Folio 346r: The Final Joust of the Rooks: Gudarz Versus Piran

Mehran DHN

The artist has captured the essentials of this tragic story with delicate sensitivity. The Iranian Gudarz has wounded the old Turanian warrior Piran, but in respect for his seasoned enemy, has offered him safe passage to the Turanian army. Piran, seen through a gap in the rocks, refuses this, preferring the inevitable warrior’s death to surrender. The grooms in the foreground frame the scene, in which the poses of the two adversaries—Gudarz in pursuit, Piran skulking up the mountain—give visual expression to the essential dilemma of the story.