The Shahnameh’s many facets were examined by international scholars at the seminar hosted by the K.R.Cama Oriental Institute January 8 and 9, 2011. Parsiana presents synopsis of their papers in six installments beginning with a review of the many celebrations of the epic a thousand years after it was composed. Subsequent installments will deal with the Parthian influence, the poet’s concept of evil, some of the sub-plots in the poem that spans human memory from prehistory to the fall of the Sasanians, the art and illustrations it spawned, the treatment of some of its themes from different perspectives, different cultures and why an epic is an epic.
"Beyond its power as poetic literature, and its value as a source of Iranian mythology and history, the Shahnameh is a symbol and a yardstick. It is not the answer to the whole of what it means to be Iranian, but it has become a large part of it, particularly in giving voice to a timeless message of personal and political ethics.”
Prof Charles Melville, professor of Persian History at the University of Cambridge and director of its Shahnameh (SN) Project, was inaugurating a highly scholastic seminar organized by the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute on January 8 and 9, 2011. In his inaugural power point presentation Melville explained the raison d’etre of the SN Project which provides an on-line database of SN manuscripts and paintings, and publishes proceedings of its workshops and conferences that have brought together scholars from all over the world.
Top: Ferdowsi ; Above: The beautiful souvenir designed by Mohammed Das Faruqui and printed by Jenaz Printers
On this ‘millennium’ of Ferdowsi’s composition — the date of the poem’s completion is cited by Melville as March 8, 1010 — the professor harked back to many earlier such celebrations: At the inauguration of Ferdowsi’s new tomb in 1934 when a month-long series of events in Tehran, Mashhad and Tus resulted in the publication of a large number of studies; the Pahlavi regime’s celebration of 2,500 years of monarchy in Persepolis in 1971 with its focus on the poet’s work, the establishment of Shahnama Studies in Tehran in 1972 and the publication of a series of volumes on the Baysonghori SN, "among them a folio volume that presented full-page color plates of all the miniatures plus the introductory illuminated matter of the manuscript, with a largely descriptive text by Basil Gray in English, French and German. This was for free distribution to selected guests in the 1971 celebrations, but is not what it seems, for instead of producing the illustrations in facsimile, it presented repainted watercolors based on the original; the reasons for this extraordinary decision can only be guesswork.”
In 1967 Necati Lugal’s Turkish translation of the SN was published in four volumes and in 1971 three scholars from the Persian Literature and Language department of Istanbul University arranged an exhibition, enumerated Melville; 1990 saw an impressive gathering of Iranian scholars in Cologne in response to UNESCO marking 1990-91 as the year of the Iranian national epic which also spawned conferences in America, Canada, France, Iran and elsewhere. "The latest millennium celebrations were inaugurated in August 2008 with the Shahnama Millennium Concert in Toronto and exhibitions in Britain and Ireland. Exhibitions are also planned in Berlin and Melbourne later this year and the next, he noted.
Tracing various publications and studies of the text of the poem as also the illustrations that accompany it in the many manuscripts, Melville noted, "The almost complete English translation of the SN by Dick Davis, appearing first in three luxuriously illustrated volumes and subsequently a handsome paperback, has brought the poem to a much wider audience and is backed up by his own studies on various aspects of the text, notably Ferdowsi’s sources.”
"This activity all begs the question ‘why?’ which has been repeatedly raised during the past year,” noted Melville and proceeded to answer it with the summation quoted at the start of this article.
L to R: Muncherji Cama, Prof Charles Melville and
Dr Nawaz Mody. Right: The audience at Sir J. J. Modi Hall
That this seminar was a totally different rendition from the earlier events held at the KRCOI was evident from the Theme Paper jointly created by the Institute’s president Muncherji Cama and its joint honorary secretary Dr Nawaz Mody with inputs from scholars Shehnaz Nalwalla, Yuhan Vevaina and Anna Krasnowolska. It was circulated by the Institute seeking an "interdisciplinary conference” to address such areas as the epic’s Pre-Islamic origins in terms of history, art, archeology and folklore, the culture which the poet drew upon and the adaptation of those earlier values and mores for his contemporary audiences; the sources he drew upon — whether oral or textual. How has the poem helped to define Persian identity within the larger Islamic world, for "it defines who is culturally Iranian regardless of that person’s language, citizenship or religion and is a part of the ethnic history of many neighboring countries of Central Asia and its influence extends far beyond the borders of modern Iran” the impact of text and image on the social, political and ideological dimensions of the epic several centuries after its completion; the way these religious, historical and cultural themes have been adopted and adapted by other cultures and contexts. Lastly the Institute, which itself houses around 10 Shahnameh manuscripts, wanted an update on the present state of knowledge on the manuscript tradition of the poem.
In the upshot, the seminar’s scholastic appeal bypassed some of the KRCOI’s regular attendees and sometimes felt like a private conference of the participating speakers leaving the general audience at sea! However, a relaxed scrutiny of the papers after the event brought some of their concerns home.
Reviewing the "heroic texts” that consist of the stories of the Sistan cycle i.e. the adventures of the family of Rustom, Melville spoke of later renditions of these stories: "These texts can provide an alternative account of ‘historical’ material as in the case of the Bahman-nameh and its narrative of the destruction of Sistan by the Iranian monarchs in contrast with the Irano-centric version presented by Ferdowsi. They also represent something of a reaction to the SN, regarding it as a source of emulation but also as a work to be completed and improved. To this end the incorporation of the so-called ‘secondary epics’ into manuscripts of the SN follows a logical trajectory and one that needs to be explored further — it is generally only when the stories are illustrated (most frequently, the Borzu-nameh) that their presence in the codex is revealed.”
