A comparative critical analysis Rustam & Shaghad's story (Based on three editions of Shahnameh)

Shahnameh is one of the most valuable works in Iranian culture and has always been of interest to people from all walks of life. Many scribes and copywriters have reproduced it and this has produced many manuscripts.There have been many differences and discrepancies in the writing of verses, interpretations and words between these manuscripts and, consequently, between the numerous editions of the Shahnameh. Minovy, Nooshin, Davies, Khatibi and Aidenlo have done some research on Shahnameh publications but no independent research has ever been conducted on the differences and discrepancies in those editions of the story of Rostam and Shoghad, which is one of the most important and prominent stories of Shahnameh. Regarding the importance of this issue, the authors of this paper, with the aim of examining the differences among the editions and manuscripts of Shahnameh in the story of ‘Rostam and Shoghad’, have focused on three editions of Shahnameh (I.e. the editions of Khaleghi, Moscow and Mohl) and by applying a comparative-analytical method, they have extracted, classified, analyzed and ultimately attempted to find the sources and causes of these differences and discrepancies.The results of this study indicate that the the main motivations to add verses (eleven verse) by the scribes have been the completion of the structure or characterization of the story, or to add to its semantic and emotional aspect. These additions can be identified mainly by the principle of "authenticity of the brief recording". Although there are various causes in phonetic and lexical interference, the main reason was to simplify the text and bring it to the audience's understanding. In any case, the main reason for all these interferences is the lack of copyright loyalty to the original text. It is worth noting that the results of this essay are restricted to this story and ought not to be generalized to every story of Shahnameh.