Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
FIRDOUSY, FIRDAUSI
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: FAT-FLA
del.icio.us it!
|
See also:FIRDOUSY, FIRDAUSI or FIRDUSI, See also:Persian poet. See also:Abu 'I Kasim Mansur (or See also:Hasan), who took the nom de plume of Firdousi, author of the epic poem the Shahnama, or " See also:Book of See also:Kings," a See also:complete See also:history of See also:Persia in nearly 6o,000 verses, was See also:born at Shadab, a suburb of Tits, about the See also:year 329 of the Hegira (941 A.D.), or earlier. His See also:father belonged to the class of Dihkans (the old native See also:country families and landed proprietors of Persia, who had preserved their See also:influence and status under the Arab See also:rule), and possessed an See also:estate in the neighbourhood of Tits (in See also:Khorasan). Firdousi's own See also:education eminently qualified him for the gigantic task which he subsequently undertook, for he was profoundly versed in the Arabic See also:language and literature and had also studied deeply the See also:Pahlavi or Old Persian, and was conversant with the See also:ancient See also:historical records which existed in that See also:tongue. The Shahnama of Firdousi (see also PERSIA: Literature) is perhaps the only example of a poem produced by a single author which at once took its See also:place as the See also:national epic of the See also:people. The nature of the See also:work, the materials from which it was composed, and the circumstances under which it was written are, however, in themselves exceptional, and necessarily tended to this result. The grandeur and antiquity of the See also:empire and the vicissitudes through which it passed, their See also:long See also:series of See also:wars and the magnificent monuments erected by their ancient sovereigns, could not fail to leave numerous traces in the memory of so imaginative a people as the Persians. As See also:early as the 5th See also:century of the See also:Christian era we find mention made of these historical traditions in the work of an Armenian author, See also:Moses of Chorene (according to others, he lived in the 7th or 8th century). During'the reign of See also:Chosroes I. (Anushirvan) the contemporary of See also:Mahomet, and by See also:order of that monarch, an See also:attempt had been made to collect, from various parts of the See also:kingdom, all the popular tales and legends See also:relating to the ancient kings, and the results were deposited in the royal library. During the last years of the See also:Sassanid See also:dynasty the work was resumed, the former collection being revised and greatly added to by the Dihkan Danishwer, assisted by several learned mobeds. His work was entitled the Khoda'inama, which in the old See also:dialect also meant the " Book of Kings." On the Arab invasion this work was in See also:great danger of perishing at the hands of the iconoclastic See also:caliph See also:Omar and his generals, but it was fortunately preserved; and we find it in the and century of the Hegira being paraphrased in Arabic by Abdallah See also:ibn el Mokaffa, a learned Persian who had embraced See also:Islam. Other Guebres occupied themselves privately with the collection of these traditions; and, when a See also:prince of Persian origin, Yakub ibn Laith, founder of the Saffarid dynasty, succeeded in throwing off his See also:allegiance to the See also:caliphate, he at once set about continuing the work of his illustrious predecessors. His " Book of Kings " was completed in the year 260 of the Hegira, and was freely circulated in Khorasan and See also:Irak. Yakub's See also:family did not continue long in See also:power; but the Samanid princes who succeeded applied themselves zealously to the same work, and Prince Nuh II., who came to the See also:throne in 365 A.R. (A.D.9i6), entrusted it to the See also:court poet Dakiki, a Guebre by See also:religion. Dakiki's labours were brought to a sudden stop by his own assassination, and the fall of the Samanian See also:house happened not long after, and their kingdom passed into the hands of the Ghaznevids. Mahmud ibn Sabuktagin, the second of the dynasty (998-1030), continued397 to make himself still more See also:independent of the caliphate than his predecessors, and, though a See also:warrior and a fanatical Moslem, extended a generous patronage to Persian literature and learning, and even See also:developed it at the expense of the Arabic institutions. The task of continuing and completing the collection of the ancient historical traditions of the empire especially attracted him. With the assistance of neighbouring princes and of many of the influential Dihkans, Mahmud collected a vast amount of materials for the work, and after having searched in vain for a See also:man of sufficient learning and ability to edit them faithfully, and having entrusted various episodes for versification to the numerous poets whom he had gathered See also:round him, he at length made choice of Firdousi. Firdousi had been always strongly attracted by the ancient Pahlavi records, and had begun at an early See also:age to