The Region of Jamshid in the Ferdowsi's Shahnameh from the Perspective of Source Criticism

In Iranian and Indian literary text, Jamshid is a mythological figure. According to one of the oldest Aryan myths, he was the first Human and spread in India and Iran in two separate ways; he became the king of the dead in India and the powerful kingdom in Persian. In Persian mythology, he claimed to be God and that's why the fortune was kept off. Zahhak destroyed the Jamshid's kingdom and saw him in two. In addition to texts such as Avesta, Denkard and Bundahishn, the tale of Jamshid is narrated by the Ferdowsi's Shahnameh and historical books of the Islamic period. The current paper studies the narration of Ferdowsi from the Jamshid's story through the source criticism. Investigating the possible origin of the Ferdowsi's narrative is the main purpose of this research. Based on the investigation of Jamshid's story in the Shahnameh and other texts and the analytical comparisons of similarities and inequalities, it can be concluded that narratives of Arabic historical books are influenced by the literature of Islamic religion and connected to pre-Islamic Pahlavi texts through textual mediation. The narrative of Sa'alabi show textual connections with Tarikh-i Tabari. Further, some other sources have been used. However, the narrative by Ferdowsi for the tale of Jamshid has an origin connection with the Pahlavi texts, and no possible connection is found with the Abu Mansouri's Shahnameh.