Analyzing the Role of Simurgh in the Entrance Portal of Divan Beigi School of Bukhara From the Perspective of Layered Semiotics

The works of art in the Islamic world have different meanings according to the conditions and tendencies of the artists’ thoughts and their supporters. Sometimes these works express a code retrieved from the dominant mystical thoughts at the time of the work’s creation. These works contain a code with a specific value in each layer of their meanings. This research aims to show the semiotic role of Simurgh in the portal of Divan Beigi School of Bukhara, which answered the following two questions using layered semiotics and according to the thoughts of Islamic mystics and mythological concepts of this role: Based on the science of layered semiotics, what are the meaning and the role of Simorgh at the portal of Divan Beigi school. And what are the competitive factors in the formation of Simurgh’s images at the entrance portal of this school? The present research has investigated the two pictures of Simurgh in the entrance portal of the Divan Beigi School of Bukhara using descriptive and analytical methods. The information has been collected using library sources. The results of the present research show that the Simurgh and its adjacent motifs at the portal of Nader Divan Beigi school contain signs influenced by the intellectual thoughts of the supporters of the school and the dominant thinking approach in the society and its elites. By examining the symbol of Simurgh with the help of the dominant mystical literature and the prevailing thought in society, it was concluded that Simurgh is considered a mythical bird in the sky in its explicit meanings. Meanwhile, implicitly, it has a high religious and mystical dignity, and in the human sense, it is the best example of a person in society.