Totemism in the stories of Shahname

Document Type : Research Paper

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Abstract

Before the emergence of religion, Totemism was one of the beliefs of primitive human beings. Most scholars believe totemism to be a necessary stage of man’s evolution, though the phenomenon cannot be found in all the primitive societies. Since, there has been, no or very little investigation on the present subject, the paper is intended to probe into the totemism in the stories of Ferdowsi’s Shahname. To this end, stories from the mythical and historical parts of the Shahname have been selected to study the case more meticulously.

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