Epic Knowledge and Wisdom

Abstract Here's a condensed version (240 words):
Zahhāk and Ashoka
(A Reflection of Ashoka's Kingship in the Story of Zahhāk)
Abstract
Zahhāk (Aži Dahāka) is among the most complex figures in Iranian mythology and Persian epic literature, consistently symbolizing wickedness, false religion, and injustice. He appears to embody many negative traits of rulers in Iranian history or associated with Iranian culture, causing his character to absorb layers from various mythological and historical figures. Scholars have accordingly identified him with the Avestan Aži Dahāka, the Vedic Viśvarūpa, the Median Deioces and Astyages, the Mesopotamian Tiamat, Kingu, Nergal, and Ningishzida, the Greek Gorgon, the Armenian Artavazd, Loki, and others—supporting the claim that few figures so thoroughly intertwine the history and mythology of East and West. Building on these comparisons, the author proposes parallels between Zahhāk and Ashoka, a king of India's Mauryan dynasty, suggesting both figures may be traced to Scythian origins settling in India. Both have ascetic fathers (Merdās and Chandragupta) whose rule they seize and end; both are renowned for bloodthirstiness and ruthlessness yet remain popular despite their tyranny; both rely on highly trusted deputies (Kondrow and Kumāra) during absences from their realms; and both propagate an Indian religious tradition (idol-worship/Buddhism). After great cruelty, Ashoka turns to religion and service to his people—a trait absent in Zahhāk but present in his nephew or grandson, Kush the Elephant-Toothed, whose character thus more closely resembles Ashoka's.

Abstract Employing a documentary method and a descriptive-analytical approach, the present study seeks to examine which narratives of social activism among the women of the Shāhnāmeh were drawn upon to critique social behavior concerning women, from the Constitutional period (1906) to the first decade of the second Pahlavi era. It further asks which women of the Shāhnāmeh, and what forms of behavior, were presented as models for transforming the social status of Iranian women. An examination of women's writings and the women's press during this period reveals that, in the Constitutional era, only three periodicals—Habl al-Matin (1906), Iran-e Now (1909), and Nāmeh-ye Bānovān (1920)—established a connection between social critique, women's issues, and the social activism of the Shāhnāmeh's women. In the Pahlavi era, among the women's press, the periodical Bidāri-ye Mā (1944–1948), adopting a Marxist approach, devoted the greatest attention to the women of the Shāhnāmeh. By narrating the social activism of several of the Shāhnāmeh's women—such as Rudabeh, Tahmineh, and Farangis—it sought to present a perspective that moved beyond the binary of love and social action in the depiction of women within Iran's historical heritage, drawing on Ferdowsi's Shāhnāmeh, and thereby to introduce the social activism of the Shāhnāmeh's women as social models.

Abstract The breadth and antiquity of Iranian mythological traditions have made it difficult to uncover their underlying mythic structures, causing some interpretations to remain confined to the narrative surface or to moral evaluations. Consequently, understanding the logic governing the actions of mythic characters requires a mythological and structuralist analysis. Adopting a comparative approach, this study examines the figures of Jehikā in the Bundahišn and Arnavāz in the Shāhnāmeh—two characters who, at first glance, appear fundamentally different, one embodying a demonic nature and the other an Ahuric one. The findings demonstrate that, despite this apparent contrast, Jehikā and Arnavāz represent manifestations of a shared and ancient mythological pattern. Within this pattern, the dark-natured woman (peri) awakens a dormant demonic force, thereby precipitating an assault upon the Ahuric world and the death of the primordial beings. Subsequently, however, through her love for a luminous male figure, she severs her ties with the forces of darkness and aligns herself with the powers of light, thus contributing to the eventual defeat of evil. This union not only facilitates the transfer of political authority but also releases fertility and prosperity into the world, although it ultimately culminates in a tragic fate for either the male protagonist or the offspring born from the union. By elucidating the common deep structure underlying these two narratives, this study highlights the active and decisive role of the dark-natured woman in the dynamics of darkness and light, the transmission of power, and the continuation of creation within the Iranian worldview.

