Our Story

The word “Zanbeel” derives from the Arabic language, and literally translates to “satchel” or “basket”. 

Utterance of “Zanbeel” is found within Persian literature, specifically Dastan-e-Amir Hamza (The Epic of Amir Hamza), composed during the Turkic Ghaznavid Dynasty. Originating as a long-established oral tradition in Persian, the Dastan (storytelling tradition) of Amir Hamza persists far and wide, spreading into a number of South Asian languages.

The Dastan-e-Amir Hamza or Hamzanama narrates the fantastic adventures of Amir Hamza. Hamza’s companion Amar Ayar carried a bag called a “Zanbeel”, which contained everything in the world and could carry anything, without ever reaching complete fullness.

The extravagant stories of this Dastan are brimming with “a continuous series of romantic interludes, threatening events, narrow escapes, and violent acts”, serving as a constellation of converging and diverging cultures, histories, lives and universes. As their journeys unfold, Hamza and Ayar find places of magical wonderment, and Ayar’s enchanted “Zanbeel” serves as an endless vessel of stories steeped with imagination, creativity, and expression.

Art is storytelling, and storytelling is art: as a scripture of the times, a multitude of fantasies and realities are juxtaposed until finally an expression of powerful art or writing emerges.