The Borzu Nama (pronounced as Borzū-Nāma or Borzū-Nāme) ( fa, برزونامه) is a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

epic poem of about 65,000 couplets recounting the exploits and adventures of the legendary hero Borzu, son of

Sohrab use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Turan , death_cause = Killed in combat by his father, Rostam, with neither Rostam nor Sohrab a ...

William L. Hanaway, "Borzu-Nama" in Encyclopedia Iranica.

accessed October, 2010BORZU-NĀMA (article 2) in Encyclopedia Iranica by Gabrielle van den Berg

accessed October, 2010. and grandson of

Rostam use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Kabulistan , death_cause = With the conspiracy of his half-brother Shaghad, he fell into a w ...

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Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron (7 December 173117 January 1805) was the first professional French Indologist. He conceived the institutional framework for the new profession. He inspired the founding of the École française d'Extrême-Orien ...

identifies the author as 'Ata'i, who is further identified as 'Amid Abu'l 'Ala' 'Ata b. Yaqub Kateb Razi by Blochet. He was a poet of the

Ghaznavid The Ghaznavid dynasty ( fa, غزنویان ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic ''mamluk'' origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, Khorasan, much of Transoxiana and the northwest ...

court and died around 1078-1079. The language of the Borzu-nama is characteristics of texts of the 11th century. The story is versified in the same meter and style of Ferdowsi's Shahnama. The Borzu-nama is possibly the longest of the post Shahnama

epic poems An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. ...

and includes material from

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

national legends not used by Ferdowsi. The story starts with

the son of

. On his way from

Turan Turan ( ae, Tūiriiānəm, pal, Tūrān; fa, توران, Turân, , "The Land of Tur") is a historical region in Central Asia. The term is of Iranian origin and may refer to a particular prehistoric human settlement, a historic geographical re ...

to fight the Iranians he marries a woman named Shahru. Before leaving, he gives her a token to give to their unborn child. The child is named Borzu by Shahru and she raises him without disclosing his father's identity. The young Borzu is recruited into

Afrasiab Afrasiab ( fa, ''afrāsiyāb''; ae, Fraŋrasyan; Middle-Persian: ''Frāsiyāv, Frāsiyāk'') is the name of the mythical king and hero of Turan. He is the main antagonist of the Persian epic Shahnameh, written by Ferdowsi. The mythical king ...

's, the King of Turan, army. Borzu eventually forces his mother to reveal his father's name. On finding that it was

, he sets off to battle

to avenge his father's death.

then sends him with an army to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, but Borzu is captured by Rostam's son

Faramarz Faramarz ( fa, فرامرز) is an Iranian legendary hero (''pahlavan'') in Ferdowsi's ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"). He was son of Rostam and at last killed by Kay Bahman. The book Faramarz-nama, written about a hundred years after Shahnam ...

and taken to

Sistan Sistān ( fa, سیستان), known in ancient times as Sakastān ( fa, سَكاستان, "the land of the Saka"), is a historical and geographical region in present-day Eastern Iran ( Sistan and Baluchestan Province) and Southern Afghanistan ( ...

. Shahru is informed of Borzu's capture, and helps him escape. He is recaptured by

, and not recognizing his grandfather, Borzu battles

. His life is spared at the last minute when Shahru reveals their relationship. Borzu and Rostam embrace and Borzu joins the Iranian forces.

learns of this and sends Susan-e Rameshgar, a musician and sorceress to capture Rostam and Borzu. Afrasiab arrives with his army and the epic takes up a long series of battles and adventures that include famous Iranian and Turanian heroes from the Shahnameh, along with Divs,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

(fairies) and wizards. The tale concludes with the death of Borzu at the hands of a Div.

Editions

The Borzu-nama has not yet been published in a critical edition, but versions of the text have been included in the Shah Nama editions of both Turner Macan (pp. 2160–296) and Dabirsiāqi.

Possible influences

Friedrich von Suhtschek, in a discussion of the Iranian sources of the Grail legend, claimed, but did not prove, that the Borzu Nama is the direct source of

Wolfram von Eschenbach Wolfram von Eschenbach (; – ) was a German knight, poet and composer, regarded as one of the greatest epic poets of medieval German literature. As a Minnesinger, he also wrote lyric poetry. Life Little is known of Wolfram's life. There ar ...

’s Parzifal.

Notes

{{Persian literature Persian mythology Persian poems Epic poems in Persian

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Editions

Possible influences

See also

Notes