Book of Ahuramazda's Heroes and martyrs.

Freedom, liberation, independence of our noble nation, we died, 

Restore it’s honour, dignity, esteem, faith, fame, glory, we tried. 

Our enemies, perversely, honoured, on the land, our blood dried, 

Our existence disbelieved, disproved, disputed, declined, denied. 

Our deeds’re unknown, unmentioned, unacknowledged, unsaid, 

Our story unvoiced, untold, unheard, unwritten, unsung, unread. 

Sacrifice we made, ungrieved, unwept, unmourned, unlamented, 

Legacy, that’s uncelebrated, unfamed, unacclaimed, uncounted. 

We’re, disowned, disinherited, dispossessed, outcast, faceless, 

Unrecalled, unrevealed, unrenowned, unrecognized, nameless. 

in, world, deceitful, perfidious, treacherous, heartless, soulless, 

We were pure, untarnished, untainted, unblemished, blameless.  

Unsoiled, undebased, righteous, virtuous, scrupulous, guileless, 

Martyrs to a cause, belief, faith, gospel, that was lost, hopeless.

Arsam, fearless son of Darius, martyr of Thermopylae

Shinning armour, charge Greeks, Arsam wouldn’t refrain, 

Face revealed no fear, trepidation, only contempt, disdain.

 
Though Spartans surrounded him it seemed futile, in vain, 

His flashing sword, they could barely see, far less contain. 

His feet, in heaps lay Spartans, he had slaughtered, slain, 

Fearfully, timidly, stood back, showered arrows, like rain. 

He pulled arrow from his eye, oblivious, unmindful to pain, 

Then, sword was thrust through the other eye in his brain. 

Angel of death itself watched with awe, reverence, refrain, 

Few fearless, heroic, Arsam, Darius’ son were born again. 

Persian princes don’t mask faces, with visor open remain, 

Identity to all, even death reveal, tearful Xerxes’d explain. 

Unrenowned, unhailed, unacclaimed, unfamed, unknown, 

Persian heroes unsung, unhonoured, unglorified, remain.   

Aryobarzan (glory of Aryans), his valiant sister, Youtab( unique) 

With the name of the God of the world and wisdom 

Statue commemorates fearlessness, bravery, gallantry, courage, 

Aryobarzan of Kohkillaye Bohramadi in Darius the third’s age. 

Gave his blood, block fall, Iran’s capital, Takht-e-Jmashid, hands, 

Of Alexander of Macedon, his memory lives forever, these lands. 

Iran, because of you is glorious, luminous, glittering, resplendent, 

Aryobarzan’s name before all honoured, great, glorious, eminent. 

Like God of war, weapons, swords, mace, manoeuvred, wielded, 

Alexander’s men scattered, bounded, your skill, courage, yielded. 

Alexander astounded by your deeds, could not grapple, contend, 

You fulfilled all aims you would desire, want, contemplate, intend. 

The race of Lors, you brought honour, distinction, prestige, fame, 

World itself is brilliant, dazzling, aglow, due to your ideals, name. 

This lionheart, fearless, intrepid warrior, called father of the Lors, 

Proud of noble, gifted, skillful, proficient, adept, adroit man, Lors. 

From him, alive perpetually, eternally, unceasingly, name of Iran, 

Scattered, retreated, took flight, fled, soldiers of enemies of Iran. 

For thirty days, Aryobarzan, his sister, Youtab, held Meyran pass, 

Till Alexander, behind Iranian lines by traitor’s help would pass. 

Some Persians with bare hands, in a final charge, their lives lost, 

Takht-e-Jamshid, its fair name, glory, palaces, treasury were lost.

 Turn the flank Mazdai! ( Battle of Gaugamela. (October 331 B.C) 

Incumbent on us, names of Kurush, Daryush, preserve, 

Imposed indignity of disgraceful rout, we didn’t deserve.

Indian elephants, no-one guard, after King’s capitulation, 

Intrepid immortals decimated not by wounds, humiliation. 

Face inconsolable kin of our dead, in contrition we dread, 

Mazdai! Redeem esteem, honour, this army of living dead. 

Let not multitude martyrs of today, in vain have perished, 

Write your name in history book, gold letters embellished. 

Glory of a nation is inviolable, not of a contemptible man, 

Turn the flank Mazdai! Lead in place, of coward who ran.  

 The story of Pirouz-e-Nahavandi. 

After unspeakable, disaster of Qadiseyeh, Pirouz, was dismayed, 

Unscrupulous, greedy, Mughira’s slave, woefully, Basra, stayed. 

Army officer, reduced to stonemason’s, ignoble, unmanly, trade, 

Unrelenting, quest for retribution, vengeance, outwardly, staid. 

