فصلنامه ادبیات عرفانی و اسطوره شناختی
سال هفدهم شماره 65 (زمستان 1400)

As the first hero of Shāhnāmeh, Kāve Āhangar (Kaveh the Blacksmith) is one of the characters whose name is not mentioned in Avestan and Pahlavi texts; some scholars believe that he is an emerging figure in Iranian epic literature. According to the Shāhnāmeh, the activities of Kaveh were to help Fereydun in the uprising against Zahāk and to build a national flag for Iranians. After completing these two tasks, he suddenly leaves the scene and faces an uncertain end. But in some folklore texts and books of Naqqali, the story of this heroic figure is narrated in a different way. In these texts, he is introduced not as a national hero, but as one of the saints who, with the help of the sacred and supernatural forces, rises up against the demonic forces. Based on folklore texts and books of Naqqali and by using descriptive-analytical method, the present article tries to explain the narrative themes related to the life of Kaveh. The authors believe that many of the fictional themes of his life – such as reaching the station of saints, making the flag called Derafsh Kavian with help of Divine names and motifs, casting spells on demonic characters, knowing the language of birds, choosing a voluntary death - have been borrowed from the stories concerning the life of saints, mystics and charismatic kings of Iran.

Prose books of Sufi have two types of expression: books with defeated expression style (kalām-e Maqlub) that express the states of mystic in the world of ecstasy, and books with a rich expression style (kalām-e motamakken) that express the principles of Sufism. Using analytical-descriptive method and based on Roman Jakobson's theory of the metaphoric and poles of language, the present article wants to examine Rouzbahan Bagali's ecstatic sayings (shathiyyat). Accepting Saussure's statement about paradigmatic and syntagmatic axes, Jakobson argues that metonymy is linked to the syntagmatic axis and metaphor is based on paradigmatic relations. Jakobson believes that prose has a metonymic nature but the role of poetry is metaphorical. The main question of the present research is which figures of speech has Rouzbahan, in Sharh al-shathiyyat, used the most? The results show that he employs both metaphoric and metonymic poles of language in his work. When he describes God and the Rashidun Caliphs, his way of expression has a metonymic nature, and when he describes the shathiyyat of mystics, his his style of expression is metaphorical.

Mysticism, as a human phenomenon, is not limited to a specific geographical region or ideology and its presence is seen in almost all cultures. Regarding the intercultural interactions between different cultures, mutual influence in the field of epistemological issues seems obvious. Among Russian writers, Fyodor Dostoevsky, in a part of his novel The Brothers Karamazov, refers to the common mystical culture in Russia. In the novel, he frankly states that he has been influenced by the culture of Eastern mysticism. In the present study, by using library sources and descriptive-analytical method, the common features of Pir/Sheikh (old wise man) in Asrār al-Tawhid of Mohammad ibn Monvvar (the representative of Eastern mysticism) and The Brothers Karamazov (the representative of Western mysticism) have been investigated. The results of the research show that in these two books, the ways of life of Abu Said Abul-Khayr and Father Zosima (as the Pir/Sheikh or old wise men) have been dealt with, and topics such as the absolute obedience to the old wise man, the tendency of the masses to monastery and Sufi monastery, the public popularity of the old wise man, the guiding role of him in solving the problems of all the people, the charismatic acts of him, his connection with the Divine world, and the sanctification of the old wise man have been discussed.

According to the followers of Gnosticism, this school refers to the ideas and methods that are needed to achieve the most certain and supreme kind of knowledge, and consequently, to acquire true happiness and purification of the soul through intuition and illumination. The school has been popular among many ethnic groups since ancient times and has influenced Islamic-Iranian mysticism over the centuries. Ayn al-Quzat Hamadani is also influenced by the teachings of Gnosticism. Using the analytical - comparative method, the present article first states the characteristics of the Gnostic school and then compare them with the views of Ayn al-Quzat Hamadani. The purpose is to explain and illustrate the common points of Gnostic beliefs and his mystical principles. The common points are as follows: belief in the duality of light-darkness, trust in intuitive knowledge instead of acquired knowledge, believing that the being is a mystery, belief in esotericism, emphasis on self-knowledge to achieve true knowledge, belief in the originality of the spiritual world as opposed to the physical world and finally belief in Homo Deus or “perfect man”.

Proverbs form a large part of a nation's culture and reflect the thoughts, tastes, customs and habits of a society. Myths and mythological beliefs are involved in the construction of proverbs. Proverbs, as an important part of folk culture, are rooted not only in history but also in ancient myths and religions. The present article, by using descriptive-analytical method, examines the epic themes and mythological beliefs - including the characters of Shāhnāmeh, dragon, Simorgh, water, fire, rooster, girl and numbers - reflected in the proverbs of Fars province. The results indicate that without establishing a link between proverbs and myths, accurate analysis cannot be achieved. The mythological themes in the proverbs of Fars province include rich concepts such as power, beauty, parentage, consciousness, fortune, luck, purity, and so on. The other results of the study are as follows: Rostam is the most important epic character of the proverbs; Naqqalan (the narrators) were influential in the formation of the proverbs; the themes of many of the proverbs are influenced by past beliefs and rituals; some of these beliefs, after the arrival of Islam in Iran, were harmonized with Islamic beliefs.

