The Shahnameh by Hamid Dabashi

Author:Hamid Dabashi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Columbia University Press

WHEN HISTORY REMEMBERS ITSELF

From this point forward, we begin to see the unfolding drama of world history dreamed inside the memorial consciousness of the Shahnameh, in what we can now see is the collective unconscious of the Persia epic. Fereydun and his three sons become the focal points of the next story of the Shahnameh, by which event we now exit its mythological and enter its heroic phase. Fereydun ascends the royal throne in the month of Mehr (September–October) at the autumnal equinox—henceforth the Mehregan Festival becomes a Persian festive occasion. Fereydun’s mother, Faranak, becomes instrumental in her son’s spreading justice and fairness in the realm. Fereydun has three sons: Iraj, Salm, and Tur. Fereydun commissions his vizier, Jandal, to find three suitable sisters to marry his sons. Jandal goes around the world and decides that the daughters of the king of Yemen are best suited for Fereydun’s sons. He asks the Yemenite monarch for the hands of his three daughters for the sons of Fereydun. The king is ambivalent because he is interested in the union but is reluctant to be separated from his daughters. He is also afraid of refusing Fereydun’s request and inciting his anger, having the history of Zahhak freshly in mind. The Yemenite generals are offended by their monarch’s weakness and ask him to be steadfast in his decision, either send off his daughters to marry Fereydun’s sons with dignity or, if does not wish so, to simply ask Fereydun for certain impossible things in return that he will not be able to provide. The imperial power of the house of Fereydun has now reached its fullest potential. History, as provisioned by the mythic force of The Book of Kings, is now unfolding apace.

The imperial geography of the Shahnameh now begins to expand proportionately. The Yemenite monarch sends a message to Fereydun through Jandal in which he tells him that of course he would be honored if his daughters were to be married to his sons. However, he wishes to see his future sons-in-law in person, and would the Persian king mind sending them off to Yemen? Fereydun is wise and knows that his Yemenite counterpart is reluctant to send off his daughters. So he teaches his sons how to tell the three princesses from one another, because they look very much alike. Alerted to the Yemenite king’s stratagem, Fereydun’s sons go to Yemen and skillfully distinguish among the three princesses, marry them respectively, and head back to Iran. But the Yemenite king was relentless. He planted a number of other magical stratagems to trap the Persian princes. But having been bestowed with the Divine Gift of Grace, Royal Glory (Farrah-e Izadi), Iraj, Salm, and Tur undid all his magic and returned home in safety. Before they reach their father’s palace, however, Fereydun himself decides to test his sons’ wisdom and appears as a dragon to them, with which they again deal with caution and reason. Assured of his sons’ capabilities, Fereydun welcomes his daughters-in-law

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