Chosroes and Shirin

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Chosroes and Shirin (Originally Persian خسرو و شيرين pron. khosrou -o- shirin) is a story of Persian origin which is found in the great epico-historical poems of Shahnameh that was based on a true story that was further romanticized by Persian poets. The story chosen by Nezami, was commissioned and dedicated to the Seljuk Sultan Toghril II , the Atabek Muhammad ibn Eldiguz Jahan Pahlavan and his brother Qizil Arsalan. It contains about 6,500 distichs in length.

It is believed to be one of the better works of Nezami and his first wife Afaq died after it was completed.

The story depicts the love of Sassanian Khusraw Parviz towards his Armenian[6] or Caucasian Albanian[7] princess, Shirin. Khusraw o Shirin recounts the story of King Khusraw’s courtship of Princess Shirin, and vanquishing of his love-rival, Farhad by sending him on an exile to Behistun mountain with the impossible task of carving stairs out of the cliff rocks.

Shirin eventually consents to marry Khusraw after several romantic and heroic episodes, including his rescue of her from a lion by killing the animal with his bare hands.

The tale has been retold by countless Sufi poets and writers in South Asia, usually under the name of "Shirin Farhad". It is a standard tale used in Punjabi Kisse. The story has been put to film five times in India and Pakistan: 1926, 1931, 1945, 1956, 1975.