Place · The Shahnameh · Volumes II, III

Zabulزابل

zah-BOOLalso Zabulistan

The land in the southeast, also called Zabulistan, homeland of the ancient champion Rostam.

In the poem: First at C1.2, Rostam Is Summoned to Fight Akvan; last at E10.2, Sa’ad Invades, and Rostam Takes the Field
Named: 61 times, in 33 sections (including 52 where the name may belong to another figure of the same name)
Main stories: C8 The Tragedy of Rostam and Esfandiyar (23); C9 Rostam and Shaghad (11); C4 The Final Afrasiab Wars and the Disappearance of Kay Khosrow (7)

In the poem’s own words

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

C1.2

Rostam Is Summoned to Fight Akvan

At Kay Khosrow’s court a herdsman reports a golden Gur-e-Khar killing horses in the royal pasture. The Shah knows it for the Div Akvan, and when no champion volunteers he summons Rostam from Zabul by letter. Rostam comes and accepts the hunt.

C1.2.23
Do not let sleep detain you on the way,Nor pause in Zabulistan one whole day.
C1.2.29
He came at last where Zabul’s borders lie,And sought the chief, and bowed as he came by.

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

C4.49

Zal and Rostam Are Summoned

The nobles conclude the Shah is keeping company with Divs, as Kavus once did. Gudarz sends Giv to Sistan to fetch Zal and Rostam with the sages and star-readers of Zabul and Kabul. On the eighth day Khosrow opens the court and tells the assembly nothing.

C4.49.9
You must set out for Zabul without stay,To Kabul send a horseman on his way.
C4.49.17
Bring Zabul’s men of pure and prudent mind,The wise and worthy, all that you can find.
C4.49.26
From Zabul summon them, from Kabul too,To share the road with us the journey through.”

Zabul named 4 times here · read the section in the full poem · notes

C6.25

Arjasp Prepares the Second War

Goshtasb takes the Faith to Sistan, where Rostam and Zal welcome him and accept it, and stays two years feasting. Kings fall away from a Shah who chained his son. Bahman visits his father’s prison. Arjasp, informed by the spy Situh that Balkh is defenseless, musters again.

C6.25.8
They brought him into Zabul as their guest,And stood before him, each at his behest.
C6.25.13
He went to preach in Zabul and proclaimA curse on Azar’s idol in Faith’s name.”
C6.25.21
He crossed the desert and the Jihun’s flow;From Balkh to Zabul did the monarch go.

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

C8.18

Rostam and Esfandiyar Drink Together

Food is served, and Rostam’s appetite astonishes the camp; he demands his wine unwatered. Weighing his choices in silence, he finds shame in all of them, and warns Esfandiyar that Goshtasb has sent him to die. The prince fixes battle for dawn.

C8.18.32
When I leave Zabul, I shall make my wayTo Iran, where the Shah and heroes stay.
C8.18.39
They will say, ‘A youth came to Zabul; flightFailed Rostam, and his feet were fettered tight.’
C8.18.44
Again, if I should perish by his hand,All Zabul’s hue and scent will leave the land.

Zabul named 4 times here · read the section in the full poem · notes

C9.2

Rostam Comes to Kabul for His Brother

A singing girl in Zal’s household bears Shaghad, whose horoscope foretells the ruin of Sahm’s line. Reared in Kabul and married to its king’s daughter, he resents the tribute Rostam still claims, and with the king he plots a feigned quarrel and a field of hidden pits.

C9.2.30
He thought the lord of Zabul from that dayWould leave the tribute money where it lay.
C9.2.44
Dishonored, I shall go to Zabul’s land,Complaining of the wrong done by your hand.
C9.2.63
Shaghad, as though enraged by what was said,Departed toward Zabul with wrathful tread.

Zabul named 3 times here · read the section in the full poem · notes

C9.5

Zal Hears of Rostam’s Death

One rider carries the news to Zabul, where Zal mourns Rostam, Zavareh and Rakhsh. Faramarz finds Kabul deserted, has the bodies washed, perfumed and coffined, and brings them home, where Rostam is laid on golden thrones in a garden tomb.

C9.5.3
When he reached Zabul, pallid with despair,He cried, “The Elephant lies in the snare.
C9.5.5
Through Zabul rose a bitter cry of griefAgainst Kabul’s false king, the hostile chief.
C9.5.37
From Kabul up to Zabul, every roadBent down beneath the public sorrow’s load.

Zabul named 4 times here · read the section in the full poem · notes

C9.6

Faramarz Avenges Rostam

Faramarz arms his father’s treasury and marches on Kabul. He takes the king captive, flays a strip from his back and hangs him head down in the pit, burns forty of his kin and then Shaghad with the plane tree, and installs a new ruler.

C9.6.4
From Zabul toward Kabul his army poured,So vast the sun was hidden by the horde.
C9.6.5
The ruler heard that Zabul’s men drew near,Its chiefs and warriors armed with sword and spear.
C9.6.27
He led the troops toward Zabul; in their train,They bore that dust to Dastan from the plain.

Zabul named 4 times here · read the section in the full poem · notes

D1.2

Bahman Humiliates Zal

Bahman halts on the Hirmund and sends Zal a threat. Zal pleads Rostam’s long service and offers all his treasure. Bahman comes, hears him out, then has his feet bound, loads the wealth of Sistan onto camels, and gives Zabul over to plunder.

D1.2.5
I shall sate ancient vengeance for the dead;All Zabul’s streams with blood shall be stained red.”
D1.2.17
Now Rostam lies beneath the mournful ground,And grief has spread through Zabul all around.
D1.2.40
He gave all Zabul up to plunder then,And crowns and bags of coin to noble men.