Ferdowsi-A great revivalist poet of Persia

Ferdowsi, a world famous Persian poet of Iran (Persia).

Ferdowsi, was a great poet of Iran, lived during 10^th and 11^th century CE (4^th century AH). He was a historian, a mythologist, ethnologist, a philosopher and nonetheless an outstanding scholar of Persian literature.  He revived the history and mythology of the land of Iran and its people in the form of epic poetry. His masterpiece is the “Shahnameh”, “Book of King” also known as “Shahnameh Ferdowsi”. It took him 30 years to compose Shahnameh, in Persian (Farsi) language.

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Who was Ferdowsi:

• • Ferdowsi or Ferdosi Toosi was a great poet of Iran, born in 10^th Century AD (4^th century AH).
  • He lived during the rules of Subuktegin and Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi in Iran.
  • Ferdowsi is the author of “Shahnameh” the longest epic poems in the world, created by a single poet.

Full name of Ferdowsi:

• Full name of Ferdowsi is Abu-al-Qasem Hasan Ferdowsi Toosi (ابولقاسم حسن فردوسی طوسی )
• The title of Ferdowsi is “Toosi” or “Tusi”, derived from the region of “Toos”, where he lived.
• Ferdowsi is also known with the title of “Hakim” meaning “philosopher”, Hakim Abu’l-Qasem Hasan Firdausi Tusi.
• The word Ferdowsi is spelled to many ways in English language like Firdowsi, Ferdusi, Ferdosi and Firdausi.

Birth of Ferdowsi/place of birth of Ferdowsi:

• As far as the exact date of birth and year is concerned, there in not much written about it. However, many scholars and historians agreed to the following year as the birth of Firdausi:
• Ferdowsi born in 941 AD (AH 330), in a well-off family, in a village called Baaz (Badj) near Tabran in the province of Tus or Toos. (As per the book “Chahar Maqala” by Orozi Samaqandi).
• In the present day Baaz (Badj or Paj), the birthplace of Ferdowsi, is in Razavi Khorasan Province of northeastern Iran.

Life and family of Ferdowsi:

• The father of Ferdowsi was a local landowner and Ferdowsi’s early life was peaceful and comfortable in Tabran, Tus (Toos).
• Ferdowsi Toosi mostly lived and received his education in Tabran in the province of Toos.
• Ferdowsi got married with a lady from a local respected family. Ferdowsi had two children, a son and a daughter.
• The son died at the age of 37. The loss of the son was the most tragic event of Ferdowsi’s life. Ferdowsi was almost broken from inside due to this shocking event. We come to know about this event from a couplet mentioned in Shahnameh by Ferdowsi.
• Ferdowsi started to compose “Shahnameh” at the age of 35 years. He has mentioned this in his “Shahnameh”.

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Work of Ferdowsi:

• The monumental work of Ferdowsi is Shahnameh. “Shahnameh” (شاهنامه )meaning  “Book Of King”,  written in Persian.
• The Shahnameh is a national epic of Iran. Written in the form of poetry, this literature contain 60,000 of couplets.
• The content of Shahnameh is based on history, mystery, story and folklores of Greater Iran.

Death of Ferdowsi:

• Ferdowsi had a long life. But, the last decades of Ferdowsi’s life have been miserable. He was old by now and physically weak as well. He had a tough life passing through economic crises, even for his livelihood.
• During these hard times, Ferdowsi visited many cities and places and contacted many rulers with his poems in his hand.
• He went to the court of Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi at Ghazna and got disappointed due to an unfair act of a middle man.
• From Ghazna he went to Herat and other places like Tabristan. He also visited southern Iran, Baghdad and Lanjan near Esfahan. Some of these provincial rulers rewarded him.
• He came back to his home and stayed in Tabran, where he died at the age of 80 or 84 years, leaving a daughter behind.
• Ferdowsi died in the year AD 1020 (411 AH) or AD 1025 (416 AH).

Tomb of Ferdowsi:

• After the death of Ferdowsi, his body was buried in his own garden near his house. A Governor of Khorasan of Ghaznavid Kingdom constructed a mausoleum over the grave.
• With the passage of time, the tomb got weathered and decayed. It was restored in 1928 and 1934 CE by Society for National Heritage of Iran.
• A white marble base and decorative edifice have been added to the Tomb of Ferdowsi in Achaemenind architecture during Reza Shah Rule.
• The architect of the new addition to the tomb of Ferdowsi was Hooshang Seyhoun, and construction was completed in 1934 AD.
• The Tomb of Ferdowsi has been turned into a visiting place. The mausoleum/tomb of Firdausi, is now a revered place, visited by tourists, students and by the lovers of literature.

Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh is the most popular and influential national epic in Iran and other Persian speaking nations, being an undisputed source of reference of fine poetry.

Ferdowsi revived the mythology, story, folklore and history of Iran for the generations to come. He has become immortal by leaving behind the masterpiece “Shahnameh”, an epic of glorious past of Great civilization of Iran. This surviving work of Ferdowsi will remain a source of inspiration for the people of Iran.

(Shahnama Ferdowsi has been translated into all major languages of the world, that you can benefit of.)

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Address:

Tomb of Ferdowsi, City of Tus, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran.

Google Map location of Tomb of Ferdowsi: