Although the poem purportedly is about the relationship between
Khosrau and Shirin as foretold in the initiating dream, the tragic love of
Farhad for Shirin forms its central romance. Uninterrupted by worldly
exigencies such as governance and alliance, Farhad devotes himself to
love. In contrast, even when Meryem dies and Khosraufinds himself free
to remarry, he dallies with other women, earning Shirin’s wrath before
they eventually unite, rule, and die together. In contrast, art sublimates
Farhad’s all-consuming, ill-fated, unconsummated love. The channels
that he carves through the mountains become the conduit for his passion,
whichflows as sustaining milk to the palace of Shirin. Yet Farhad is an
idolater–notbecauseoftheimagesthathecreates,butbecauseofhis
excessive devotion to the beloved. His willingness to sacrifice everything
for that love, to destroy his Kaaba, makes him both a sinner and the
mythical paradigm of lovers, the ideal not only of romance, but of sacral
devotion.7.4b The Three Princes and the Fortress of Form
Nizami’s advocacy of the image as an apotropaic transformer of idolatry
into lovefinds a counterpart in the culminating narrative of Jalal al-Din
Rumi’sMathnawi. The story emerges from a folktale (improbably combin-
ing elements of Sleeping Beauty and the Trojan horse) related by Rumi’s
beloved mentor, Shams of Tabriz (1185–1248).
They came to a fortress; the story is well known. They saw the picture of the
daughter of the Shah of China on the wall and fell in love with her. They went to the
Shah to ask for her hand. He told his servants to show them the moat full of severed
heads, heads of those who’d asked for his daughter’s hand without producing the
required token. The eldest claimed he would produce the token, but failed and was
killed. The second prince died the same way. The third prince came forward,
accepted the conditions, and resolved to succeed.
The princess’s nurse felt sorry for him and proposed he construct a golden cow;
he could hide inside it and thus enter the princess’s quarters. He did this, spent
nights of love with the princess (“combing her hair”), and obtained her veil, the
required token.^68
Rumi undermines the romantic quest by distancing thefigure of the
princess. By abstracting the image as‘form’to which mortals willingly
sacrifice themselves, he develops a parable about the human relationship
with materiality and representation.(^68) Holbrook, 1994 : 43.
210 The Transcendent Image