Analyzing the image of Deer in Divan-e Shams

The present article analyzes one of the most amazing symbols of Maulana in Divan-e Shams (the Book of Shams) the semantic domain of Deer's image is a vast domain in Maulana's sonnets. This Deer is not the deer of literary tradition which ends to the Nafe (navel-bag) and musk and Tatar, but behind this symbol, there lies deep layers of meaning and new spiritual realm. In other words, Maulana has bestowed different functions to the picture of Deer and this image has found a dignity in his poems which had not had before Deer's meaning rises in Rumi's sonnets, and adopts the role which the hoopoe has in Manteq al-tayr (the logic of bird) butmore over and beyond. In Divan-e Shams, Deer is a symbol of God generally, and then it comprises Maulana himself, Shams, Salah al-din, Pīr (saint preceptor, the man who guides towards God), Sālek (the man who goes towards God by purifying his soul), Mashouq (beloved), 'Asheq (inloved), Abdāl (the main preceptors in the way towards God), Rouh (Soul), Jān (Spirite) and ma'āni (meanings). To achieve a better result, deer's organs and all the images associated with it have been analyzed, and if necessary, Rumi's verses have also been cited.