The spirit of Persian monarchy

Firdowsi’s Shahnameh (The Book of Kings) is one of the supreme masterpieces of world literature. It is Persia’s national epic, and the richest repository of its myths and legends. In recent years, classical Persian poetry has been discovered by the interested public in the West, and thanks to scholars and poet/translators, such as Anne-Marie Schimmel, Robert Blye and Dick Davis, Rumi’s Mathnavi and Attar’s Conference of the Birds are enjoying exceptional popularity – even Madonna, in an interview, has declared that her favourite poet is Rumi. In contrast, Firdowsi’s Shahnameh is still almost unknown, except in specialist circles. Yet it too is a treasury of perennial wisdom and lyrical eloquence.Written in rhyming couplets at the end of the 10th and the beginning of the 11th centuries CE, it tells the history of Persia from its beginnings in myth to the Arab conquest in the 7th century, which ushered in the Islamic era.

The grace of true kingship

The epic begins with the creation of the world and the advent of civilisation – the invention of the arts, the establishment of laws and customs and institutions. Of these, the most essential is the institution of divinely sanctioned kingship, the axis on which history turns, and the foundation on which Firdowsi builds his magnificent monument. The poet goes on to chronicle the history of Persia through a chain of fifty kings and their reigns – hence its title.

Jamshid enthroned

Many of the characters and stories echo those of Greco–Roman and Indian mythologies, which indicate their common Indo–European ancestry. For example, Jamshid, the mythical king credited with the introduction of civilisation and the invention of wine, is identified with the Indian god of the underworld Yama, and the Greek gods Prometheus and Bacchus.

What is unique to Shahnameh, and runs through the narrative like a leitmotif, is the centrality of divinely sanctioned kingship, expressed by the notion of Farr-e-Izadi – a special grace bestowed upon the king by the Almighty which endows him with strength and insight, and enables him to overcome the forces of evil. Without Farr-e-Izadi there is no true kingship, only mere power, which can degenerate into tyranny. It is this mystical concept of kingship that, according to Herodotus, distinguished the ancient Persians from other peoples, in particular the Greeks.

In time, the notion of Farr-e-Izadi weakened, and was used by some monarchs to buttress their arbitrary rule. The Sassanid dynasty (224–642 CE), the last before the Arab conquest, invoked the sacred infallibility of kingship to justify its enfeebled and unpopular despotism. For them, Farr was closer to the ‘divine right of kings’ of more modern times – in England, Charles I comes to mind. But, in the Shahnameh, the king has no ‘right’ to divine grace, which can be removed if he fails in his duties, or as punishment for hubris, poor judgment or incompetence.

When this happens, the king ceases to be the guardian of the nation’s soul, internal convulsion and external aggression ensure, and darkness spreads over the land. Then, a Pahlavan – a hero – emerges and saves the country, a new king endowed with divine Farr is crowned, peace and prosperity are restored, and the radiance of the king’s Farr spreads over the whole kingdom to protect it from war and pestilence.

One of the most famous stories at the beginning of the Shahnameh is the story of Jamshid – the fifth in the chain of kingship. At the death of his father, Jamshid is crowned with splendid ceremonies and proclaimed the King of the whole world.

Fire, the emblem of ‘divine splendour’, has already been discovered by his grandfather Hushang, and agriculture and animal husbandry have spread, but it is the wise and intelligent Jamshid, both king and religious leader, who with the help of divine Farr establishes the customs and habits of civilisation, and teaches mankind to live in dignity and contentment.

Jamshid: glory and decline

Jamshid first introduces the manufacture of weapons and armours to ensure the protection of the kingdom against evil. Then he organises humankind into four groups according to their occupations and trades. First of all, there are the priests, who inhabit the high mountains (there were no temples in those days) and devote their lives to the glory of God and the spiritual well-being of mankind. Then come the noble warriors and soldiers, in charge of maintaining peace and protecting the land from foreign predators. In the third group are the farmers, free men who live by their own toil and make the earth flourish and bear fruit for the benefit of all. The fourth, and last, group consists of various kinds of craftsmen. Meanwhile, Jamshid orders the demons at his command to build houses and hammams (public baths), palaces and castles.

