:
Entesarat-e Markaz-e Nasr-e Danesgahi, 1385 s.i2006). pp. 32 48.
113. Ferclowsi, The Shahnameh, ed. Khaleghi-Motlagh, vol. I. p. 59, II. 62 9,
402
therefore numbered, and the s peech of Zirak backJ1andedly criticizes
Zahhiik, suggesting that this evil (badi, I. 99) wi ll not come upon him
for no reason , but o ut of revenge for the murders that 7. .ahhak. has yet
to commit(ll. 100 - 102). 114
Feraydun is the first. person to have a mother in the Shahnameh
at least a mother wit h a name who s peaks and interacts with the
world. Through the smart, activist motheri n.g of Farauak (and the cow,
13armaya), Fcraydlm grows up safo ly, despite being targeted for death
by Zahhak, \vho has been forewarned of his existence by his dream
and Z irak 's interprc1.ation of iL 11 5 Once he t urns sixteen (!. 153) and
learns from his mother about the circumstances of his birth and his
\.Vise, hero ic father' s death at the hands o f the sorcery-worshipping
(jiidu-pamst, I. 176) Z ahhak, Feraydun sets out to avenge his father
and level the palace of Zahhak. His mother warns him not lo act ras hly,
hut to bide his time for the rigbt moment (I I. I 77-83). which corncs
soon afterward in t he form of the rebellion of Kava the blacksmith
(11. J84-267). When Feraydun finally arrives at the palace of7.ahhak
(I. 31 l ). the snake-king is away, so he enters the palace on horseback
(I. 322), destroys an ungodly talisman (IL 323- 4), kills the demon
sorcerers ( II. 325 -6), and climhs onto the throne (l. 327). 116
Feraydm1 now sets his foot upon the unoccupied throne and immediately begins to act like a ki ng. He brings both o f the sisters out of the
harem. who now aci and speak once again as an undifTercntiated pair:; 1'
~
..; j .)
~
..>..? :.>~
· ~_»i
...s_,I
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_::1.)1 j'~IJ.;
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,.
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L~-
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~-r
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~
. . .<::._;...._,·
~
...S
l.14. Ibid... pp. 60 61.11. 73 102.
115. lbid., pp. 62 4, Jl. I 08 52.
116. Ibid., pp. 64-75. II. 153-327.
117. Ibid., pp. 75 --6.1 II. 328 33.
~
u w.
. ::..;
~
~
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J~
,J~
. )1
..s
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.:il
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1
403
lie had brought out from th..-:ir nighttime quarters
that black-haired. sun-facpd pair of idols.
He ordered first of all their head
~
be washed,
and Lhcn their psyches of a 11 darkness purged.
lle showed to them t11c ways of the Pure Judge
and purified their heads of all pol lution,
for idol worshippers had nurtured them
and made them acl intoxicate, deranged.
And then those sisters of World-subduing Jam,
they
\Vet
with roseate tears narcissus eyes,
and then began to speak to Fcraydun:
"I .ive young as long as this old world endures!"
Thev do not vet. know who the man with his foot on the throne
is, but they continue marveling at him, asking what fortunate star
guides him, and what tree-branch has borne a frui t like him (I. 334).
the latte r perhaps an alLL1s ionary parallel to the tree that will grmv
into Zoroaster, which Daqiq i describes at a later point of the epic
(::;ee above). They arc astonished that anyone Jias dared to enter the
throne room, the lion's I.a ir of a fearless, tyrannical man. (1. 335). They
then complain how much badness the world had stored up for Lhcm
due to the deeds of this unwise sorcerer ( I. :336), and hmv much they
have suffered from this male dragon who fol lows in Ahrimru1's creed
(ahreman ki.v-e nar af:daha, I. 3:37). Feraydun announces himself as
having come to avenge his father and i3arrnaya the cow, stain by the
impure-minded Zahhak (na-piik r4v, I. 344). 118
J
•
The lwo women are now once again individuated, probably because
it 'vvas /\rnavaz who had fi rst counseled Zahhak to reveal the secret of
his dream, and when A m avaz hears what Feraydun says, the secret is
opened to her (now) pure heart (go.\:iida fod-a.v har del-e piik rte, I.
