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The Symbolism of Veiling and the Poetics of Unveiling in Early Modern Persian Poetry

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The Symbolism of Veiling and the Poetics of Unveiling in Early Modern Persian Poetry KHIL{A 1 (2005), pp. 107-121 The Symbolism of Veiling and the Poetics of Unveiling in Early Modern Persian Poetry Ìijab-i rah tu}i Îafi az miyan barkhiz khusha kasi ki dar in rah bi-Ìijab ravad O ÎafiÂ, you are the veil of the way, rise from the middle; happy is he who journeys without a veil on this road.1 A.A. SEYED-GOHRAB Leiden University INTRODUCTION (…) If you remove the veil from her two tulips (i.e. cheeks), The purpose of this paper2 is to analyse the sym- the sun will hide itself behind a veil.5 bolism of the veil (chadur, lit. ‘tent’) and the poet- ics of unveiling in Persian poetry.3 The paper is In another place, the poet compares the plumage of divided into two parts: in the first part, I will briefly a hoopoe to a veil with different colours: discuss the veil’s wide range of symbolic meanings In the surroundings of Sarakhs, I saw a hoopoe, in classical Persian poetry, and in the second part, singing so loud that its song reached the clouds; I will focus my attention on the poetics of the veil I saw how a colourful veil donned her, during the last decades of the Qajar dynasty (1785- a veil of many different colours.6 1925). During the latter period, Persia underwent many political, economic and social changes, which The Isma{ili propagandist NaÒir Khusrow (c. 1004- influenced the way poets looked at a woman and 1072) compares a ‘promise’ (qowl) to a face covered the veil. Poetry became a forum to discuss the pos- itive and negative aspects of veiling and unveiling. Some poets were in favour of veiling and consid- ered unveiling as an idea imported from the West 1 MuÌammad Shams ad-Din ÎafiÂ, Divan, ed. P. Natil and a breach in traditional Persian culture, while Khanlari, Tehran: Kharazmi, 1362/1983, vol. i, p. 448, ghazal 216, l. 9. other poets fervently believed that veiling withhold 2 This article is an elaboration of a speech delivered at the Persia from progress. conference on Dress and Costume of Nineteenth-Century To understand the meaning of the veil, veiling Iran, at Leiden University, on 20 June 2002. This research and unveiling in the context of modern poetry, and was sponsored by the Netherlands Organisation for indeed society in Persia, it is necessary to have some Scientific Research (NWO). idea about the symbolism of the veil in classical 3 The significance of the veil in Persian culture is attested by 4 a rich variety of synonyms and compounds such as chadur, Persian literature. From the emergence of New ruband(a), sarband, dastar, parda, picha, sitr, Ìijab, niqab, Persian literature in the ninth century, almost all burqa{, sari and rusari, signifying a sort of covering used by Persian poets have made use of metaphors based on women and infrequently by men. Another synonym such the veil. These metaphors have little (or nothing) to as vashmag may be mentioned here. This word is used in do with women’s veiling, but they refer to a cultural Middle Persian texts. 4 dimension of the veil and how it is used in the For a discussion on the symbolism of the veil see F. Milani, Veils and Words: the Emerging Voices of Iranian Women Persian language. The father of Persian literature, Writers, London: I.B. Tauris, 1992, chapter one, pp. 1-16. Abu{Abdullah Ja{far Rudaki of Samarqand (d. 940) B. Cheiby, in Encyclopaedia Iranica, under Cador, i. In Early alludes to the veil in his Divan several times. The Literary Sources. In previous studies, limited references have poet describes the beloved’s face in the following been made to the veil in pre-modern Persian culture and a systematic study of this subject in classical sources is a couplet, using hyperbole as a figure of speech: if desideratum. someone removes the veil from her brilliant face, 5 Rudaki, Divan, ed. M. Danishpazhuh, Tehran: Tus, the sun will hide itself, because it is embarrassed 1374/1995, p. 24, l. 92. since it cannot match the beloved’s radiant counte- 6 Rudaki, Divan, p. 27, ll. 145-46. Other references to the nance: veil can be found on p. 72, l. 13. 