Professional Documents
Culture Documents
^-
C. T.
Series
ONIONS
Persian
Literature
an
introduction
by
REUBEN LEVY,
M.A.
LONDON
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Humphrey
Milford
HUMPHREY MILFORD
PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY
(pHOfo
710-lf)i
CONTENTS
FROM CYRUS THE GREAT TO THE
ISLAMIC CONQUEST
THE PERIOD OF THE 'ABBASID CALIPHATE
THE MONGOL DOMINATION
MODERN PERSIA
Page
....
.
Alphabetical
list
of authors
16
53
86
04
111
The system
follows
\
'
^=p
=
V
book
is
ib
=t
=Z
uJ
=f
i:^
Cj
=S
d=
=
=
=
=kh
=d
j = z
=r
=
z
J
=
zh
J
w s
^
';
w
h
=: Sh
'
as
From Cyrus
the
Great
to
the Islamic
Conquest
The
people
who
inhabit Iran belong to the great Indotheir name Iranians bears etymo-
'
'
'
Aryan
'.
The name
is
'
names.
They seem
migrations to have
Though
6
in
it
latinized form
'
whole of fran, as
its
'
campaigning, either
The
greatest and
engraved upon the
monuments.
is
calls
He
acknowledges that
his
The
inscription scarcely conforms to the accepted definition of literature as being either poetry or artistic prose, for
its style is rough and abrupt, repetitions are many, and
nearly every paragraph begins with the fixed formula, Says
Darius the King ', which produces the formal impression of
*
a legal document.^
some
of the
indication
people
my
will so [I did]
The
B.C.), at
Nakshi
help thereby gained did not enable him to solve the whole of the cipher.
The honour of the final decipherment rests witli Sir Henry Rawlinson, who
himself visited and at great personal risk copied the inscriptions on the
almost inaccessible rock of Bahistun.
L. W. King and R. C. Thompson of
the British Museum ascended the rock and recopied the inscriptions in 1904.
Rustam and
literature,
Persepolis,
though
it
mark
may
',
manly
are
well
established.
The
religious
'
'
',
Salvation
to
this
man, salvation
to
us.
He
tlie
living
of Thee (O
Lord, the two eternal powers. Yea, verily, I ask it
And mayst Thou
Ahura) for the maintaining of righteousness.
also give it to me (O inspiring) Piety, splendour as it is, holy
blessings, the Good Mind's life.
Yea, to this one may the man endowed with glory give that best
And do Thou likewise (Thyself)
of all things, the (spiritual) glory.
reveal Thine own (gifts' through Thy most bountiful spirit, O Mazda.
(And do Thou teach us) Thy wonderful thoughts of wisdom, those of
Thy Good Mind, which Thou hast revealed (to us) by Thy Righteousness (within us) with the happy increase of (our joy) and on a long
lile's
every day.
I conceived of Thee as bountiful, O Great Giver, Mazda,
when I beheld Thee as supreme in the generation of life, when, as
rewarding deeds and words. Thou didst establish evil for the evil,
and happy blessings for the good, by Thy (great) virtue (to be
adjudged to each) in the creation's final change.
.
(For) so
Where
Range
The
origin of the
much matters
is a name applied
',
of
but
also nowadays
the
text
not only to the whole
work,
is
is
a
to the dialect in which it
written,
language closely
of Zoroaster himself.
'
Avesta
which
A. V.
W.
is
only a fragment of
New
York, 1920.
lo
vation to
itself
traditionally
is
'
'
to
tlie^chaemenian dynasty_but_a]so
only^puT^an^^encT
dealt a heavy blow at
its
religion.
To judge from
the
and
was
by Alexander's successors, the conqueror's empire
divided up amongst his generals Seleucus and Archeiaus,
who
which fi)llovved, two dynasties came to the fore in the conThese were the Selcucid
stant struggles for supremacy.
ii
Empire.
The
its
influence
The
Iranian princes, of
(in
whom
the
first,
Ardashi'r or Artaklishir
Achaemenians.
The language
siderable
of Persia had
by
this
Zoroastrianism
modification,
though
Avesta had helped to preserve many of its characteristics.
In the stage which it had then reached, it is known as
Pahlawi which is a phonetic modification of Parthawi
Pahlawi was not the language of the
i.e. 'Parthian'.
'
',
',
Parthians, but just as Persis in earlier days became representative of the whole of Iran, so during the centuries
Iran. Iranian
times.
Arab
of these
ance of
and knowledge
of the complicated
12
What
number
Pahlawi owes
survives in
religious character or to
its
of
works which
preservation to
its
Of
known
in
by E. W. West and
others.
the small
is,
however,
ideas, legends,
and
histoiical materials
have survived.