347), with the word "secret" (riiz) appearing once again in the rhyme
posit ion, re-ernphasi:t:ing tJ1c role of Arnava:t: as the secret link who
11 8. Ibid., p. 76, 11. 334 -44.
40-1
un ravels the ~ec r c t of the dream. This allows her to conlmn Feraydun
in his mission. telling bim, ''So you arc Shah fo raydun, who lays w as t~ ,
magi1.: and sorcery rtonbol ojoduy, I. 3481 - in whose hands are the
power to take the rifc of 7.ahh ak!" (I. 3 4 9) . 1 ~
!\low we learn the motivations of these two cloistered ones who
are of pure royal Kayanid lineage (ze toxm-e kiiin mii do pu§idapiik,
I. 350): They have been submissive to, or tamed by him (the word one
would use for a horse), out of fear of destruction (I. 350). "He calls us
his wives, so we' re mated to snakes; th ink of what this would mean,
my king!" (I. 351 ). Feraydun demands that they tell him the secret
(riiz appe<irs again in the rhyme in ll. 34 7, 352, 355, and 366) of where
Zahhak has gone, which they do. Clearly both Arnavaz and Shahrnaz
are spoken to by Feraydun (Samii in I. 354 means "you'· in the plural)
and both fa ir-faced ones reply in tandem to reveal the secret (bar u
xubruyiin gosiidand riiz, I. 355; and be-goftand, I. 356). 120 However,
it appears that there is a special relationship between Ferayduo and
one of the women: she is ururnmed here, but we must presume that
Amavaz, who recognized him and spoke first, is the one: 121
That heartsore beauty told to him the secret.
That towering hero gave his ear to her
The conversion of the two women back into royals, allied with
and attached to f eraydun, the champion sent by God to bind up the
Ahrimanic demon, .Zahhak, is complete. It remains only to explain one
further point in the denouement of the story. Feraydun takes his place
on i ahbak 's throne, auspiciously seating the two splend idly beautifu l
women on either side of him, caressing their checks and lips - the
ladies thus represent the very antithesis of the two grotesque snakes
growing out of l ahhak's shoulders and slithering on either side of
119. Jhid., pp. 76- 7, II. 347-9.
l20. Ibid., p. 77, IL 350 56.
12 J. Ibid., p. 78, l. 366.
his head, tyrannizing the populace. \Vh~n
hi:; serva nl KondrO\.\' tel ls
1.ahhak the news that Feray<lun has come int0 his palace with a weapon
I
•
and killed his guards and sat on his throne. Zahhiik chooses not to
ydun
his guest. Kondrow tries
be a larmed or indignant, but calls h~ra
to shake him from this m isconception. and seems to strike a je.alous
nerve when he tells Zahhak that f craydun enters the harem aIJd makes
love, on the throne and in bed, to his women, Shahrnaz and Amavaz,
who are sti ll called "the sisters of the world-ruler Jamshid," as if their
role as 7.ahhak's roya l consorts during his nov,. doomed interregnum,
is already rorgottcn: 121
j'J ,j~
p
.).:.;l ~jS.
.J
J.r.
jl_,.;_;1 ._,J
,.l.;S
jj j~
~
Y. sl _; .:..;) '\: '·,;
.#-
.h..:. . . .,
.).!ii.; ;_.<.,;;..., jl ..>"" .Ji.j "'-,:
f: ol ~
o.J'J-""
:,j.J_,;
4.S
...::.....:A .;y'G
~
j.i;'..p jl ~
.)'!..; ~ ~
~
j,!_}.
i.? I.; A.S
7.t ;.;.:..._,..:, ~'._....... ~ .?-
.j: ).J.; .:, _ ~
.. """.
jp •..W ~
.i: .1.... ..;.J s ,...,.!. j.l )
~
».
If this famous man is your invited guest
what business has he in your harem rooms?
He sits with World-subduing .Jamshid's sisters
and issues laws on matters great and small.
With one hand he caresses Shahrnii.7' face,
the other pinches Arnavaz' lips.
