Shahnameh, Part 3

Leyla: salām hamegee! Welcome to part three of our discussion of the Tale of Zal, here with Dr. Sahba Shayani. salām Dr. Sahba.

Sahba: salām Leyla jān.

Leyla: Thank you so much for joining us for this third part, after leaving us with another cliffhanger last time. So do we want to give a quick synopsis of where we are in the story right now, and then we'll go into the text?

Sahba: Sure, yes. So at this point in the tale, we are at the place where Zal has been adopted essentially by Simorgh. Simorgh, through the grace of God, takes Zal from the mountain and decides to raise him. And last we spoke, we talked about how Sam just had a dream that his son is alive somewhere, and he sees him coming down from the mountains of Hindustan, and he wakes up in anxiety and shame for what he has done.

Leyla: Wonderful. And I have a question before we get started. So how was this text presented? Was it just in text form? Because many of the current copies of Shahnameh or you know, current things that we think of when we think of Shahnameh contain illustrations as well. Were there illustrations that were done at the time? Were there illustrations that came with the book, or how was it presented?

Sahba: Absolutely. So actually, no, the Shahnameh is meant to be an oral, an orally presented text. So there’s a whole art called naghali in which the Shahnameh is presented and sort of acted out by a one man or one man and one woman show. So it's like one person usually acting it out with a backdrop of paintings from the Shahnameh, oftentimes. But initially, in the text that we have, there are all the manuscripts that we have are illustrated. So, for example, and they’re specific parts of the Shahnameh that are more illustrated than others. So for example, this scene that we just talked about last session is one that is seen often in the illustrations. So I can think of at least two or three illustrations in different manuscripts of the Shahnameh, where you have this scene where Simorgh snatches Zal and takes him up to his abode in kooh-e Alborz, depicted in beautiful miniature styles. And depending on when, in what era these stories are illustrated, the faces and the artwork differ. So if you have the Mongol era, all the characteristics have like more Asian features. If you have it a little bit later, they look more West Asian. So it's very different. Yeah.

Leyla: Wow. Okay. Good to know.

Sahba: We are on page, of the manuscript, I'm on page 168, and I am at line 99 right now. So Sam wakes up from this dream and he's shook, and he turns to his courtiers and the Magi, the priests, and says, you know, what do you make of this dream? And this is their response. Ferdowsi writes: har ānkas ké boodand peer ō javān zabān bargoshādand baré pahlevān. So both the young and the old unloosed their tongue unleashed their tongues to the great Paladin, to Sam ké "bar sang ō bar khāk sheer ō palang ché māhee bad-āb andaroon bā nahang! so that whether upon a rock or upon the dirt, the lion, the leopard, the fish or the whale or the alligator, all of these animals hamé baché-rā parvarānandé-and All of them have nurtured their children. They've taken care of their children. setāyesh bé yazdān rasānandé-and And they've given praise for their children to God. But you, tō paymāné neekee dehesh beshkanee chonān bee gonah baché-rā befganee. You broke your covenant with God in such a way and cast this poor, innocent child to the desert. bé yazdān konoon sooyé poozesh gerāy ké oo-yast bar neek ō bad rahnamāy!" Now you need to turn to God. bé poozesh, in forgiveness and seek his forgiveness, for he is the one that can lead you aright or astray, essentially. So they tell him, you know, finally, after all these years, they tell him what the heck did you do? You know, you prayed for this for years and years on end to God to give you a son. And once he did, because you didn't like what you saw, you cast them out. Even animals take better care of their children than you did. So again, you see this critique of Ferdowsi of humanity saying, you know, even animals do better than humans sometimes. Then Sam has a second dream. chō shab teeré shod rāyé khāb āmadash k'az andeeshéyé del shetāb āmadash. So as night fell, sleep came to him again. And from all his thoughts, there was an anxiety sort of induced in him. chonān deed dar khāb k'az koohé hand derafshee barafrākhtandee boland. So such he saw that from the mountains of India, so this is east of Iran, a flag, a standard was raised up high. gholāmee padeed āmadee khoobrooy sepāhee gerān az pasé poshté ooy. So a handsome slave came forward, and from behind him a heavy cavalry, a large army. bé dasté chapash bar yekee moobadee upon his left side a moobad, a Magi, a Zorastrian priest, soyé rāstash nāmvaré bekhradee And on his right, a renowned wise man. yekee peeshé sām āmadee zān dō mard One out of those two men came towards Sam. goshādee zabān-rā bé goftāré sard. And he unfurled his tongue to him in coldness, so began speaking to him coldly. ké "ay mardé nābāké nāpāk rāy O cowardice and impure thoughted man del ō deedé shosté zé sharmé khodāy You who have washed your heart and your eyes from the shame of God torā dāyé gar morgh shāyesté-yee If it is befitting for you to have a bird as your nursemaid, for want to rear your child, pas een pahlavānee ché bāyesté-yee?! Then what the hell is this? You know, he wrote this, what do you call it? This state of pallidness and heroism to you? You're not befitting to be a hero and a paladin, yeah. gar āhoo-st bar mard mooyé sepeed If it's a shame for a man to have mooyé sepeed, to have mooyé sefeed. Notice how the word sepeed is used here, because originally it's sepeed and then because of Arabic and how the Arab can't pronounce pe, the word becomes sefeed, right? So gar āhoo-st bar mard mooyé sepeed If it's a shame for a man to have white hair, torā reesh ō sar gasht chon khengé beed. Your head and your beard has all become like the pussy willow, the flower that's very white, yeah. So all of her hair and beard are all white. So what are you talking about, yeah? pas az āfareenandé beezār shō ké dar tant har rooz rangee-st nō So turn away from the creator, meaning don't even think about asking the creator for anything. For every day, there is a new color in you, meaning that you're not steadfast, you don’t have one color. You're not of one substance. You keep flickering and changing, essentially, pesar gar benazdé pedar bood khār If the son was abject, was made abject before the father, konoon hast parvardéyé kerdegār. Now he has been reared and raised by the grace of God. So if you didn't give him his love, forget you. God reared him out of his love, yeah. k'azoo mehrabāntar bedoo dāyé neest for there is no kinder wetnurse or nursemaid to him than God. torā khod bé mehr andaroon māyé neest!" And to you, there is no substance of love and pacts and covenants, mehr.