Amongst them
13
a manual of
shir
Son
of Babak).
of
Mighty Deeds
of Ardashir,
Both
of these deal with legendary or semihistorical personages of early Persian story, and contain
much
who was
responsible for the defiance of Arjasp. after performing prodigies of valour in the battle, is finally slain, but
The
K drndmak
Artakhshir contains
of
even
Firdawsi
greater
than the
Ydtkdr.
who
of a
is
'
'
king and marrying his daughter. The hero's further adventures take up the remainder of the account.
14
It is
the style of
ndma makes
strels or
its
it is
possible that
rise of Islam,
which gathered
When in Persia
strength as the Arab conquests proceeded.
a series of unexpectedly easy victories was followed by
a period of resistance from the
beliefs.
The
ancient
religion
of
15
Persia,
Zoroastrianism, was compelled to give way to the overwhelming force of the Arab doctrines, and what had once
The
make any
cal
and
of character preserved
of their spiritual
Zoroastrianism was
being and gave promise of new life.
not entirely wiped out, though it was incapable of expansion, and the legends, tales and folk-lore of earlier da\'S
after the
Little
death of
is
known
'Ali.
first
i6
The
The
750-1258
who pretended
to the
Caliphate,
than to Persian.
who made
name by
The
great
number of
Persians
their writings in
'ABB AS ID
CALIPH ATE,
A.D. 750-1258
17
history,
own language
in A. D. 844.
there remained for Persians the
at first imi-
san and
Transoxiana,
modern Persian
usually considered
was
KhuraIt
the cradle of
for it is
excelling their Arab teachers in poetic skill
a quality of theirs that they are capable of visualizing anew
and improving their borrowings from other peoples, in art
;
as well as in religion.
It
was
Baghdad had so
far
dynasties to be set
up
weakened as
to allow independent
empire, that
The first
poetical composition became common in Persia.
of such independent dynasties in that country was founded
by one Tahir ibn Husayn in A. D. 820. He was an Arab
general who had been granted the governorship of Khurasan in return for military aid given to Ma'mun, the son of
Harun
brother Amin.
Arab
i8
tion.
The names of two poets only have reached us from
those days, Hanzala of Badaghis and Mahmudi Warrak of
Harat, both of whom continued into the days of the Saffarid, or 'Coppersmith' dynasty (a. D. 867-903) which
a brilliant
company
letters,
of poets
who
Amongst
refreshing simplicity of style are to be found in the biographical and lexicographical dictionaries. These are constantly
being compiled
in Islamic countries,
The
sources for the early history of Persian literature.
the
extracts
from
with
whom
poets
biographers usually quote
they are dealing, while the lexicographers often support
word by a poetic quotation.
than Abu Shukur was Rudagi, the first
poet of Persia (f c. a. d. 954). With him
their reading of a
Somewhat
later
great classical
'ABBASID CALIPHATE,
and exaggerated
a.d. 750-1258
composed by
flattery,
versifiers in return
saved
ity,
19
with valuable
Ja'far
bin
Muhammad, and
his
'
takhallus
'
(pen-name),
Rudagi", was taken from the name of his birthplace in
Khurasan. Tradition says that he was born blind, but that
him the
Nasr ibn
Ahmad (fl. A.D. 914-43). His style is simple and direct
and gives evidence of sincerity of feeling, though there are
already apparent in it touches of the artificiality and floweriness of diction which marred much of the later poetry.
An often-quoted story tells that he composed a lyric so
exquisite in its word painting that it succeeded in convincing his patron where the arguments of many courtiers had
The Prince had made a long stay at Harat, and the
failed.
it
was so lacking
in art as not
to be poetry.
The criticism indicates what it was that led
to the later artificiality and elaborateness of style.
in later literature,
songs
poet's emotions.
In later
life
Rudagi
2
lost the
favour of his
20
fair
in
number
of
biographical
that fol-
them
For
find
with
their lances
What
hem.
One
Or
me
Bring
Another ode, on
spring,
call
moon
And Korah
ABBAS ID
ALIPH ATE,
A.D.
750-1258
21
From each
Wherein
my
Another poet who flourished in the encouraging atmosphere of the Samanid court was Dakfki, whose name has
already been mentioned in connexion with the Pahlawi
Ydtkdr.
Of
is
on one of
his lyrics
knowledge of this fact to the poet Firdawsi who comthe enormous work of the Shdh-ndma which is
But for Firdawsi's
usually, and deservedly, known as his.
statement it would not have been obvious that he had
borrowed Daki'ki's verses, the style and diction of the two
for
pleted
a product
aa
in
modern
is
Persian.
