The Study on the Pre-Islamic Origin and Authenticity of the Bahram and Āzāda's Motif on the Iranian Artworks during the 10th- 14th Centuries

Some of the Iranian artworks during the 10th-14th centuries have been illustrated by narrative scenes showing a cavalier archer king in the hunting ground of gazelles; while a tiny lyre playing girl sat back him. According to Shāhnāma-i-Fērdowsī and Haft Peykar-i- Nizami Ganjavi، such scenes narrate the story of Sassanid King Bahram-i- Gūr and Āzāda، his lyre player servant girl. It should be noted that some of recent literal studies presented the story of Bahram-i- Gūr and Āzāda as a faked tale added to Shāhnāma-i-Fērdowsī in later centuries! For that reason، the realizing of the Pre- Islamic genuineness of this story upon the basis of artworks seems more important. On the otherwise، it would be established that the character of Bahram and Āzāda had been produced by Iranian poets and artists in Islamic era. This article examines a hypothesis searches Pre- Islamic patterns and archetypes of such character for Iranian artworks in the 10th-14th centuries. The basic literal sources of Bahram and Āzāda have been considered: Shāhnāma-i-Fērdowsī، Haft Peykar-i- Nizami Ganjavi and Hasht Behesht-i- Amir Khosrow Dihlavi. By the second way، Bahram and Āzāda motifs on Islamic artworks have been compared with their pre- Islamic familiars. And archaeologically، the authors have emphasized on the key concept of archaeological context of such artworks to realize their authenticity. As the result، this research has proved that literal theme and artistic motif of Bahram and Āzāda has a Sassanid archetype. Hence، it is a genuine story in Shāhnāma-i-Fērdowsī.