Abu Nasr Ali ibn Ahmad Asadi Tusi (; â 1073) was a Persian poet, linguist, and author. He was born at the beginning of the 11th century in Tus, Khorasan, and died in the late 1080s in Tabriz. Asadi Tusi is considered an important Persian-language poet of the Iranian national epics. His best-known work is the Garshasp-nama, written in the style of the Shahnameh.
Little is known about Asadi's life. Most of the Khorasan province was under violent attack by Turkish groups; many intellectuals fled, and those who remained generally lived in seclusion. Asadi spent his first twenty years in á¹¬à «s. From about 1018 to 1038 AD, he was a poet at the court of the Daylamite Abà « Naá¹£r JastÃÂn. Here, in 1055âÂÂ56, Asadi copied Abà « Maná¹£à «r Mowaffaq Heravë's KetÃÂb al-abnëa al-adwëa. He later went to Nakhjavan and completed his seminal work, the GarshÃÂsp-nama (dedicated to Abu Dolaf, ruler of Nakhjavan), in 1065âÂÂ1066. Asadi then served at the court of the Shaddadid king Manuchehr, who ruled Ani. The poet's tomb is in the city of Tabriz.
Asadi's most significant work is GarshÃÂsp-nama (The Book [or Epic] of GarshÃÂsp). His other important contribution is a lexicon of the modern Persian language (). Five of Asadi's MonÃÂáºÂarÃÂt () (Debates in the form of poetry between two people or objects or concepts) also still exist.
The Garshasp-nama () epic, with 9,000 couplets, is Asadi Tusi's major work. The hero of the poem is Garshasp (father of Nariman and great-grandfather of à  am), identified in the Shahnameh with the ancient Iranian hero KÃÂrÃÂsÃÂspa- (Avestan language). In Avestan, he was the son of ÃÂrita- of the Yama clan. The poet adapted the story from a book, The Adventures of GarshÃÂsp, saying that it complements the stories of the Shahnameh; Although the poem was part of folklore, it was based on written sources.
The poem begins with Jamshid, the father of GarshÃÂsp, who was overthrown by Zahhak and flees to Ghurang, king of Zabulistan (near modern Quetta). In Zabulistan, Jamshid falls in love with the king's daughter and she gives birth to GarshÃÂsp. Jamshid is forced to flee. When GarshÃÂsp's mother poisons herself, he spends much of his life with his grandfather and grows up to be a warrior like Jamshid. After Ghurang's death, Zahhak was to become king, although the secret remained until the birth of Nariman.
Zahhak, as king, visits ZÃÂbulistÃÂn and challenges the young GarshÃÂsp to slay a dragon. Equipped with an antidote to dragon poison and armed with special weapons, GarshÃÂsp kills the monster. Impressed with the child's prowess, ZahhÃÂk sends GarshÃÂsp to India, where the king (a vassal of ZahhÃÂk's) has been replaced by the rebel prince Bahu (who does not acknowledge ZahhÃÂk's rule). GarshÃÂsp defeats the rebel and remains in India to observe its marvels and engage in philosophical discourse. He then goes to Sarandib (Sri Lanka), where he sees the footprint of the Buddha (in Muslim sources, identified with the footprint of Adam in Islam). Asadi then recounts many legends about Adam, the father of mankind. Garshasp then meets a Brahman, whom he questions in detail about philosophy and religion. The words Asadi Tusi attributes to the Brahman relate to Asadi's support for Platonism in Islamic philosophy. Garshasp later visits the Indian islands and sees supernatural wonders, which are described in great detail.
The hero returns home and pays homage to Zahhak. He woos a princess of Rum, restores her father Etret to his throne in Zabulistan after his defeat by the King of Kabul, and builds the city of SistÃÂn. He has anachronistic adventures in the Mediterranean, fighting in Kairouan and Córdoba. In the West, he meets a "Greek Brahman" and engages in philosophical discourse with the wise man.
When he returns to Iran his father dies, and GarshÃÂsp becomes king of ZÃÂbolestÃÂn. Although he has no son of his own, he adopts NarÃÂmÃÂn (Rostam's great-grandfather) as his heir. At this time, Fereydun defeats Zahhak and becomes king of Iran, and GarshÃÂsp swears allegiance to him. GarshÃÂsp and his nephew then go to Turan and defeat the Faghfà «r of Chin (an Iranian title for the ruler of Central Asia and China, probably of Sogdian origin), bringing him as a captive to Fereydun. GarshÃÂsp fights a final battle with the king of Tangier, slaying another dragon before he returns to SistÃÂn in ZÃÂbolestÃÂn and dies.
The dictionary was written to familiarize the people of Arran and Iranian Azerbaijan with unfamiliar phrases in Eastern Persian (Darë) poetry. It is the oldest existing Persian dictionary based on examples from poetry, and contains fragments of lost literary works such as Kalëla wa-Dimna by Rudaki and VÃÂmiq u âÂÂAdhrÃÂ, a translation of Metiochus and Parthenope by Unsuri. A variety of manuscripts exist in Iran and elsewhere; the oldest (1322) may be at the Malek National Museum and Library, although the one written in Safina-yi Tabriz is also from the same period.
Five debates survive in the Persian poetic form of qasida. Although this form of qasida is otherwise unprecedented in Arabic or New Persian, it is part of the Middle Persian (Pahlavi) tradition. The Pahlavic poetic debate Draxt i Asurik indicates the history of this form of debate. The surviving debates are Arab o 'Ajam (The Arab vs. the Persian), Mogh o Mosalman (The Zoroastrian vs. the Muslim), Shab o Ruz (Night vs. Day), Neyza o Kaman (Spear vs. Bow) and Asman o Zamin (Sky vs. Earth). The Persian wins the Persian-versus-Arab debate, while the Muslim defeats the Zoroastrian.