In dark of night he does what's even worse:
he makes his bedding of a musky pillo\.v
of those two braids of those night orbs of yours
\vho were, the two of them , your heart's desir~
It on ly remains to point out that after Zahhak is toppled and
reraydun attains the throne, and after his mother, Faranak, fl nds
that he is safo and congratu lates him on becoming king, and after
forty years go by and justice is restored lo Iran, Fcraydun has ihrce
122. Ibid., p. 80, 11. 403- 7 .
sons, two by Shahrnaz (whose sons are called do pakiza), ~nd
one
by Arnavz
. ~ This is the last we hear the names of these two sisters.
Salm and Tur, the two elder sons by Shahrnaz. conspire to kill their
younger brother, Jraj, because he has received the boon of ruling over
Iran, the best of territories. We now have final proof that Amavaz is
indeed the favored sister; it is her child, lraj, who turns out to be the
most fit for rule, while Shahrnaz's sons prove treacherous, indelibly
tainted by their mother 's association with Zahbak, who was rendered
impure by the sin of patricide and the kiss of Eblis, that they conspire
to commit fratricide. Thus the conversion and the cleansing of their
mothers, the two sisters, does not entirely wash away the stain of their
captivity and the contagion of Zabhak. The sisters are, to quanti fy
their purity, only half-redeemed, and their offspring two-thirds tainted.
The ironic characterization of Shahmaz's two fratricidal sons, Salm
and Tur, as ·'two pure ones" (do pakiza, !. 49) when they are first
introduced, makes us reconsider the meaning of this same locution
(do piikiza) as originaJly applied to Shal1maz and ArnavzP
~ While
this may have held true at the time the two sisters of Jamshid were
first introduced Gust as Zahhak prepares to capture them), "the two
pure ones'' is a phrase we now understand as no longer fully true,
an aspirational epithet that saves face by merging the identities of
the two and noi. speaking in detail about their experiences with and
allegiance lo Zahhak.
1
1
CO:>iCU.i S10!\:S
Goshtasp i.s already formed as a character before tbc encounter with
Zoroaster: he is already king. a role he has long coveted. The conversion
takes place swiftly after a private conversation involving a triad of
voices: God, Prophet, m1d King. There is of course a power differential
- when God himself speaks, whether direcdy or through a prophet
even kings must l is t ~n.
But although Goshtasp is commanded to
embrace the religion (be-pzir din), he accept-. the message of bis own
free wil I, and \.vi1hout a troubled conscience, or any sense of anxiery.
123. Ibid., p. 92, II. 46-9, quoting I. 49.
124. Ibid., p. 55, I. 6.
His conversion is marked hy no doubt or i 1 d~ci
sion.
and no later
looking back. The rites Zoroaster gives him to observe do nol seem
particularly onerous, though Goshtiisp does bu ild a great new palace.
plants a magical cypress tree, issues a proclamation of conversion,
c:a ll s all Iranians to observe the religion of Zoroaster and Lo make
pilgrimage to the cypress. T he whole episode is gendered ma le: the
king's fathe r and brothe r convert wit11 hi m, follow ed eventually by
the entirety of Iran. None of this entails great sacrifice or untoward
consequences. Hmvevcr, when Goshtasp also obeys Zoroaster's
counsel on foreign policy, it provokes a deva5tating \var with A1jasp,
so that Goshtiisp's reign is smeared in blood and ends in grief. Even
if vve understand Ar:jasp as an Ahrimanic evil, the purg ing or which
represents a cosmic victo ry for the world, it comes at a devastating.
almost pyrrhic personal cost. Despite this, there is no going back:
the conversion initiated by Goshtasp remains in force until the end
of the Sl1ahnameh, when it is apparently undone by the coming of
the Arabs and Islam.