The Arabic
original itself
is
an
clutches
of the acquisitive
Sultan
Mahmiid of Ghazna.
'ABBASID CALIPHATE,
a.d. 750-1258
23
man
tribe of Saljuks.
Mahmud
him at
became famous
His
the history of Persian literature.
has
a
left
dizudn,
poet-laureate 'Unsuri of Balkh (f c. 1050)
or collection of poems put together according to the alphain
good poetry
in various forms.
panegyrics and
part
of
an
ode
in
the
and
'
question
What he
What he
Said I
Make but a sign with that ravishing small mouth of thine.
Said she In this world below there never can be such a sign.
Said I From thy garden would I gladly cull a posy gay.
Said she From my garden not a flower can be torn away.
Said I Sweetheart, grievous loss hath come to me from thine em:
brace.
afflicts
the
human
race.
'Asjadi, both
whom
conqueror.
He
THEPERIODOF
34
composed mainly of
eulogistic kasidas
THE
or erotic.
rest
moulded
The worth
specifically to flatter.
literature
of their
The
work as
standard
form
for
panegyric, as
consisted of ten or
more
usually many
more verses,
all
who were
in verse
Two members of
of
all his
Mahmiid's
'
'
entourage
originator of a class of poems known as nmndzara (disputation or repartee poems) which serve as introductions to
eulogies,
and
in
for
his efforts.
The
'ABBASID CALIPHATE,
phers and
well
is
knowry^ The
a.d.
satire,
750-1258
which
is
25
not ordi-
it
delivered to
its
sovereign than
by
its
shafts
victim.
Mahmud
as, for
'
'
example, by
this
or
by
this
No
Though amongst
Legend says that in the end the Sultan forgave the poet
and sent him presents befitting his worth, but they only
arrived when Firdavvsi's body was being carried to the
grave.
The SJidh-ndma
Though
in the poet's
own
26
upon
*Ali, the
mother/
The
is
in
in
the
Yusuf (Joseph)
(i.e. rhyming
the Orient the ideal of manly perfection and beauty,
masnaivi form
in couplets).
A.D. 750-1258
37
of ancient pi inces, but that now, in his old age, he tunes his
verse to a trier theme. Like the Shdh-ndma, the work was
Amongst
miid's court
wrote
Arabic
in
many works
the
A^drul
Tdrikhu V
'
'
Round Table
the
Prince Kabiis
Rayy.
He
of the Persian
many
'Umar Khayyam
in his native
entitled
'Ala
',
Ala
whom
Alau
'1
Dawla
of
His enormous
rests
his
works
Arabic
on medicine
reputation
upon
prose
and philosophy. In these he interpreted and handed on
the Greek tradition in a work which has been of enormous
benefit to civilization.
His Canon not only dominated
Isfahan, for
'
book
in
Persia to this
'
it is
28
art of heah'ng.
where
his
tomb, which
is
still
in existence,
has become a
and
For verse of all kinds Persian usually held its own, but
the prose of the time, except in Arabic, appears to have
been scanty. The splendours of Mahmud's reign and the
magnificence of his court were celebrated in Arabic prose
by Mahmud's historian 'Utbi in his work Ta'rikhi Yamini,
or
'
The History
of
panegyrist
Abu
'1
Ahmad
(d.
A. D. 1008), generally
add
first
A.D.
750-1258
29
and the
latter
chieftains
own aggrandisement
One of the foremost literary
men of their day was their own vizier 'Abu 'Ali al Hasan,
Mulk
He
generally known by his title of Nizamu
was born at Tus in Khurasan, into the family of a not too
their court, for the matter of their
was never
left
to chance.
'
'1
'.
'
dihkan
or village landowner, and
after
prosperous
a time became vizier to Alp Arslan.
In this capacity he
played a great role. In addition to fulfilling his onerous
duties of state he was able to encourage learning by the
'
him the
'
Nizamiya
'.
He
also
had some
skill
in literary
his
interesting of its
own
author's interpretation of
experiences.
Amongst the most
its
30
than author of
Like the
of the Shi'a.
rest of the
side
from
Sasanian
called
Muhammad, and on
kings of Persia. The
Mahdi,
is
hidden, and
official
last
will
the future.
Imams, of
whom
the seventh was called Isma'il and gave his name to the
movement, whereas the Shi'a claim the existence of twelve.
In addition to this fundamental doctrine the
Isma'ili's
de-
veloped a mystical system in which emanation and incarnation played a large part, and in which the number seven
significance.
The movement,
the two.
