विस्तारः (द्रष्टुं नोद्यम्)
A composition by Farya Faraji. The lyrics are in Middle-Persian, the chronological variety of the Persian language spoken in the Sasanian Era, and they are taken from a rhymed ballad dating to the time following the fall of the Sasanian Empire at the hands of the Arabic Rashidun Caliphate. According to J. C. Tavadia from “The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland” in 1955, while the exact date of the poem cannot be pinpointed, some estimates can be made.
The greatest peculiarity of the poem is that it rhymes–as a general rule of thumb, Iranian and Greco-Roman poems of the Ancient World did not rhyme, and the concept was popularised by the Arabs following their expansion in the Early Middle-Ages. This would point to a late date for the poem, but Tavadia indicates that the use of certain, more archaic Middle-Persian words supports the idea that this poem would have been written at an earlier date, therefore it is possible that this text was produced in the very decades following the conquest of Iran by the Arabs.
The text expresses the hope of the era’s Iranians, who await the coming of a Zoroastrian messianic figure called Shah Vahram Varzavand, a figure who will come from India, overthrow the Arab invaders and restore native Iranian and Zoroastrian rule to the land.
The poem can essentially be contextualised as a “wish-image” of the oppressed Zoroastrian Iranians yearning for the return of the previous state of rule. The figure of Shah Vahram as a messianic figure carries with him the weight of Iranian mythology, as he is said to be of the lineage of the Kayanian–the mythological dynasty of Iran who was said to have ruled at the beginning of the world, and the dynasty around which the Shahnameh epic revolves.
The poem can therefore be described as both a deeply nationalistic and religious one; the two concepts being intertwined in this historical context, with Zoroastrianism being one with the concept of Iranian identity in the eyes of the text’s writer(s).
Kay bavâd kû pêg-ê âyed az Hindûgân? (हिन्दवः)
(When will a courier come from India?)
Kû : “mad hân i Shâh Varhrân (क्षत्रः वृत्रघ्नः) az dûd ag î Kayân!” (कवयः)
((to say) that: “King Vahrām of the family of the Kavi has come", )
Kê shpîl ast hazâr, abar sar-ô-sar ast pîlbân,
(Having a thousand elephants, each with a keeper mounted on its head?)
Ke abrâstag drafs dâred ped êvên î Husrôgân (सुश्रवसः)
(Having raised banners, in the manner of the Husrô (Persian kings))
pêsh-lashkar barend ped spâh-sâlârân!
(The advance-guards are led by the generals!)
Mard-ê visê abâyed kirdan zîrag targumân, (ತರ್ಜುಮೆಯವನು)
(A man should be dispatched, a clever interpreter,)
Ke shaved bê gôbed ped Hindûgân (हिन्दवः)
(Who may go and tell to the Hindus,)
Kû amâh cê dîd az dast î Tâzîgân, (dogs, ethnic slur for Arabs)
(What we have seen from the desert of the dogs/ Arabs!)
Amâh azêr, avêshân côn shâhân, (क्षत्राः)
(All at once they weakened the religion and killed the kings.)
Bê stad hend pâdixshâyîh î az Husrôgân, (सुश्रवसः)
(We (have become) inferior, they are like kings. They have taken away the sovereignty from the Husrô,)
Nê ped hunar ud mardîh, côn Erân, (आर्या इव )
(Not by art/ virtue and valour, (like the noble Aryans,))
Bê ped afsôs ud riyahrîh, côn Dêvân! (देवा इव)
(But in mockery and scorn, (like the demons.))
Bê stad hend ped stahm az mardômân, (मर्त्याः)
(By force they have taken away from men)
Abâz harâg âst Hend ([सप्त]सिन्धु??), sâg î grân,
(They have demanded again the tribute, a heavy impost.)
Az amâh bê âyed hân Shâh Varhrâm, (क्षत्रः वृत्रघ्नः)
( From us shall come that king Vahrâm,)
I Varzâvand (वर्चस्-?) az dûdag î Kayân , (कवयः)
(Possessing marvellous power, of the family of the Kavi.)
Bê âvarem kên î Tâzîgân, (श्वानः)
(We will bring vengeance in the Arabs,)
Côn Rôstahm (स्रवस्तम्भः इव) âvurd sad kên î Syâvashân! (श्यावाश्वाः)
(As Rostam brought a hundred to the Syavashan.)
…
Be niger ka čand wad abgand ān druz pad ēn gēhān
(Behold how much evil that demon has cast upon the world,)
ka nēst wattar az ōy andar gēhān. (There is no more evil than they in the world,)
Mazgitīhā frōd hilēm,
be nišānēm ātaxšān
(We will destroy the mosques, establish fires,)
uzdēszārīhā be kanēm ud pāk kunēm az gēhān,
(We will raze the idol temples?? and blot them from the world,)
tā wany šawēnd druz-wišūdagān az ēn gēhān.
(Til’ evil gets destroyed, the daevic creature?? from the world,)
Frazaft pad drōd šādīh
(Finished with salutations and happiness.)
मानसतरङ्गिणीकृत् - टिप्पनी
Source: TW
By some coincidence, wanted to make a post on this recently. There is an interesting symmetry between us our & Iranic cousins: The restoration from the mlechChAdi will involve on their side a descendant of kauui ushan, while on our side it will involve the collateral bhArgava line: rAma jAmadagnya – both waiting with immortality to spring out when the time comes. rAma bhArgava will train kalkin in arms for the overthrow of the mlechChAdi.