Shahnameh, Part 2

Leyla: salām bé hamegee. Welcome to part two of our discussion of the Tale of Zal with Dr. Sahba Shayani. Hello, Sahba jān. Welcome to the program.

Sahba: Thank you. Thank you for having me again. It's wonderful to be here.

Leyla: Yes. And, we had a long break before recording part one to now. Probably, those of you listening can't notice because we're releasing them after just a week. But there's been a lot of occurrences that have happened and kept us from recording part two. So I would love if we can start with a little refresher of what we went over last time.

Sahba: Yes, absolutely. So we talked about last time our story began with Sām Narimān, the king of Zabulistan. So just generally, we talked about how the Shahnameh has, you have the Shahanshah, the king of kings in the Shahnameh, and then under him, you have minor kings, lesser kings that ruled the different dominions within the greater Kingdom of Iran. And they all sort of report back to the greatest, the Shahanshah, which in this part of the Shahnameh is Manuchehr Shah. So you have Sām Narimān, who's the Shah of Zabulistan, which is basically, if we think of modern-day Iran, is essentially southeast Iran, modern-day Iran, between Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. So you have Sām Narimān, who has long wished for a son and prayed to God for a son, and finally his wish is granted and he is given a son, but the son that he is given is born with white hair, with white skin and very white hair. And upon seeing this, he is horrified. He's mortified, mostly, actually, because I think we talked about this part last time too, but if not, good to highlight it, mostly because he's worried about what other people are going to say, you know, so that age old worry and anxiety of humanity, but also quite common in our culture of ‘mardom chi migan?’, you know.

Leyla: Right. What are people going to say?

Sahba: Yeah, yeah. So he's very concerned about that, and he decides to basically have the baby killed. So he commands his guards to take the baby and abandon him by the mountains, by what we believe is the Mount Alborz. So, they take Zal. The name of the baby is Zal. And Zal actually comes to mean essentially white-haired or, in a way, like albino. And so they take Zal and they cast him by the mountainside and leave him there alone. And that is where we left off. So this is where we pick up.

Leyla: Quite a cliffhanger, and like we did last time. So we have the text of this, and you can follow along with the text, and we are going over parts of it. And Sahba is translating it for us really nicely, so that we can understand. So yeah, let's, let's go for it.

Sahba: Okay, great. So, they take Zal, and they abandon him at Mount Alborz. So then we are told that, as the baby is lying there screaming and crying and all alone in this sort of, almost desert-ish land. He is sighted by the mythical and legendary bird in Iranian lore, Simorgh. And Simorgh is, which literally translates to 30 birds, si and morgh in classical Persian meaning bird. Simorgh is a bird that has ancient roots in Iranian lore and culture. Goes all the way back to the Avesta, and perhaps even before that to Indo-Aryan religion. And it is a, we don't know the gender of it. Some speculate female, male or androgynous. But it is a mythical bird that has great power and strength, and it's almost magical, essentially. And so Ferdowsi tells us this. I'm going to read a little bit of it. So, chō seemorgh-rā baché shod gorosné bé parvāz bar shod damān az boné. So when Simorgh’s own children become gorosné, become hungry, bé parvāz bar shod damān az boné He or she rises from his nest to go to find food for the babies. yekee sheerkhāréyé khorooshandé deed zameen-rā chō daryāyé jooshandé deed. And he sees a suckling child, this is Zal, khorooshandé, screaming and wailing on the ground, and zameen-rā chō daryāyé jooshandé deed and the earth around him, he sees like a boiling sea. I love this imagery of, like, a baby just lying there crying. Simorgh sort of having this aerial view coming down, and seeing this crying baby in the midst of what looks like a boiling, you know, sea around it. zé khārāsh gahvāré ō dāyé khāk tan az jāmé door ō lab az sheer pāk So zé khārāsh, out of, you can read this as thorns, yeah. Out of thorns, gahvāré, his cradle was made out of thorns. ō dāyé khāk, and his wet nurse was the earth itself, cause he’s left all alone, right. tan az jāmé door, his body bereft of any clothes. tan az jāmé door ō lab az sheer pāk And his lips clean from any milk, right. Because he's been abandoned. bé gerd andarash teeré khāké nazhand bé sarbarash khorsheed gashté boland. So, surrounding him, the dark dust of the earth. And upon his head rising the sun. And I love this line, he says palangash bodee kājkee mām ō bāb magar sāyéyee yāftee zé āftāb. So he says ey kāsh. If only. Oh that, palangash bodee mām ō bāb. A leopard was his mother and his father. So that perhaps, perchance, he could have found some shelter from the sun. So he's, in this line, he's really heavily criticizing humanity, essentially. He’s saying even animals don't do this to their children, right? So if only his mother was a leopard, so that he wouldn't have been left all alone in the midst of this wasteland, essentially. forood āmad az abr seemorgh ō chang. So down comes, from the cloud, Simorgh. And with its claws, bezad bargereftash az ān garm sang grabbed him from that hotbed of rocks and took him up. bebordash damān tā bé alborz kooh ké boodash bar ānjā konāmé gorooh. And he took him up onto the Alborz mountain, for that's where his nest lay. soyé bachegān bord tā beshkarand bedān nāléyé zāré oo nangarand So he took him up to his children, his own babies, the Simorgh chicks, so that they could hunt him beshkarand, shekāresh konand, bedān nāléyé zāré oo nangarand. And they wouldn't pay any attention to his pitiful cries. Yeah.

Leyla: So he's taking him as food for the babies?

Sahba: Yes. He's taking him as food for his babies.

