Character · The Shahnameh · Volume III

Bozorgmehrبزرگمهر

bo-zorg-MEHR

Anooshirvan's wise vizier and sage.

In the poem: First at D13.20, Bozorgmehr’s Seven Feasts; last at E5.2, Hormizd’s Slaughter of the Ministers
Named: 78 times, in 11 sections
Main stories: D13 Anooshirvan and the Road to the End-time (31); E2 Chess, Wisdom, and the Kalila and Dimna (16); E3 Bozorgmehr’s Fall and Restoration (16)
Plates: Vol III: VI

Genealogical plate: Qobad and Anooshirvan — Volume III, Plate VI: Qobad and Anooshirvan. Tap to open the genealogies.

In the poem’s own words

The 8 sections that name Bozorgmehr most often, with the summary from the Notes and the couplets that name Bozorgmehr. Tap a couplet number to read it in the full poem.

D13.20

Bozorgmehr’s Seven Feasts

Bozorgmehr named 31 times here · read the section in the full poem · notes

E1.13

Bozorgmehr’s Counsel to Anooshirvan

Bozorgmehr says he has left a scroll of counsel in the treasury: nothing outlives a king but good words and good deeds. A long catechism follows on the ten Divs of the soul, greed the strongest of them, wisdom as the soul’s jowshan, and on friends, grief and kingship.

E1.13.2
He smiled with open face and words of cheer,And seated Bozorgmehr beside him near.
E1.13.34
Bozorgmehr answered, “Follow God’s command;In both worlds it will help you firmly stand.
E1.13.46
Bozorgmehr said, “The one with deepest lore,Who rules desire and asks for nothing more.”

Bozorgmehr named 7 times here · read the section in the full poem · notes

E2.1

Chess Comes to Anooshirvan

An envoy from the Raja of Hind brings elephants, parasols and a chessboard with a challenge: if Iran’s sages cannot work out the rules, Iran must pay tribute. The court fails. Bozorgmehr solves the game in a day and a night and demonstrates it before the envoy.

E2.1.49
Then Bozorgmehr came to the troubled king,And saw his vexed heart under sorrow’s sting.
E2.1.56
Then Bozorgmehr took board and men in hand,And bent his mind their secret to command.
E2.1.66
Then eloquent Bozorgmehr spoke aloud:“Priest of the Raja, honored by this crowd,

Bozorgmehr named 5 times here · read the section in the full poem · notes

E2.2

Bozorgmehr Answers Chess with Nard

Bozorgmehr shuts himself in a dark room and works out nard, then carries it to Hind with two thousand camel-loads staked on the Raja’s sages solving it. They fail in a week; he explains the game, and comes home with the stake, a year’s tribute and gifts.

E2.2.17
Thus Bozorgmehr invented nard and wentTo tell the Shah the wisdom that it meant.
E2.2.43
When sunlight stood radiant in the sky,Bozorgmehr left the Shah with purpose high.
E2.2.65
Upon the ninth day Bozorgmehr drew near,His face intent, his purpose firm and clear.

Bozorgmehr named 9 times here · read the section in the full poem · notes

E2.4

The Kalila and Dimna Comes to Iran

The physician Barzvi goes to Hind for a herb said to raise the dead, and finds none. An old sage reads the riddle: the herb is wisdom, the corpse the ignorant man, the cure a book. Barzvi memorizes the Kalila chapter by chapter and sends it home.

E2.4.111
Let Bozorgmehr, when copying this great book,Upon Barzvi’s endeavors kindly look.
E2.4.116
Then to Bozorgmehr came the Shah’s command:“Let this request be granted by your hand.”

Bozorgmehr named 2 times here · read the section in the full poem · notes

E3.1

Bozorgmehr Falls from Favor

Hunting, the Shah sleeps with his head in Bozorgmehr’s lap, and a bird steals the jewels from his armlet. Accused of theft, the sage keeps silent through prison, dungeon and a spiked cage, answering each time that his lot is better than the Shah’s. He is freed, but broken.

E3.1.1
Mark now the fate of Bozorgmehr the seer,The Shah who raised him brought his downfall near.
E3.1.4
Across the grass the huntsmen scattered wide,Till only Bozorgmehr stayed by his side.
E3.1.8
He set his head with trust and royal easeUpon Bozorgmehr’s lap beneath the trees.

Bozorgmehr named 8 times here · read the section in the full poem · notes

E3.2

Caesar’s Locked Casket

Caesar sends a sealed casket and challenges Anooshirvan’s sages to name its contents; none can. The blinded Bozorgmehr is fetched from prison, questions three women on the road, and declares three pearls — one pierced, one half-pierced, one whole. He is right, and restored.

E3.2.18
He said, “Bozorgmehr’s intellect aloneCan search this secret out, to us unknown.
E3.2.29
I thought, ‘No soul this mystery can clearUnless the mind of Bozorgmehr draw near.’”
E3.2.30
When Bozorgmehr had heard the monarch’s word,Old pain within his wounded spirit stirred.

Bozorgmehr named 8 times here · read the section in the full poem · notes

E4.7

The Dream Foretelling Mohammad

Anooshirvan dreams of a sun rising from the Hijaz up a stair of forty steps, filling the world with light except his own hall. Bozorgmehr reads it: a prophet will come, the fires will fail, and an army from the Hijaz will end the line. The Shah dies.

E4.7.9
When dawn unveiled the sun in golden light,He summoned Bozorgmehr before his sight.
E4.7.11
Bozorgmehr weighed the dream within his mind,And sought the hidden meaning he might find.
E4.7.14
Then Bozorgmehr replied, “O king of might,Whose counsel climbs beyond the heavens’ height,