The Anthropological Analysis of the “Farreh” Myth And Its Functions in Ferdowsi’s Shāh-nāmeh

جستارهای نوین ادبی

Article 6, Volume 44, Issue 3 - Serial Number 174, January 2012, Pages 113-148   

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.22067/jls.v44i3.12652

Author

Farzad Ghaemi^*

Abstract

In Ferdowsi’s Shāh-nāmeh, “Farr” is one of the most important and most frequent concepts. The ideal concept of “Farr” appears in the charismatic (i.e. Farreh-mand) person in the form of holy light, miraculous powers, mastery over nature, good fortune, or in the form of material indices like sacred animals and tools.
This myth is associated with the formation of community, the concept of social class, and two types of legitimacy: charisma and kinship. There are several types of Farr of which the most important is “Kayānid Farreh” which justifies the legitimacy of the king and accords divine status to his government. From the anthropological perspective, Farr may be considered as a manifestation of the holy ancestor of humankind or the cultural hero of the civilization that leads to the formation of the original pattern of the priest-king in Ferdowsi’s Shāh-nāmeh.
In this pattern, Kayānid Farreh will require a hereditary background and is a symbol of conditional divine protection of the king and would leave him in case the king fails to meet the requirements of his divine office.
In the present paper, after examining the functions of Farr in the Shāh-nāmeh, it is attempted to study the religious and political significance of this concept using an anthropological approach. It is then compared with equivalent concepts such as Manna, Charisma and Topo in the mythology of other nations. The formation of the priest-king model as the personification of the Manna archetype is also analyzed. The sin and the subsequent separation of Farreh are also examined in the charismatic personality based on theories of psychic inflation and the unity of the mind of the crowd.

Keywords

: Farreh; Kayānid Farreh; priest-king; Legitimacy; separation of king’s Farr; anthropology