Introduction and evaluation of new poems and composition styles of Vis and Ramin's Dah-Nāmah in Safīnah-yi Tabrīz

Document Type : Research article

Authors

1 Associate Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran.

2 PhD student, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran.

Abstract

Only a few manuscripts of the classical Persian verse romance Vis and Ramin by Fakhr alDin Asʿad Gurgani, composed in the 5th century AH (11th century CE), are extant. The work has been printed five times, among which the critical and scholarly edition prepared by the Georgian researchers Todua and Gwakharia is the most significant. Their edition is based on eleven complete and fragmentary manuscripts, none of which date earlier than the 9th century AH. Therefore, discovering and examining any trace of Vis and Ramin predating this period is of considerable importance and can greatly contribute to the literary community’s understanding, introduction, and reevaluation of this ancient and valuable work. One source unavailable to previous editors is the Safīnah-yi Tabrīz manuscript (dated 723 AH), which contains 730 couplets from Vis and Ramin’s Dah-Nāmah, composed by Abu’lMajd Tabrizi. Considering the linguistic and historical significance of Vis and Ramin and its precedence over other extant manuscripts, the present study first introduces six newly identified poems in this romance, then reports 182 newly found couplets, and finally proposes revisions to ten couplets based on these new variant readings. The researchers hope that the findings of this study will contribute to a more refined and reliable text of Vis and Ramin.

Highlights

The Safīnah-yi Tabrīz manuscript, dating to 723 AH, is confirmed as a critical resource for the textual criticism of Vis and Ramin. The discovery of six new couplets and the rigorous evaluation of the variant readings strongly indicate that the text of Vis and Ramin can be significantly refined. The variants found in this older manuscript offer readings that are often linguistically more accurate, structurally more sound, and aesthetically more aligned with the rhetorical style of Faxr al-Din Asʿad Gurgani than those found in the currently used 9th-Century-onward manuscripts. The findings provide essential evidence for constructing a more authentic and reliable critical edition of the epic.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

