The Journal of Epic Literature
Year:2013 | Volume:8 | Issue:14|Papers Count:9

The existence of common names and similar narratives in Avesta and Indian epics is indicative of the antiquity of the Persian epic and mythological stories since at least the time of the companionship and symbiosis of Indo-Iranian people, that is more than two thousand years BC. Certain signs regarding fantastic animals, extraordinary birds and various narratives from Dumuzid myth and Inanna are representative of common grounds with Indo-European peoples and the inhabitants of Mesopotamia. References made by Herodotus, Ctesias, and Xenophon in books and the reports given by Chares of Mytilene, chamberlain of Alexander the Great bear witness to the fact that religious, heroic and lyrical stories had been kept in cultural centers and treasuries of Iranian kings.Other narratives such as the story of Rostam and Sohrab and the story of Kavus’s ascent to the heaven all point to the accounts minstrels created often in versified form and sang in different regions perhaps with little change. These narratives which are more often heroic, lyrical allegories have many instances in the story of Khosrow Parviz and Barbad in Shahnameh.Although minstrels had arisen from the heart of the populace and had mostly narrativized for their sake, they had enjoyed special treatment within the circles of nobles and rulers and had regular visits to their courts.In this article attempt is made to highlight the importance of these improvisators and clarify their place and position in the society of that time.

This article seeks to identify the epic and mythological foundations of the story of the Beasts of Mazandaran in Shahnameh with particular attention to their records in Avestan, Pahlavi, Soghdi and other texts. The very first epic and mythological origin of this story is in the Avestan and Pahlavi texts. In these texts, the beasts appear in two divine and manlike structures and stand against Ahuramazda, deities and men. However, in the ninth book of Dinkard, an independent story makes the epic framework of the story of Beasts of Mazandaran. In this story, beasts are gigantic men who stand against Feraydun. This narration is conveyed to the first report in Koushnameh. These gigantic men in the report of Dinkard and Koushnameh having passed through the stories of Nariman and Maghreb Beasts, Sam and Nareh beasts of Mazandaran and Soghdi Rostamnameh acquire demonic nature and transform into demonic beasts with magic forces and superhuman deeds. In the end, the story of beasts of Mazandaran after being demythologized is conveyed to the second report of Koushnameh.

The present article deals with the description and the etymology of Vay (Vayu), one of the antique gods of ancient Persia and the Indo-Iranian era. Having presented certain evidence regarding the image of this god in different Persian and Indian texts such as Vedas and Gathas, this article aims at discussing its connection with certain other gods. The commemoration of the wind god, Vayu in the mythologies of the Sumerian, Akkadian, Kaldani, and the Aramaic (Persian, Arami) people is the subject matter of another part of this article. Finally, the role of the wind god in the texts and the interpretations of the Islamic era is traced by the writer of this article, thus the last part is concerned with the development of this ancient god in the periods after Islam.

Recognition of the terminology and the Avestan concepts, in particular in Gahan, requires the knowledge of rules regarding the evolution of language and mastery in the paronymy of languages. Since the dominant ideology over Gahan is a kind of contemplation and approach towards the living world and the ways to attain perfection of man, peace, serenity and welfare, these concepts had been stated in a metaphoric language therefore the use of philosophical doctrines of the same era and their comparison with the recent books in the east and north east region of Iran is necessary.In this article, the word Geush Urvan is analyzed through the eyes of western linguists, middle Persian texts, and Sanskrit, Parsians in India, Persian researchers and Zoroastrian priests. In terms of structural and semantic analysis of this compound word, there are no incongruities among the Avestaologist and they define the word as “the soul of the kine” but in terms of its literal meaning there are disagreements. Some understand this word as the soul of the actual cattle, respected by the Indo-Iranian people and in fact regard the application of this word in Gahan as a complain that the prophet takes to Urmazd as to the unsystematic killing of this creature which brings prosperity to the earth and agriculture. Some others suggest “the soul of life” or “the soul of creation” for it. The impression of the Zoroastrian tradition from this word revolves around the meaning of “the soul of the Earth”, the Mother Earth and this tradition translates” the soul of the kine” to” the soul of the mother Earth”. This meaning is more consistent with the Middle texts and with the mother role Sepandarmazd gave to the deity of the Earth.

