Nowruznameh – epistle of Nowruz – the writing of which is attributed to Omar Khayyam, the celebrated Persian-speaking poet, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher, has been published in Afghanistan based on the text corrected by Mojtaba Minovi. Marking Nowruz 1393, this is a book in the literary series of Armanshahr books, with an introduction by Master Partaw Naderi.
Scholars differ in their opinions about its attribution to Omar Khayyam Nishaburi. Some maintain that it has been written by another person but attributed to Omar Khayyam. Some others believe it has been written by Khayyam. Yet there are others who opine that Nowruznameh has been compiled posthumously on the basis of Omar Khayyam’s sporadic notes. Nevertheless, Mojtaba Minovi wrote in his introduction to the first edition of this book in 1933: “How can we find any contemporary of Omar Khayyam to write such a treatise and be so generous to attribute it to Khayyam?”
A number of scholars have pointed out mistakes in historical facts and the text resulting from hasty writing. However, the significance of this book is by far greater than the flaws pointed out. Nowruznameh is the only classical Persian text on the historical Nowruz feast, even though the Persian poetry is inundated throughout its history with the topic of Nowruz and the related issues. This ancient feast has visited hearts and homes of the people in this geographical region, discarded the violence of winter and has planted the green foliage of love in its place.
Other than frequent occurrence of Nowruz in the history of Persian literature, in particular in the works of Khorassani masters, the renewal of nature has had such a profound impact on our literature and culture that it has found its way into the great mystical works. Many mystical poets have referred to it whenever they wished to allude to beauty and grandeur.
There is a wealth of information in Nowruznameh about names of horses and explanations about them, names of different types of swords, beliefs of our predecessors about beauty, styles of the kings, signs of treasures and the characteristics that our predecessors attributed to silver and gold, different types of wines and their harms as well as ways of avoiding those harms… All that information, in the beautiful prose style of the fifth century after Hegira, wrapped in the context of mesmerising stories and fables, has attached high literary value to this book.
Nowruznameh,
A treatise on the origins of history and rituals of the Nowruz feast
Omar Khayyam
Edited: Mojtaba Minovi
Introduction: Partaw Naderi
Cover design: based on a painting by Master Kamaleddin Behzad
Cover design and layout: Rooholamin Amini
Publisher: Armanshahr
First edition: Nowruz 1393 (March 2014)
Print-run: 1,000 copies
