Shahnameh’s failed hero; Siavakhsh

Last week, we examined some of the kings of the Kiani dynasty and the adventures of Kikaus who, with the help of heroes like Rostam, was able to overcome the small and big problems that arose on the way to the freedom of Iranshahr and became proud and victorious.

The great and famous stories of Shahnameh with the presence of Rostam take place during the Kikaus kingdom, one of which was Rostam’s journey to save the Shah of Iran and his army from the hand of the White Devil, which led to the passage of the hero of Shahnameh through Haft Khan.

After the release and cure of Kavus Shah’s blindness and the defeat of the Shah of Mazandaran with the help of Rostam, he became the king of the world and days were spent in peace until the news came that the thazis (Arabs) rebelled and did not pay taxes. Kikavus went to their lands with an army, suppressed Egypt and the barbarian region, and went to the Hamavarans, who immediately announced their surrender.

Kavus Shah meets the beautiful daughter of the king, Sudabah, in the court of King Hamavaran, who describes her as follows:

It is a paradise decorated with flowers
The sun shines in spring
No matter what it is, except for the pair of kings
What a good pair of moons the king was

Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh

In this way, Kavus Shah proposes to Sudabah and returns to his palace with a full hand. Although the Shah was happy with his new bride, Soudabeh was a beautiful but cunning woman who, along with her father, caused a lot of damage to Kavus Shah and the fate of Iran. The most important of them is the death of Rashid’s crown prince named Siavash, whose story is considered one of the most important stories in the Shahnameh.

Siavash

The story of Siavash begins before Kavus Shah met Sudabah, when a group of Iranian warriors, including Guderz, Tous, Giv, etc., were hunting in the resort until they found a beautiful girl in a forest and took her to the king. After seeing the girl and hearing the story of her running away from her father and riding a horse to the bush, Kikavos decides to send her to his nursery and marry her. And Nemat grows up, but the astrologers see his fortune as black and announce to the king that his dear son will perish in his youth.

One day, in a meeting with Kavus, Rostam sees Siyavosh, who is noble, beautiful, intelligent and wise, and he suggests to the king to take him and raise him to learn the ways of kingship by living with the elders. Kavos Shah, who was very worried about the predictions of astrologers, accepted, and in this way, Siavosh was brought up by Rostam until he was fourteen years old.

Now we go back to the time when Kavus Shah married Sudaba and brought her to his palace, on the other hand, Siyavush, who is now a young man, has become beautiful and brave, and the king chose him as his crown prince and announced his decision to everyone in a magnificent celebration. he does.

Black horoscope or cunning trick?

Soudabeh, who was considered dear and respected in the court of Kavos Shah, fell in love with Siavash when he saw him and told the Shah to send his son to Shabestan to meet girls, but Siavash did not agree and asked the Shah to visit the Sepahians instead of the harem. send troops and nobles. Kavos is delighted by his son’s words and agrees, but finally, with Sodabe’s insistence, he asks Siavash to give Shabestan a brief nod as well.

Siavash, who no longer opposes Sudabah’s respect, accepts his father’s offer and goes to Shabestan. Sudabah prepares a party and invites Siavash to his party under an excuse, but Siavash immediately leaves the Shabestan. Sudabah sings again in the king’s ear that it is time for Siavash to choose a dignified wife for himself, and when he brings him to his circle again, this time he threatens him that if you are harsh with me, you will kill your dream of becoming a king. This time, Siavash tells Soudabeh that he is not ready to betray his father and leaves Shabestan.

He said so with a heart that is from the work of a demon
Gihan Khadio is keeping me away
I will not be unfaithful to my father
Not to meet Ahrman

Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh

From here, the seeds of hatred and hatred were planted in Sudabah’s heart and she went to the king lying and told him that your son did not choose anyone from among the girls of Shabistan and told me that I only want you. Kavus Shah angrily calls Siavash and after questioning and answering, he comes to the conclusion that Soudabeh is lying and decides to kill his wife, but Soudabeh begs for the Shah’s forgiveness and the Shah finally forgives him, but tells him that He should stop slandering and hurting his beloved son because there will be no forgiveness next time.

But Sudabe again tricks with the help of a sorceress and slanders Siavash in a way that even the king is suspicious and asks for guidance from Mobdan so that he can find out the truth. The priests put three ways forward for the king:

Passing a person who doubts him through the heart of a big fire
Pouring molten lead on that person’s stomach
Feeding sulphurous and foul-smelling water to a suspicious person

And they tell the king that if that person comes out of any of these tests unscathed, it means that he is innocent and telling the truth. The king, sure of his son, tells Sudabah that he must pass through the fire, but he refuses and tells the king that Siavash is a sinner and must be tested.