Paying avaricious, greedy, Mughira 2 dirhams a day, dissented, 

Possessed varied, diverse, skills, as Khalifa’s servant, appointed. 

Pirouz ordered to construct a stone mill, for grinding of grain, 

Paid,“I will make you a stone, that till eternity, shall remain.” 

Heads, lined, tiny, enslaved Iranian children, Pirouz stroked, wept, 

Under stone mill, camouflaged tunnel dug, Roman blade in it kept. 

Pirouz, resolutely, in his dress, concealed the double edged blade, 

Stabbed his abdomen, unsuspecting, unwary, Khalifa, he, waylaid. 

Assaulting six others, he fled the scene, now pursued, a renegade, 

As riders milled around, quietly lay till sunset, a sand dunes’ shade. 

Slowly, cautiously, exhausting way, home, to Chehl hisar, he made, 

Seven years, unobtrusively, undetected, hidden, with family, stayed. 

Found by Obaidullah, with his wife, daughter, Morwarid’s lives paid, 

In this tomb, Kashan, to rest, Pirouz is believed, to have been laid. 

Century of heartbreak, grief, anguish, followed by rapture, 

In Khorasan, land of heroes, born, a man of such stature, 

Whose life, times, marked, pleasant, gratifying departure, 

He could appoint the Khalifa, his uncle, Abdullah, capture. 

In devastating famine, tax, Khalifa, unfairly, demanded, 

None was to be paid, Vehzadan audaciously, commanded.

Khorasan, in upheaval, rebellion, civil wars, embroiled, 

For brutal Tazian regime, resentment, revulsion, boiled. 

Vehzadan’s army in black, determined, free, land, soiled, 

Tazian disunity, dissension, defiance to Vehzadan, foiled. 

Merv,  Khorasan, from Tazian, Vehzadan wrested, pried. 

Battle of Zab, Nahavand, broke, Khalifa Marwan’s pride. 

Abu Abbas Saffah, the Khalifa, at Baghdad, he, crowned, 

Saffah’s brother Mansour, Vehzadan’s prowess, frowned. 

Century’s chains of humiliation, ignominy, slavery, broken, 

Farsi language without fear, apprehension, freely, spoken. 

Fires lit in Ateshkadeh, were derelict, deserted, broken, 

Ahura’s prayers, fearlessly, unreservedly, again spoken. 

Scheming Mansour, conspiracy, Vehzadan’s death brew, 

His palace, craftily invited, Vehzadan, companions few, 

Craftily said,“Is it Abdullah’s sword?,” Mansour knew.
Took, placed under prayer mat, sword, Vehzadan drew. 

Unarmed Vehzadan, unjust, ignoble accusations, threw,
Reminded, of his debt of honour, Mansour’s rage grew. 

Vehzadan undoubtedly enthroned Abbasids, both, knew.
Deceitfully, disdainfully called, guards, Vehzadan slew. 

Callously, dishonourably, mutilated body, Tigris threw.  

 Babak-e-Khorramdin and the army in red

150 years, end of sovereignty, self-determination, rule, Iran’d mourn, 

Before Babak-e-Khorramdin, warrior, patriot, Azerbaijan, was born.

 
Khorramdins, with unwavering, unvacillating Zoroastrian faith of joy, 

Fatherless Babak, the breadwinner, since he was a 12 year old boy, 

Fate brought Javidan, rich freedom fighter, Babak’s humble dwelling, 

Offered employment, affected, by Babak’s stoic, responsible bearing, 

Part with her son, 50 dirhams, monthly, Mahru reluctantly, willing, 

Babak was famed for cunning, craftiness, ingenuity, courage, daring. 

Ten years, Babak, resolutely fought Tazian til end of Javidan’s life. 

Took rebel command with intrepid, Banu Khorramdin, now his wife. 

Self-esteem, self-respect, self-rule had been lost,150 years, a while, 

With, new imposed, enforced, name, faith, many, couldn’t reconcile. 

Disgruntled, disillusioned flocked from Rey, Khorasan, far away, 

One by one, Tazian Generals of Baghdad, were sent Babak’s way. 

Keep Babak’s, rejuvenated, reinvigorated, reformed soldiers, bay, 

Bring land, again, under Khalifa’s domination, command, sway.

 
Defeat, destruction, death, disgrace, their fate, uniformly same. 

Till treacherous, Afshin, comrade, now traitor, the scene, came. 

Familiar with Babak’s tactics, modus operandi, places of hiding, 

Formulated meticulous, precise, detailed plan, time, was biding. 

Commenced war of attrition, with Khalifa’s enormous resources, 

Whittled down, destroyed, decimated, massacred, Babak’s forces.  

Babak’s plea, Roman Emperor Theophilus, reached, too late, 

His home, Babak castle, Kaleybar, forced to abandon, vacate. 

