Qannuj (Kannauj)

For Ferdowsi, Qannuj is the great city of Hind, and the phrase "from Qannuj to Kabul" marks the eastern edge of the known world. It is here, in the reign of Bahram Gur, that Shangal, king of Hind, holds court on a golden throne with crystal steps, with elephants and Indian bells at his gate. Bahram comes alone with a few companions, carrying his own letter demanding tribute, and wins the king's wary admiration by wrestling, archery and the killing of a monstrous beast and a dragon. Shangal offers him a province where the trees bear fruit twice a year, and when that fails, his daughter Sepinud.

Qannuj is also where the story turns. Sepinud learns who her husband really is, and while her father and the whole court are away at a festival in a forest, the couple slip away to the river and cross by boat. Shangal catches them, learns that his son-in-law is the king of kings, and the two kings swear friendship on the riverbank. A rider "from Qannuj" brings the news of the flight, and Bahram returns "from Qannuj" to a welcome in Iran.

Kannauj is a real city on the Ganges in Uttar Pradesh, in northern India. In the seventh century it was the capital of the emperor Harsha, and for centuries afterwards it was a prize fought over by the dynasties of northern India. Mahmud of Ghazni, the sultan to whom Ferdowsi presented the Shahnameh, raided it around 1018. Today it is best known for its perfumes, distilled in the traditional way.