Chosroes and Shirin
Encyclopedia
"Khosrow and Shirin", also spelled Khosrau and Shirn,Chosroes and Shirin, Husraw and Shireen and Khosru and Shirin, is the title of a famous Persian tragic romance. The essential narrative is a love story of Persian
origin, which is found in the great epico-historical poems of Shahnameh
and which is based on historical figures that were elaborated and romanticized by later Persian poets.
Variants of the story were also told under the titles "Shirin and Farhad" or "Farhad and Shirin".
king Khosrow II
towards an Aramean princess, Shirin
.
Nezami's version begins with an account of Khosrow's birth and his education. This is followed by an account of Khosrow's feast in a farmer's house; for which Khosrow is severely chastised by his father. Khosrow asks forgiveness and repents his offence. Hormoz, who is now pleased with his son, forgives him. That very night, Khosrow sees his grandfather Anushirvan
in a dream and Anushirvan gives him glad tidings of a wife named Shirin
, a steed named Shabdiz
, a musician named Barbad
, and a great kingdom, that is Persia.
Shapur, Khosrow's close friend and a painter, tells Khosrow of the Armenian queen Mahin Banu and her niece Shirin. Hearing Shapur's descriptions of Shirin's flawless features, the young prince falls in love with Shirin, the Armenian princess. Shapur travels to Armenia to look for Shirin. Shapur finds Shirin and shows the image of Khosrow to Shirin. Shirin falls in love with Khosrow and escapes from Armenia to Khosrow's capital Mada'in; but meanwhile, Khosrow also flees from his father's anger and sets out for Armenia in search of Shirin.
In the way, he finds Shirin unclothed bathing and washing her flowing her; Shirin also sees him; but since Khosrow was traveling in peasant clothes, they do not recognize one another. Khosrow arrives in Armenia and is welcomed by Shamira the queen of Armenia- yet he finds out that Shirin is in Mada'in. Again, Shapur is sent to bring Shirin. When Shirin reached Armenia again, Khosrow - because of his father's death- has to return to Mada'in. The two lovers keep going to opposite places till finally Khosrow is overthrown by a general named Bahrām Chobin
and flees to Armenia.
In Armenia, Khosrow finally meets Shirin and is welcomed by her. Shirin, however, does not agree to marry Khosrow; unless Khosrow first claims his country back from Bahram Choobin. Thus, Khosrow leaves Shirin in Armenia and goes to Constantinopole. The Caesar agrees to assist him against Bahram Choobin conditioned that he married his daughter Maryam
. Khosrow is also forced to promise not to marry as long as Maryam is alive. Khosrow succeeds in defeating his enemy and reclaims his throne. Maryam, due to her jealousy, keeps Khosrow away from Shirin.
Meanwhile, an architect,named Farhad
, falls in love with Shirin and becomes Khosrow's love-rival. Khosrow cannot bride Farhad, so he sends him on an exile to Behistun mountain with the impossible task of carving stairs out of the cliff rocks. Farhad begins his task hoping that Khosrow will allow him marry Shirin. Yet, Khosrow sends a messenger to Farhad and gives him false news of Shirin's death. Hearing this false news, Farhad throws himself from the mountaintop and dies. Khosrow writes a letter to Shirin, expressing his regret for Farhad's death. Soon after this incident, Maryam
also dies; and Shirin replies Khosrow's letter with another letter of condolences.
Khosrow, before proposing marriage to Shirin, tries to have intimacy with another woman named Shekar
in Isfahan; which further delays the lovers' union. Finally, Khosrow goes to Shirin's castle to see her. Shirin, seeing that Khosrow is drunk, does not let him in the castle.
She particularly reproaches Khosrow for his intimacy with Shekar. Khosrow, sad and rejected, returns to his palace.
Shirin eventually consents to marry Khosrow after several romantic and heroic episodes, including his rescue of her from a lion by killing the animal with his bare hands. Yet, Shirouyeh, Khosrow's son from his wife Maryam, is also in love with Shirin. Shirouyeh finally murders his father Khosrow and sends a messenger to Shirin conveying that after one week, she would have to marry him. Shirin, in order to avoid marrying Shiroyeh, kills herself. Khosrow and Shirin were buried together in one grave.
