Varka and Golshah

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Gulshah (right) disguised as a man, watches as her lover Varqa (centre) and his rival Rabi (left) fight on horseback. Varka and Golshah, mid-13th century miniature, Seljuk Anatolia
Combat of Warqah with the army of Bahrain and of ‘Adan. Varka and Golshah, mid-13th century miniature, Seljuk Anatolia

Varka and Golshah, also Varqeh and Gulshah, Varqa o Golšāh (ورقه و گلشاه, Varqa wa Golshāh), is an 11th-century Persian

Ghaznavid ruler Mahmud of Ghazni (r.998–1030).[1]

Varka and Golshah inspired the French medieval romantic story Floris and Blancheflour.[2]

Story

The epic is the story of the love between a youth named Varqa and a maiden, Golshah.

Prophet Moḥammad visited the tombs, and resurrected Varqa and Golsha, at last reunited.[1]

Unique 13th century edition with miniatures

Rabi, armoured with lamellar Jawshan cuirass and mail hauberk beneath his tunic, armed with long single-edged sword and large round shield. Supported by infantrymen with kite-shaped shields

The epic is based on an old Arab story,

Seljuks. It is the earliest known illustrated manuscript in the Persian language, and was most probably created in Konya.[3]

The miniatures represent typical Central Asian people, thickset with large round heads.

Topkapi Museum (Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi, Hazine 841 H.841).[9] It can be dated to circa 1250.[10]

Weaponry

The paintings from the manuscript provide rare depictions of the contemporary military of the Seljuk period, and may have influenced other known depictions of Turkic Seljuk soldiers.

Mongol era, and are useful in studying weapons of the period.[5][12] Particularly, metal face masks and chainmail helmets in Turkic fashion, and armor with small metal plates connected through straps, large round shields (the largest of them called "kite-shields") and long teardrop shields, armoured horses are depicted.[5] The weapons and armour types depicted in the miniatures were common in the Middle East and the Caucasus in the Seljuk era.[5]

  • Rabī‘ cuts the head of his adversary. Battle scene, in Varka and Golshah, mid-13th century Seljuk Anatolia.
    Rabī‘ cuts the head of his adversary. Battle scene, in Varka and Golshah, mid-13th century Seljuk Anatolia.
  • Rabi wounds Varqa in the thigh. Varka and Golshah, mid-13th century Seljuk Anatolia
    Rabi wounds Varqa in the thigh. Varka and Golshah, mid-13th century Seljuk Anatolia
  • Gulshah (right) disguised as a man, confronts the kidnapper Rabi. Behind, Varqa is wounded and bound. Varka and Golshah, mid-13th century Seljuk Anatolia
    Gulshah (right) disguised as a man, confronts the kidnapper Rabi. Behind, Varqa is wounded and bound. Varka and Golshah, mid-13th century Seljuk Anatolia
  • Gulshah kills Rabi ibn Adnan with her lance. Behind her is her defeated lover Varqa, wounded and bound
    Gulshah kills Rabi ibn Adnan with her lance. Behind her is her defeated lover Varqa, wounded and bound
  • Exit of the armed Warqah from the walls of Yemen, flanked by two riders (37, 35b)
    Exit of the armed Warqah from the walls of Yemen, flanked by two riders (37, 35b)
  • The army of Warqah scatters that of Bahrain and of ‘Adan
    The army of Warqah scatters that of Bahrain and of ‘Adan
  • Warqa overthrows a warrior of Aden
    Warqa overthrows a warrior of Aden
  • Resurrection of Warqah and Gulshāh by the Prophet. Behind him his four friends and future caliphs, and the king of Shām (Syria).[13]
    Resurrection of Warqah and Gulshāh by the Prophet. Behind him his four friends and future caliphs, and the king of Shām (Syria).[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Dj. Khaleghi-Motlagh. "ʿAYYŪQĪ". In Encyclopædia Iranica. December 15, 1987. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
  2. ^ Khaleghi-Motlagh, Dj. "ʿAYYŪQĪ". iranicaonline.org. Encyclopaedia Iranica.
  3. ^ Hillenbrand 2021, p. 208 "The earliest illustrated Persian manuscript, signed by an artist from Khuy in north-west Iran, was produced between 1225 and 1250, almost certainly in Konya. (Cf. A. S. Melikian-Chirvani, ‘Le roman de Varqe et Golsâh’, Arts Asiatiques XXII (Paris, 1970))"
  4. JSTOR 42553970
    . A unique Seljùq manuscript in the Topkapi Sarayi Museum Library (Hazine 841) (fig. 7). This manuscript, the romance Varqa va Gulshah, probably dates from the early thirteenth century . The figures in the miniatures with the typical features of Central Asian people are squat and thickset with large round heads. They are to be seen again in a more sophisticated form in the so-called Turkman style miniatures produced in Shiraz c. 1460-1502 under the patronage of another dynasty of Turkman invaders.
  5. ^ a b c d e Sabuhi, Ahmadov Ahmad oglu (July–August 2015). "The miniatures of the manuscript "Varka and Gulshah" as a source for the study of weapons of XII–XIII centuries in Azerbaijan". Austrian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (7–8): 14–16.
  6. ^ Full name of the artist: 'Abd al-Mu'min b. Muhammad al-Naqqash al-Khuyi. The signature of the artist appears in fol.58v of the manuscript. His name also appears in relation to the foundation of the Karatay Madrasa by the Seljuk amir Jalãl al-Din Karatay in 1253-54 CE at Konya. His name (nisbah) al-Kliuyi indicates that he was from Khuy, Azerbaijan. (Grube 1966 p .73; Melikian-Chirvani 1970 pp.79-80; Rogers 1986 p.50).
  7. ISBN 978-1-4744-6447-5
    .
  8. ISBN 978-90-04-17589-1
    .
  9. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8478-0081-0
    .
  10. ISBN 978-0-19-530991-1
    .
  11. ISBN 978-0-8478-0081-0
    . The two scenes in the top and bottom registers (...) may be strongly influenced by contemporary Seljuk Persian (...) like those in the recently discovered Varqeh and Gulshah (p.92) (...) In the painting the facial cast of these Turks is obviously reflected, and so are the special fashions and accoutrements they favored. (p.162, commentary on image from p.91)
  12. ISBN 978-0859674706
    .
  13. ISBN 978-90-04-17589-1
    .

Sources
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