Several weeks passed, and the king started missing his favourite minister. However since he himself had punished him, he felt helpless. It so happened that a new servant waiting on the king put hot boiling water on the king while washing his hands, which angered the king. When the servant came to serve Buzorg-meher in his house, he was looking very distressed, and so Buzorg-meher asked him the cause of his anxiety. He narrated all that had transpired. Buzorg-meher then taught him the correct way to serve the king.

When the servant again served, the king was highly impressed and inquired as to who had taught him. The waiter confessed that Buzorg-meher had guided him. The king felt sorry for what he had done to Buzorg-meher, and asked the servant to go to Buzorg-meher and ask him how he was. Buzorg-meher cryptically replied that presently his position was much better than that of the ruler of the country. This angered the king and he ordered Buzorg-meher to be imprisoned in a dark cell.

After some days, the king again asked the servant to inquire with Buzorg-meher about his well-being. This time, Buzorg-meher replied that he was happier than the king. The king was furious and asked Buzorg-meher to be locked up in a small cage surrounded by nails and spears, so that he could not move or sleep.

This caused great suffering to Buzorg-meher. However, when the king again sent the servant to ask Buzorg-meher about his condition, he replied that his days were better than those of the king. When the king heard this he became pale. He selected a wise courtier and sent an executioner with him to convey to Buzorg-meher that if he again replied in a displeasing manner, the executioner will behead him.

Then theinstructed the wise courtier to ask Buzorg-meher why he said that his condition was better than that of the king. Buzorg-meher replied, that he had said so because it would be easier for him to embrace death as he had nothing to lose, whereas the king, if faced with death, had everything to lose, and hence he considered himself more fortunate, as death can come to anyone at anytime. When the reply was conveyed to the king, he realized the wisdom in Buzorg-meher’s words and released him from the house arrest. Buzorg-meher had become very pale and lean, on account of the sufferings.

Challenge in a locked box
Once the Kaisar sent his ambassador with a letter, gifts and a locked box to the Iranian king, challenging his wise men to guess the content of the locked box. If they were successful, he would continue sending taxes and gifts. But if they were unsuccessful, than he would stop giving taxes and an assurance from the Iranian king that he will not attack Rome. The king asked for one week and then consulted his priests and courtiers about the challenge. None was able to guess the contents of the box, and so in the end the king had to seek Buzorg-meher’s help.

He sent for Buzorg-meher,informed him about the locked box and asked him to help guess its contents. He even sent a horse and new clothes. Buzorg-meher decided to help his king, but on account of being under house arrest for a long time he had almost lost his eye-sight.

While going to the palace, he requested a wise man to sit next to him and describe anybody who passed their way. They first came across a beautiful woman. Buzorg-meher told the young men to ask her whether she was married. She answered in the affirmative and added that she was also pregnant. Then they went further and encountered another woman, to whom the same question was asked. She answered that she was married but childless. As they proceeded, they came across a third lady, to whom the same question was asked. She answered that she was unmarried and did not intend to marry.

Buzorg-meher then went to the king. On being asked about the locked box, he said, “O great king! Gather all your courtiers and the Roman ambassador, and I will reveal the secret of the locked box.” After the people gathered, he continued, “With the spiritual power that God has bestowed on me, I have been able to know the contents of the locked box without touching it. The box contains three pearls. One with a hole in it, the second half pierced and the third without a hole.”

The Roman ambassador opened the box, and removed another box from it. In this box, wrapped in a silk cloth were three pearls, exactly as described by Buzorg-meher.

The king was very happy with the outcome. However he was also very sad at the way he had treated this great man. Getting courage from the king’s behavior, one of the servants who had seen the black bird snatch away the king’s arm-band at the hunting scene narrated the incident to the king, establishing Buzorg-meher’s innocence. The king became all the more repentant for wrongly judging and punishing such a holy and faithful person.

The game of Chess

Once when Nosherwan was in his court, he was told that an ambassador from king Rai of Kanouj in India had come with a thousand camel loads of gifts, and was waiting to see him. The envoy was immediately ushered in. He offered salutations to the king and showed him the gifts, which included gold, silver, jewels, musk, amber and swords.

Among the gifts was a chess board with a message from king Rai asking the Iranian king to unravel the game, the purpose of each piece – pawns, knights, bishops, rooks, queen and king, their places and their movements.

If he was able to unravel the game, then he would have to play it with the Indian emissary. If the Iranians won, they would be considered cleverer than the Indians and he would continue paying the taxes. But if the Iranians were not able to understand the game, then not only would he stop paying the taxes, but the Iranians would have to pay them taxes as they would have proved superior in intelligence.