(579–590 CE), during an insurrection led by two maternal uncles of Prince Khosrow, who was designated to become king and probably party to the rebellion; the accession of Khosrow to his father’s throne (590 CE); the uprising of the army commander Bahram Chobin
against the new king; and Khosrow’s flight to the Byzantine Empire
to seek help from Emperor Maurice
(582–602 CE). These events are documented in the historical sources, and narrated in detail in Ferdowsi
’s Shahnameh
.
There are many references to the legend throughout the poetry of other Persian poets including Farrokhi, Qatran, Mas'ud-e Sa'd-e Salman, Othman Mokhtari, Naser Khusraw, Anwari and Sanai. Nizam al-Mulk
mentioned that the legend was a popular story in his era.
When the Seljuq
Sultan Tugrul II requested a love epic from the poet without specifying the subject further, Nizami picked on the story of lovers Khosrow and Shirin, a theme set in his own region and based on at least partly historical facts, through an aura of legend already surrounded it.
Nizami Ganjavi (1141–1209) himself considered it the sweetest story in the world:
It is believed to be one of the better works of Nizami and his first wife Afaq died after it was completed. Many versions of Nizami's work have been retold. The story has a constant forward drive with exposition, challenge, mystery, crisis, climax, resolution, and finally, catastrophe.
Besides Ferdowsi, Nizami's poem was influenced by Asad Gorgani
and his Vis and Ramin. which is of the same meter and has similar scenes. Nizami's concern with astrology also has a precedent in the elaborate astrological description of the night sky in Vis and Ramin. Nizami had a paramount influence on the romantic tradition, and Gorgani can be said to have initiated much of the distinctive rhetoric and poetic atmosphere of this tradition, with the absence of the Sufi influences, which are seen in Nizami's epic poetry.
In 2011, the Iranian government's censors refused a publishing house permission to reprint the centuries-old classic poem that had been a much-loved component of Persian literature for 831 years. While the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance offered no immediate official explanation for refusing to permit the firm to publish their eighth edition of the classic, the Islamic government's concerns reportedly centered on the "indecent" act of the heroine, Shirin, in embracing her husband.
Orhan Pamuk
's novel, My Name is Red
(1998), has a plot line between two characters, Shekure and Black, which echoes the Khosrow and Shirin story, which is also retold in the book. The novel uses the Turkish spelling of Koshrow's name, Husrev.
. In Europe, the story was told by Hungarian novelist Mor Jokai
. However, the story is usually told under the name of "Shirin Farhad". It is a standard tale used in Punjabi Kisse
. The story has been put to film five times:
1926,
1931,
1945,
1956 and
1975.
The tale was used as the inspiration for a 2008 Iranian film, Shirin
, made by Abbas Kiarostami
. In this formally unusual film, the story is told via the reactions of an audience of Iranian women as they sit watching the film in a cinema. The viewer has to divine the story by only ever seeing these emoting faces and listening to the film's soundtrack.
The song was also referenced in the Jonathan Richman song "Shirin and Farhad"
[Encyclopædia Iranica, "ḴOSROWO ŠIRIN AND ITS IMITATIONS", Paola Orsatti http://www.iranica.com/articles/kosrow-o-sirin
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
origin, which is found in the great epico-historical poems of Shahnameh
Shahnameh
The Shahnameh or Shah-nama is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c.977 and 1010 AD and is the national epic of Iran and related societies...
and which is based on historical figures that were elaborated and romanticized by later Persian poets.
Variants of the story were also told under the titles "Shirin and Farhad" or "Farhad and Shirin".
Plot
'Khosrow and Shirin' depicts the love of SassanianSassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...
king Khosrow II
Khosrau II
250px|thumb|Khosrau II 250px|thumb|Khosrau II 250px|thumb|Khosrau II (Khosrow II, Chosroes II, or Xosrov II in classical sources, sometimes called Parvez, "the Ever Victorious" – (in Persian: خسرو پرویز), was the twenty-second Sassanid King of Persia, reigning from 590 to 628...
towards an Aramean princess, Shirin
Shirin
Shirin was a wife of the Sassanid Persian Shahanshah , Khosrau II. In the revolution after the death of Khosrau's father Hormizd IV, the General Bahram Chobin took power over the Persian empire. Shirin fled with Khosrau to Syria where they lived under the protection of Byzantine emperor Maurice...
.
