the legacy of ferdowsi
Abu l-Qasim Ferdowsi Tusi (c.940-1020) was a Persian poet and the author of the immortal epic of Shahnameh (“book of kings”) which is the world’s longest epic poem created by a single poet.It is the national epic of Iran.
Ferdowsi is celebrated as the most influential figure in Persian literature and is widely regarded as the greatest poet in the Persian language. He was called “The Lord of the Word” and “The Savior of Persian Language” because of the strides he made in reviving and regenerating the Persian language and cultural traditions. Many modern Iranians still see him as the father of the modern Persian language.
Ferdowsi died in 1020 A.D. in the Tus, Iran, Iran (Persia) in the same city he was born.
Ferdowsi’s Family
Ferdowsi was born into a family of Iranian landowners in 940 in the village of Paj, near the city of Tus, in the Khorasan region of the Samanid Empire, currently the northeastern Province of ran. Little is known about Ferdowsi’s early life. The poet had a wife, and a son, who died aged 37. His son was mourned by the poet in an elegy which he inserted into the Shahnameh. Ferdowsi lived his life as a poor man constantly moving from court to court and eventually died a poor widower.
Shahnameh
Ferdowsi completed the first version of his Shahnameh in 994. He continued the work on the poem after Samanid toppled in the late 990’s.
Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh inspires tales of the heroic act by protagonists fighting against their antagonists. The national epic encompasses not only fictional and literary figures, but also incorporates parts of the history of pre-Islamic Iran.
The later sections of the Shahnameh have passages which speak about the Ferdowsi fluctuating moods. In some of the passages he appears happy. In others he complains about the old age, illness, poverty and the death of his son.
Shahnameh is the only surviving work by Ferdowsi that is regarded as indisputably genuine. Ferdowsi’s poems written earlier in his life no longer exist.
THE TOMB OF FERDOWSI
For all his literary contributions, Ferdowsi was not recognized during his life. It was only after his death that his poems won him admiration. For hundreds of years, his resting place was nothing more than a minor dome-shrine.
His tomb and a large garden surrounding the structure were constructed in the early 1930s on the orders of Reza Shah. Persian poems from his Shahnameh are etched into the white marble facets of the edifice. The Tomb became a revered site but fell into disrepair and was rebuilt by the Society for the National Heritage of Iran. His Tomb is now the equivalent of a national shrine.
The rough English translation of the Farsi inscription on his tomb follows:
“In the name of the God who created life. This place is the resting place of Hakim Abul-Qasim Ferdowsi Tusi who has advanced the art of language among Persian speakers and is the holder of the national epic of Iran and its national stories. His words have given a new life to Iran and he has a place in the hearts of its people.”
MODERN DAY INFLUENCE
In the beginning years of the twentieth century, Iran started to realize his critical role in defining the identity of Iran. In 1934, Rezā Shāh set up a ceremony named “Ferdowsi Millenary Celebration” in Mashhad, Khorasan. The ceremony celebrated a thousand years of Persian literature since the time of Ferdowsi. The ceremony attendees included notable European and Iranian scholars. The Ferdowsi University of Mashhad established in 1949 also takes his name.