The Journal of Epic Literature
Year:2014 | Volume:10 | Issue:17|Papers Count:10

Ever since antiquity Iran and India were considered as rich ancient civilizations and their common cultural origin was the reason to leave behind symbols, signs and mysteries alike for later generations. The study of these common cultural characteristics by way of search for the surviving symbols from those golden era help to unveil mysteries hidden in the labyrinth of history.In Persian paintings after Islam, the striking image of a bird is seen. Aesthetically speaking this is a massive bird with gigantic wings and beautiful colors in the heart of nature called Simorgh, a major mythological motif clearly manifested in our poetry and literary culture of our past. Similarly Garuda in Indian literary tradition is the counterpart of Simorgh famous as “king of birds” is considered as one of the Gods of animal origin, flies faster than the wind and serves as the mount of Vishnu respected greatly by the Hindus.The image of Simorgh and Garuda are among the most beautiful images masterly employed in the embellishments of many works in the Islamic art particularly in paintings of the Safavid period. The purpose of this article is to explain the symbolic roles of these two birds in their respective cultures and then make a comparative study using a descriptive method to show their impact in the miniatures of the Safavid period.

Incest is one of the controversial and popular issues undertaken by the researchers in the history of Persia prior to Islam and Zoroastrianism and there has been numerous studies in this regard. In this essay a collection of records which directly or indirectly points to this issue has been compiled from different texts. This study first deals with an etymologic discussion about the word “ khovidoudah” followed respectively by the records of this sort of marriage among Gods, and myths in Transpotamia and the ancient Persia, Greek historians reference to incest in Iran in their works, records found in Middle Zoroastrian texts, and Islamic texts. Finally cases within Shahnameh which attest to this rite are introduced.

“Khodaynameh is one of the outstanding works in Persian literature. It is written in Pahlavi language and deals with the mythic- narrative history of the ancient Persia. Unfortunately nothing has survived in the original language. Khodaynameh can be regarded as a literary genre which holds various narratives (dehqani, mobadi and pahlavani) in it. This book in the second century Hijri was translated into Arabic by Abdullah ibn -Muquaffa entitled Syrolmuluk fragments of which remained in some Arabic texts. Recognition and reconstruction of these narratives makes the dream of reaching Syrolmuluk and consequent work Khodaynameh come true to some extent. This essay deals with this approach profiting from Arabic texts particularly Nihayat al-arab fi akhbar al - furs wa-l-Arab which holds a major part of Syrolmuluk in the time span from the reign of Ghoshtasp till the reign of Khosrow Parviz.

Christopher Vogler is a master of writing screenplays and a representative of structural pattern of character or the hero’s journey in the world. Following Joseph Campbell’s example regarding the fundamental role of mythological motifs and psychological ideas of Carl Gustave Jung Vogler deals in a dramatic manner with the recognition and function of characters in the story. This research is concerned primarily with studying character of Forud which according to Voglers’s viewpoint is a manifestation of a tragic hero archetype. Moreover it seeks other similarities between other characters in the story with seven archetypal character model devised by Vogler. Characterization in connection with the structure of the story from Vogler’s perspective is so versatile and all pervading that almost embraces viewpoints of the most prominent researchers of story genres. Upon analysis of the structure and characters of the Forud’s story in Shahnameh one gets to the conclusion that not only Shahnameh is one of the best sources for this kind of research but also Vogler’s “the writer’s journey” is one of the best references for cinematic recreation of Shahnameh.

Without a doubt Shahnameh is a universal text whose humane ethical system goes far beyond the race and geographic barriers. Hence it is not surprising to see the rare capacity of Shahnameh to accommodate so many characters and to attribute world symbols and human character archetypes to them. This research is based on the psychological and archetypal approach used by Carol S. Pearson and Hugh K. Marr in the theory of “Awakening the hero within” and Joseph Campbell’s theory in “The hero’s journey”. Descriptive analytic method was used to prove the above theories in life stories of Seyavash and Kay khosrow in Shahnameh. The result of this analysis seems to suggest that their lives begin with the archetype “orphan” becomes intrinsic in them despite the changes brought about in their characters and in their life condition, this archetype almost evolves symbolically with death in Siayvash. The outward and objective expression of this evolutionary transformation and awakening is manifested in Kay Khosrow in the form of “sage” archetype which leads to his awakening. Therefore the process of Ferdowsi’s characterization from Seyavash to Kay Khosrow both from the aspect of cycle of life and death ( Plant god and martyre in Seyavash’s being to fertility goddess and life in Kay Khosrow’s being) and the quality of the here’s journey are complementary.

One of the main issues in studying literary movements in Persian national epics is the presence of religious elements within the heroic verse so called correspondence by the scholars. The story of the battle between Sam and ouj Ibn onogh which is considered as a major part of Samnameh lends itself readily to analysis according to the principle of correspondence. Sam is one of the national champions of Iran and his name is included both in Avesta and Pahlavi texts and in Shahnameh he is one of the notable champions during Manuchehr’s reign. Ouj Ibn onogh is a gigantic monster killed by Moses according to the religious texts. Although the story of ouj has Semitic and Hamitic roots, it should be considered that via religious texts it has found its way to epic stories. In this research the story of this battle is analyzed and its origin is investigated. Meanwhile several controversies around the story are included in the final section.

One of the most important strategies in the battle of champions and warriors in Shahnameh is Rajazkhani or harangue considered as a kind of soft war. Champions in most of their one to one battles speak highly of their heroic deeds and in this way try to belittle their rivals. This verbal battle accompanied with humiliation and ridicule is sometimes directed towards the rival himself and sometimes extends to his family and his race. What is important is that Ferdowsi with utmost skill and mastery and with numerous tactics organized words in the form of couplets and with a sardonic and sarcastic tone lets his champions utter the words. There are not many champions who do not use this tactic. Rostam holds the principal role in declamatory defiance of his rivals. His nobility and dignity would not allow the slightest insult from his enemies. Accordingly, this research is concerned with the study and analysis of different aspects of the structure and the content of harangues in the heroic section of Shahnameh.