Grand Master
'
of propaganda insti-
by the first
Hasan
Sabbah, gained them many proselytes from the
whole of the Near East. One of these methods was the
tuted
use of 'hashish
',
which
rise to
is
the
'
its
evil
significance.
In
ABBASID CALIPHATE,
a.d.
750-1258
31
Syria the
as
'
Isma'i'lfs
of the Mountains
remained
',
for centuries
a source of terror.
His Safar-ndvia
or Diary' of his journey, gives a long account of what he
had seen and done in Persia, Syria, Palestine, Arabia,
Egypt, and elsewhere. As a contemporary record of the
lands.
'
social
and
work
is of immense value besides being of considerable topoIt appears to have been written from
graphical interest.
in
in their political
development, he
To
know
those that
British
Army
was known as
argil) Nasir's description of
of
an
and
adventure there, will be
it,
^
Basra as he saw
of interest
administrative district.
river of
32
Jubara they call the Shattu '1 'Arab '. Two great canals take off
from this river, the distance between their inlets being one parasang.
They have been directed towards the Kibla [i.e. south-west] and
after flowing for four parasangs they join and flow together southward
for a parasang.
From these canals numberless small canals derive
and lead in all directions, and on their banks date groves and orchards
have been planted. Of these two canals, the upper one, to the northeast, is called the Ma'kil canal, and that to the south-west the Ubulla
canal.
Between the two canals a large island has arisen in the shape
of an elongated rectangle, at the narrow end of which lies Basra.
Everywhere to the south and west of Basra is a desert without culti*
'
'
'
notes.
emerged and
The
in the
hastily departed.
(Book
of
tnasnaivi
poet's views of
life.
Both contain
bitter attacks
on the
'ABBASID CALIPHATE,
ad. 750-1258
33
comings of princes.
(Viaticum) is
of
the
author's
a detailed exposition
religious and philothe blend of the
From
for
his
beliefs.
sophical foundations
with the mystical which Nasir employs in his
of the
poetry, he may be looked upon as one of the earliest
didactics, and his methods foreshadow those adopted in the
practical
thyself,
Thou
Go
own body
do
see.
service,
'prentice.
pleasures carnal
If thou in truth dost seek delight eternal.
Care nought for viands or for sleep
Be a man
In thyself, like wand'ring monk, go, journey deep.
For viands and sleep solely concern the brutes,
Whereas thy soul in thought and spirit hath its roots.
cast
all
S277.U
34
Thou
Of
and
than the
doctrines
Isma'i'li
was
importance
system of theo-
literary
Sufi'ism, a
Partly
property of Persia
His belief
in
God helped
the foundation of
also that
He
is
the
Siifi'ism
'Truth'
is
Muslim
that
itself.
God
and
'
The
'ABBASID CALIPHATE,
a.d. 750-1258
35
by
differently defined
by the various
'
'
Pi'rs
or Sufi spiritual
The
leaders.
God.
An
is
love,
'
',
Were
to reveal
But, were
it
close to
my
confidant's lips,
all my say.
He that is far from men that speak his tongue
Is speechless, though he have a hundred voices.
When the rose is gone and the rose-garden passed away.
Thou wilt no more hear the bulbul's song.
When the rose is gone and the rose-garden fallen to ruin,
Whence wilt thou seek the rose's scent? From rose-water?
The All is the beloved and the lover a veil;
The living is the beloved and the lover a thing dead.
When love no more has His attraction,
It remains like a bird without
power of flight.
I
What can
If I
I
say?
have not the
My
light of
[of sin]
is
With
its spirit.
36
esoteric
Abi
'1
Khayr (a. D. 968-1049), who revived and
the
popularized
quatrain as a verse form and established its
as
a
common
vehicle of mystical thought. He also
position
laid the foundation of that system of metaphors and sym-
Sa'i'd
ibn
a Divine Being.
early
Christian
literature,
which
Rabbinical and
abounds
in
curiously
but nowhere
anthropomorphic pictures of the Godhead
does symbolism take such strange forms as in Sufi poetry,
where love, wine, and beauty are all brought into service to
;
Sa'i'd,
He
is
his Mujidjdt,
work
is
ABBASID CALIPHATE,
addition
37
The Hadikatu 7
known masnawi.
Mantikti 7 Tayr, the
practical
a.d. 75o-i25
is
his best
in
their
effect.