turn them into Persian epic See also:verse. On See also:hearing of the See also:death of the poet Dakiki, he conceived the ambitious See also:design of himself carrying out the work which the latter had only just commenced; and, although he had not then any introduction to the court, he contrived, thanks to one of his See also:friends, Mahommed Lashkari, to procure a copy of the Dihkan Danishwer's collection, and at the age of See also:thirty-six commenced his great undertaking. Abu Mansur, the See also:governor of Tus, patronized him and encouraged him by substantial pecuniary support. When Mahmud succeeded to the throne, and evinced such acftk'e See also:interest in the work, Firdousi was naturally attracted to the court of See also:Ghazni. At first court jealousies and intrigues prevented Firdousi from being noticed by the See also:sultan; but at length one of his friends, Mahek, undertook to See also:present to Mahmud his poetic version of one of the well-known episodes of the legendary history. Hearing that the poet was born at Tits, the sultan made him explain the origin of his native See also:town, and was much struck with the intimate knowledge of ancient history which he displayed. Being presented to the seven poets who were then engaged on the projected epic, Abu '1 Kasim was admitted to their meetings, and on one occasion improvised a verse, at Mahmud's See also:request, in praise of his favourite Ayaz, with such success that the sultan bestowed upon him the name of Firdousi, saying that he had converted his assemblies into See also:paradise (Firdous). During the early days of his sojourn at court an incident happened which contributed in no small measure to the realization of his ambition. Three of the seven poets were drinking in a See also:garden when Firdousi approached, and wishing to get rid of him without rudeness, they informed him who they were, and told him that it was their See also:custom to admit none to their society but such as could give See also:proof of poetical See also:talent. To test his acquirements they proposed that each should furnish an extemporary See also:line of verse, his own to be the last, and all four ending in the same See also:rhyme. Firdousi accepted the See also:challenge, and the three poets having previously agreed upon three rhyming words to which a See also:fourth could not be found in the Persian language, 'Ansari began " Thy beauty eclipses the See also:light of the See also:sun "; Farrakhi added " The See also:rose with thy cheek would comparison shun "; 'Asjadi continued " Thy glances See also:pierce through the mailed warrior's johsun "; and Firdousi, without a moment's hesitation, completed the quatrain— , " Like the See also:lance of fierce Giv in his fight with Poshun." The poets asked for an explanation of this allusion, and Firdousi recited to them the See also:battle as described in the Shahnama, and delighted and astonished them with his learning and eloquence. Mahmud now definitely selected him for the work of compiling and versifying the ancient legends, and bestowed upon him such marks of his favour and munificence as to elicit from the poet an enthusiastic See also:panegyric, which is inserted in the See also:preface of the Shdhndma, and forms a curious contrast to the See also:bitter See also:satire which he subsequently prefixed to the book. The sultan ordered his treasurer, Khojah Hasan Maimandi, to pay to Firdousi a thousand See also:gold pieces for every thousand verses; but the poet preferred allowing the sum to accumulate till the whole was 1 A sort of See also:cuirass. finished, with the See also:object of amassing sufficient See also:capital to construct a See also:dike for his native town of Tus, which suffered greatly from defective See also:irrigation, a project which had been the See also:chief See also:dream of his childhood. Owing to this See also:resolution, and to the See also:jealousy of Hasan Maimandi, who often refused to advance him sufficient for the necessaries of See also:life, Firdousi passed the later portion of, his life in great privation, though enjoying the royal favour and widely extended fame. Amongst other princes whose liberal presents enabled him to combat his pecuniary difficulties, was one Rustam, son of See also:Fakhr Addaula, the Dailamite, who sent him a thousand gold pieces in See also:acknowledgment of a copy of the See also:episode of Rustam and Isfendiar which Firdousi had sent him, and promised him a gracious reception if he should ever come to his court. As this prince belonged, like Firdousi, to the Shiah See also:sect, while Mahmud and Maimandi were See also:Sunnites, and as he was also politically opposed to the sultan, Hasan Maimandi did not fail to make the most of this incident, and accused the poet of disloyalty to his See also:sovereign and See also:patron, as well as of See also:heresy. Other enemies and rivals also joined in the attack, and for some See also:time Firdousi's position was very See also:precarious, though his pre-eminent talents and obvious fitness for the work prevented him from losing his posts To add to his troubles he had the misfortune to lose his only son at the age of 37.
