“The Secret of the Shahnameh and the reason for Khayyam’s fame”
On 28 May 2020, Mir Jalaladdin Kazazi, professor and renowned researcher of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh joined Abdul Mahdi Mostakin of the NatCom in his second live stream on NatChat.
“To unveil the secrets of Ferdowsi’s Book of Kings it is necessary to catch hold of the essence of the message conveyed. Shahnameh deceives the reader. Ferdowsi writes in a very simple and at the same time a very clear manner in the Shahnameh. Words flow like a river and they are crystal clear as the day. For this, the Book of kings has been very popular with the Iranian nation since its inception. It is therefore easy to cross the surface and grasp the core meaning of the Shahnameh. Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh is in fact a history book; a book which offers a clear account of the nation’s culture and history”, says Dr Kazazi.
For Kazazi, Rostam signifies the good nature of human that has been deceived by his brother. With the death of Rostam, the epic part of the Book of Kings comes to a close and hence begins the historical part with the introduction of Bahman or Ardeshir.
Kazazi also touched upon the reason of Khayyam’s world fame. He says, “when the Titanic sunk what was found in the ship was Khayyam’s book of poetry”, implying that Khayyam’s fame dates back to a very long time ago while there are many scholars and poets with bigger books of poetry who do not possess the same degree of fame. Why is that? The reason according to the speaker was and is Fitzgerald’s translation of Khayyam’s poetry and the efforts put by him in redressing Khayyam’s writings in a robe suiting the target audiences.
