New Naqqaliشاهنامه
Character · The Shahnameh · Volume III

Talkhandطلخند

tal-KHAND

An Indian prince, Gav's younger brother and rival for the throne, whose death in battle is told through the game of chess.

In the poem
First at E2.2, Bozorgmehr Answers Chess with Nard; last at E2.3, Gav, Talkhand, and Chess
Named
49 times, in 2 sections
Main stories
E2 Chess, Wisdom, and the Kalila and Dimna (49)

In the poem’s own words

The 2 sections that name Talkhand most often, with the summary from the Notes and the couplets that name Talkhand. Tap a couplet number to read it in the full poem.
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.

  • E2.2.108
    Of Talkhand and of chess I now shall tell,And how that ancient wonder first befell.
Talkhand named 1 time here · read the section in the full poem · notes
E2.3

Gav, Talkhand, and Chess

In Hind, Jamhur dies leaving the infant Gav; his brother Mai reigns, marries the queen and fathers Talkhand. The brothers’ rival claims end in a battle by the sea where Talkhand dies of thirst, unwounded. To show his mother how, the sages devise chess.

  • E2.3.30
    She bore Talkhand within that royal land;The mighty monarch blessed him, hand in hand.
  • E2.3.32
    Talkhand was two, and Gav was seven years old;And Gav already showed a warrior’s mold.
  • E2.3.79
    To young Talkhand yield throne and crown and land,And I will serve beneath his just command.
Talkhand named 48 times here · read the section in the full poem · notes

Where the name appears

Named mentions by book, from the Universe Registry, the index behind this site. Titles and epithets are not counted.
E2Chess, Wisdom, and the Kalila and Dimna49

More in the Glossary and the index of characters.