~
I
In tht! cast; of Arnavaz and Sha.hrna7., we kno\v nothing about
the.in before the moment they must by undergo by duress a change
of affiliation: contrary to the case of Goshtiisp, we have no inkling of
their character or persona lity before the abduction, or induction, into
Zahhak 's harem. a conversion o r sorts to the dark side, the minions
of Ahriman. 1ndeed, we sec the t\.VO women reduced to hum iliation
and le ft trembling for fear or transgression against their persons, an
extremely inauspicious conversion. Though they are only supporting
characters (1he ma,jor protagon ists of the reign ofZahhflk are himse
l f~
Fcraydun, and to a lesser extent Kava; Fcraydun's mother, f-aranak,
plays a more instrumenta l role than /\ rna vaz and Shahrna7.), their
symbolic purity reaturcs as a c:entral organizing plot element of the
transition from Jamshid 's reign to Zahhak's, and from Zahhak\ reign
to Feraydun'.s. ShaJ1 rna7. and Arnavaz's behavior during Zahhak's
rcig.n, alongside that of /\rmayel and Gam1ayel, is emblematic of how
the Iranian c itizenry might be expected LO Jive under and res pond to
oppression- at least unti l the point \·Vhe n Kava the blacksmith raises
the call to revoll. Arnavaz and Shahrnaz arc bonnd by Zah hak's spells
and become confused, as we later learn when Fcraydun frees them
and breaks the sorcery that has them disarranged, like drnnkards.
They are eorn pcllcd into .submission in tandem, but the pair
become differentiated at crucial po ints, with Arnavaz sin!.!.led out a:,
J
the character who speaks and acts. This agency seems to result in. or
correlate with lraj, her son by Feraydun bel:oming the favored hei r.
and the two sons by Shahrnaz betraying an adulterated mettle. The
sisters' conversion or reconversion - one might cal l it a reconsecration - after the physical and mental contam ination by Zahhak and his
snakes, is accomplished hy washing the ir bodies and purging their
minds. This makes them into loyal subjects o nce aga in of Iran and
its king, Ferayd un . .lust as the conversion of Goshtasp docs not keep
him from suffering a tragic e nd (his son dies and then the proLector
of his throne, Rostam, is slain), so too the conversion or transfer of
al leg iancc of Shahrnaz and Arnuvaz, ti rst to the side of 7.ahhak, and
t11cn back again to the side of Feraydun. though apparently at first a
happy ending., leads in the next generation lo the fratricidal allegiance
of Salm and· rur agains1: their younger brod1er, rn ~j.
Combined with the fact that Arnavaz and Shahrnaz arc the first
named women we meet in the Shahnameh, we may think of them
a.s marking an imporwnt transition point in the narrative, one in
which gender roles and differences arc explicitly explored for the first
time, and in which the heroine Faranak is introduced, along with the
supernatural nursing mother-cO\:v, I3annaya. Arnavaz and Shahrnaz
undergo three transitions, from free woman to war captive or slave, and
then to co-queens of Feraydun and queen moth ers. The first happens
wholly under duress, under a threai of violence and transgression. and
deprives them of any agency of thei r own. Eventually, however, we
sec Arnavaz complyi ng with her captor, apparently choosing to act
dutifully toward iahhak, even helpfully, as an honest psychological
and physical hclpme~t.
She docs seem to win some power of persuasion
over him t11rough this com pliance, insofar as she gets him to reveal
his dream to the women of the harem; presumably this rcprcst:nts a
confirmation of some sort that Arnavaz has behaved appropriately
given the circumstances. Ry contrast, Shahrnaz remains quiescent in
the palace under Zahhak's rule. When Feraydun affives in the palace
~ ! :fting
Allegi.1nces: J>rimmfictl Refo1io11ships in che Sluih111n11t!h
409
w liberate, or more accurately, to reclaim the two, we finally hear
them voice whai we must assume arc their true feelings.· ~ 5 As such,
secret (n:i;) to the reader.
:he conditions of just rule reveal th~ir
125. On the women in the Shah11ameh and their agency see Dick Davis,
''Women in the Shahnameh: Exotics and Natives, Rebdlious I .egends and
Dutiful Histories.'' Jn Women and J1ediernl Epic: Gender: Genre a11d the
Limits c!f'£pic Masculinity, edited by Sara S. Poor and Jana K. Shulman.
(New York: Palg.rave MacMillan. 2007) pp. 67-90.
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