TEHRAN -- Iran’s Alhoda International Publications and the National Commission on the State Language of Kyrgyzstan have agreed to translate and publish Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh and Manas, the traditional epic poem of the Kyrgyz people.
The decision was made during the meeting the Director of Alhoda Hamidreza Shahabadi and officials from the commission recently had in Kyrgyzstan, the Persian service of MNA reported on Monday.
Based on the agreement, a selection from Manas will be translated into Persian and a selection from Shahnameh will be translated into the Kyrgyz language, Shahabadi said.
The process of translations will take about a year, and both books are to be published by Alhoda Publications, he added.
“Manas and Shahnameh both refer to mystic epics, which is the major point behind the motivation to translate the books,” he added.
Completed in 1010, the Shahnameh is a poem of nearly 60,000 verses. Ferdowsi versified and updated the story of Iran to the downfall of the Sassanid Empire (mid-7th century).
Composed and sung entirely in oral form by various singers throughout the centuries, Manas is regarded as the epitome of oral creativity.
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