The later ‘heroic’ narratives extol the martial qualities of a sequence of rulers like Timur, Shahrukh, Nadir Shah, etc and in the process depict the persistence of the values and achievements of the ancient and legendary heroes whether in fighting, hunting or dispensing justice, notes Melville. They define an "idealized model of kingship across the centuries; they remain interesting in gauging the political mores of their time and the survival of a tradition of considerable potency,” especially when illustrated, as these works often were. Religious epics like the Ali-nameh "transpose the heroic character of Rustom and other SN characters on to Ali and the other Shi’ite imams, with sometimes very clear references not only to Ferdowsi’s inspiration, but also the feats and idiom of the SN narratives.”
Nawaz Mody and Perveez Aggarwal (3rd and 5th from left) with scholars who donned scarves gifted from the latter’s My Beautiful Embroideries
Comparing the SN stories as they were later retold in the work of Nezami Ganjavi and Amir Khosraw Dehlavi, Melville notes, "The way in which Ferdowsi’s narrations are modified or ‘improved’ not only tells us about the sensibilities and tastes of later generations, but also serves as a critique of the SN itself.”
Exploring similar relationships between the iconography of paintings in the SN and other Persian texts, Melville speaks of the images from one text being used to illustrate another, quoting fellow scholar and wife Firuza Abdullaeva’s term, "wandering images:” "Just as an account of one battle can be very similar to that of another, so too can the images used to illustrate them… This is another way to measure the reception and influence of Ferdowsi’s poem on the language of warfare and kingly pastimes, and how the way these are illustrated spilled over into other texts, and then fed back into paintings of the SN.”
Another scholarly concern Melville referred to was "the function and placement of text rubrics (headings).” With none known to have been used by Ferdowsi himself, "the number of headings and where they come in the text is clearly a matter of choice for the designers of each manuscript.” In some cases they act as titles for scenes and paintings. And then there is the lexicon which may occur at the end of a manuscript or as part of the Preface.
Prof (Dr) Sabar Havewalla
Speaking of the reception of the SN in India, Melville notes "the very distinctive manuscripts” which originated in Kashmir from the late 18th to the end of the 19th century and seem to show considerable departures from the normal Persian version, containing several interpolations "are heavily illustrated with a remarkable consistency of style,” and need substantial research. Speaking of the Moghuls it is generally believed that no distinctive SN manuscript was produced in Akbar’s time — or that it has been lost. But "the princely values expressed by the SN remained potent, even if the regime generally sought its legitimacy in other than purely Persian expressions.”
Cama welcomed the speakers and the audience and went on to describe the establishment and work of the KRCOI since its inception in 1916 and to express his gratitude to the Government of India’s ministry of culture for its "handsome grant towards the holding of this seminar.”
The event had been kicked off the earlier evening with an "Introduction to the SN” by Prof (Dr) Sabar Havewalla, former chair of the Centre of Persian and Central Asian Studies at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, when the consul general of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ali Mohammadi presided. Speaking of the tremendous influence of the SN which embraces three periods — mythological (from Gayomard to Faridoon), heroic (the wars with Turan and the adventures of Rustom and other pehelvans) and historical (from Sasanian domination to their defeat by Islam and the Arabs) — in shaping the identity of Iranians and Tajiks, Mohammadi noted that in Iran study of the SN is compulsory. "In the pursuit of wisdom and justice together with hard work, the rise and fall of individuals and nations as recounted in the SN teach the reader to live in a better way, to avoid lying and avarice.”
In an attempt to put the epic into perspective, Havewalla described the last years of the Sasanian empire as "very chaotic, rulers and priests were struggling for power, massacres were common and there was total anarchy. People wanted a change in the social order; the rise of Islam provided it. It promised equality between the rich and poor, Arabs and non-Arabs, strong and weak. Its promise of a classless society appealed to Iranians.” According to Havewalla in the initial years even caliphs were elected by the people, the idea of a republic was in the air. But after the Prophet’s death, things changed. There was dissension among the Arabs and a struggle for succession. "Islam means peace, but there was none. Even the Prophet’s family was killed mercilessly… Syria, Egypt, Iraq lost their identity; they gave up their own language and Arabic is now their official language. The same was expected of Iran… The struggle continued for the first two or three centuries… At the end of the 2nd century (of Arab occupation) Iranian scholars translated Persian history into Arabic to preserve it. So also Zoroastrian scriptures and Pahlavi texts. But eventually, writing the SN (and the revival of Persian) became a national movement.”
Ferdowsi belonged to the middle class, said Havewalla. He took up the challenge of composing the history of Iran when he was 40 years old. When he had finished two-thirds of his composition, the ruling dynasty was thrown out. At the age of 70 he lost his son and was penniless but he composed 60,000 couplets in pure Persian (Arabic words account for less than one percent of his epic work) and proved its versatility for literature, especially poetry.
Using Zoroastrian scriptures as his sources, Ferdowsi used his imagination to flesh out the lives of the dead, said Havewalla. For him the ideal was "kherat” — sagacity with divine wisdom and complete honesty. Zahak came up in Jamshyd’s time, when the king became arrogant. It marked the first social revolution in Iran when a lot of Iranian youths were killed until Kaveh the blacksmith ushered in the second revolution leading to political upheaval and the success of a commoner. It was Kaveh who placed Faridoon on the throne and the latter ruled with justice and charity, dividing his kingdom between his three sons. Thus Iran and Turan came into existence and the enmity between them began with Faridoon’s two older sons, said Havewalla according to whom the story of Sohrab and Rustom boils down to dishonesty and false ambition.
To be continued