Studying of role of vagrant women and hero women in Abomoslemnameh

One of the most important criteria for evaluating a society is to focus on women and their active presence in the social fields, and the necessity of recognizing this matter in any period is an undeniable fact, because women make up half of the society and are also the generator of the other half, who have taken steps alongside men in different periods of life and have always had special responsibility in the world such as: nurturing, maturating, evolution of the human's body and soul, etc. So, with these in mind, they should have a special status and dignity. But, according to historical texts, this important fact has not been truly realized and there have not been enough works to restore and establish the true position of women and they are almost always marginalized due to different social, cultural, economic, or other reasons.Also, the unwise behaviors of the men have left them out of social activities little by little, and the role of women in society has gradually become less important, and it is portrayed in a position determined for her in patriarchal culture and logic. Of course, these deprivations and obsessions are more tangible when looking  back at their past.Also, in Persian literature, women’s true face in this region is not shown in the way it deserves, and women’s role is often accompanied with the stereotypical images and behaviors, such as beloved, female slave, sorcerer, artful, cheater, unfaithful , devil , foolish, immature, instigator, frivolous, etc., and standing against woman has been present all over Persian literature, but in Persian vulgar stories, women as common people have been brightly reflected, and the presence and the action of these women is completely different from what is defined for them. With their freedom and independence for doing their roles, these women are considered separate from men, who not only don’t depend on men, but whose social  responsibilities and valuable roles in their activities bring them self worth and moral values.In Abumuslimnameh vulgar story, which is the case of this study, women are mostly introduced with praiseworthy attributes, such as chaste, heroine and fighter, vigorous and brave, clever and wise, caring, informant and ambassador, etc. who have rebelled against the social traditions and conventions of their time with their live and dynamic roles, and have not withstood the strong traditions of patriarchy, although the dominant atmosphere in this story is more indicative of patriarchal system, where pessimism of men about women is evident.On the other hand, in this vulgar story, we also encounter a group of women who have a lower status with their wicked and negative faces, and have degrading attributes, such as deceitful, liar filthy, enchanter, traitor, etc., that sometimes their disgraceful acts and evil goals change the path in the story .

The present study has been conducted using library research and descriptive-analytical method. It is an attempt to prove women’s identity in Abumuslimnameh story, which has been depicted  in chivalry and fighting. Also, this paper tries to answer these questions with attention to vulgar literature.
1.what position did the vagrant women and heroines have in Abumuslimnameh?
2. To what extent these women’s attributes (chivalry and heroic nature) have affected the furtherance of events and adventures of the story ?
3. Are the positions of these women affected by the role and position of woman in our past society?

Abumuslimnameh is a long vulgar story narrated by Abutaher Tartousi or Tarsousi (one is known in present Syria and another in present Turkey).He is among the narrators of the 6th century A.H. whose name is at the top of the list of narrators. But, there is no accurate information about his life. This skilful narrator narrated the story of Abumuslim khorasani’s being born, maturing, rebelling, fighting and the championships and wars he, the great commander of khorasan, and his followers had against the Omavi caliphs and eventually his foully death. But, the narrators of the story didn’t want to narrate the event as they truly happened and were written in historical books, but they tried to tell the story in such a way that sounded pleasant for the public, so this vulgar story has been transferred in the form of a legend to the next generations.Since this work is one of the stories that have survived among the great epics or their recreations, in addition to the fighting men and famous heroes, the presence of various groups of women has added a special color to the story. Although in classical literature, if a woman's name is mentioned, it is transient and is her subordinate and inherent role, in Abumuslimnameh, women of different classes of society, who are introduced in the story based on their special functions, are effective in the furtherance of events. Of course, the presence of these women is different in each event, depending on the type of actions and reactions and various characters, and their roles don’t have similar frequency .One of the main themes of this vulgar story is to proceed the chivalries, championships of women who represent their presence differently from their defined position; therefore, the role of vagrant women and heroines is unique and incomparable in this work and we can look for their traces in most of  the events of the story.In the present article all of the characteristics of the vagrant women and heroines and warriors have been discussed with example and we briefly discuss them here.
a)Vagrant women in Abumuslimnameh
Although the vagrant women in this story are from the lower classes of society and have lower trades, as they may be minstrels, prison guards, ambergris sellers, etc., but their effect on the development of the story is undeniable. The most famous vagrant woman in this story is Bibiseti Takelbaz, who has a truly admirable personality. Foresight, remedy seeking and sharpness are obvious in all of her actions, as resorting to cleverness and wisdom and finding a solution were the inevitable for the vagrants, that seek for achieving an admirable goal. Also, she is one of the true lovers of Ale yasin (AS) and always seeks to guide and lead Abumuslim and his followers, and to relieve them of their problems. She frequently saves Abumuslim’s followers from prison using trick and cleverness . Bibiseti with her husband practice vagrancy at night and she plays a role alongside vagrant men  everywhere.
She is the only vagrant woman who even after Abumuslim’s untimely death, helps his followers, and much of the story with its climax and resolution is formed with her vagrancies . Also, sometimes, vagrant women of this story do these works to achieve their goals:
They disguise themselves as fortune tellers, merchants, villagers, etc.
To reach their goal, they get help from anesthetics instead of physical power
They always have  weapons like lasso, knife, dagger, etc. when going out at night.
They are good at throwing lasso and undermining.
They are secret informers and ambassadors, and modesty and chastity are the most important and prominent characteristics of the vagrant women.
They respect moral, humane and social principles and all of these courageous women’s actions are fructified during the story.
 
b. Heroines and fighters in Abumuslimnameh
 
 Surely, we can find the most evident examples of heroines in brave women like Gordafrid (kazhdom’s daughter), Gordiyeh (Bahram Chobin’s sister), Lady Goshasb (Rostam’s daughter), etc., whose fights and championships have been visible in some Persian vulgar stories.
The main part of Abumuslimnameh is related to Abumuslim khorasani  and his devotee followers' wars and battles with Ahl al-Beyt’s (AS) enemies. These important missions is done by both men and  heroines and fighter women, who wear war clothes and act as if their whole lives were spent in war. Rashideh is one of the fighter women in this story, who has the important role in creating the epic atmosphere of the story. She is very strong and her physical power is evident all over the story. Also, she is a fighter who resists against fighter men's abilities and their domination, and she doesn't absolutely obey men's orders. Her puissance, strength and self reliance are so high that she is not held in contempt by her enemies. Generally, we can enumerate heroines and fighters’ prominent characteristics in this story.
1.Fighter women start the war.
They are skilful in using a sword, archery, etc.
2.They wrestle with famous heroes, while observing the principles and techniques of wrestling.
3.They are very quick in horse riding.
4.They cut demons, lions, etc. in half with their swords.
5.They get disguised.
6.They boast in the battlefield.
7.They are very chivalrous.
8. In addition to fighting, they are vagrant too.
9.They fall in love in the war.
10.Beauty and chastity are their greatest characteristics.
11.Most of the fighter women in this story stay at home after marriage and rarely remain in battlefield.

The conclusion of this story is that although our classical literature haven’t shown the women’s true features very well, almost vulgar stories have shown it.Abumuslimnameh is the sample of these stories abundant with people’s bleifs. Althong the atmosphere of that time was based on patriarchy, but the active women have the great portion to form the events  and these women are often among the common classes and tradesmen who have more attendance in society than well-off women.They have important roles such as vagrant , heroic , fighter, etc. women. Of course chastity is one of the most distinctive feature of these women and it is more important that the women’s independent character causes men and women have similar responsibilities in the society.