The pictorial Shahnameh manuscript, in the name of second small Shahnameh, is an incomplete and scattered copy of Shahnameh. Based on the remaining pictorial pages of this Shahnameh and three other similar manuscripts in the 8th century Hijira which were thought to be written in Baghdad, this copy is regarded as the first pictorial Shahnameh manuscript till this day. Two hundred and eighty five pages of this manuscript are available in microfilms consisting of 51 pictorial pages and 234 non-pictorial pages. In accordance with the computer reconstruction which has been done on this manuscript, it seems that in principle, this manuscript was composed of two volumes in 602 pages equivalent to 301 or 302 pages and about 49700 couplets. About 280 pages are attributed to the first volume and 302 pages to the second volume. The computer reconstruction also suggests that this manuscript could be regarded as a complement to the Florence manuscript since the approximate rate of omission and surpluses of couplets is alike in both the second small Shahnameh and the incomplete manuscript of Shahnameh in the National Library of Florence (614 Hijira). Since this scattered copy of Shahnameh is unknown to the scientific circles in Iran, the purpose of this article is to introduce this manuscript.

In the beginnings of the story of Ashkanian,  Ferdowsi says: Mahmud has reduced the yearly tax in half and this news has reached Tous in 14th of Shawwal and people said prayers to Mahmud. What was the reason for this tax reduction and in what date did it take place? Master Taghizadeh has regarded the issue of this order due to the famine of Khorasan in the year 401. However Dr Zaryab khoei believed that the motivation and the pretext for this tax reduction in the year 400 was due to the booties Mahmud acquired after the conquest of Behimnegar fortress in that year. Dr Omidsalar accepts the year 400 according to Dr Zaryab as for the date of the conquest of Behimnegar fortress, and not found a discrepancy between the two views, in Shahnameh notes has combined the two versions. Since this matter is related to the date of the final composition of Shahnameh, after discussion and investigation in this article it was concluded that the conquest of that fortress had been ended in the beginnings of Dhu al-Qidah 399 that is 24 months before the outbreak of famine in Khorasan in Shawwal 401. Therefore, it could not have been a motivation for the reduction of tax in that year. Tax reduction in the year 400 is also not acceptable for many reasons hence master Taghizadeh’s opinion is the only authentic one and a piece of evidence outside Shahnameh also supports this view.

The influence of Shahnameh Ferdowsi in the Persian literature was the reason behind the formation of National epic poetry in Iran. Following the gradual decline of National epics which has started in the late 5th and the beginnings of the 6th century Hijira, composition of the historical epics and soon after religious epics began. With the establishment of Shia faith and special regard towards religious thoughts in Safavid period and the support of the court for the religious composers, the inclination for composing epic-religious poetry in praise of Prophet Mohammad and Imam Ali and his descendents greatly intensified. Mirza Abutaleb Fenderesky Esfahani was the pioneer of such poetry. He composed a poetry under the name of “Haydari rapture” about the life of Imam Ali, thereby he initiated a tradition that very soon inspired other poets in that period and later periods to compose and imitate epic poetry of this genre under the general name of “Haydari attack”. These poetries were normally concerned with the life of Prophet Mohammad, Imam Ali, major events in the beginnings of Islam, and Imam Ali’s Wars. Haydari Attack compositions in the 12th century Hijra, began with the composition made by Bazel Mashhadi and within a century after that, several people in his imitation, created works of this genre the last of whom was Lotfollah Ghajar, known as Majnoon. This article is concerned with the life and works of Mirza Abutaleb Esfahani, as the pioneer in the composition of epic-religious poetry and his influence over the continuity of composition of this genre of poetry and thus forming a tradition in the name of “criticism” in the Persian Poetry.