New Naqqaliشاهنامه
Object · The Shahnameh · Volumes I, II

gopalگوپال

goo-PAHL

A heavy club or mace.

In the poem
First at B8.6, Sohrab Chooses His Charger; last at C3.18, Khosrow Sends His Reply
Named
35 times, in 27 sections
Main stories
B13 Mount Hamavan and the Kamus Campaign (10); B10 Vengeance for Siavash and the Retrieval of Kay Khosrow (7); B8 The Tragedy of Rostam & Sohrab (5)

In the poem’s own words

The 8 sections that name gopal most often, with the summary from the Notes and the couplets that name gopal. Tap a couplet number to read it in the full poem.
B8.6

Sohrab Chooses His Charger

Sohrab needs a horse strong enough to carry him. He tests the herds, pressing many to the ground, until a warrior offers a colt of Rakhsh’s line. Sohrab mounts it, and his grandfather equips him royally for the march on Iran.

  • B8.6.4
    My mighty frame, my gorz, my gopal all,Demand a steed that will not bend or fall.
gopal named 1 time here · read the section in the full poem · notes
B8.9

Sohrab Fights with Gordafarid

Gordafarid, daughter of Gazhdaham, arms herself like a man and challenges the invaders. She holds Sohrab off with arrows and spear until he tears off her helmet and ropes her. She talks him into releasing her, slips into the fortress and mocks him from the walls.

  • B8.9.55
    My gopal’s blow will cast them to the ground;My spear will leave their ruined stones around.”
gopal named 1 time here · read the section in the full poem · notes
B10.21

Giv Puts Kulbad and Nastihan to Flight

Giv alone scatters Kulbad’s and Nastihan’s riders and returns to reassure Khosrow. Kulbad tells Piran that Giv shrugged off a thousand blows, and Piran scornfully accuses his captains of cowardice.

  • B10.21.5
    Beneath Giv’s gopal blows the chiefs gave way,Their hearts grew sick of battle and the fray.
  • B10.21.34
    More than a thousand gopal blows I laid,Yet he stood firm and fearless, never swayed.
  • B10.21.49
    While he struck many down in battle’s course;Yours now are taunts; not gopal, koust, or force.”
gopal named 3 times here · read the section in the full poem · notes
B12.4

Forood and Tokhvar Survey the Troops

Forood and his tutor Tokhvar climb a peak to watch the Iranian army pass, and Tokhvar names each chief by his banner. Seeing the two watchers, Tus orders a rider to bring them down, or to kill them if they are spies.

  • B12.4.7
    Name kanarang and standard-bearer bold,The men of gopal and of shoes of gold.”
gopal named 2 times here · read the section in the full poem · notes
B12.22

The Turanians Defeat the Iranians

The armies meet. Houman breaks the Iranian center and Fariborz flees. Giv shames Gudarz into standing firm; Bijan cuts the Kaviani banner in two to bring half of it back. Rivniz son of Kavus is killed, and Bahram saves his crown, but the Iranians are routed with terrible losses.

  • B12.22.5
    With gopal, sword, and spear and buckler drawn,The world seemed swallowed by a dragon’s yawn.
  • B12.22.43
    Then Giv said: “Veteran chief, now hear my cry;You faced gopal and gorz where arrows fly.
gopal named 2 times here · read the section in the full poem · notes
B13.10

The Turanians Use Sorcery

The sorcerer Bazoor calls down snow and bitter cold from a mountaintop, and the frozen Iranians are slaughtered. The chiefs pray, and a sage shows Rohham the sorcerer; Rohham cuts off his hand and the storm clears. Still the Iranians are routed.

  • B13.10.50
    With pikan, gopal, zhupin, arrows cast,The earth grew black as pitch beneath the blast.
  • B13.10.51
    The plain was filled with severed heads and arms;The crash of gopal thundered fierce alarms.
gopal named 2 times here · read the section in the full poem · notes
B13.14

The Iranians Make a Night-Attack, Tus, Giv, Rohham Are Surrounded but Are Saved

Short of food, Gudarz urges a night attack. Tus, Giv and Rohham strike Piran’s camp and split his standard, but Houman surrounds them. Bijan and Gostaham ride to the rescue, and at dawn the Iranians withdraw to the mountain.

  • B13.14.33
    They shouted back: “Their hands we bind, or allBeneath our gopal and our zhupin fall.
  • B13.14.49
    “Iran will perish!” Then rose the koust’s sound,With gopal blows from Iran’s waiting ground.
gopal named 3 times here · read the section in the full poem · notes
B14.16

Rostam Divides the Spoils

Rostam has his men give thanks to God, confessing that the sight of Kamus had made him fear his end. When he finds that the enemy slipped away overnight, he rebukes Tus for careless sentries. Then he gathers a mountain of spoil and sends Fariborz to the Shah.

  • B14.16.2
    Before the Conqueror, no gopal we wield;We need no arrows there, nor any shield.
  • B14.16.72
    Bargostvans, arrows, bows, and gopal layWith Indian blades, the spoils of that fierce day.
gopal named 2 times here · read the section in the full poem · notes
All 27 sections that name gopal
  1. B8.6 Sohrab Chooses His Charger
  2. B8.9 Sohrab Fights with Gordafarid
  3. B8.12 Kavus Summons Rostam from Zabulistan
  4. B8.15 Rostam Slays Zhendeh Razm
  5. B8.23 Rostam’s Lament for Sohrab
  6. B10.3 Rostam Comes before Kavus
  7. B10.6 Surkha Marches against Rostam
  8. B10.7 Afrasiab Marches to Avenge His Son
  9. B10.19 Kay Khosrow Wins Behzad
  10. B10.21 Giv Puts Kulbad and Nastihan to Flight
  11. B11.5 The Mustering of the Pahlevans
  12. B12.4 Forood and Tokhvar Survey the Troops
  13. B12.19 Piran’s Night Attack
  14. B12.22 The Turanians Defeat the Iranians
  15. B13.6 Afrasiab Sends an Army to Piran
  16. B13.8 Tus and Houman Meet in Combat
  17. B13.10 The Turanians Use Sorcery
  18. B13.13 Piran’s March to Mount Hamavan
  19. B13.14 The Iranians Make a Night-Attack, Tus, Giv, Rohham Are Surrounded but Are Saved
  20. B13.16 Fariborz Asks for Farangis’s Hand
  21. B13.17 Tus Sees Siavash in a Dream
  22. B14.11 Rostam Puts Shangul to Flight
  23. B14.12 Rostam Battles Sava
  24. B14.16 Rostam Divides the Spoils
  25. B14.27 Rostam’s Return to Court
  26. C3.7 Bijan Urges Giv to Fight
  27. C3.18 Khosrow Sends His Reply

On the maps

B10.3–B10.13Rostam's Harrowing of Turan

Where the name appears

Named mentions by book, from the Universe Registry, the index behind this site. Titles and epithets are not counted.
B8The Tragedy of Rostam & Sohrab5B10Vengeance for Siavash and the Retrieval of Kay Khosrow7B11Kay Khosrow’s Kingship1B12Forood and the Snowstorm Campaign5B13Mount Hamavan and the Kamus Campaign10B14The Great Battle with the Khan of Chin5C3The Battle of the Twelve Rukhs2

More in the Glossary and the index of objects.