Nezami's version begins with an account of Khosrow's birth and his education. This is followed by an account of Khosrow's feast in a farmer's house; for which Khosrow is severely chastised by his father. Khosrow asks forgiveness and repents his offence. Hormoz, who is now pleased with his son, forgives him. That very night, Khosrow sees his grandfather Anushirvan
Anushirvan
Anushirvan may refer to:* Khosrau I , Khosrau I Anushirvan, Sassanid king* Anushirwan, Ilkhan...
in a dream and Anushirvan gives him glad tidings of a wife named Shirin
Shirin
Shirin was a wife of the Sassanid Persian Shahanshah , Khosrau II. In the revolution after the death of Khosrau's father Hormizd IV, the General Bahram Chobin took power over the Persian empire. Shirin fled with Khosrau to Syria where they lived under the protection of Byzantine emperor Maurice...
, a steed named Shabdiz
Shabdiz
Shabdiz was the legendary black stallion of Khosrau Parvez, one of the most famed Sassanid Persian kings . Shabdiz, meaning "midnight", was reputedly the "world's fastest horse" according to ancient Persian literature...
, a musician named Barbad
Barbad
Barbad or Barbad the Jahromi was a Persian musician of the Sassanid era, who lived during the rule of Khosrau II, 590 to 628..- Etymology :...
, and a great kingdom, that is Persia.
Shapur, Khosrow's close friend and a painter, tells Khosrow of the Armenian queen Mahin Banu and her niece Shirin. Hearing Shapur's descriptions of Shirin's flawless features, the young prince falls in love with Shirin, the Armenian princess. Shapur travels to Armenia to look for Shirin. Shapur finds Shirin and shows the image of Khosrow to Shirin. Shirin falls in love with Khosrow and escapes from Armenia to Khosrow's capital Mada'in; but meanwhile, Khosrow also flees from his father's anger and sets out for Armenia in search of Shirin.
In the way, he finds Shirin unclothed bathing and washing her flowing her; Shirin also sees him; but since Khosrow was traveling in peasant clothes, they do not recognize one another. Khosrow arrives in Armenia and is welcomed by Shamira the queen of Armenia- yet he finds out that Shirin is in Mada'in. Again, Shapur is sent to bring Shirin. When Shirin reached Armenia again, Khosrow - because of his father's death- has to return to Mada'in. The two lovers keep going to opposite places till finally Khosrow is overthrown by a general named Bahrām Chobin
Bahram Chobin
General Bahrām Chobin was a famous Eran spahbod during the late 6th century in Persia, usurping the Sassanid throne for a year as Bahram VI .- Life :...
and flees to Armenia.
In Armenia, Khosrow finally meets Shirin and is welcomed by her. Shirin, however, does not agree to marry Khosrow; unless Khosrow first claims his country back from Bahram Choobin. Thus, Khosrow leaves Shirin in Armenia and goes to Constantinopole. The Caesar agrees to assist him against Bahram Choobin conditioned that he married his daughter Maryam
Maryam
Maryam/ Meryem / Merjem or Mariam may refer to:* Maryam , a female given name* Mary * Maryam , 19th sura of the Qur'an...
. Khosrow is also forced to promise not to marry as long as Maryam is alive. Khosrow succeeds in defeating his enemy and reclaims his throne. Maryam, due to her jealousy, keeps Khosrow away from Shirin.
Meanwhile, an architect,named Farhad
Farhad
Farhad is a Persian name meaning elation or happiness, and may refer to:*Farhad or Phraates, the name of 5 kings in the Arsacid Empire**Phraates I of Parthia**Phraates II of Parthia**Phraates III of Parthia**Phraates IV of Parthia...
, falls in love with Shirin and becomes Khosrow's love-rival. Khosrow cannot bride Farhad, so he sends him on an exile to Behistun mountain with the impossible task of carving stairs out of the cliff rocks. Farhad begins his task hoping that Khosrow will allow him marry Shirin. Yet, Khosrow sends a messenger to Farhad and gives him false news of Shirin's death. Hearing this false news, Farhad throws himself from the mountaintop and dies. Khosrow writes a letter to Shirin, expressing his regret for Farhad's death. Soon after this incident, Maryam
Maryam
Maryam/ Meryem / Merjem or Mariam may refer to:* Maryam , a female given name* Mary * Maryam , 19th sura of the Qur'an...
also dies; and Shirin replies Khosrow's letter with another letter of condolences.
