Symbolism of the Miniature Sleeping Rustam and Battle between Rakhsh and the Lion from the Perspective of Reason and Mythology

Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh is a literal masterpiece whose composer managed to express very skillfully the role of wisdom and man’s free will with the help of myths. The strong tie between wisdom and myth can be seen vividly in all stories and characters of Shanameh and in the depth of the work as well. In addition, to pursue the general objective of storytelling, Shahnameh’s stories also follow certain other supreme goals. The miniature depicting the story of Sleeping Rustam and the Battle between Rakhsh [Rustam’s horse] and the Lion, taking place in the first stage of Rustam’s Battle, is the subject of the present research. The strong relationship between wisdom and myth has given the work a unique richness. The focus here is on the symbols which are both rational and mythical. The painter of the miniature under discussion, Sultan Mohammad Naghash, has created a work at the highest degree of dexterity. This study aims to analyze and describe the visual iconography of the work. The hypothesis of the study is that the miniature Sleeping Rustam and the Battle between Rakhsh [Rustam’s horse] and the Lion can be critically analyzed and that wisdom and myth, both in Shahnameh’s story and in the visual elements which Sultan Mohammad Naghash has applied in his work, are interwoven in a way that wisdom has been represented by myths. The present study aimed to analyze the iconography and morphology in the miniature Sleeping Rustam and the Battle between Rakhsh and the Lion from the perspective of reason and mythology. The results indicated that, in the story, wisdom in the miniature, besides the physical strength of the hero, has been represented symbolically through applying various visual elements. Throughout Shahnameh and, accordingly, in the miniature under discussion, not only is there no contradiction between myth and wisdom, but wisdom could also be represented symbolically with narratives at the highest degree of precision. The data were collected based on library sources and analyzed descriptively. The miniature, was described both aesthetically and ichnographically.