107 by a veil; the removal of the veil means the fulfil- Abu}l-Najm AÌmad Manuchihri of Damghan ment of one’s promise: (d. 1040) alludes to the veil in his vivid descriptions of nature: O wise man, a promise is like a countenance under a veil You would say that in the garden on the day of snow- you must remove this veil by means of your deeds.7 fall the row of elm-trees and the row of junipers One of the most favoured images depicting night Formed many sisters on a golden road makes use of the veil. Poets usually depict the black- having dark foot-gears9 and white veils. ness of the night and how it falls over the face of Under the veils, they all wore with gold embroidered the earth through the metaphor of the veil. A won- silken garments, covering them from the top of their derful specimen of this image occurs in NaÒir heads to the thighs.10 Khusrow’s Divan, in which he compares the night to an old black woman, who possesses beautiful Here, the snow that covers gardens is poetically daughters, the stars, peeking through their mother’s compared to a white veil. The poet describes a veil: beautiful sunny winter day, comparing the rays of the sun to gold. Metaphoric references to the veil You are like a black lady, displeasing and old, occur quite frequently in classical texts, describing while your little daughters are all enchanting and natural events such as sunrise, sunset, snowfall, etc. young. Poets often refer to veils of different colours. For O decayed old being, that you have given birth to instance, chadur-i abnus is an allusion to the black- them ness of night, and chadur-i ihram, not only refers to is a wonder like a reward after punishment. the white pilgrim’s garment worn by people visiting Unless you appear, the little daughters would not the Ka{ba in the city of Mecca, but it also some- reveal any part times points to the dawn and to snow.11 Poets often of their little faces from behind the veil. use this veil imagery to describe dawn, snowfall and You are a niqab upon the face of the earth but so forth. your niqab is not your daughters’ niqab.8 The romantic poet NiÂami of Ganja (c. 1141- In the last couplet, using the rhetorical figure ‘rep- 1209) usually uses metaphors of the veil to show etition’ (takrir), the poet emphasizes that despite the the imprisonment of his female protagonists.12 huge black veil, the night is unable to cover the Generally speaking, NiÂami condemns veiling in his faces of the stars. romances, and many of his female characters do not wear veils. Perhaps the most forceful example in his oeuvre is the following anecdote in Sharaf-nama. 7 NaÒir Khusrow, Divan, ed., M. Minuvi & {A,A, Dihkhuda, Here, NiÂami describes how the soldiers of Tehran: Dunya-yi Kitab, 1372 (third edition), p. 41. Again Alexander the Great, who have not seen women in in another poem, NaÒir Khusrow compares promise to a a long time, arrive at Kipchaq, an area in the veil: “Reason is hidden behind the speech / reason is the Caucasus. When they see many beautiful unveiled bride and the promise the veil.” women, they are excited. Seeing uproar in his army, 8 NaÒir Khusrow, Divan, p. 38. 9 Alexander asks the chief of this area to cover the Referring to tree-trunks. faces of his women. The chief disagrees and states: 10 Divan -i Manuchihri-yi Damghani, ed., M. Dabirsiyaqi, Tehran: second edition 1375/1996, p. 75. But it is not our custom to cover faces;13 11 Dictionaries of Persian poetry usually list these types of surely this quality is not the custom of Kipchaq. compounds. See {A.A. Dihkhuda, Lughat-nama, under If your custom is to cover the face, Chadur, Parda; see also R. {Afifi, Farhang-nama-yi shi{ri, In our custom, we cover the eyes. (…) Tehran: Surush, 1372/1993, vol. i, pp. 593, 366-73. Do not mangle the face of people by a burqa{; 12 For an analysis of NiÂami’s metaphors of the veil in Layli and Majnun see A.A. Seyed-Gohrab, A Narration of Love: you should put a veil on your own eyes. An Analysis of the Twelfth Century Persian Poet Nizami’s Layli He, who covers his eyes by a niqab, and Majnun, Ph.D. Dissertation, Leiden: 2001, pp. 289- can neither see the moon, nor the sun.14 90. 13 Literally: “We have not agreed on covering faces.” Alexander does not accept this answer and asks one 14 Sharaf-nama, ed. W. Dastgirdi, Tehran: {Ilmi, second edi- of his shrewd courtiers to prepare a magical device tion 1363/1984, p. 426, ll. 2-3, 7-8. to veil the women, and the courtier succeeds to do 108 so. In addition to this episode, NiÂami usually uses value of the veil is, of course, secondary to its sym- metaphors of the veil depicting the position of his bolism. It stands for her chastity and virginity. female protagonists such as Layli in his {Udhrite {A††ar tells an anecdote about Rabi{a and her veil in romance Layli and Majnun.15 To give only one his MuÒibat-nama (‘The Book of Lament’).
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