The Combat between Gūdarz and Pīrān: An Enquiry into an Unknown Source of Ferdowsi’s Shāhnāma

Many books of history, epic, story, love stories, and Persian myths were available during Sasanid era. Following the collapse of the empire, many of these books disappeared throughout the time. Some of them were, nonetheless, translated from the original Pahlavi into Arabic in the earlier years of Islam. Relatively, the unknown Razm-i Gūdarz wa Pīrān is among the latter group. No mention is made of the book – both in its Pahlavi origin and its Arabic rendition, Ḥarb-i Juḍarz wa Pīrān – in the studies on Pahlavi literature and Shāhnāmaʼs-writings in Persia. However, a clear reference made by Abū ʿAbdullāh Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Isḥāq b. Ibrāhīm (Ibn Faqīh Hamadānī, a Persian geographer of the 2nd and 3rd centuries AH/8th CE) to the Arabic translation and his presenting a detailed letter of Pīrān to Gūdarz included in the Arabic book are unequivocal evidence of its having a Pahlavi origin. The reference also indicates that the epic was translated during the early years of Islam into Arabic – like many other books written in Pahlavi. Moreover, the sections of Pīrān’s letter to Gūdarz which are extracted from the Arabic translation by Ibn Faqīh, are so similar to the version of the letter versified by Ferdowsi that one may assume that the compilers of Šāh-nāma-ye Abū Manṣūrī had already gone through the Pahlavi text, and that their source for writing the story of ‘Davāzdah roḵ’ (The twelve combats) or Razm-i Gūdarz wa Pīrān was the Pahlavi text. Also, several Shāhnāma manuscripts chose the title Razm-i Gūdarz wa Pīrān instead of ‘Davāzdah roḵ’, which was a great battle fought for taking revenge on Tūrāniāns for Siāvash’s death; it is a likelihood that the original name of the battle was ‘Razm-i Gūdarz wa Pīrān’ which was then renamed to ‘Yāzdah roḵ’ (Eleven combats) or ‘Davāzdah roḵ’ due to the number of Persian and Tūrāniāns worriers involved. Employing a descriptive-analytical method and drawing on the first-hand historical sources – especially Firdawsī’s Shāhnāma – and Shāhnāma studies research, this study tries to show that there was a story Razm-i Gūdarz wa Pīrān (The Combat Between Gūdarz and Pīrān) in Pahlavi literature, and that this epic was translated into Arabic, as was the case with most Pahlavi books in the second and third centuries AH/ as well as the eighth and ninth centuries CE. The compilers of Šāh-nāma-ye Abū Manṣūrī drew on Razm-i Gūdarz wa Pīrān to write the story of a battle known as ‘Davāzdah roḵ’. It is through this version that the Pahlavi story of the combat between Gūdarz Pīrān is introduced into Ferdowsi’s Shāhnāma. Shāhnāmaʼs scholars disagree on the important and complex issues of the source(s) of Ferdowsi’s Shāhnāma. Some believe that the poet drew on other ancient historical sources and epics as well as some oral stories, in addition to his fundamental source – Šāh-nāma-ye Abū Manṣūrī. According to this group of scholars, stories like ‘Bīzhan and Manīja’, ‘Rustam and Isfandīār’, ‘Rustam and Suhrāb’, ‘Rustam and Shaghād’, ‘Akwān-i Dīw’ and ‘Iskandar’s story’, among others, were individual well-known Pahlavi stories which Firdawsī laid his hands on while writing Shāhnāma, contextualizing them in his epic. Others believe that the bard’s sole source was Šāh-nāma-ye Abū Manṣūrī, and that the latter had been compiled, years before Firdawsī, by the compilers of Šāh-nāma-ye Abū Manṣūrī which was amongst the ‘notables of books’ (Khudāwandan-i Kutub). They were translations of Khodāy-Nāmag manuscripts in Pahlavi. The poet, therefore, had access to these stories already complied in Šāh-nāma-ye Abū Manṣūrī. Following the fall of the Sasanid empire, many Pahlavi books disappeared in time and some were rendered into Arabic. The obscure Razm-i Gūdarz wa Pīrān and its Arabic version are amongst these books. The explicit reference by Ibn Faqīh Hamadānī, the second and third century Persian geographer, to the Arabic translation and the letter of Gūdarz to Pīrān ‍‍substantiate the existence of Pahlavi version, which was translated in the second and third centuries AH – like many other books – into Arabic. Moreover, the compilers of Šāh-nāma-ye Abū Manṣūrī had already been familiar with the Pahlavi book and had used it as the source for the story of ‘Davāzdah roḵ’. The Pahlavi story was, therefore, introduced to Shāhnāma through Šāh-nāma-ye Abū Manṣūrī. Also, several Shāhnāma manuscripts chose the title Razm-i Gūdarz wa Pīrān instead of ʻDavāzdah roḵ’, which was a great battle fought for taking revenge on Tūrāniāns for Siāvash’s death. There is a likelihood that the original name of the battle was ‘Razm-i Gūdarz wa Pīrān’ which was then renamed to ‘Yāzdah roḵ’ (Eleven combats) or ʻDavāzdah roḵ’ due to the number of Persian and Tūrānian worriers involved at the end of the war. Scholars who have worked on Pahlavi literature and Shāhnāma-writing tradition in Persia or on the sources of Firdawsī’s Shāhnāma were cognizant of there being a book in original Pahlavi known as Razm-i Gūdarz wa Pīrān (The Combat between Gūdarz and Pīrān) and its Arabic translation, Ḥarb-i Jūdarz wa Pīrān. Also, the clear reference made by the Persian geographer living in the second and third centuries AH/8th CE, Ibn Faqīh Hamadānī, to the Arabic version and his presenting of a section of Pīrān’s detailed letter to Gūdarz can be the evidence of there being a Pahlavi original, and that this epic was translated into Arabic within the second or third centuries, as it was the case with most Pahlavi books. The section under discussion is so consonant with the corresponding story in Shāhnāma that one should assume that the compilers of Šāh-nāma-ye Abū Manṣūrī had already been familiar with the Pahlavi text, which was used as the source of stories, namely ‘Davāzdah roḵ’ or ‘Razm-i Gūdarz wa Pīrān’. Moreover, the battle ‘Davāzdah roḵ’ is renamed into ‘Razm-i Gūdarz wa Pīrān’ – a great battle in taking revenge on Tūrānians for Siāvash’s death – in several Shāhnāma manuscripts. It is likely that the original title of this battle of revenge was ‘Razm’ but it was later changed into ‘Yāzdah roḵ’ or ‘Dawāzdah roḵ’ due to the number of worriers – eleven or twelve – of Persia and Tūrān, fighting each other to the end of the battle. The original and the Arabic versions are missing. Firdawsī’s ample versification of Gūdarz’s and his sons’ bravery in the above-mentioned battle is, however, unequivocal evidence to there being a separate epic in Pahlavi literature – Razm-i Gūdarz wa Pīrān – which recounts Gūdarz’s life and his battles together with his sons against Tūrānians to take revenge on Siāvash’s death as well as Gūdarz’s man-to-man combat with Pīrān – a story rendered into Arabic under the title of Ḥarb-i Jūdarz wa Pīrān.