by Shah-nameh or Shaah-Nameh (شاهنامه ) or “The Book of Kings” is written in beautiful classical Persian language. This is an epic in poetry form composed by Poet Ferdowsi. It took him around thirty years to complete by early 11th century AD.
Shah-nameh contains 60,000 couplets or 120,000 lines, making it the longest epic of the world composed by any single author. It is much lengthier than the famous Iliad of Homer. Shahnameh contains 62 imminent stories and 990 chapters.
The Subject matter of Shahnameh is based on history, mythology, story and popular folklores of Greater Persia (Iran) from its antiquity to the 7th century AD. The Shahnameh is a national epic of Iran and the most celebrated masterpiece among Persian speaking world.
Shahnameh rose to the horizon of the world of Persian literature after a gap of literary silence of around 300 years. It played a vital role in reviving the Persian language and literature and shaping the national identity and the pride of Persia in the days to come.
Epics Writing before Shah-Nameh:
However, there were various works done in the field of epic writing in ancient Iran before Ferdowsi’s Shah-nameh. The Khutai-naamak and Sairul-Muluk are the worth mentioning among them. The most important known epic of ancient Persia was written by Daghighi or Daqiqi in poetry form before Shahnameh. The epic work of Daqiqi Tusi was known as Gushtasb-Nameh. He composed around 10,000 couplets (20000 lines).
In fact, as per the notes of various researches, scholars and experts, the 10,000 couplets of Shahnameh belonged to Daqiqi. Hence, it will be right to mention here, that 50,000 of couplets are originally composed by Ferdowsi and 10,000 couplets composed by Daqiqi, have been incorporated by the author in Shahnameh. Apart from the Daqiqi’s work, the Firdowsi has also used the Shahnameh-Abu-Mansuri as a source to narrate some events.
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Subject Matter of Shah-nameh:
As mentioned above, that the “Book of Kings” is based on the subject of history of Persia’s peoples’ civilization, legends and popular folklores from the times of antiquity to 7th century AD. On the basis of the various subjects discussed, the Shahnameh can broadly be divided into three major parts: (1) the mythical age, (2) the heroic or legendary part, and (3) the historic part.
1. The Mythical part of Shahnameh (The Book of Kings) contains the story and circumstances of Keumers, Tahomurs, Jamsheed and, Zohak till the advent of Faridoun. In this stage of Shahnameh the stories are very interesting and are mostly based on the description of disputes between man and devils. The stories are discussed in short. but the detail mythological description of the last period of Zohak is the most important part.
2. The Heroic or the Legendary Part of Shahnameh begins from the rise of Kaveh Ahangar and ends with the description of killing of Rustam and the kingdom of Bahman and his son Asfandiyar. This part of epic of Shahnameh is believed to be the original national epic of Iran.
The stories of heroes like Kaveh Ahangar, Garshasb, Saam and Naremaan have been appeared in the Heroic Part of Shahnameh “The Book of Kings”. The battles between Turanians and Iranians have been mentioned. Within this part, the historical period of Iran in the Shahnameh is period of Kiyani’s to the end of kingdom of Gashtasb. The description of Rustam (the greatest hero of Iran), and the other heroes like Godarz, Beizan, Faramarz, Sohrab, Geou can be found in detail. The stories of thrilling fights and valor of Persia’s heroes and icons like Rustam and Sohrab, Rustam and Afrasiyab, and Haftkhwan have been discussed in it’s length and breadth. The description of the battle field of Mavaran, story of Seyavoush, Beizan and Manizeh, and the story of Rustam and Asfendyar, are worth mentioning in this part.
3.The third part based on the History in Shahnameh deals on the subject of authentic history of Persia. It begins from the rise of Daarab to the power. The first story that appears in this part of Shahnameh is the story of Askandar. The history of Ashkanians has been discussed in short. After shir Babkan, Shapour, Bahram Gore, Haft Bazm, NouShirvan, Ballte of Khaghan and Anushirwan, and the story of Khusrau and Shireen have been followed in Shahnameh.
- You may like to read about Saadi Shirazi, a famous Persian poet wrote Ghazal.
Shahnameh has been an inspiring source of nationalism and pride for Persian people. Shah-nameh is an undisputed source that preserves the epic chronicles, the legends and histories of kings and the rulers. It is an epic of glorious past of Great civilization of Iran.
The last but not the least, Shahnameh has been a trend setter as a standard model to the development of Persian language and literature, that exists in today’s Iran and other Persian speaking countries.
“The Book of Kings” or Shahnameh by Ferdowsi has wonderful interesting stories with higher descriptive lucidity and amazing flow. The reading of Shahnameh fills with the energy and passion in the mind and heart of a reader.
Shahnameh has been translated into major languages of the world today, making it accessible to the readers of various linguistic backgrounds.
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