A Comparison of Resistance in the Religious Epic, Yadegar-e Zariran, and Daghighi's Goshtasbnameh (Scholarly-Research)

Yadegar-e Zariran is the oldest Iranian religious epic depicting the bravery and sacrifice the Iranian new-believers of Zoroastrianism showed against Arjasb Shah's Army. The hero of the epic, Zarir, Goshtasb's brother, dies for Zoroastrianism. Esfandiar and Bastour – Zarir's son – shine gloriously as well. The book was written in Pahlavi language during the Sassanid period; however, some scholars believe that, since there are some Parthian words in the book, it could probably belong to Parthian period. After Islam, Yadegar-e Zariran has inspired many works the most significant of which is Daghighi's Goshtasbnameh written in 5th century AH. Features of resistance could be traced in both of these books and the present study compares them by bringing examples from both works.