Khosrow, before proposing marriage to Shirin, tries to have intimacy with another woman named Shekar
Shekar
Shekar is an Indian cartoonist known for his political cartoons in English and in Telugu. He was born July 16, 1965 to a Telugu family in Suryapet, in the Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh...
in Isfahan; which further delays the lovers' union. Finally, Khosrow goes to Shirin's castle to see her. Shirin, seeing that Khosrow is drunk, does not let him in the castle.
She particularly reproaches Khosrow for his intimacy with Shekar. Khosrow, sad and rejected, returns to his palace.
Shirin eventually consents to marry Khosrow after several romantic and heroic episodes, including his rescue of her from a lion by killing the animal with his bare hands. Yet, Shirouyeh, Khosrow's son from his wife Maryam, is also in love with Shirin. Shirouyeh finally murders his father Khosrow and sends a messenger to Shirin conveying that after one week, she would have to marry him. Shirin, in order to avoid marrying Shiroyeh, kills herself. Khosrow and Shirin were buried together in one grave.
Historical setting
The story relates a love affair that takes place in a historical setting: the deposition, imprisonment, and blinding of the Persian Sassanian king HormizdHormizd IV
Hormizd IV, son of Khosrau I, reigned as the twenty-first King of Persia from 579 to 590.He seems to have been imperious and violent, but not without some kindness of heart. Some very characteristic stories are told of him by Tabari. His father's sympathies had been with the nobles and the priests...
(579–590 CE), during an insurrection led by two maternal uncles of Prince Khosrow, who was designated to become king and probably party to the rebellion; the accession of Khosrow to his father’s throne (590 CE); the uprising of the army commander Bahram Chobin
Bahram Chobin
General Bahrām Chobin was a famous Eran spahbod during the late 6th century in Persia, usurping the Sassanid throne for a year as Bahram VI .- Life :...
against the new king; and Khosrow’s flight to the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
to seek help from Emperor Maurice
Maurice (emperor)
Maurice was Byzantine Emperor from 582 to 602.A prominent general in his youth, Maurice fought with success against the Sassanid Persians...
(582–602 CE). These events are documented in the historical sources, and narrated in detail in Ferdowsi
Ferdowsi
Ferdowsi was a highly revered Persian poet. He was the author of the Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran and related societies.The Shahnameh was originally composed by Ferdowsi for the princes of the Samanid dynasty, who were responsible for a revival of Persian cultural traditions after the...
’s Shahnameh
Shahnameh
The Shahnameh or Shah-nama is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c.977 and 1010 AD and is the national epic of Iran and related societies...
.
Popularity in Persian literature
Nizam al-Mulk
Abu Ali al-Hasan al-Tusi Nizam al-Mulk, better known as Khwaja Nizam al-Mulk Tusi ; born in 1018 – 14 October 1092) was a Persian scholar and vizier of the Seljuq Empire...
mentioned that the legend was a popular story in his era.
Nizami's version
Although the story was known before Nizami, it was brought to its greatest romantic height by him. Unlike the Shahnameh, which focuses on the history, kingship and battles of Khosrow, Nizami decided to focus on the romantic aspect of the story.When the Seljuq
Seljuq dynasty
The Seljuq ; were a Turco-Persian Sunni Muslim dynasty that ruled parts of Central Asia and the Middle East from the 11th to 14th centuries...
Sultan Tugrul II requested a love epic from the poet without specifying the subject further, Nizami picked on the story of lovers Khosrow and Shirin, a theme set in his own region and based on at least partly historical facts, through an aura of legend already surrounded it.
Nizami Ganjavi (1141–1209) himself considered it the sweetest story in the world:
It is believed to be one of the better works of Nizami and his first wife Afaq died after it was completed. Many versions of Nizami's work have been retold. The story has a constant forward drive with exposition, challenge, mystery, crisis, climax, resolution, and finally, catastrophe.
Besides Ferdowsi, Nizami's poem was influenced by Asad Gorgani
Asad Gorgani
Fakhruddin As'ad Gurgani, also spelled as Fakhraddin Asaad Gorgani , was an 11th-century Persian poet. He versified the story of Vis and Rāmin, a story from the Arsacid period. Contemporary scholar Abdolhossein Zarrinkoub however disagrees with this view, and concludes that the story has a...
and his Vis and Ramin. which is of the same meter and has similar scenes. Nizami's concern with astrology also has a precedent in the elaborate astrological description of the night sky in Vis and Ramin. Nizami had a paramount influence on the romantic tradition, and Gorgani can be said to have initiated much of the distinctive rhetoric and poetic atmosphere of this tradition, with the absence of the Sufi influences, which are seen in Nizami's epic poetry.