Then the emissary set up the chess board and kept the pieces on it. On one side were white pieces made of ivory and on the other side were brown pieces made of wood.  He further said that this board resembled a battlefield and the pieces signify different types of soldiers in the battle. The king told the emissary that he needed a week’s time and on the eighth day they would meet to play the game. The king then called all his ministers and courtiers, and kept the chess board and pieces before them. They tried several methods but were unable to unravel the game, which greatly disappointed the king. Then Buzorg-meher went to the king and asked him not to worry. He took the responsibility to unravel the game. He spent a day and night with the game, succeeded in unraveling its mystery, and then went to the king with the good news.

Buzorg-meher set up the chess board with the pieces and then summoned the Indian emissary. They started playing the game by moving the pieces. The emissary was amazed at the skills of Buzorg-meher, which almost seemed magical. He accepted the greatness of the Iranian king. Nosherwan was immensely happy and he handsomely rewarded Buzorg-meher.

The game of Backgammon

Buzorg-meher then asked for some time and created another board game called Nard (backgammon). He made a board resembling battle-field with mountains and plains, and created unique pieces for the game, which had to be played with two dices. He then explained the game to his king who was immensely happy.

The Iranian king asked Buzorg-meher to go to the king of Kanouj with the game of Nard and ask him to find a learned Brahman (Hindu priest) to unravel the game, just as he had unraveled this game through a wise Mobed (Zoroastrian priest). He further sent two thousand camel loads of gifts to the Indian king under the condition that if somebody from his kingdom was able to unravel the game, he could keep the gifts. But if nobody was able to solve it, then it had to be returned with equal gifts from India.

Buzorg-meher reached India, and explained to the Indian king the events that had transpired. The king became anxious. After entertaining the Iranian envoys, he sent the game to the wise people asking them to unravel it. For eight days they tried without success. On the ninth day Buzorg-meher approached the Indian king who admitted his inability to have the game solved. Buzorg-meher showed them the way to play the game. The king and his courtiers were very impressed. Buzorg-meher returned with 2000 camel loads of gifts and advance taxes.

The origin of the game of Chess

The Shahnameh now goes on to explain how the game of chess came into being. It states that once there was a successful and much loved Indian king named Jamahur, whose capital was at Sandal city. Jamahur passed away when his son Gav was still very young. Jamahur had an idol worshipping brother named Māy in Dambar.

The seniors of the court went to Dambar requesting Māy to come to Sandal and be the king, to which he relented. He married the queen who was the mother of Gav. When Gav was five years old, his mother gave birth to a second son who was named Talhand. However, after some time Māy too passed away.

The wise men of the kingdom made the queen the interim ruler till her sons grew up. When the sons grew up, they fought with each other to become the king. Their mother and wise men of the court counseled them to amicably settle the issue, but the brothers, especially Talhand, was bent on a war. Gradually Gav saw the futility of war and tried to explain to Talhand that they could equally divide the kingdom and both could rule over their respective parts peacefully. However, Talhand did not agree and declared a war. Even after the declaration of the war, Gav sent a messenger to Talhand requesting him to see reason and not seek a war. However Talhand declined, which greatly disappointed Gav.

Both the brothers came into the battlefield and instructed their soldiers not to harm their brother if he was captured.  In the battle that ensued, Talhand’s army was decimated, but Gav, instead of capturing his brother asked him to flee. Talhand fled to safety but even then, instead of thanking his brother, told him that he waited for an opportunity to destroy him. Hearing this, Gav lost sympathy for Talhand. His advisors too told him to finish him off once and for all.  Gav once again challenged Talhand to a war, this time near a sea, barricaded by a gorge towards the land side. It would be a fight till finish. Both the armies met near the sea. Both the brothers were on elephants.

The war was fought with heavy casualties on both the sides. Talhand was killed on his elephant. Gav was heart-broken at his brother’s death and grieved a lot. When the news reached their mother she too was steeped in grief. She wanted to immolate herself, but Gav stopped her from doing that. She was very angry at Gav for killing his brother, but Gav explained and assured her that neither he nor any of his soldiers were responsible for his death, as he had died on his elephant without a wound on his body.

Gav asked his advisors to think about the best way to convince his mother. The advisors hit upon the idea of creating a board with one hundred checks on which was depicted the sea, the water, the gorge and the two armies. Pieces were made, half from ivory and the other half from wood to depict soldiers, the king, his minister, horses, camels and elephants. Their various moves were also fixed.

Through this game, it was demonstrated to the mother that Talhand had died not because anybody attacked him, but because he was surrounded on all sides and had nowhere to go. She was much relieved and her grief was quite subdued. She kept on looking at the game of chess as a means of consolation till her death. Thus the game of chess was created by a son to convince his grieving mother that he was not at fault in killing her other son.

(To be continued …… Part 6)