This presentation was recorded for the International Conference on Shahnama, Khujand State University, Tajikistan, 15 May 2024. A pre-published transcript has been made available on Classical Continuum:

“Since 2001, I have been working on an ongoing project of translating and commenting on the so-called Preface of the Bāysonghori Recension of the Shahnama of Ferdowsi, which had been commissioned in the year 1426 CE and published—that is, made public—in the year 1430 CE under the aegis of a Timurid prince named Bāysonghor. While working on this project for well over two decades by now, I am nearing the point where I am ready to prepare an online version of my translation and commentary, based on a series of essays I have already published over the last two decades, both in print and online, about my ongoing research delving into both the Preface and the actual text of this Bāysonghori Recension of the Shahnama of Ferdowsi. As I contemplate such an online publication of translations and comments, I have found that all my existing essays about the Bāysonghori Recension center on one single unifying fact about the poetry of Ferdowsi as reflected in the Preface and the actual text of this Recension. That fact is what I describe in my presentation here as the “ecumenism” of Ferdowsi, which is connected to a second fact. And that fact is this: Ferdowsi’s verses are contextualized in the Preface as tolerant of West as well as East Persian epic traditions, also of Shiʿite as well as Sunni world views. But this second fact needs to be appreciated in the light of a third fact. And the third fact, which is a matter of history, is simply this: it is evident, historically, that the primary patron of Ferdowsi was decidedly partial to East Persian epic traditions and, even more evidently, he was decidedly intolerant of Shiʿite and other non-Sunni religious adherents. That patron was Maḥmud ibn Sebüktegīn of Ghazni, sultan and ruler of the Ghaznavid Empire from 998 to 1030 CE. In my presentation here, I offer an explanation in terms of the historical context of the commissioning of the Bāysonghori Recension, and I take into account recent theories about literary reception in the premodern world.”

This presentation was recorded for the International Conference on Shahnama, Khujand State University, Tajikistan, 15 May 2024. A pre-published transcript has been made available on Classical Continuum:

“Since 2001, I have been working on an ongoing project of translating and commenting on the so-called Preface of the Bāysonghori Recension of the Shahnama of Ferdowsi, which had been commissioned in the year 1426 CE and published—that is, made public—in the year 1430 CE under the aegis of a Timurid prince named Bāysonghor. While working on this project for well over two decades by now, I am nearing the point where I am ready to prepare an online version of my translation and commentary, based on a series of essays I have already published over the last two decades, both in print and online, about my ongoing research delving into both the Preface and the actual text of this Bāysonghori Recension of the Shahnama of Ferdowsi. As I contemplate such an online publication of translations and comments, I have found that all my existing essays about the Bāysonghori Recension center on one single unifying fact about the poetry of Ferdowsi as reflected in the Preface and the actual text of this Recension. That fact is what I describe in my presentation here as the “ecumenism” of Ferdowsi, which is connected to a second fact. And that fact is this: Ferdowsi’s verses are contextualized in the Preface as tolerant of West as well as East Persian epic traditions, also of Shiʿite as well as Sunni world views. But this second fact needs to be appreciated in the light of a third fact. And the third fact, which is a matter of history, is simply this: it is evident, historically, that the primary patron of Ferdowsi was decidedly partial to East Persian epic traditions and, even more evidently, he was decidedly intolerant of Shiʿite and other non-Sunni religious adherents. That patron was Maḥmud ibn Sebüktegīn of Ghazni, sultan and ruler of the Ghaznavid Empire from 998 to 1030 CE. In my presentation here, I offer an explanation in terms of the historical context of the commissioning of the Bāysonghori Recension, and I take into account recent theories about literary reception in the premodern world.”