Influence
According to the Encyclopædia Iranica: "The influence of the legend of Farhad is not limited to literature, but permeates the whole of Persian culture, including folklore and the fine arts. Farhad’s helve supposedly grew into a tree with medicinal qualities, and there are popular laments for Farhad, especially among the Kurds (Mokri)."In 2011, the Iranian government's censors refused a publishing house permission to reprint the centuries-old classic poem that had been a much-loved component of Persian literature for 831 years. While the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance offered no immediate official explanation for refusing to permit the firm to publish their eighth edition of the classic, the Islamic government's concerns reportedly centered on the "indecent" act of the heroine, Shirin, in embracing her husband.
Orhan Pamuk
Orhan Pamuk
Ferit Orhan Pamuk , generally known simply as Orhan Pamuk, is a Turkish novelist. He is also the Robert Yik-Fong Tam Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, where he teaches comparative literature and writing....
's novel, My Name is Red
My Name is Red
My Name Is Red is a 1998 Turkish novel by Nobel laureate author Orhan Pamuk. The English translation won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2003,. The French version won the French Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger and the Italian version the Premio Grinzane Cavour in 2002...
(1998), has a plot line between two characters, Shekure and Black, which echoes the Khosrow and Shirin story, which is also retold in the book. The novel uses the Turkish spelling of Koshrow's name, Husrev.
Other versions
The tale has been retold by countless Sufi poets and writers in areas which were previously part of the Persian Empire or had Persian influences, such as the neighboring PakistanPakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. In Europe, the story was told by Hungarian novelist Mor Jokai
Mór Jókai
Mór Jókai , born Móric Jókay de Ásva , outside Hungary also known as Maurus Jokai, was a Hungarian dramatist and novelist.-Early life:...
. However, the story is usually told under the name of "Shirin Farhad". It is a standard tale used in Punjabi Kisse
Punjabi Kisse
A Punjabi Qissa is a tradition of Punjabi language oral story-telling that came to South Asia with migrants from the Arabian peninsula and contemporary Iran and Afghanistan....
. The story has been put to film five times:
1926,
1931,
1945,
1956 and
1975.
The tale was used as the inspiration for a 2008 Iranian film, Shirin
Shirin (film)
Shirin is a 2008 film directed by master Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami. The film is considered by some critics as a notable twist in the artistic career of Kiarostami....
, made by Abbas Kiarostami
Abbas Kiarostami
Abbas Kiarostami is an internationally acclaimed Iranian film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer. An active filmmaker since 1970, Kiarostami has been involved in over forty films, including shorts and documentaries...
. In this formally unusual film, the story is told via the reactions of an audience of Iranian women as they sit watching the film in a cinema. The viewer has to divine the story by only ever seeing these emoting faces and listening to the film's soundtrack.
The song was also referenced in the Jonathan Richman song "Shirin and Farhad"
See also
- Heer RanjhaHeer RanjhaFor 1970 Hindi movie of same name and characters, see Heer Raanjha.Heer Ranjha is one of the four popular tragic romances of the Punjab. The other three are Mirza Sahiba, Sassi Punnun and Sohni Mahiwal. There are several poetic narrations of the story, the most famous being 'Heer' by Waris Shah...
- Layla and MajnunLayla and MajnunLayla and Majnun, also known as The Madman and Layla – in Arabic مجنون ليلى or قيس وليلى , in , Leyli və Məcnun in Azeri, Leyla ile Mecnun in Turkish, in Urdu and Hindi – is a classical Arab story, popularized by Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi's...
- Romeo and JulietRomeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
- Yusuf and ZulaikhaYusuf and ZulaikhaYusuf and Zulaikha is the Quranic verse of Yusuf and Zulaikha . It has been told and retold countless times in many languages spoken by Muslims, especially Persian. Its most famous version was written in Persian by Jami , in his Haft Awrang...
External links
Encyclopædia Iranica, "Farhad", Heshmat Moayyad http://www.iranica.com/articles/farhad%20(1)[Encyclopædia Iranica, "ḴOSROWO ŠIRIN AND ITS IMITATIONS", Paola Orsatti http://www.iranica.com/articles/kosrow-o-sirin