Once he has organised the activities of man and seen to their basic material needs, Jamshid seeks to adorn their lives with beauty and splendour. He finds silver and gold, and prises precious stones from rocks; he discovers rose water, musk, sandalwood and aromatic herbs to concoct delightful perfumes. He sets craftsmen to build ships so that men can sail the seas. It takes the King/Sacerdote fifty years to accomplish these tasks, helped along by divine Farr. He reigns for three hundred years, during which time the world is at peace and men free from want.

Then, one day, pride enters his heart and ingratitude darkens his mind:

Jamshid surveyed the world, and saw none there
    Whose greatness or whose splendour could compare
    With his: and he who had known God became
    Ungrateful, proud, forgetful of God’s name.

He summons his army commanders and high priests and tells them that since it is he, Jamshid, who has taught mankind the art of living, freed the world from disease and adorned it with splendour, and has power of life and death over all creatures, so it is he who should be called the Creator of the World, and whoever does not agree is the follower of Ahriman (the Devil).

The high priests and nobles and soldiers bow their heads in assent – who can oppose so powerful a king, who is protected by divine Farr?

By saying this Jamshid lost God’s Farr, and through
    The world men’s murmuring of dissension grew.

From then on, Jamshid’s decline is quick – having lost his divine Farr, his priests and courtiers leave him and scatter all over the world. His repentance and pleas to God (Ahuramazda) are of no avail, and within twenty-three years he loses all his power and glory. Zahhak the Arab appears and takes his throne – but that is another story.

Jamshid comes to a sticky end

Firdowsi drew inspiration for his epic both from Persia’s Zoroastrian tradition – the contest between Ahuramazda and Ahriman (God and the Devil, Good and Evil) in the world and within the human soul – as well as from his Islamic spirituality, in particular the Sufi notion of ‘spiritual chivalry’ – Javanmardi in Persian, Moruvvat in Arabic – which combines courage, magnanimity, gentleness and modesty in the service of God.

The characters and ideas of The Book of Kings are echoed in the works of the great Sufi poets, Nizami and Rumi, Sa’adi and Hafiz and others. The poets speak of Jam-e-Jam – the cup of Jamshid, inventor of wine – which contains the beverage of Divine Intoxication, and in which Truth can be apprehended and the soul can see itself mirrored.

Throughout their turbulent history, Iranians have risen against despotic rulers without losing faith in the institution of kingship. Even the Constitutional Revolution of 1905–9 did not seek to abolish monarchy. It resulted in a change of dynasty, and provided the country with a democratic constitution designed to ensure against autocratic rule. Only the revolution of 1979 succeeded in breaking the tradition and introducing a republic. Perhaps because the late Shah, by riding roughshod over the constitution and becoming autocratic, alienated his people and as a result lost the divine Farr.

In Britain, we are still blessed with legitimate kingship. The Queen and her successor are endowed with Farr-e-Izadi, and Prince Charles has displayed many examples of Javanmardi. How else to explain the survival and prosperity of this country over the last fifty years? Long may it last!

Author’s note: For this article I have used both The Lion and the Throne, Dick Davis’s admirable poetic prose translation of the Shahnameh (vol. 1, Mage Publishers, Washington DC, 1998), and for the complete Persian text, Shahnameh-e-Firdowsi (Amir Kabir publishers, Teheran, 1954), and Professor Ehsan Yarshater’s Selected Stories of the Shahnameh / Bargoziedeh-e-Dastanhaye Shahnameh (Institute of Iranian Studies, Washington, 1982).

All images courtesy of The Shahnama Project, Princeton University.