History and Literary Form: A Reflection on the Morphology of Beyghami's Darabnameh

Darabnameh or Firouzshahnameh written by Mohammad Beyghami (9th century AH), following Samak Ayyar, is the most important and detailed text of "Ayari-Pahlavani" in the history of Persian literature. "Ayari-Pahlavan texts" are narrative and long prose texts which are narrative texts on the actions of Aiyar and Pahlavan. At one level, it seems that this long story is the continuation of the same series of narratives in verse and prose about the Darab family, which has been discussed many times in the tradition of Shahnameh writing, prose narration, and Persian and Arabic historiography. But reflecting on the form of this long story reveals two hidden issues: First of all, the whole form of Darabnameh is based on the same narrative model of Samak Ayar and not Darabnameh of Tarsusi and other stories related to the Darab family. The second and more important issue is that probably the narrative form of Beyghami’s Darabnama which is based on the work and deeds of the main shah/pahlvan in the main plot, and the secondary shah/pahlvans in the parallel sub-plotes, is probably the concrete form of the Parthian “Moluk al-Tawaef” system and their pahlavani culture. Accordingly, it can be said that despite the lack of historical data of the ancient historians about the Parthians, the "literary form" has been able to carry the generality of the Parthian world and transmit it through history. In this case, the bravery of Firouzshah and his companions is not only a narrative fiction to heal the historical wounds of the era of Alexander the Great, but more important, the memory of the bravery of the Parthians in defeating Alexander in Iran, and their efforts to preserve Iranshahr.