Browne and Shibli’s Outlook on the Shahnameh

Edward Granville Browne and Shibli Noumani were the two Persian scholars who adorned the most reputed seats of Persian studies at Cambridge University and Anglo-Oriental College which later emerged as Aligarh Muslim University in early 20th century. Both of them have significantly contributed to Persian studies and their fame chiefly rests on writing history of Persian literature in several volumes. The work of Browne is apparently more important than Shibli for he has written the history of Persian literature from the beginning of Pre-Islamic to the Post First World War Iran. He was inspired to write the history of intellectual legacy of the Persians who developed and shaped Persian Civilization through the ages which stood on a par with other civilizations of the world. His celebrated work undoubtedly covers every aspect of Persian literature. It depicts the lives of Persian poets, writers, philosophers, historians, statesmen and a host of others; Persian poetry of diverse kinds and Persian prose of various types; in short, A Literary History of Persian is a veritable companion that helps us to understand and appreciate the intellectual heritage of Iran and it is, indeed, a labor of love of Browne - The Persian .Shibli Noumani’s Sherul Ajam is the history of Persian poetry from the time of Rudaki to Nizami, Attar to Ibn-i-Yamin, Baba Fughani to Kalim Kashani in India; nature of Persian poetry and types of Persian poetry which is again a labour of love of the Allama who has a natural flair to appreciate Persian poetry. The two works of Browne and Shibli converge only on Persian poetry but Browne has a prominent edge on Shibli to cover the entire gamut of Persian literature in terms of huge time and space and genre. Shibli’s canvas shows only the hues of Persian poetry and thus his Sherul Ajam is an arcade of Persian poetry but Browne’s A Literary History of Persian is a world of Persian literature.Ferdowsi and his Shahnameh bring Iran on the map of world literature. The Shahnameh finds a place next to the Epics of Homer and the Mahabharata in the study of literature.1 By common consensus of Eastern and Western scholars, it is the National Epic of Iran. One may say about the Shahnameh that what is in the Shahnameh is in the world and what is not in the Shahnameh is not in the world as it has been said by Ram Munshi about the Mahabharata What is not in it, is nowhere