Apr 27

The Historic Lesson That Reza Shah Pahlavi Gave by Closing down the First Farhangestan

On 27 April 1938, Reza Shah Pahlavi, with deep disappointment, closed down the Iranian First Farhangestan, which was established only 3 years back, due to negligence of its members, each of whom had other jobs. Two weeks later (on May first) he established a new Farhangestan with 24 members, presided by the then Minister of Culture. When closing down the first Farhangestan, Reza Shah said angrily: “They (members of that Academy) would come, have tea, biscuits and fruit. They would chat with each other and were paid for their attendance, without doing anything for our language and culture!. Ferdowsi restored our language at his own expense. They would be paid and would act like lords, but would not take a single step in the path that great man had opened a thousand years ago. They were not ashamed of that man,s soul. Language is the foundation. It is a shame to advocate nationalism by using foreign words (Arabic words).”     The new Farhangestan started its work on 14 April 1935 and its responsibility was mainly to replace Arabic and Turkish words in the Parsee language (Farsi), with Persian words and introduce new words and terms by using Persian roots and Persian suffix and prefix. The second Farhangestan succeeded, to a large extent, to perform this job. This Farhangestan (Academy) also asked local (district) scholars and writers to report to them about words and customs remained from ancient times.     Tajikistan government, after independence, is following this goal, which will be a great step towards reparation of the Persian language and restoration of the ancient Iranian traditions.          Translation by Rowshan Lohrasbpour