At length, afte#tiirty-five years' work, the book was completed (rorr), and Firdousi entrusted it to Ayaz, the sultan's favourite, for presentation to him. Mahmud ordered Hasan Maimandi to take the poet as much gold as an See also:elephant could carry, but the jealous treasurer persuaded the monarch that it was too generous a See also:reward, and that an elephant's load of See also:silver would be sufficient. 6o,000 silver dirhems were accordingly placed in sacks, and taken to Firdousi by Ayaz at the sultan's command, instead of the 6o,000 gold pieces, one for each verse, which had been promised. The poet was at that moment in the See also:bath, and seeing the sacks, and believing that they contained the expected gold, received them with great See also:satisfaction, but finding only silver he complained to Ayaz that he had not executed the sultan's order. Ayaz related what had taken place between Mahmud and Hasan Maimandi, and Firdousi in a rage gave 20 thousand pieces to Ayaz himself, the same amount to the bath-keeper, and paid the See also:rest to a See also:beer seller for a See also:glass of beer (fouka), sending word back to the sultan that it was not to gain See also:money that he had taken so much trouble. On hearing this See also:message, Mahmud at first reproached See also:Hasa n with having caused him to break his word, but the wily treasurer succeeded in turning his See also:master's anger upon Firdousi to such an extent that he threatened that on the morrow he would " See also:cast that Carmathian (heretic) under the feet of his elephants." Being apprised by one of the nobles of the court of what had taken place, Firdousi passed the See also:night in great anxiety; but passing in the See also:morning by the See also:gate that led from his own apartments into the See also:palace, he met the sultan in his private garden, and succeeded by humble apologies in appeasing his wrath. He was, however, far from being appeased himself, and determined at once upon quitting Ghazni. Returning See also:home he tore up the See also:draughts of some thousands of verses which he had composed and threw them in the See also:fire, and repairing to the See also:grand See also:mosque of Ghazni he wrote upon the walls, at the place where the sultan was in the See also:habit of praying, the following lines:
" The auspicious court of Mahmud, See also: If I have dived therein without finding any pearls it is the See also:fault of my See also:star and not of the sea." i He then gave a sealed See also:paper to Ayaz, begging him to See also:hand it to the sultan in a leisure moment after 20 days had elapsed, and set off on his travels with no better equipment than his See also:staff and a See also:dervish's cloak. At the expiration of the 20 days Ayaz gave the paper to the sultan, who on opening it found the celebrated satire which is now always prefixed to copies of the Shahnama, and which is perhaps one of the bitterest and severest pieces of reproach ever penned. Mahmud, in a violent rage, sent after the poet and promised a large reward for his See also:capture, but he was already in See also:comparative safety. Firdousi directed hissteps to See also:Mazandaran, and took See also:refuge with Kabus, prince of Jorjan, who'at first received him with great favour, and promised him his continued See also:protection and patronage; learning, however, the circumstances under which he had See also:left Ghazni, he feared the resentment of so powerful a sovereign as Mahmud, who he knew already coveted his kingdom, and dismissed the poet with a magnificent present. Firdousi next repaired to See also:Bagdad, where he made the acquaintance of a See also:merchant, who introduced him to the See also:vizier of the caliph, al-Qadir, by presenting an Arabic poem which the poet had composed in his See also:honour. The vizier gave Firdousi an apartment near himself, and related to the caliph the manner in which he had been treated at Ghazni. The caliph summoned him into his presence, and was so much pleased with a poem of a thousand couplets, which Firdousi composed in his honour, that he at once received him into favour. The fact of his having devoted his life and talents to chronicling the renown of fire-worshipping Persians was, however, somewhat of a See also:crime in the orthodox caliph's eyes; in order therefore to recover his See also:prestige, Firdousi composed another poem of 9000 couplets on the theme borrowed from the See also:Koran of the loves of See also:Joseph and Potiphar's wife—17 usuf and Zuleikha (edited by H. Ethe, See also:Oxford, 1902; complete metrical See also:translation by Schlechta-Wssehrd, See also:Vienna, 1888). This poem, though rare and little known, is still in existence—the Royal See also:Asiatic Society possessing a copy. But Mahmud had by this time heard of his See also:asylum at the court of the