Conceptual Metaphors in the Dialogues of Rumi’s Masnavi, with Emphasis on the Fundamental Concepts of the Ney-Nama

Abstract

The Masnavi-ye Ma‘navi, as one of the most prominent mystical works of Persian language and literature, represents and develops a coherent system of fundamental concepts through narratives, stories, and dialogues. Within this framework, the Ney-Nama, as the conceptual prelude to the Masnavi, introduces a set of concepts and themes and provides a conceptual framework for understanding the work’s system of meaning. The present study aims to examine conceptual metaphors in the dialogues of the Masnavi by identifying and analyzing the concepts articulated in the verses of the Ney-Nama and tracing their reflections in the narratives of the Masnavi. Drawing on library-based sources, the study employs a descriptive-analytical method grounded in a text-centered reading of the verses and dialogues, while Conceptual Metaphor Theory is applied to the analysis of metaphors. The findings indicate that the concepts introduced in the Ney-Nama are not merely independent themes confined to the opening of the Masnavi; rather, they constitute a coherent network that extends throughout all six books and assumes diverse and, at times, more complex forms within the context of narrative dialogues. This study identifies the fundamental concepts of the Ney-Nama, including separation from the origin, separation and longing, suffering, awakening, mystical knowledge, love, voluntary death, annihilation (fana), truth, unveiling and mystical intuition, and unity, and examines and analyzes their manifestations in the dialogues of the Masnavi. Examination of these concepts reveals that they are interconnected through a conceptual and sequential relationship. The results further demonstrate that the metaphorical network extending from the Ney-Nama to the end of the sixth book possesses considerable semantic coherence and may be regarded as a conceptual schema for understanding the human epistemic and mystical journey in the Masnavi.