Shahnameh, Against the Women – Iranians were not against women

Kourosh Moradian: “The poems said against women in Shahnameh have been added by others to Shahnameh”.
Hossein Vahidi, scholar of ancient Iranian culture, spoke in the 4th meeting on “application of Shahnameh in the present world” held by the Great Iran Club. He continued: “We know that in Iranian culture woman is of a very high value and many of the heroes and personalities of Iran have been women who have stood with and supported men.
In this meeting, held on 12 Azar (3 December) in the Media Culture Center, Hossein Vahidi referred to the battle of Rostam and Sohrab and Sohrab confronting Gordafarid, and said that heroism of women in Iran is not new, and added: “Sohrab who had come to Iran from Tooran, was surprised at seeing a woman come to fight with him, but Iranians would never be surprised at seeing such scenes.”
He recited a part of the hymns of Zarathushtra, where he tells his youngest daughter, Porouchista, that she is free in choosing her life partner and she should think with her power of wisdom and then select her husband. He said that this part of the hymns in Gathas was a sign of the value that women had in Iran.
This scholar of Shahnameh referred to parts of the book ‘Bondahesh’ and ‘Sad dar Bondahesh’, and said: “Wherever there is mention of man there is also mention of woman and there is no difference between man and woman. We come across many poems and hymns in praise of the position of women in Iranian scripts, one example is the description that Shahnameh has about Tahmineh.”
Hossein Vahidi mentioned about certain words used in the new versions of Shahnameh which have caused misunderstanding about the original Shahnameh, like the terms ‘art’ and ‘worship’ which are used these day in another form.
In reply to the query of one of the participants, Hossein Vahidi said: “Ahura Mazda is the creator. He cannot be man nor woman and selecting one of the sexes for the creator is neither wise nor clever.
The last meeting on ‘Application of Shahnameh in the present world’ will be held on 19 Azar (10 December) in Media Culture Center.