Pass through the fire

Shah inevitably asks Siavash to pass through the fire, and he appears with a special make-up, a white dress and a black horse, passes through the mountain of fire with a smile and comes out on the other side safely. The people cheered and Kavus Shah celebrated his son’s innocent happiness for three days.

After the celebration, the time of Sudabah’s punishment arrives and the king orders the executioner to behead him, but this time Siavash, who is heartbroken by seeing his father’s grief, asks his father to forgive Sudabah’s sins this time, and in exchange for the palace itself and He leaves the capital so as not to witness any new intrigues from Sudabah’s side.

the last battle

Over time, the king’s affection becomes weak due to the absence of his son in the palace and Sudabah’s slander, and when Afrasiab attacked Iran with a huge army, Siavash volunteered to stand in place of the king against Afrasiab, who was a cunning warrior. Kavus Shah accepted his son’s proposal but asked him to go to Zabulestan with his army first and take Rostam with him to the battlefield.

With the help of Rostam, the Iranian troops won and drove Afrasiab’s army back to the Jihun River. Here the Iranian army stops and waits for the king’s order. On the other side of the battle, Afrasiab had a terrible dream that he was cut in two by the hand of a teenager and by the order of the king, and when he asked for the interpretation of his dream, the astrologers told him that he was not good at the battle and that they should retreat.

Afrasiab decides to send many gifts to Siavash, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and invite him to peace. Siavash, after consulting with Rostam, rejects the invitation to peace and tells him that if you do not want more attacks from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, you must have a hundred relatives Send yourselves as hostages to us so that if you do not act against your promise, we will kill them, and you must also completely empty cities like Bukhara, Samarkand and some other cities of soldiers.

Siavash prepared the report of the events carefully and Rostam suggested that he take it to the king and convince the king to make peace with his advice. But Kikaus got angry after reading this letter and told Rostam that he made a big mistake and from now on he will send a more mature fighter named Tos to Siavash to guide him. Siavash, who is aware of the king’s opinion, gets angry and says that he is not ready to lie and act against his promise with Afrasiab, and in this way, he appoints Bahram as his deputy and the temporary commander of the army and goes to Turan himself.

Enemy more sympathetic than father

Afrasiab, who learns about the incident, was influenced by Siavash’s morals and actions, and placed him in his palace and chose Feringis as his daughter’s wife, so that after the death of Kavus Shah, with the connection that was formed between Shah Toran and Iran Let the fire of hatred and war be extinguished forever.

Afrasiab and his chief minister Piran Vise welcomed Siavash well and gave him a love that Siavash had never received from his father in his life. Siavash spends his peaceful life in Turan and even builds a beautiful city with tall palaces and turquoise domes in the land that Afrasiab entrusts to him and Feringis and fills it with vast gardens and fruit trees and names it Siavashgerd.

In the meantime, Afrasiab’s brother Grasius, who sees Siavash’s successes and learns about the interest of the King of Turan, is jealous of Siavash and decides to make him weak in the king’s eyes by speaking ill of Afrasiab and even tells the king a lie. that Siavash is gathering an army in Siavashgerd to attack the capital and destroy Afrasiab forever.

After hearing this news, Afrasiab got angry and left for Siavashgerd with a large army. On the other hand, Siavash became aware of Gresivz’s behavior and trickery and decided to return to Iran in consultation with Ferengis who was pregnant.

On the way, Grasius again surrounded Siavash by Afrasiab’s army, Siavash started talking to Afrasiab and asked him what was wrong with me that you came to see me with Turan’s army? Gracios immediately answers that:

If you didn’t intend to attack Turan, why did you wear combat clothes? Your intention is nothing but to betray Afrasiab.

Before the end of Grasivez’s sentence, Afrasiab ordered an attack and arrested Siavash with arrows and spears and brought him back to Siavashgerd to be executed, but in the meantime Piran Vise’s brother, who was very fond of Siavash, intervened to prevent the execution of the son of the Shah of Iran. He convinces Afrasiab that if he kills the crown prince of Iran, his father will raze all of Turan to the ground with a large army for his blood. On the other hand, Afrasiab’s daughter, Frangis, also fell into her father’s hands and feet to kill her husband, but once again, with Gracious’ tricks, Afrasiab ordered the execution of Siavash.

By the order of Afrasiab, they take Siavash to the desert and hang him by the neck, where a plant named Siavashan’s blood or Siavashan’s feather grows in the place where Siavash’s blood was spilled on the ground. The people of Iran love Siavash Shahnameh to the point of sanctity, and they have been mourning the death of Siavash in Bukhara for many years. After the death of Siavash Rostam, he killed the first Sudabah and then started a new era of conflict and battle between Iran and Turan by marching to Turan.