Leyla: Wow. It's so wild to read this now with our, like, modern understanding because there's so many themes that I would think are more of a modern, like what is a duty of a father? Like what is masculinity and, you know, what represents you and even, like, what is diversity? Like it's okay for everyone to be different. Like it's as if it’s like a modern text of like, this would be banned in the US right now.

Sahba: Yeah. This is the beauty of these texts, I think. Leyla jān, you know, you read them and you see it's written in 1010 C.E., it's completed in 1010 C.E., you know it's written even before that. So it's written in the 11th century, but still it's so pertinent to today's world and to today's life. And it shows you in a way that, for better or for worse, humanity has made leaps and strides in some things. But in some things, we're still the same. We're still human beings, you know? Yeah. And we still deal with the same issues. And I think this is vital for us to understand because often we think, oh, these texts are from thousands of years ago. What good does it do me today? Forget it. You know, we have phones today, and we have computers today. And look how much we've progressed today. Yeah, but we're still dealing with like, essentially. the same things. And also it shows you that our ancestors were not idiots, you know, I think often we think oh those people, you know. No. He's talking, you just nailed it. He's talking about the importance of parenthood, of fatherhood, the importance of diversity, and of understanding that every being in this world serves a function and plays a role and is noble in their own right and in their own existence, you know? So just because someone's different doesn't mean that they're bad or that you should abandon them, or that they don't deserve the love that everyone else deserves.

Leyla: Right! But also just the messiness of humanity, too. It's just like we're so messy, and we were always so messy, and this is a king. And we can, like, relate to the king. Like, why aren't you a better dad, you know? Like, you wouldn't think that it would be that important in the grand scheme of things, like, why are they, cherā behesh gir midar? Why are they, like, bothering him so much? He has other responsibilities. But the responsibility for this child was, like, so important in the grand scheme of things even.

Sahba: And it's something that you've, you know, wanted for so long, when it's given to you, again this is even something very modern, you know, like you yearn for something and then when it comes, just because it's not exactly how we imagined it to be, we're prone to casting it aside and saying, well, no, this isn't good enough, you know? And it's saying, be grateful. You know, you cry tears for this. And now that you have it, you cast it aside and you’re ungrateful for what it is that you’ve received, you know? Yeah, it's beautiful, it's beautiful. So Sam wakes up from his dreams screaming, yeah, and he calls the head of the armies forward. And he says, we have to go and find my son.

Leyla: Oh, no.

Sahba: And there we leave it off for next.

Leyla: Oh, no. Okay, well, that's an exciting point then, yeah. So again, as always, we'll have all these lines. We'll go over each of the words in them, you can study them over the week and listen to them individually. Think about what roles we play as parents in society, what roles we have in accepting others and how this really is such a timeless message.

Sahba: Yes, absolutely. And also the, you know, the appreciation that we should have for the ancients, you know, and our ancestors and the knowledge that they passed down to us. And just because something isn't in the form of modern technology and something that we value greatly today, doesn't mean that it isn't filled with important lessons that can help us in today's modern world as well.

Leyla: Perfect. Wonderful. Well, we'll be back next week with part four of this story, The Tale of Zal. Thank you very much.

Sahba: Thank you, khodāhāfez.

Leyla: khodāhāfez.