In the Garden of Shared Epics

Ferdowsi is undoubtedly the king of Persian poets. Through his monumental Shahnameh—begun in 977 CE and completed over nearly three decades—he secured his place among the greatest preservers of language, literature, and cultural memory in world history.

- Dr Alka Pande

That legacy came alive for me on the warm and humid evening of June 2 as I wandered through the outdoor exhibition Shared Epic Worlds: The Shahnameh, the Mahabharata, and the Indo-Persian Imagination at Sunder Nursery in New Delhi. Presented by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, the Noor International Microfilm Centre in Iran, and the Iran Culture House, the exhibition transformed the gardens into a journey through one of the world’s greatest epics.

A series of Shahnameh folios, digitised and enlarged to more than twice their original size, lined the pathways of the historic garden. It felt like the ideal setting in which to encounter them. The visual experience followed an immersive session of the Shahnameh and culminated in a lecture by Syed Akhtar Hussain at the Humayun Auditorium.

Comprising more than 50,000 couplets, the Shahnameh is among the longest epic poems ever written. Ferdowsi composed it during the reign of Mahmud of Ghazni, preserving thousands of years of Persian mythology, folklore, and history in a single narrative.