Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1 Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Velayat University, Iranshahr, Iran
2 Department of Persian Language and Literature, Allameh Tabatabaei University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Nezami’s Haft-Peykar is one of the works in which poetic narration functions not merely as a means of storytelling, but as a symbolic language for conveying sacred wisdom and metaphysical knowledge. Adopting an analytical–interpretive approach and an intertextual reading, the present study examines the role of the symbols of “night” and “cave” within the narrative and spiritual structure of the poem, demonstrating that these two elements play a fundamental role in shaping its symbolic and soteriological logic. Night and darkness do not signify the absence of light; rather, they represent existential degrees and liminal thresholds in the journey of human consciousness, the passage through which is a prerequisite for successive rebirths and existential elevation. The distinction between “lower darkness” and “higher darkness” constitutes a key to understanding the logic of night and is reflected in the sevenfold structure of the domes. The cave, in turn, functions as a spiritual center and locus of esoteric initiation, symbolizing symbolic death, the annihilation of individuality, and the spiritual rebirth of Bahram. The principal contribution of this study lies in offering a unified philosophical–Illuminative reading of night and cave, viewing them as structural components that organize the soteriological logic of Haft-Peykar.
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