Shaghad is Rostam’s half-brother in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh. His alliance with the ruler of Kabul turns a dispute over tribute into a staged family quarrel, a fatal hunting expedition and a final exchange of violence between brothers.

Persian manuscript painting of Rostam drawing a bow above his fallen horse, with Shaghad’s head visible behind a tree at the left
Rostam Avenges His Own Impending Death, about 1330–1340, attributed to Iran, probably Isfahan. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1974.290.31. Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons.

The narrator and the family

Ferdowsi introduces this tale through Azad Sarv, a keeper of old stories associated with Ahmad Sahl at Merv and claiming descent from Sam. The poet presents himself as weaving that inherited account into verse. [1] Shaghad’s mother is an enslaved woman in Zal’s household, skilled in singing and playing an instrument. Astrologers predict that her son will bring catastrophe to Sam’s descendants. Zal nevertheless hopes for his welfare and later sends the growing boy to Kabul, where the ruler gives him his daughter in marriage. [2]

Tribute and a manufactured insult

The ruler of Kabul expects Shaghad’s marriage to bring exemption from the tribute owed to Rostam. When collection continues, Shaghad and his father-in-law plan revenge. They stage a banquet quarrel in which the ruler insults Shaghad’s ancestry. Shaghad reports his humiliation to Zal and Rostam, drawing the latter into defending family honour. He then persuades Rostam that a large force is unnecessary because Kabul’s ruler is already repentant. Rostam agrees to travel with Zavareh and a reduced escort. [2] Political dependence, marriage and manipulated hospitality give the conspiracy its practical shape.

Rakhsh recognises the trap

The hunting ground has been prepared with concealed pits containing blades and spear points. Kabul’s ruler performs an apology, which Rostam accepts, then proposes a hunt. Rakhsh smells the disturbed earth and resists going forward. Angered by the horse’s hesitation, Rostam strikes him with a whip. Horse and rider fall, and both are pierced by the weapons below. Rostam hauls himself from the pit, gravely wounded. [3] The moment reverses their usual partnership: the animal perceives the danger that the rider fails to heed.

The bow and the hollow plane tree

Recognising Shaghad’s role, Rostam condemns him. Shaghad answers by attacking his brother’s violence and Kabul’s subjection to tribute. Rostam then asks for his bow and two arrows, saying he needs protection from wild animals while dying. Shaghad strings the bow, but takes refuge behind an old, hollow plane tree when Rostam readies an arrow. The shot pierces both tree and brother. Rostam gives thanks for living long enough to take vengeance, then dies. Zavareh has also perished in another pit. [4]

Mourning and the cost of revenge

The news reaches Zal, whose lament asks why he has survived his sons. Faramarz retrieves the bodies of Rostam, Zavareh and Rakhsh; careful washing, shrouding and the journey to Zabulistan make mourning a substantial part of the narrative. [5] Revenge follows: Faramarz captures Kabul’s ruler, tortures and kills him, burns forty of his relatives, then burns Shaghad’s body with the tree. Sistan mourns for a year. [6] The aftermath extends the catastrophe beyond the brothers’ deaths into collective punishment and lasting grief.

An episode preserved in different kinds of book

The Met’s folio above, dated about 1330–1340, compresses the last shot into a small painting: Shaghad’s head appears behind the tree. [7] An earlier image discussed by the Fitzwilliam Museum was made in Tabriz in 1314. It combines the fall into the trap and the retaliatory arrow, yet belongs to Rashid al-Din’s Jamiʿ al-Tawarikh, a historical compilation drawing on the Shahnameh. [8] The episode’s visual transmission therefore reaches beyond copies of Ferdowsi’s poem itself.

Sources and further reading

  1. Ferdowsi, Shahnameh, Rostam and Shaghad, section 1: Azad Sarv and the narrator; Ganjoor.
  2. Ferdowsi, Rostam and Shaghad, section 2: birth, marriage, tribute and staged quarrel.
  3. Ferdowsi, Rostam and Shaghad, section 3: apology, hunt, Rakhsh and pits.
  4. Ferdowsi, Rostam and Shaghad, section 4: last conversation, bow, tree and deaths.
  5. Ferdowsi, Rostam and Shaghad, section 5: Zal’s lament and recovery of the bodies.
  6. Ferdowsi, Rostam and Shaghad, section 6: Faramarz’s vengeance and mourning.
  7. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rustam Avenges his Own Impending Death, about 1330–1340, 1974.290.31.
  8. Fitzwilliam Museum, The dying Rostam shoots Shaghad, no. 25; Jamiʿ al-Tawarikh, Tabriz, 1314, Edinburgh University Library MS Or. 20, fol. 15v.