Iconological interpretation of Bahram Gur and Azadeh in the hunt in the three Shahnameh of the Injuids dynasty (725- 758 hejira), based on Panofsky's approach

In the first half of the eighth century AH, in three illustrated Shahnamehs of Shiraz from the Injuid time, we are faced with a particular representation of "Bahram the Gur and Azadeh in the hunting ground" which is different from the Seljuk "comma" Shahnameh, and the 833 AH Shahnameh of the Timurid period. This difference is the depiction of "Dying Azadeh" in Shahnamehs of the 731, 733 and 753 AH in Shiraz; while in the Seljuk and Timurid Shahnamehs in Shiraz, we see Bahram and his slave girl, Azadeh, riding a camel.
Until now, no research has examined the relationship between intellectual, political and social contexts of the Ilkhanid period with the motif of the dead Azadeh in the Injuid illustrations, thus this research, which is based on Panofsky's approach, tries to achieve a different interpretation of the scene in the Injuid Shahnamehs with a descriptive-analytical method, and to answer these questions: why the motif of "the slave girl and Bahram riding a camel" did not continue in the Injuid period, and instead of that the motif of "Bahram and the dead slave girl" was painted? And is there a relationship between the characteristics of the ancient Bahram god with the actual characters of the Injuid and Ilkhanid kings, which has led to the transformation of the motif?
This study aims to find out a relationship between the motif of "the dead slave girl" and "the ideas of the Injuid court and the changes in the Iranian thought", as well as to study the relationship between the ancient Bahram god and rulers of the Injuid and Ilkhanid courts.
The results suggest that the motif of "the dead slave girl" in three Injuid Shahnamehs, is rooted in the beliefs and attitudes, culture and social contexts of the Ilkhanid society, and the Injuids with Mongol origin. Historical evidences indicate the existence of "punitive way" of Abu Said Ilkhani and his violent behavior in Tabriz, to punish Kvnjak Khatun, because she had accompanied her husband in the war against the Sultan. This woman, like “the slave girl of Bahram the Gur", was killed under animals’ hoofs by the order of Abu Said, and it seems that the injuid painters have reproduced this scene of the Great Ilkhanid Shahnameh in the three Injuid Shahnamehs. It also seems that the painter tries to approximate the character of the Sassanid Bahram – embodied as the contemporaneous king (Abu Said and the Injuid kings) - to the Bahram god, by emphasizing solely on Bahram’s action, and thus he exercises the utmost efforts to underscore the meaning of the ancient myth of Iran.