Rudāba or Rudābeh ( fa, رودابه ) is a

Persia 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 ...

n mythological female figure in

Ferdowsi , image = Statue of Ferdowsi in Tus, Iran 3 (cropped).jpg , image_size = , caption = Statue of Ferdowsi in Tus by Abolhassan Sadighi , birth_date = 940 , birth_place = Tus, Samanid Empire , death_date = 1019 or 1025 (87 years old) , d ...

's epic

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 5 ...

. She is the princess of

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into #Districts, 22 municipal dist ...

, daughter of Mehrab Kaboli and

Sindukht Sindukht ( fa, سیندُخت) (meaning "the daughter of Simorgh) is the wife of Mehrab Kaboli and the mother of Roodabeh, in the Persian epic poem ''Shahnameh'' by Ferdowsi. She is described as "a beautiful and intelligent woman". When she learn ...

, and later she becomes married to Zal, as they become lovers. They had two children, including

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, the main hero of the Shahnameh.

Etymology

The word ''Rudābeh'' consists of two sections. "''Rud''" and "''āb''", "''Rud''" means ''child'' and "''āb''" means ''shining'', therefore means ''shining child'' (according to

Dehkhoda Dictionary The ''Dehkhoda Dictionary'' ( fa, لغت‌نامهٔ دهخدا) is the largest comprehensive Persian encyclopedic dictionary ever published, comprising 200 volumes. It is published by the Tehran University Press (UTP) under the supervision of ...

Marriage to Zal

The Shahnama describes Rudaba with these words: :About her silvern shoulders two musky black tresses curl, encircling them with their ends as though they were links in a chain. :Her mouth resembles a pomegranate blossom, her lips are cherries and her silver bosom curves out into breasts like pomegranates. :Her eyes are like the narcissus in the garden and her lashes draw their blackness from the raven's wing. :Her eyebrows are modelled on the bows of Teraz powdered with fine bark and elegantly musk tinted. :If you seek a brilliant moon, it is her face; if you long for the perfume of musk, it lingers in her tresses :From top to toe she is Paradise gilded; all radiance, harmony and delectation. :(Shahnama 1:21-3) It was this description and Rudaba's physical beauty that initially attracted Zal. Rudaba also consulted her ladies-in-waiting about Zal. Zal came to the walls of Rudaba's palace where Rudaba let down her tresses to Zal as a rope. Zal declined the assistance and he immediately climbed his own prepared rope from base to summit. Rudaba seated Zal on the roof and they both talked to each other for a long time. Zal, consulted his advisors over Rudaba. They at last advised him to write a full account of the circumstances to his father, Sam. Sam and the Mubeds, knowing that Rudaba's father, chief of Kabul, was Babylonian from the family of Zahhak, did not approve of the marriage. Zal reminded his father of the oath he had made to fulfill all his wishes. Finally, the ruler referred the question to astrologers, to discover whether the marriage between Zal and Rudaba would be prosperous or not and he was informed that a child of Zal and Rudabeh would be the conqueror of the world. When Zal arrived at the court of Manuchihr, he was received with honour, and having read the letter of Sam, the Shah approved of the marriage. The marriage took place in

, where Zal and Rudaba first met each other.

Motherhood

Persian mythology Persian mythology or Iranian mythology ( Persian:اساطیرشناسی ایرانی) is the body of the myths originally told by ancient Persians and other Iranian peoples, and a genre of Ancient Persian folklore. These stories concern the ori ...

, Rudabeh's labor of

was prolonged due to the extraordinary size of her baby. Zal was certain that his wife would die in labor. Rudabeh was near death when at last Zal recollected the feather of the

Simurgh Simurgh (; fa, سیمرغ, also spelled ''simorgh, simorg'', ''simurg'', ''simoorg, simorq'' or ''simourv'') is a benevolent, mythical bird in Persian mythology and literature. It is sometimes equated with other mythological birds such as the ...

, and followed the instructions which he had received, by placing it on the sacred fire. The Simurgh appeared and instructed him upon how to perform a

caesarean section Caesarean section, also known as C-section or caesarean delivery, is the surgical procedure by which one or more babies are delivered through an incision in the mother's abdomen, often performed because vaginal delivery would put the baby or m ...

(''rostamzad''), thus saving Rudabeh and the child, who later on became one of the greatest Persian heroes.

Family tree

Legacy

An English translation of the story exists in ''The story-book of the Shah; or, Legends of old Persia'', in prose format. Scholarship points that the love story of Zal and princess Rudabah is related to an Afghan folktale tale named ''The Romance of Mongol Girl and Arab Boy''. It has been noted by folktale collectors that Rudabah's long hair and the climbing incident are very reminiscent of the German story of

Rapunzel "Rapunzel" ( , ) is a German fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm and first published in 1812 as part of '' Children's and Household Tales'' (KHM 12). The Brothers Grimm's story developed from the French literary fairy tale of '' Persinet ...

.Murray, J., Grimm, W., Grimm, J., Taylor, J. Edward., Grimm, W. (1846). ''The fairy ring: A new collection of popular tales''. London: J. Murray. p. 375.

Notes

External links

A king's book of kings: the Shah-nameh of Shah Tahmasp
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Rudaba {{Shahnameh Kayanians Women in Shahnameh Persian mythology Persian literature Persian feminine given names