Ab al-Barakāt, Abd al-Kāfi (2008) Eskandar-Nāme: Revāyat-e Fārsi az Kālistenes-e Doruqin (Eskandar-Name: The Persian Account of the Pseudo-Callisthenes). ed. Iraj Afšār. Tehran: Češme Publication. [in Persian].
Axyāni, Jamile (1999) “Tashih-e Čand Beyt az Vis o Rāmin” (Correction of a Few Couplets of Vis and Ramin). Ketāb-e Māh-e Adabiyyāt. vol. 23-24. pp. 46-48. [in Persian].
Anvari, Mohammad (1985) Divān-e Anvari. ed. Saʿid Nafisi. Tehran: Sekke. [in Persian].
Asadi Tusi (1975) Garšāsb-nāme. ed. Habib Yaqmāʾi. 2nd ed. Tehran: Tahuri Library. [in Persian].
Asʿad Gorgāni, Faxr al-Din (1935) Vis-o Rāmin. ed. Mojtabā Minovi. Tehran: Faxr-e Rāzi Booksellers. [in Persian].
Asʿad Gorgāni, Faxr al-Din (1958) Vis-o Rāmin. ed. Mohammad Jaʿfar Mahjub. Tehran: Andiše Publishing Office. [in Persian].
Asʿad Gorgāni, Faxr al-Din (1970) Vis-o Rāmin. Ed. Magali Todua & Aleksandr Gvaxaria. Tehran: Iran Culture Foundation Publications. [in Persian].
Asʿad Gorgāni, Faxr al-Din (1998) Vis-o Rāmin. ed. Mohammad Rowšan. Tehran: Sadāye Moʿāser. [in Persian].
Asʿad Gorgāni, Faxr al-Din (1865) Masnaviye Vis-o Rāmin. ed. Captain William Nasulis & Ahmad Ali Sāheb. vol. 1. Calcutta: College Press. [in Persian].
Asʿad Gorgāni, Faxr al-Din (723 A.H.) Vis va Rāmin. Copied by Abolmoʾayyed Tabrizi in Safineye Tabriz Manuscript. Library of the Islamic Consultative Assembly. No. 14590. [in Persian].
Balʿami, Abu Ali Mohammad (1974) Tārix-e Balʿami. ed. Mohammad Taqi Bahār & Mohammad Parvin Gonābādi. vol. 2. 2nd ed. Tehran: Zavvār Booksellers. [in Persian].
Balʿami, Abu Ali Mohammad (1994) Tārixnāmeye Tabari. ed. Mohammad Rowšan. 3 Vols. 3rd ed. Tehran: Alborz. [in Persian].
Dehxodā, Ali Akbar (1999) Loqat-nāme. Tehran: University of Tehran Press. [in Persian].
Emāmi, Alirezā (2013) “Abyāt-e Vis-o Rāmin dar Tāj al-Maʾāser” (Couplets of Vis and Ramin in Taj al-Maʾathir). Nāmeye Farhangestān. vol. 1. no. 1. pp. 239-254. [in Persian].
Esfarāyeni, Ab al-Moẓaffar (1996) Tāj al-Tarājem Fi Tafsir al-Qurʾān lil-Aʿājim. ed. Najib Māyel Haravi & Ali Akbar Elāhi Xorāsāni. Vol. 1. Tehran: Elmi va Farhangi. [in Persian].
Farroxi Sistāni, Ab al-Ḥasan (1932) Divān-e Hakim Farroxi Sistāni. ed. Ali Abdorrasuli. Tehran: Matbaʿeye Majles. [in Persian].
Firdowsi, Ab al-Qāsem (2000) Šāhnāmeye Ferdowsi (Based on the Moscow Edition). Tehran: Qatre Publications. [in Persian].
Ferdowsi, Ab al-Qāsem (2014) Tafsir-e Sure-ye Yusof Manzum. ed. Mansur Kiyāni. Tehran: Rāh-e Nikān. [in Persian].
Falaki Širvāni, Najm al-Din Mohammad (1966) Divān-e Hakim Najm al-Din Mohammad Falaki Širvāni. ed. Mohammad Tāheri Šahāb. Tehran: Ibn Sinā Library. [in Persian].
Giunashvili, Jamshid (1990) “Soxan-i Čand Darbāreye Matn Šenāsiye Manzumeye Vis-o Rāmin” (A Few Words on the Textual Criticism of the Epic Vis and Ramin). Irān-šenāsi. no. 5, pp. 125-134. [in Persian].
Kāteb Arjāni, Farāmarz (1983) Samak-e ʿAyyār. ed. Parviz Nātel Xānlari. vol. 1. Tehran: Āgāh. [in Persian].
Kusaj, Šams al-Din Mohammad (2008) Borzu-nāme (Baxš-e Kohan) (Borzu Nāme: The Ancient Section). ed. Akbar Nahvi. Tehran: Mirās-e Maktub Research Center. [in Persian].
Nāderi, Faršid & Qodratollāh Zurruni (2023) “Šavāhed-e Tārixi va Adabiye Now-Yāfte Darbāreye Tabār-e Aškāniye Dāstān-e Vis-o Rāmin” (Newly Found Historical and Literary Evidence about the Parthian Origin of the Story of Vis and Ramin). Tārix-e Adabiyyāt. vol. 16. no. 1. pp. 101-130. [in Persian].
Nāser Xosrow, Abu Moʾin (1928) Divān-e Qasāyed va Muqattaʾāt. ed. Seyyed Nasrollāh Taqavi et al. Tehran: Matbaʿ-e Majles. [in Persian].
Navidi Malāti, Ali (2018) “Gomāni Darbāreye Zabt-e Yek Nām-Jāy dar Vis-o Rāmin” (A Conjecture on the Recording of a Place Name in Vis and Ramin). Nāmeye Farhangestān. vol. 17. no. 1. pp. 94-99. [in Persian].
Okada, Amiko (1989) “Soxani Digar Darbāreye Bāz-šenāsiye Byt-i az Vis-o Rāmin” (Another Word on the Re-identification of a Couplet from Vis and Ramin). Irān-šenāsi, no. 1. pp. 70-75. [in Persian].
Pand-e Pirān (1978) Pand-e Pirān. ed. Jalāl Matini. Tehran: Bonyād-e Farhang-e Irān. [in Persian].
Puturidze, Viktor (1936) “Tarjomeye Gorjiye Qadim-e Vis-o Rāmin” (Old Georgian Translation of Vis and Ramin). Mehr. vol. 3. no. 12. pp. 1229-1237. [in Persian].
Qatrān Tabrizi (1983) Divān-e Hakim Qatrān Tabrizi. Based on the corrected copy of Mohammad Naxjavāni. Tehran: Qoqnus. [in Persian].
Sanāʾi Qaznavi, Majdud (2008) Hadiqat al-Haqiqah va Šariʿat al-Tariqah. ed. Mohammad Rowšan. Tehran: Negāh Publishing Institute. [in Persian].
Šaybāni, Fatḥ Allāh ibn Mohammad Kāzem (2014) Āsār-e Fath Allāh Xān Shaybāni (The Works of Fatʾh Allāh Xān Shaybāni). ed. Alirezā Šāhnazari. vol. 1. Tehran: Mirās-e Maktub Research Center. [in Persian].
Varāvini, Saʾd al-Din (1976) Marzbān-Nāme. ed. Mohammad Rowšan. Tehran: Iran Culture Foundation Publications. [in Persian].
Xāqāni, Afzal al-Din Ebrāhim (2006) Divān-e Xāqāni Širvāni. ed. Ziyāʾaddin Sajjādi. 8th ed. Tehran: Zavvār. [in Persian].
Xāqāni, Afzal al-Din Ebrāhim (2008) Tohfat al-ʿErāqayn. ed. Ali Safari Āq-Qalʿe. Tehran: Mirās-e Maktub. [in Persian].
Persian Language and Literature
Volume 79, Issue 253 - Serial Number 253
Spring–Summer 2026
July 2026
Pages 1-29

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 15 December 2025
  • Revise Date: 08 January 2026
  • Accept Date: 26 February 2026
  • Publish Date: 22 June 2026

Share

How to cite

Statistics