Leyla: Okay.

Sahba: Exactly, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, we thought it was going to get good, but-

Leyla: Yeah.

Sahba: And then this is one of my favorite lines. Often, this and the next one, I get goosebumps when I read them. bebakhshood yazdāné neekee dehesh hamé boodanee dāsht andar ravesh khodāvand mehree bé seemorgh dād nakard oo bekhordan az ān khord yād So, bebakhshood yazdāné neekee dehesh The good-giving Lord bebakhshood, bestowed his grace upon the child. hamé boodanee dāsht andar ravesh. For he knew all that was to be, and to do, and all that is good in his method, in his way. This is talking about God. God knows all that is good. And then there's a second line I read, which is, in some texts it's dropped. And in this one it's, in some it's dropped and in some it's kept, and it says, khodāvand mehree bé seemorgh dād. The Lord gave a love, a liking unto Simorgh's heart. He cast love into Simorgh's heart. nakard oo bekhordan az ān khord yād. And he didn't think once, even again, once more even about eating that child, right. So, like Simorgh’s intentions shift suddenly. negah kard seemorgh bā bachegān bedān khordé khoon az dō deedé chakān. So Simorgh and his children looked at that baby that was crying blood from its eyes. shegeftee Oh, what a wonder! bedoobar fegandand mehr Upon him, they cast their love. bemāndand kheeré dar ān khoobchehr And in wonder and awe, they looked upon that beautiful face. So you see, because of God's mercy, suddenly their intentions shift altogether. And they looked at, look at this child with different eyes, instead of as that of a food, as that of one of their own, or a beautiful creature that they should tend to instead. And then we are told that Simorgh then hunts something softer and smaller for Zal to have, and begins to feed that to Zal. And in this way, Simorgh raises Zal as one of his own, in and among his children.

Leyla: And so I'm wondering, is this the same Simorgh as in Attar’s stories. It's the same?

Sahba: Well, it's the same Simorgh. Yes. Its function to some extent is different. But yeah, it's the same Simorgh. Exactly. It's the same Simorgh. In Attar’s Mantiq al-Tayr, Simorgh takes on a much more, I'm sure, as you've done with Omid, a much more mystical nature and so on.

Leyla: Right. But this is a Simorgh, and there's one, like, just one Simorgh? Or are there lots of Simorghs there?

Sahba: There's, technically, there's one Simorgh. In the Shahnameh, there are then, later, two Simorghs. There’s a good Simorgh, and an evil Simorgh. But this is, when we speak of Simorgh, this is the Simorgh we talk of.

Leyla: Okay. And sometimes Simorgh gets translated to as Phoenix in English. So is that something that we can think of as a Phoenix is what's -

Sahba: So, technically, no, because Phoenix also exists in Persian literature. Phoenix is, yeah, Phoenix is Quqnus, which is a bird that has, if I'm not mistaken, the word, at least, Quqnus itself comes from the Arab tradition. So it's a bird that comes to us, I think, from either the Arab or perhaps the Greek traditions even. Most likely actually Greek, but then maybe goes to Arab and Persian. But the Quqnus, Phoenix, is known specifically for its ability to burst into flames eventually and then rise again from its own ashes. This is not a quality that Simorgh has at all. Simorgh’s quality is more as one who bestows his grace upon kings, and, sorry, no, I'm mistaken, that's Homay. There's another mystical bird in Persian literature, Homay. Homay is the one whose shadow, when it falls on a king, it bestows grace and the aura of kingship upon him. Simorgh is seen as a divine, divinely inspired mythical bird who, at least in the Shahnameh, plays a pivotal role in helping save the heroes, which is essentially Rostam, on a variety of levels, who then help save and preserve the monarchy.

Leyla: Okay, so then the babies that this Simorgh has are those Simorghs as well?

Sahba: That's interesting, they are Simorghs, but they never play a function. They never come to like, fruition or maturity, in a way. They're just there as plot device for the story.

Leyla: To not eat the child. Okay. Got it.

Sahba: Yeah, to not eat the child, exactly.

Leyla: Okay, I feel caught up with the Simorgh concept.

Sahba: Yeah, yeah. So then, well, I'm going to leave you with a cliffhanger here. Sām has a dream one night, that from the land of Hindustan comes an army. And in this army, he sees a valiant prince, and he gets news that, or he wonders that, why is this? Does this mean something? And he turns to his Magi and his courtiers for an interpretation of this dream. And they say, yes, this is your son. Your son is still alive. And they chastise him and berate him. And then Sām is in shock and in shame and wondering, oh God, what is going to happen to me now? And what do I do next?

Leyla: Alright. That is quite a cliffhanger. Okay, so for this lesson, we've covered a lot of lines, a few of which Sahba said were his favorite lines in the, so I don't, we'll figure out what is actually his favorite line. I have a feeling we'll keep hearing that.

Sahba: You are going to hear that. Yeah.

Leyla: There will be more favorite lines, just as there are several Simorghs in this story. But we will, in the lesson guide, we will write out all these lines and say what each of the words means. Hopefully, as you've listened to it, maybe they're presented in a different order than how we would speak today. But the words are very familiar, and they are words that we use in current conversation. So it'll be exciting to go through those and parse through them and see which words we recognize that will all be in the lesson guides. And we'll have each of these lines so you can listen to them individually as well throughout the week. And then we'll be back next week with the next part after this cliffhanger.

Sahba: I’m excited!

Leyla: Well, thank you Sahba jān, and until next time, khodāhāfez from Leyla.

Sahba: khodāhāfez.