A Study of a Couplet from Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh Based on Avestan and Middle Persian Texts

The present article is an analysis of a couplet from Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, about which scholars have expressed various opinions so far. This couplet, which was also recorded by Saadi in Bustan, begins with the hemistich “mayazar muri ke danekesh ast” (Don’t harm an ant that is seed-carrying). Later, according to the recorded form of this couplet in the Florence version and two other versions containing the hemistich “makosh muraki ra ke ruzikesh ast” (Don’t kill a small ant that is daily-bread-carrying), Khaleghi Motlagh based his revised version of Shahnameh and stated that it was the closest version to the original Shahnameh. The researchers have since expressed their opinions on rejection or acceptance of this revision. While investigating other views, this study focused on Avestan and Middle Persian texts and considered the frequency of some words of this hemistich and concluded that the phrase “mure danekesh” (seed-carrying ant) is an ancient and descriptive compound that has its roots in Old and Middle Persian texts and its domain is extended into New Persian. The two other phrases “makosh” (Don’t kill) compared with “mayazar” (Don’t harm) and “muri” (an ant) compared with “muraki” (a small ant) have superiority, which correspond with one another in each hemistich. However, the phrase “mayazar” can be regarded as one of Ferdowsi’s poetic innovations.