Wisdom is the key to eternity of Shahnameh
The Iranian Academy of Persian Language and Literature (IAPLL) organized a ceremony in honor of Ferdowsi at Tehran’s Iranology Foundation on Saturday. Iranians annually celebrate Ferdowsi National Day on May 15.
Director of the academy Gholamali Haddad-Adel first talked about the secret lying behind the eternity of Ferdowsi and his magnum opus Shahnameh, the Persian service of ISNA reported on Saturday.
“Over the past millennium, Shahnameh has found its way into the hearts of Iranians and other Persian-speaking peoples.
“For a thousand years, artists, painters and illustrators have chosen their images from within Shahnameh and for as long, villagers have sat around the fire in winter and have listened to the epic tales of Shahnameh,” he said.
The question is why has Shahnameh gotten along so well with Iranians that it is still venerated and held in such high esteem, he asked.
Ferdowsi spent 30 years of his life writing Shahnameh and has immortalized it in history by creating a historical memoir of Iran. And although Shahnameh narrates the stories of Iran before the advent of Islam, it bears an Islamic image inside.
“We Iranians are happy and proud today to own a book with 60,000 verses, which can still be easily read and enjoyed. Shahnameh has breathed the heroic spirit into the body of the Iranian people and has proved its value.
“It is unfair to relate Shahnameh to the kings and their compliments, since the main character of Shahnameh is Rustam who is the symbol of a tall, powerful man who give his life for his country Iran.
Anther reason for its perpetuity is that it is filled with wisdom, advice and lessons. “Ferdowsi was a wise man, a man who called everybody for wisdom and regarded it above everything in the world. Wherever he got a chance, he began to give advice and he regarded the world as a place filled with advice and wisdom,” he explained.
Shahnameh, which is known as the “Book of Kings” in English, is the celebrated work of the epic poet Ferdowsi, in which the Persian national epic found its final and enduring form. It was completed in 1010. The Shahnameh millennium was accepted on UNESCO’s 2010 calendar of events.
Source: tehrantimes.com
