Rudāba or Rudābeh ( ) is a

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

n mythological female figure in

Ferdowsi Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (also Firdawsi, ; 940 – 1019/1025) was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a single poet, and the gre ...

's epic

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' (, ), also transliterated ''Shahnama'', is a long epic poem written by the Persian literature, Persian poet Ferdowsi between and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 distichs or couple ...

. She is the princess of

Kabul Kabul 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. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

, daughter of

Mehrab Kaboli Mehrāb Kāboli () or Mehrāb, is a character in Persian Language, Persian epic Shahnameh. He is king of Kabol and is most famous for being father of Rudaba and grandfather of her son, the famous Persian hero, Rostam. His wife is Sindukht. Family ...

and

Sindukht Sindukht () (meaning "the daughter of Simorgh) is the married to 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 learned about the love ...

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

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 we ...

, 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'' or ''Dehkhoda Lexicon'' ( or ) 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 the ...

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 Iranian mythology, or Persian mythology in western term (), 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 origin and nature of the worl ...

, 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 The simurgh (; ; also spelled ''senmurv, simorgh, simorg'', ''simurg'', ''simoorg, simorq'' or ''simourv'') is a benevolent bird in Persian mythology and Persian literature, literature. It bears some similarities with mythological birds from di ...

, 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, cesarean, or caesarean delivery, is the Surgery, surgical procedure by which one or more babies are Childbirth, delivered through an incision in the mother's abdomen. It is often performed because va ...

(''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" ( ; ; or ) is a German fairy tale most notably recorded by the Brothers Grimm and it was published in 1812 as part of '' Children's and Household Tales'' (KHM 12). The Grimms' story was developed from the French literary fairy tale ...

.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

*
RUDĀBA
' (entry at '' Iranica Online'')
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 Feminine given names