Revisiting the Shāhnāma demons: narrative and pictorial patterns regarding the dīv in the Shāhnāma manuscript tradition

Revisiting the Shāhnāma demons: narrative and pictorial patterns regarding the dīv in the Shāhnāma manuscript tradition

Demons (dīvs) in various guises and roles play an important role in the Shāhnāma, especially in the episodes dealing with the adventures of the hero Rustam. The interaction between the White Dīv and Rustam, the finale of the Rustam’s Seven Trials, is one of the most famous stories in the Shāhnāma. The pictorial cycle of illustrated Shāhnāma manuscripts almost invariably includes a painting of the recognizable scene in which Rustam slays the White Dīv in order to free the reckless King Kāvus. In this lecture, the role and depiction of demons in the Shāhnāma and in the Shāhnāma manuscript tradition will be discussed in connection to the appearance of demons and their offspring in so-called secondary or later epics, specifically as featured in the story on the son of the White Dīv, Shabrang, composed as a sequel to the Haft Kh^vān or Seven Trials of Rustam. This story can be found as a rare interpolation in a number of Shāhnāma manuscripts and in a unique manuscript copy known as Shabrangnāma, preserved at Leiden University Library.