Shahnameh

Shahnameh
By Aboloasem Ferdowsi

This book is about the lineage of Persian Kayanid Kings and the Persian House of Sasson. With that lineage comes an evolving philosophy of man’s thought from the perspective of justice and injustice. It begins in a mythological setting and then over time evolves into a story that may have taken place in the time when Persia was great, concluding with the triumph of Islam over Persia. Through out the mythological portion of the book the author explores the concepts of what is observable reality (good, god) and contrasts that with unobservable conjecture or sorcery magic. While the lineage progresses through many kings, it is when you read of King Ardesher that you sense you are reading ancient history rather than myth. The subtle clue would be when Ferdowsi describes the king writing a letter in Palhavi, an ancient language. It is here that Ferdowsi begins the practice of dedicating whole chapters to one king’s reign. Every king has a vizier and a champion. Through these intermediaries the thought process borne in conversation brings the king to order just or unjust deeds reveals the prevailing philosophy.

The lineage of Kayanid Kings of the House of Sasson begins with quick summaries of names from the family Kayumars beginning with Siamak who is killed by a black demon, and then Hushag’s victory, where the Kayumars pursue and kill the black demon. This fast moving chronology leaves Hushag to inherit the crown, as he is the one with the royal farr and the presence of a tall cypress tree who can think with clarity, all prerequisite to inheriting the throne. The primary way in which the Persian kingdom expanded was through a sitting King doling out frontier land to his sons. In the beginning one son received Yemen, which would be today’s Middle East. Another received land in India, which would be today’s Afghanistan, and Pakistan and the third Turan, which would be today’s Turkmenistan. Feraydun’s reign was the first to go into a bit more detail. The author does this so that he can introduce the concept of a dark magic that clouds the mind of one who feels cheated. A cheated mind draws on vengeance. The brothers that were ruling Turan and India felt they did not get the favored Persia and plotted to and did kill the son who received Yemen. King Feraydon through his champion Zal who is blessed by the Zoroastrian Angel Smiorgh avenges the evil acts of his other two sons.

The early kings of Persia had much in common with early Arab kings and hence the family tree found relatives of mixed royal blood and the two peoples were very close, while rule still came from Persia. As Persia expanded its reach into India, China, and Turkmenistan they too came under the influence of Persia’s King of Kings. All gains of kingdoms came either through war, marriage or the giving of a daughter. As the family cypress tree branched the lineage of kings became difficult to track.


To garner the philosophy conveyed in this book, the reader need only to pay attention to the dialogue between warriors, or between a king and his vizier. In a reign of a king that expands or contracts finds in each battle the combatants making declarations towards the other as to why he shall prevail in the contest. For an example one of the notable champions, Rostam declares to Gorgin ''when passion overcomes wisdom no one escapes its clutches; but the wise man who overcomes passion will be a renowned lion.” A central tenant to the Zoroastrian doctrine is wisdom of which in this context Ferdowsi makes no reference to faith or doctrine as he had already weaved into the message.

In a different battle between Rostam and Esfandyar, later in the book Ferdowsi provides further dialogue that represents the notion that one man is a piece of a puzzle put together by the power of the revolving heavens giving a rationale to the concept of fate. Both Rostam and Esfandyar found honor in death, hence there was no fear, the number one obstacle to learning. Their minds and messages are clear. They were both Persian warriors the former a champion of past kings living in Arab land the latter the champion of the current Persian king. They took a sense of chivalry into every battle. In the parley dialogue you find Rostam saying:

“A noble warrior whose audacity
Lights up the world and brings him victory
Laughs at both good and evil, since he knows
Both come from God, whom no one can oppose.”

With a chapter mixed of prose and verse, which is often the case, at the conclusion of the battle you find Esfandyar’s last words to Rostam were:

All that has happened, happened as Fate willed.
Not you, your arrow, or the Smigorgh killed
Me here: Goshtap’s my father’s, enmity
Made you the means by which to murder me.
He ordered me back to Sistan, to turn
It to a wilderness, to slay and burn,
To suffer war’s travails: while he alone
Enjoyed the glory of his crown and throne.
I ask you to accept my son, to raise
Him in Sistan, to teach him manhood ways:
He is a wise and willing youth: from you
He’ll learn the skills of war, what he must do
At courtly banquets when the wine goes around,
How to negotiate or stand his ground,
Hunting, the game of polo – everything
That suits the education of a king
As for Jamasp*, may his accursed name
Perish, and may he waste away in shame.

*Visiar and astrologer to King Goshtap

In the context of the chapter and the book as a whole the reader comes to appreciate the Zoroastrian religion from a distance, which is woven into the warp of the story without ever introducing it as the overarching religion of influence on Persian’s, binding man to the fate of the revolving heavens. Ferdowsi speaks as this can be the only option, and for the 1,500 years it was apparently so.

Where a king’s rule is passed on through inheritance there is always a lesson the predecessor conveys to his son the new king. With the passing on of authority the young prince is first instructed in the rule of wisdom. The following is an example of the things a king would tell is prince in the passing of the throne:

“Live your life in happiness and consider fate...while one is brought up with luxury and the other is thrown bewildering and despairing into a dark pit, another is lifted from the pit and raised to a throne...The world is has no shame in doing this; it is prompt to hand out both pleasure and pain and has no need for us and our doings. Such is the way of the world that guides us to both good and evil. There are three things that cures all ills; wealth, effort, chivalrous men...the forth is that we praise God.”

