arrative stories of the Sassanid era; Barbad’s thirty derivative modes and the case study of Panjeh Kabk e Dari

Narrative stories accompanied by music formed a part of the Sasanian court music repertoire. These stories were arranged in two scales, big and small, i.e. 360 melodies and 30 derivative modes, which were attributed to Barbad, the court musician of Khosrow Parviz. These names can be found in treatises left from the past, poems of poets such as Manochehri Damghani or in different cultures. This article emphasizes on Barbad's 30 derivative modes, especially the story of Panjeh Kabk e Dari/Rah e Ruh. The purpose of this research is to discover the stories and its practical motivation. The research approach is based on the description and analysis of content and the method of collecting library resources. The relationship between the titles of Panjeh Kabk e Dari and the Rah e Ruh is the most important question of this research. The names of the mentioned stories of the 30 derivative modes are sometimes not the same, and it seems that some of them had two or three similar names based on the content of the stories. The mistakes of the scribes regarding their number should not be neglected either. It seems that the origin of the story of Panjeh Kabk e Dari is Indian and is related to the story of Rah e Ruh / Rahat al-Arwah. The text of Rahat al-Arwah story has undergone many transformations in different centuries of the Islamic era. It is possible that the Arab translators have chosen the title of Rah e Ruh / Rahat al-Arwah for Panjeh Kabk e Dari, which refers to the wickedness of the ministers; The characters who are trying to prevent the main character of the story from gaining power and eliminate him, but they are not successful in this matter. This issue can be an interpretation of the victory of good over evil in the thinking of the dualism of Mazdayasna religion.