“Farhod and Shirin”: Farhod and the meeting with Shirin

“Farhod and Shirin” is the second dastan of the “Khamsa”, with a romantic-adventure theme, 5782 couplets long, written in the aruz metre hazaj musaddasi mahzuf. Navoiy calls it a “dastan of longing” because it sings of love that purifies, leads to goodness and in the end reaches the Creator. In earlier khamsas the central hero was King Khusrav; Navoiy thought him far from perfection, placing crown and throne above love, and made Farhod the hero. The dastan opens with the childlessness of the khagan of Chin: after much charity he sees the son God gave, and even forgives the people three years’ tax. The baby’s name “Farhod” is built from letters of five words tied to love – firoq, rashk, hajr, oh, dard. Farhod learns to read in three months and memorises the Qur’an in a year; at ten he has the strength of a twenty-year-old; pure in heart and speech, yet at fourteen he is sad and full of pain.