FIRDU’'SI

or FIRDAU’SI, Abul Kasim Mansur, the greatest epic poet of the Persians, was born at Khor as san about A.D. 931, and died there about 1020. At the request of the Sultan Mahmud, of Ghuznee, Firdusi undertook to write an epic on the history of the Persian kings, the Sultan promising him a piece of gold for each verse. Firdusi devoted a large number of years to this work, and produced an historical poem of 60,000 verses, entitled Shdhndma (Book of the Kings). containing the history of the Persian rulers from the beginning of the world to the downfall of the Sa an i an dynasty (A.D. 632), and consisting properly of a succe ion of historical epics. he Sultan, prejudiced against Firdusi by the poet’s enemies, gave him only a piece of silver for each verse. In return Firdusi retaliated with one of the bitterest and severest satires ever penned. The resentment of Mahmud compelled the poet to wander from court to court seeking a protection which the sovereigns were afraid to give. The Shahndma is one of the finest. Asiatic poems. No work in the Persian language can be compared with it. It abounds in rich imagery, contains many pa ages of splendid poetry, and is of great interest to historians and ethnologists. A French translation of the Shdhndma, by Mohl, with the Persian text, was published by the French Government between 1831 and 1868. There are English translations by J. At kins on, A. G. Warner, and A. Rogers.—Cf. li. G. Browne, 4 Literary llistory of Persia. FIRE AND FIRE-WORSHIP. According to that ancient Indian religious work, the Mahd-bhdrata, the sacred fire, called Adyuta, ‘is the ruler and inner soul of all creatures.’ In other words, it is ‘the vital spark.’ A Babylonian hymn in which fire is hailed as the “‘ great lord”? and “noble son of heaven,” declares: ‘Of all things that can be named, thou dost form the fabric.” The sun and moon were in Ancient Egypt referred to as ‘the fire’ of the two eyes of the god Ptah. In India, where Agni, the fire-god, had solar attributes, we find the belief that the world will be destroyed by fire from the sun. Brinton has shown that in America many tribes connected firc and the sun. In_ several South American dialects “‘the word for sun is derived from that for fire, and the sun is often referred to mercly as ‘the great fire’.’”’ The sun was the giver of life (of the ‘vital spark’); it was, as a Zunian myth puts it, “the seed-stuff of the world.”” The Mexican ‘lord of fire’ was also ‘the ancient god.’ Horus, the Egyptian god, was in one of his phases a god of fire and worker 445 FIRE AND FIRE-WORSHIP 442 in metals. He was a cripple like the Greek Hephiestos, the Latin Vulcan, and the Scand in avian Loki. The a ociation of fire with the sun and metals is brought out in ancient Indian texts referring to Agni, who has “golden teeth, a golden beard, a golden form, tawny hair, red horses, and a golden car.” The Hgyptian Ptah, the Memphis god of artisans, has a beard tipped with gold. There was likewise a ‘golden Horus.’ Inan Indian text a gold diadem has “the complexion of fire,”’ and in another it is stated that “gold was born the offspring of Agni.” The ‘Golden Has or’ of Egypt was a sky-godde with solar and lunar attributes hke the ‘Golden Demeter’ of Greece. Farnell, discu ing the practice of women carrying torches over the land, in connection with Demeter worship, says they are “figures of a world-wide agricultural ritual, intended to invoke the fructifying warmth of the earth.” Blood was shed on such occasions. Fire-gods were in many lands, as in India, connected with the gods of lightning and thunder who sent rain. Fire was supposed to come from water, and in India the five rivers of the Punjab “are,” says the Mahdbidraia, “said to be the mothers of the fires.”” The sun, in Egyptian and other mythologies, rises at the beginning from the primeval deep. Babylonian temples had a ‘house of light’ and a ‘house of washing,’ and the fire-god was Girru, Gibil, or Nusku. Jastrow has emphasized that the Babylonian incantation ritual revolved round two ideas, ‘water and fire.’ In Gaelic lore the butterfly is a form of the fire-god. It is called ‘teine-de’ (fire of god) and ‘deal an-de’ (‘de’ is ‘god’). The latter term is applied also to the brightne of the nocturnal heaven, to lightning, to coal, and to a burning stick which is whirled round as it is being carried from a ‘new fire’ lit at the Beltane or some other festival. In Ancient Britain household fires were extinguished once a year, and ‘new fires’ were kindled ceremoniously with ‘fire sticks.’ The “new fire’ was ‘fire from heaven’ and was regarded as being identical with lightning and the sun. The tree was supposed, like the butterfly (a form sometimes a umed by sonlts), to contain fire, and was connected with the sky deities. In Gaclic the word for a sacred grove is derived from the same root (nem) as the word for the sky. The ceremony of creating ‘new fire’ was world-wide. Old world and new world fire ceremonies were of similar character. Holy fire was kept burning in sacred places by many peoples. In Mexico as in Rome it was watched by vestal FIRE-ARMS ACT virgins. There are aiso widespread myths of heroes or gods who, like Pro me the us, brought fire from heaven. Purification fire ceremonies were widespread. The Persians regarded fire as being particularly sacred. The custom of cremating the dead was connected with the belief that souls were transported by means of fire to Paradise. In India the god Agni conducts souls to Paradise. An Iliad reference to cremation is of importance in this connection. Achilles sees in a dream the ghost of his dead friend Patzroclus, who declares that he will never return from Hades after he has received his ‘due’ or ‘meed’ of fire.