Namaeh Farhangistan

Namaeh Farhangistan

A Study of the Shāhnāma-ye Manthūr of Shūshtarī as the First Prose Shāhnāma in the Persian Language

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 PhD student in Persian Language and Literature, Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran
2 Associate professor, Academy of Persian Language and Literature, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Manuscripts reveal various aspects of the literature, history, linguistic evolution, and civilizational development of every society. As Persian served as the official language of the Indian subcontinent for more than four centuries, the region became one of the main repositories of Persian manuscripts. Among these valuable manuscripts is the Shāhnāma-ye Manthūr (Prose Shāhnāma) by Muhammad b. Muhammad Arjānī Shūshtarī. Shūshtarī (fl. 1004 AH/1595 CE), an Iranian scholar, translator, and poet at the court of Akbar the Great, rendered Ferdowsī’s Shāhnāma into prose at the request of the Mughal emperor during the height of Persian literary influence in the subcontinent. The existing work recounts the story of Kay Khusraw. Drawing upon several different manuscripts of Ferdowsī’s Shāhnāma, Shūshtarī compiled this prose version with care, summarizing and rephrasing the verses while also interpreting and elaborating on certain events. The verses quoted in this Shāhnāma are either taken directly from Ferdowsī, composed by Shūshtarī himself, or cited from other great poets such as Neẓāmī, Sanāʾī, Ḥāfeẓ, Saʿdī, and Kamāl Esmāʿīl-with attributions included where applicable, though some remain anonymous.
This paper introduces and examines the stylistic and linguistic characteristics of Shūshtarī’s work, as well as his approach to rendering the Shāhnāma into prose.
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Subjects


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Volume 24, Issue 3 - Serial Number 97
Nameh Farhangestan (Subcontinent)
July and August 2025
Pages 53-74

  • Receive Date 24 June 2024
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