Relentlessly pursued, to Armenia, reluctantly, Babak’d head, 

Vile Sahl Sonbat betrayed him, for bounty, to Afshin, instead. 

Placed in irons, triumphantly, to Samarra, before Khalifa, led, 

Refused to beg for mercy, “I’m a patriot, not a criminal,” said. 

Indescribable barbarity, hands, feet, cut away, profusely bled, 

Furiously, Khalifa signalled, executioner to strike off his head. 

Babak smeared his face with blood, felt, death, certain, near, 

In agony said, “My face is bloodless, pale, but not from fear.” 

His body brutally, viciously, hung, head displayed, a warning, 

Those, for freedom, liberation, harboured a desire, yearning, 

The army in red had painful, regrettable, distressing, ending, 

Babak’s fate, even more sorrowful, agonizing, heart rending. 

150 years of oppression, domination, Tazian, hadn’t foreseen, 

Implausible, inconcievable, Iranians’d remember, they’d been. 

Army of slaves, confronting, masters, conquerors, unforeseen, 

Babak’s legacy, restoration, a revival of Farsi language, seen. 

A brief two decades, people were freed of servitude, bondage, 

Without fear, restraint, indignity, shame talk Farsi language. 

Babak’s 21 year rebellion cost the Khalifa, half a million men, 

1200 years, the intrepid Babak-e-Khorramdin, isn’t forgotten.  

June-July, Babak castle, Kaleybar, people in thousands, seen, 

To honour, memory of army in red, martyr, Babak Khorramdin.  

Inspiring awe, admiration, reverence, wonder, is the life story, 

Man, who almost reversed, reverted, revoked, path of history. 

Two centuries, calamity, catastrophe of Qadiseyeh, had gone, 

Radman-pur-i-Mahak, humble, modest, home at Qarnin born. 

People’s life, miserable, wretched, squalid, cheerless, forlorn, 

Lost dignity, prestige, worth, stature, merit men would mourn. 

Painfully aware, woeful, distressful, enslavement of the nation, 

Humiliation of Farsi language, the ancient faith’s subjugation. 

Radman entered, family’s mundane, coppersmith’s profession, 

Self-rule, self-reliance, self-governance, aim, his confession. 

Debased companions, men in arms, robbery, stealing intent, 

Radman, by nothing less than liberty, independence, content. 

Campaign started, from Khorasan, Tahiriyan, he would expel, 

Took in his grasp, Afghanistan, Sistan, where he would dwell. 

When agricultural areas, Fars, Ahwaz, Khuzestan, to him fell, 

In the uneasy, anxious, Khalifa’s court, rang the alarm bell(s). 

A couplet of his triumphs, victories, was in Arabic composed, 

“I neither understand nor require Arabic”, he quietly deposed. 

All communication shall be, in our own Persian, he proposed, 

Not in Arabic, that for centuries, has been enforced, imposed. 

Couplet of homage, praise, was in Persian, duly re-composed, 

His legacy, faith in Persian language, culture, again reposed.

Fearful, incredulous, Khalifa offered him, Iranian provinces, to rule, 

Proudly said,“I’m indebted to my sword, it decides, where, I’ll rule.” 

Radman, plate, nan bread, onion, sword, Khalifa, meaningfully sent, 

I’m a simple man, this is the modest food, I eat,” curt message, sent.

“Absurd, farcical, lands, you offer us, are our own, not yours to give, 

Independence, liberty, see another Ardeshir rule, Ctesiphon, I live. 

We’ll write, speak, Farsi, with honour, dignity, Persians of past, live. 

To that objective, this army, of 10,000, its life, blood, sworn to give.” 

An ironmonger, Kaveh, Derafsh-e-Kaviani, across Arvandrud, had led. 

Coppersmith Radman, two centuries, ignominy, slavery, bravely, shed. 

Humble coppersmith, free Iran, implausible, incredible, unimaginable, 

Persian army, threaten Baghdad, absurd, unbelievable, inconceivable. 

Derafsh-e-Kaviani, near Baghdad, Khalifa filled, trepidation, dread, 

The flooded marshes, sadly, unrealized, unfulfilled, dream was dead. 

Fifty miles,Baghdad, army,weakened by intrigue, divisions, faltered, 

Hopes of Derafsh-i-Kaviani, Taj-i-Kiani  were irreversibly shattered. 

Back,Gondishapur, position, irreparable, irredeemable, irretrievable, 

Died in 3 years, life as vassal, unendurable, insufferable, intolerable. 

Radman reached fifty agonizing miles ruins of Khosrow’s Ctesiphon, 

Radman died, heart-broken, anguished, despairing not forty, too soon. 

It spelt an end to Ahura Mazda’s, two thousand year old civilization. 

In a different, irreversible, unalterable direction, moved the nation.