Persian and Arabic Origins of Elements in Folk Bakhtiari Poetry

The present article is a comparative study between folk Bakhtiari poetry and classical Persian literature which attempts to trace a number of Bakhtiari poetical items to classical Persian poetry by adopting a historical approach. These common items can be divided as follows: images and depictions, literary collocations, historio-literary allusions, and customs used to create imagery. Although in some cases these are mere accidental similarities, they seem to originate in the shared past of these people, especially due to the isolation of the Lurs from the written tradition of Persian literature that questions the possibility of direct borrowing. However, a number of elements of Luri poetry are undoubtedly taken from Persian literature. The influence of Persian literature is seen more clearly in Bakhtiari allusions to Iranian legends, particularly those of the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi. Finally, considering the deep and old relationship of Persian and Arabic literature, a comparison has been carried out between Bakhtiari poetry and the Muʻallaqāt - as an example of the earliest Arabic poems.