It is important that readers of this review appreciate that God is the immeasurable reality of the heavens, that the stars are many but that god is one and that all are powerless beneath this law. God is not rendered a personal identity. He who does not respect this basic tenant is not worthy to be a king. The universe gives and takes equally.

As the book comes closer and closer to the current time, it was written in the 10th century, Fedowsi prepares the reader for the demise of the Sasson Kings by first presenting a king who has turned on his people and second by that king not having a son to inherit the throne. So how the Persians bought the fate through their actions is an important ingredient to their fall. It was left to fate that Islam would take her vengeance on Persia by not just reigning over them, but totally changing their way of life. Rostam, the king’s knight writes a letter to his brother that appears somewhat prophetic, or did Ferdowsi already witness the potential damage of Islam? I close this review with the portions of his letter that describes Ferdowsi’s speculation of what will happen and leave the parts that describe his feelings about his future to readers willing to delve into the book.

My thoughts on the book have me quite curious about the Zoroastrian faith. It is the precursor to our current major religions. Every time Zoroaster is brought up in the book it is a though there were no other faith. What you do read about though is the difference between good and evil or justice and injustice, which is a fundamental tenant of Zoroastrian doctrine. You read that the universe treats all man the same. It also exposes the flaws in man guided by the laws of Zoroaster. Its not the doctrine, but rather the man’s inability to fend off the magical powers of Ahrima*. And finally as Zoroastrians are compared to Muslim’s Ferdowsi casts a dark shadow over the latter and comes relatively close in his predictions as to outcomes of an Islamic Dynasty. Two things compelled me to read this book. First was the August 2008 issue of National Geographic. Second are my good friends during the time I lived in New York, Amir and Mondana who are Iranians in exile. Amir would always say to me. “Paul Iran is not Arab, we are not even Muslim at our roots. All Iran wants is to have their place as a world power at peace in the world.” He said most Iranians feel this way and we should not be misled by the current regime. This book certainly corroborates Amir’s words.

* ahrima is the Zoroastrian corollary to the Christian devil

A wise man will be saddened when he learns
Of how the moving sphere of heavens turns:
Caught in the evil clutch of Ahriman,
I am the time’s most sad and sinful man;
This house will lose all trace of sovereignty
Of royal glory, and of victory.
The sun looks down from its exalted sphere
And sees the day of our defeat draw near:
Both Mars and Venus now oppose our cause
And no man can evade the heaven’s laws.
Saturn and Mercury divide the sky –
Mercury rules the house of Gemini:
Ahead of us lie war and endless strife
Such that my failing heart despairs of life.
I see what has to be, and choose the way
Of silence since there is no more to say:
But for the Persians I will weep, and for
The House of Sasan ruined by this war:
Alas for their great crown and throne, for all
The royal splendor destined now to fall,
To be fragmented be the Arab’s might;
The stars decree for us defeat and flight.
Four hundred years will pass in which our name
Will be forgotten and devoid of fame.

But when the pulpit’s equal to the throne
And Abu Bakr’s and Omar;s names are known
Our long travails will be as naught, and all
The glory we have known will fade and fall.
The stars are with the Arabs, and you’ll see
No crown or throne, no royal sovereignty
Long says will pass, until the worthless fool
Will lead his followers and presume to rule:
They’ll dress in black, their headdress will be made
Of twisted lengths of silk or black brocade.
There’ll be no golden boots or banners then
Our crowns and thrones will not be seen again.
Some will rejoice, while others live in fear
Justice and charity will disappear,
At night , the time to hide away and sleep,
Men’s eyes will glitter to make others weep;
Strangers will rule us then, and with their might
They’ll plunder us and turn our days to night.

They will not care for just or righteous me,
Debit and fraudulence will flourish then.
Warriors will go on foot, while puffed up pride
And empty boasts will arm themselves and ride;
The peasantry will suffer from neglect,
Lineage and skill will garner no respect,
Men will be mutual thieves and have no shame,
Curses and blessings will be thought the same,
What is hidden will be worse than what is known,
And stony-hearted kings will seize the throne.
No man will trust his son, and equally
No son will trust his father’s honesty –
A misbegotten slave will rule the earth,
Greatness and lineage will have no worth,
No one will keep his word, and men will find
The tongue as filled with evil as the mind.
Then Persians, Turks, and Arabs, side by side
Will live together, mingled far and wide –
The three will blur, as if they were the same;
Their languages will be a trivial game.
Men will conceal their wealth, but when they’ve died,
Their foes will pilfer everything they hide.
Men will pretend they’re holy, or they’re wise,
To make a livelihood by telling lies.
Sorrow and anguish, bitterness and pain
Will be as happiness was in the reign
Of Bahram Gur – mankind’s accustomed fate:
There will be no feasts, no festivals of state,
No pleasures, no musicians none of these:
But there’ll be lies and traps and treacheries.
Sour milk will be our food, and course cloth our dress,
And greed for money will breed our bitterness
Between the generations: men will cheat
Each other while they calmly counterfeit
Religious faith. The winter and the spring
Will pass mankind unmarked, no one will bring
The wine to celebrate such moments then
Instead they’ll spill the blood of fellow man,