Freud believes that myths, like dreams, are the symbolic representations of repressed sexual desires and the result of castration anxiety, and on this basis, he offers psychological-mythological reading of the archetype of " Medusa's head". He explains the works of art based on the theory of castration anxiety, and believes that psychological stories, like psycho-biographies, can be analyzed from psychoanalytic point of view. In the present article, the short story of The Tree and The Child of the People, by Abdolmajid Najafi, a psychological story, has been compared with the myth of Medusa, and a psychoanalytic reading of these two texts has been made. The purpose of this comparison is to show that both the myths and the contemporary child and adolescent stories are projections of human inner psyche. The article seeks to answer how castration anxiety is represented in the story of The Tree and The Child of the People and the myth of Medusa. The research, at first by using analytical-descriptive method, decodes the story, and then compares its theme with the psychological characteristics of Medusa from Freudian point of view. The results show that the theme of phallic stage, as one of the stages of psychosexual development, has always been present throughout history, from the myths made by primitive humans to the contemporary stories of children and adolescents.

In the history of Iranian culture and civilization, the name of Arvandrūd can be seen in different historical periods. In Iranian mythology and in the holy book Avesta, the name of this river is mentioned as "Ranghā", "Arang" and "Aurvant". In the early centuries of Islam, in the Mazdayasnian religious and historical texts (in Middle Persian) the name of Arang and Arvand mentioned as "Tigris". In Shāhnāmeh and in the battle of "Fereydun and Zahak", Ferdowsi uses the Arabic word "Tigris". Mentioning the name of the Tigris in Behistun Inscription with the term "Tigre" indicates the historical background of the river in ancient times. Also, mentioning the name "Shatt al-Arab" in some historical and literary texts is controversial. Using library sources and descriptive-analytical method and by a morphological approach, the present research, for the first time, explains the most important names of Arvandrūd from ancient times to modern times, the names which have been presented in the form of mythological, historical and literary narratives. The results show that the mythological river of " Ranghā" or "Arang" is the same as Arvandrūd and it is created by Hourmazd (Ahuramazda) in a metamorphosis; and in the myth of Creation and Rain, it takes on a sacred and divine aspect. It seems that mentioning these names in Avestan and Pahlavi texts as well as Iranian national epics is a kind of celebration and revival of the ancient name of Arvandrūd.

The present study examines the mystical concept of distress in the poems of Fakhr-al-Din Iraqi. The concept refers to the separation from God; it awakens the soul of man from forgetfulness, makes him/her eager to meet the Beloved and leads him/her to seek God. The mystical concept of distress is presented in Iraqi poetry in two different ways: First, in the form of an unpleasant and intense pain that is not never desired by the devotee and it is hard and sometimes impossible for him/her to bear it; but, in order to achieve spiritual development, she/he has to be patient until reaching God. The second manifests itself in a pleasant way, so that the lover desires it and considers it as a cure. With regard to the concept of distress, the present study examines the two concepts of nearness (gorb) and distance (bod) from an epistemological perspective. Also, by using descriptive-analytical method, an attempt is made to study the issue of distress in Iraqi intellectual system, and to resolve the contradiction on the issue of distress in his poetry divan.

One of the components in Persian novels is the use of mythological-archetypal elements and themes. In the present article, by using a descriptive-analytical method, an attempt has been made to study the mythological components in Symphony of the Dead of Abbas Maroufi. The author has deliberately used myths which indicates his awareness of the myths and symbols of Iran and the world, and religious, national and ethnic culture. The main theme of the novel is murder and fratricide, and is nurtured by the myth of Abel and Cain, but Maroufi has used various myths that can be divided into three categories: the myths of Shahnameh (Siyāvash, Iraj, Bijan and Manijeh etc.), mythical animals (phoenix, crow, wolf, butterfly, fish) and mythological concepts (creation, dualism, catharsis, mandala, plant animism, etc.). These concepts cover a very wide range of topics, so in the present article, only the concepts that have been less addressed in other studies are considered.

Earth is the symbol of coldness and renewal, the dead go underground to renew and reappear in a new form; in other words, the earth is the mother of the universe and the soil is a ground for fertility and human life. According to many verses of his poetry Divan as well as his Masnavi Hadiqat al Haqiqa, Sanai Ghaznavi is well acquainted with the ancient culture of Iran; the mythological themes are reflected in his poetry. By using descriptive-analytical method, the present article intends to examine the mythological themes related to earth in the works of Sanai Ghaznavi. The results show that Sanai, relying on rich sources of Iranian mythology and Islamic culture, has well illustrated the myths of life and creation from the earth in his works; also, he was also fully aware of the relationship of the four elements, including soil, with other elements and with the four temperaments.