Duel Between Rostam and the White Div: An Allegorical Critique of War in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh in Ghazniavi Context

Abstrakt

Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh was written during the reigns of two very different ethnic dynasties. The Samanids created an ideal climate for a scholar of the history of pre-Islamic Iran, which made it easier for Ferdowsi to begin his work, but the change in the ruling dynasty meant that his work did not receive the reception he had hoped for. In the article I hypothesize that the main reason for this was the poet's anti-war criticism of the policies of Mahmud of Ghazni, specifically his expedition to India in the years 1000-1001. For his own safety, Ferdowsi hid the criticism under a historical allegory and placed it in the initial, non-historical part of the poem – Kay Kavus’ expedition to Mazandaran. The duel between Rostam and White Div, which is the climax of the expedition, is also the culmination of the anti-war message. Despite hiding the criticism in literary fiction, it was read by Mahmud and his court, resulting in his strong negative reaction. To prove my hypothesis, I cite evidence showing that Ferdowsi drew inspiration from contemporaneity in creating other elements of the Shahnameh.