Dastan
Encyclopedia
The Dastan is an ornate form of oral history from Central Asia
, the most famous of which is Dede Korkut - which may have been created as early as the beginning of the 13th century.
A Dastan is generally centered on one individual who protects his tribe or his people from an outside invader or enemy, although only occasionally can this figure be traced back to an historical person. This main character sets an example of how one should act, and the Dastan becomes a teaching tool - for example the Sufi Master Ahmet Yesevi said “Let the scholars hear my wisdom, treating my words like a Dastan”. As well as this wisdom each Dastan is rich with cultural history of interest to scholars.
During the Russian invasion and occupation of Central Asia, many new Dastans were created to protest the Russian occupation. It is possible that they came into contact and influenced each other. According to Turkish
historian Hasan Bülent Paksoy, the Bolshevik
s tried to destroy these symbols of culture, e.g. by only publishing them in insufficiently large quantities and in a distorted form "in order to weaken the heroic impact".
Dastan is the title of Rostam,Rostam is the national hero of Persia(old Iran),Dastan in Persian means strong.
- In Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, Rustam is the champion of champions and is involved in numerous stories, constituting some of the most popular (and arguably some of most masterfully created) parts of the Shahnameh. As a young child, he slays the maddened white elephant of the king Manuchehr with just one blow of the mace owned by his grand father Sam, son of Nariman. He then tames his legendary stallion, Rakhsh. The etymology of the name Rustam is from Raodh+Takhma, where Raodh means growth, reaped, developed and Takhma means brave. In the Avesta, the form is *Raosta-takhma and in Pahlavi *Rodastahm[1].
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- Mehrdad Bahar regards the etymology of the name to be "Ruta-staxma", i.e. the river that descends, and argues that Rustam could have been an ancient god of the river Helmand. The fact that Rustam's mother is called Rudabeh (i.e. The river of water) and his father is Zal who has a white hair, Bahar continues the argument to say that Zal is a metaphor for mountains from which the river forms, whose head is always white with snow.
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- Persian rumour has it that the name 'Rustam' is actually based on a historical character named "Retzehem", who was believed to be an Achaemenid general. Retzehem supposedly helped the Persians conquering the city of Sardis by climbing up the walls, throwing a rope and pulling up his fellow soldiers
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
, the most famous of which is Dede Korkut - which may have been created as early as the beginning of the 13th century.
A Dastan is generally centered on one individual who protects his tribe or his people from an outside invader or enemy, although only occasionally can this figure be traced back to an historical person. This main character sets an example of how one should act, and the Dastan becomes a teaching tool - for example the Sufi Master Ahmet Yesevi said “Let the scholars hear my wisdom, treating my words like a Dastan”. As well as this wisdom each Dastan is rich with cultural history of interest to scholars.
During the Russian invasion and occupation of Central Asia, many new Dastans were created to protest the Russian occupation. It is possible that they came into contact and influenced each other. According to Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
historian Hasan Bülent Paksoy, the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
s tried to destroy these symbols of culture, e.g. by only publishing them in insufficiently large quantities and in a distorted form "in order to weaken the heroic impact".
Dastan is the title of Rostam,Rostam is the national hero of Persia(old Iran),Dastan in Persian means strong.
- In Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, Rustam is the champion of champions and is involved in numerous stories, constituting some of the most popular (and arguably some of most masterfully created) parts of the Shahnameh. As a young child, he slays the maddened white elephant of the king Manuchehr with just one blow of the mace owned by his grand father Sam, son of Nariman. He then tames his legendary stallion, Rakhsh. The etymology of the name Rustam is from Raodh+Takhma, where Raodh means growth, reaped, developed and Takhma means brave. In the Avesta, the form is *Raosta-takhma and in Pahlavi *Rodastahm[1].
-
- Mehrdad Bahar regards the etymology of the name to be "Ruta-staxma", i.e. the river that descends, and argues that Rustam could have been an ancient god of the river Helmand. The fact that Rustam's mother is called Rudabeh (i.e. The river of water) and his father is Zal who has a white hair, Bahar continues the argument to say that Zal is a metaphor for mountains from which the river forms, whose head is always white with snow.
-
- Persian rumour has it that the name 'Rustam' is actually based on a historical character named "Retzehem", who was believed to be an Achaemenid general. Retzehem supposedly helped the Persians conquering the city of Sardis by climbing up the walls, throwing a rope and pulling up his fellow soldiers