The How and Why of the Inclusion of the Preface of Abu Mansuri’s Shahnameh in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh Manuscripts

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 . Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Persian Language and Literature,Science and Research Unit, Islamic Azad University, tehran, Iran.

2 Corresponding author, Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Academy of Persian Language and Literature, Tehran, Iran.

3 Associate Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Islamic Azad University, Dezful, Iran.

Abstract

Purpose: The Shāhnāmeh-ye Mansuri (Prose Shāhnāmeh of Abu Mansuri) was compiled before Ferdowsi by the order of Abu Mansur Muhammad ibn Abd al-Razzaq, with the collaboration of four Zoroastrian priests. This text, which served as the foundation for Ferdowsi's poetic version of the Shāhnāmeh, has only partially survived; specifically, its introduction has been preserved, primarily because it was included in some manuscripts of Ferdowsi's Shāhnāmeh. From among the twelve manuscripts used as the basis for the critical edition by Khaleghi-Motlagh, ten contain this introduction.
Method and Research: In this research, we aim to demonstrate, through a descriptive-analytical method and a library-based approach, the how and why of the inclusion of the introduction of the Shāhnāmeh-ye Abu Mansuri into Ferdowsi's Shāhnāmeh.
Findings and Conclusions: The findings of the research indicate that Ferdowsi, during the compilation and revision of the third version of the Shāhnāmeh—undertaken after his disillusionment with the Ghaznavid court—incorporated both a satire of Mahmud of Ghazni and the ancient introduction of the Shāhnāmeh-ye Abu Mansuri as a form of opposition to Mahmud. This was done to compensate for the explicit omission of Abu Mansur's name in the earlier version, a result of the Ghaznavids' hostility toward him. These changes, introduced in the third revision, were later integrated into the manuscripts of the Shāhnāmeh.

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References

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Journal of Prose Studies in Persian Literature
Volume 27, Issue 56
December 2024
Pages 79-95

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