Abstract According to Wolff's concordance, the word sorāyandeh appears eighteen times in Ferdowsi's Shāhnāmeh, employed in the following senses: (1) "speaker; narrator, storyteller; poet, versifier"; and (2) "messenger, envoy, courier." A close examination of these verses, however, reveals that in a number of instances, the word sorāyandeh is intended in neither of these established senses. Rather, based on contextual evidence and linguistic considerations, it can be established with confidence that in certain occurrences within the Shāhnāmeh, this word is used in the sense of "obedient, submissive" (i.e., one who obeys or complies). Some scholars have assumed that the use of sorāyandeh in the sense of "obedient, submissive" suggests that the word's original meaning was something akin to "one who repeats whatever is said to him." This justification, however, lacks scholarly grounding and is essentially based on a folk etymology. The present article offers an etymological justification for the use of sorāyandeh in the aforementioned senses. Evidence from Old and Middle Iranian texts demonstrates that the root sru-, originally meaning "to hear," possessed a broad semantic range, one component of which was "to obey; to be compliant."

Abstract One of the most important components of the criticism of a story in Todorov's narrative pattern is its sequence, and one of the most functional effective factors is the systematic coherence of this sequence network. The purpose of this article is to investigate the network of sequences in the story of Bijan and Manizhe and to analyze the effectiveness of this structured network in persuading the audience based on the pattern of the plot based on Todorov's narrative theory. The fundamental problem of this article, which the authors are trying to achieve, is to investigate and analyze the extent and how to use the efficient element of sequences and create an intertwined network and at the same time, the structure of sequence in the organization of this Shahnameh story. In this regard, the main body of the upcoming article is a brief recognition of Todorov's narratology pattern, relying on the knowledge of sequence and analysis and investigation of this effective element in the plot of Bijan and Manijeh. The authors’ method in this research is reading the story and structural analysis of its plot based on Todorov's cognitive narrative pattern.The achievement of this research is that based on the actions, propositions and the logical course of the events of the story, the plot and the network of developments, as expected from a poet like Hakim Ferdowsi and his skill in storytelling, is completely structured and with a pattern Todorov's structuralism is consistent in constructing the syntax of the story.

Abstract Eskandarnāmehs are prose and verse works in Persian literature that recount the story of Alexander of Macedon (356–323 BCE), also known as Alexander/Eskandar Dhū al-Qarnayn. The first independent verse Eskandarnāmeh was composed by Nezāmi Ganjavi (1141–1209 CE) in two parts titled Sharafnāmeh and Eqbālnāmeh. Following him, numerous poets composed Eskandarnāmehs in imitation of Nezāmi's work. The existence of multiple poems bearing the title "Eskandarnāmeh" or similar names, according to the definition of literary genre as "a group of texts bounded by structural, thematic, and/or functional criteria," indicates the presence of a distinct genre in Persian literature known as the Eskandarnāmeh. Based on this definition, an examination of these works can reveal their shared structure, constituting the structural framework of the Eskandarnāmeh genre. This article aims to identify the structure of verse Eskandarnāmehs based on Nezāmi's Eskandarnāmeh and three of its imitations: Amir Khosrow's Āyeneh-ye Eskandari, Jāmi's Kheradnāmeh-ye Eskandari, and Abdi Beg Navidi's Āyin-e Eskandari. Since Eskandarnāmehs are considered narrative literary works, this study employs Propp's morphological method, one of the most effective approaches for identifying the structure of narrative literary genres. Through a morphological analysis of the four verse Eskandarnāmehs, we conclude that the Eskandarnāmeh, as a subgenre of the "heroic epic" (manzumeh-ye pahlavāni), is structurally a narrative comprising ten functions (the hero's emergence, the helper's action, the acquisition of power, the hero's departure and return, the villain's emergence and destruction, the adventure, and the hero's fate) and three character types (the hero, the helper, and the villain).