caliph, and wrote a See also:letter menacing his See also:liege See also:lord, and demanding the surrender of the poet. Firdousi, to avoid further troubles, departed for' Ahwaz, a See also:province of the Persian Irak, and dedicated his Vusuf and Zuleikha to the governor of that See also:district. Thence he went to See also:Kohistan, where the governor, Nasir Lek, was his intimate and devoted friend, and received him with great ceremony upon the frontier. Firdousi confided to him that he contemplated See also:writing a bitter exposition of his shameful treatment at the hands of the sultan of Ghazni; but Nasir Lek, who was a See also:personal friend- of the latter, dissuaded him from his purpose, but himself wrote and remonstrated with Mahmud. Nasir Lek's message and the urgent representations of Firdousi's friends had the desired effect; and Mahmud not only expressed his intention of offering full reparation to the poet, but put his enemy Maimandi to death. The See also:change, however, came too See also:late; Firdousi, now a broken and decrepit old man, had in the meanwhile returned to Tus, and, while wandering through the streets of his native town, heard a See also:child lisping a verse from his own satire in which he taunts Mahmud with his slavish See also:birth:
" Had Mahmud's father been what he is now A See also:crown of gold had decked this aged brow; Had Mahmud's See also:mother been of See also:gentle See also:blood, In heaps of silver See also:knee-deep had I stood."
He was so affected by this proof of universal sympathy with his misfortunes that he went home, See also:fell sick and died. He was buried in a garden, but Abu'l Kasim See also:Jurjani, chief See also:sheikh of Tus, refused to read the usual prayers over his See also:tomb, alleging that he was an infidel, and had devoted his life to the glorification of fire-worshippers and misbelievers. The next night, however, having dreamt that he beheld Firdousi in paradise dressed in the sacred See also:colour, See also:green, and wearing an See also:emerald crown, he reconsidered his determination; and the poet was henceforth held to be perfectly orthodox. He died in the year 411 of the Hegira (1020 A.D.), aged about eighty, eleven years after the completion of his great work. The See also:legend goes that Mahmud had in the meanwhile despatched the promised See also:hundred thousand pieces of gold to Firdousi, with a robe of honour and ample apologies for the past. But as the camels bearing the treasure reached one of the See also:gates of the See also:city, Firdousi's funeral was leaving it by another. His daughter, to whom they brought the sultan's present, refused to receive it; but his aged See also:sister remembering his anxiety for the construction of the See also: Geiger s Grundriss der iranischen Philologie, ii. pp. 150-158). The Shahnama is based, as we have seen, upon the ancient legends current among the populace of Persia, and collected by the Dihkans, a class of men who had the greatest facilities for this purfose. There is every See also:reason therefore to believe that Firdousi adhered faithfully to these records of antiquity, and that the poem is a perfect See also:store-house of the genuine traditions of the country. The entire poem (which only existed in MS. up to the beginning of the 19th century) was published (1831–1868) with a See also:French translation in a magnificent See also:folio edition, at the expense of the French See also:government, by the learned and indefatigable See also:Julius von See also:Mohl. The See also:size and number of the volumes, however, and their great expense, made them difficult of See also:access. and Frau von Mohl published the French translation (1876–1878) with her illustrious See also:husband's See also:critical notes and introduction in a more convenient and cheaper See also:form. Other See also:editions are by See also:Turner Macan (See also:Calcutta, 1829), J. A. Vullers and S. Landauer (unfinished; See also:Leiden, 1877–1883). There is an See also:English abridgment by J. See also:Atkinson (See also:London, 1832; reprinted 1886, 1892) ; there is a verse-translation, partly rhymed and partly unrhymed, by A. G. and E. \Varner (1905 See also:foil.), with an introduction containing an See also:account of Firdousi and the Shahnama; the version by A. See also:Rogers (1907) contains the greater See also:part of the work. The episode of Sohrab and Rustam is well known to English readers from See also:Matthew See also:Arnold's poem. The only complete translation is It Libro dei Rei, by I. Pizzi (8 vols., See also:Turin, 1886–1888), also the author of a history of Persian See also:poetry.
See also E. G. See also: Ethe, " Neupersische Litteratur," in the same work. (E. H. P. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] FIR |
[next] FIRE (in O. Eng. f j'r; the word is common to West ... |