Content Analysis of "Qazor wa Khar" Anecdote in Mathnavi

Abstract

The application of certain rules in style, language, and tone of various narratives gives coherence to an anecdote’s context of the text. The anecdote "Qazor wa Khar", taken from Kalile wa Dimna, is recreated in a different way in Mathnavi and Movlana uses it in a distinct narrative. The main objectives of the study are comparing these two different narratives of the anecdote according to the context of the text, examining the development and expansion of the anecdote’s concepts during its transition from a literary form to a mystical text, analyzing its content, explaining its themes and the way it is in form of a special narrative in Mathnavi. In this research, using content analysis and criticism criteria and theory, the researcher explicates the reasons why Movlana retold Kalile wa Dimna’s story. According to the findings of the research, Movlana, by resorting to some techniques of eloquence, introduces the thoughts and actions of the leading characters of the story as representatives of two groups in order to fulfill the aims of his story in explicating the sincere repentance, and to examine its relationships with related terms such as acquisition, trust, imitation and research in a new narrative. Movlana in this new interpretation exploits the capabilities of the language of mysticism and other small stories to explain the fundamentals of the subject and its broad implications. He emphasizes the understanding of esoteric mysteries through symbols and in referring to the adventures of the characters and analyzing their discourse, he expands the content to present the implied meanings embedded in the new story.

Keywords

• mathnavi
• kalile wa dimna
• lion and fox and donkey
• narrative
• discourse analysis