Mythology and Mysticism: Jamshid and Jâm-i Jam in Mullah Jezer’s Dîvan

Abstract

As in known, there is a very fundamental relationship between mythology, mythical elements and literature and their use in many literary texts of world literature. In this way, in Kurdish literature, as in all world literature, especially the classical ones, mythical personalities, figures and elements have been used with many representations and meanings and have given a skill to the art of the text. Some of those personalities, figures and elements remain more like literary representations and some of them take on deeper meanings beyond their literary guise, becoming philosophical-gnostic- mystical representations. As a mythical king, Jamshid and Cup of Jamshid (Jâm-i Jam) as a tool for the future are against this representation and occupy a wide place in various literary works. Like many poets of Persian literature such as Senaî, Attar, Rumi and Hafiz, Kurdish poets such Ahmad Khani, Mulah Jezeri, Nali and many others have mentioned Jamshid and his Cup in different meanings and representations. The Divan of Mullah Jezeri, which is one of the masterpieces of Kurdish literature, is one of the richest works in terms of combining literary-mythical and mystical elements, and Jamshid and his famous Cup have also taken their place in this work. The main aim of this study is to try to analyse the poems of Mullah Jezeri and see how he used these two figure/element in a literary-fictional-mystical context. So, first of all, we will focus on both the history of Jamshid and his Cup, as well as their place in the Islamic mystic view and explain the layers of these represntations.