The Snatcher of Portions Cow

No one had the pluck to eat a mouthful of bread, because that snatcher of portions would carry off his entire meal. When the most divine meanings and concepts are expressed in a phrase, they require description and commentary. Mathnavi has attracted the attention of many commentators because it contains the best speeches. Most commentators of Mathnavi are frustrated with reading and understanding the concept of the above-mentioned verse in the second book of Mathnavi. In this study, data gathering and content analysis are reviewed, and their points are stated. After quoting and criticizing what commentators have said, the precise meaning of the verse is finally stated. Improper reading of the verse has caused some commentators to question the authenticity of the verse and refer to the incorrect versions, which does not help understanding it. In addition to relying on versions, most commentators of the Mathnavi, citing what the Goharin has brought to the Mathnavi vocabulary and interpretation as ‘taking a cow’, have another mistake and have considered it a mere rant, and there is no such irony in the Dictionary Dehkhoda. In the present study, ‘take’ is the main verb in the sense of stealing and cow, the metaphor of the rumen man. This is not a difficult heroic couplet verse that needs commentary, but its incorrect reading and subsequent misinterpretations, in the name of the most familiar of scholars Mathnavi, have made it a controversial verse.