Analysis of the Concepts of “Milk” and “Pomegranate”in the Khosrow and Shirin by Nezami

Khosrow and Shirin is one of the great romances of the twelfth-century Persian literature. The evaluation and comparison of the identity of this romance's characters with other historical and literary resources show the differences in narratives of Nezami and that of other historians and writers of this romance. For instance, in some texts, Shirin and Farhad are introduced as bondwomen and general. Researchers argue that the reasons behind such differences are known as variations in the narrative sources and the identification of Shirin with Afagh (Nezami's wife). Moreover, it seems that the reason for such differences could be the neglect of the primary theme and plot of the story by Nezami's narrators since based on the internal symbols of the romance, as historians and other poets narrate, Shirin and Farhad are bondwomen and general roles which have changed in Nezami's work. Our evidence for this assumption is a reference to the symbols of milk and pomegranate about the eponymous characters which according to the Slovenian Iranist Marijan Molé, and the text of Zarathushtra-Nama are matters used in ancient Iran by the two classes of farmers and soldiers. In the romance of Khosrow and Shirin, this relationship is shown in Shirin and other maids' love for milk, and the growing of pomegranate tree from Farhad's ax. In the original version of the story, Farhad and Shirin are considered the representatives of the warrior and farmer classes because of their affiliation with the symbols of milk and pomegranate. However, with the decline of the former class in time, and the sinking of its related into oblivion, the original reason for the existance of these two symbols in the story has remained unknown for narrators and readers. By looking at the story from this perspective, Shirin, Farhad, and Khosrow are respectively the representatives of the working (farmers), warrior, and royal classes. Therefore, we could guess that in the early versions of the story, like some historical and literary sources, Farhad belonged to the warrior class, and Shirin was a woman from the lower class of the society (farmer) who due to the decline of the warrior class, gradually their character changed in the later versions including the one Nizami worked on. Hence, the presence of Farhad as a warrior in some pastiches of Khorow and Shirin could be due to the adherence of the poet to the sources and is not related to his poetic license or manipulation of the text.