Of much
earth
employed
is
Though
My pure
soul
In those days
when
colder
pessimistic scepticism
therein followed in the footsteps
Ibrahim
al
Siifis lies
the
Khayyam, ('Umar son of Ibrahim the Tentis better known in his own country as
maker) of Ni'shapur
He was
poet.
there
is
not a
certainly
line of
own countrymen's
estimate of
him as
38
a poet be just
from
most
he shows himself the chief and
differs
it
it
is
in
he
is
leads
known
fact
now
that the
poem
in
them are
to be explained
sceptic.
which
all
by
the stages
in his
tables, the
'ABBASID CALIPHATE,
a.d. 750-1258
39
rials
entirely.
There
who
lived
is
at least
one surviving
specimen by al Jurjani,
and Rdmin
This work is the historical romance of
been
has
compared for
(composed about A.D. 1048) which
its treatment and the psychological truth of its ddnotLement
with the German romance of Tristan und Isolde.
Wh
still
of expression, though
science and the like.
it
book
is
Wisdom
Literature
plane of the
',
though
Book of Job,
it
40
An
summarized
in Persian,
under the
title
of Kiiniyd
Sa'ddat
Muhammadanism,
written with a
Siifi bias
that foreshadows
In spite of
this, his
title
services to Islamic
Htijjatii
orthodoxy were so
of Islam)
was
it
to the
The
translation
118-52).
Mukaffa''s Arabic version of the book, which
was originally a series of Buddhist tales written in Sanskrit.
'1
Waiz
Kashifi.
The middle
Makdla
A.D. 750-1258
41
Samarkandi. The
(Four Discourses) of Nizamf 'Aruzi
author was a court poet in the service of the kings of Ghiir
in Transoxiana for forty-five years, and there he wrote the
i
work by which he
his reputation
phical,
many
is
best
based.
is
many
of
them
of great biographical
The
flourishes, to Abii
'1
Hasan
'All ibn
The opening
patron.
of
this
an
excellent
paragraphs
preface provide
specimen of
the general run of these compositions, and they are here
^
given in the translation of Professor Browne
:
and thanks and glory to that King who, by the instrumentahty of the Cherubim and Angels of the Spirit world, brought
into being the \\'orld of Return and Restoration, and, by means
thereof, created and adorned the World of Becoming and Decay,
maintaining it by the Command and Prohibition ot the Prophets
and Saints, and restraining it by the swords and pens of Kings
and Ministers.
And blessings upon the Lord of both worlds, who
was the most perfect of the Prophets, and invocations of grace
upon his Companions and those of his Household, who were the
most excellent of Saints and Vicars. And honour to the King of
this time, that learned, just, divinely-favoured, victorious, and heavenaided monarch Husainii ^d-Daivla wa 'd-Din, Helper of Islam and the
Muslims, Exterminator of the infidels and polytheists, Subduer of the
heretical and the froward, Supporter of hosts in the worlds, Pride of
Kings and Emperors, Succuurer of mankind, Protector of these days,
Fore-arm of the Caliphate, Beauty of the Faith and Glory of the
Nation, Order of the Arabs and the Persians, noblest of mankind,
Shamsu 'l-Ma'ali, Maliku Y- Umard, Abu '1-Hasan 'All b. Mas'ud, Help
^
From the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1899, p. eigf.
Praise
42
of the Prince of Believers, may his life be filled with success, may the
greater part of the world be assigned to his name, and may the ordering
For to-day he
of the affairs of Adam's seed be directed by his care.
is the most excellent of the kings of the age in nobility, pedigree,
doughty deeds, judgement, statesmanship, justice, equality, valour,
and generosity, as well as in the adorning of his territory, the embellishment of his realms, the maintenance of his friends, the subjugation of his foes, the raising of armies, the safeguarding of the
of the
people, the securing of the roads, and the tranquillizing
realms, and also in that upright judgement, clear understanding,
which
strong resolve, and firm determination, by the excellence of
the concatenation of the House of Shansab is held together and
maintained in order, and by the perfection of which the strong
arm of that Dynasty is strengthened and braced. May God Almighty give him full portion, together with the other kings of that
of dominion and domain, and throne and fortune, by His
Favour and His Grace
line,
The group
him
to consideration as
sum
Western
make Anwarfs
kasidas palatable to
Tears of
title of The
Khurasan
of
destruction
a
lament
for
the
by the
Khtirdsdft,
Turkoman tribe of the Ghuzz about the year a.D. 1154.
often
'ABBASID CALIPHATE,
The
spirited but
somewhat
a.d.
free version
750-1258
43
made by Captain
Asiatick Miscel-
in the
Ah
XI
XII
Almost
as
abound makes
pedantic allusions with which his kasidas
them even more obscure than those of Anwari. Amongst
his other works, some of which make easier reading, is the
masnaivi poem Tiihfatii 7 'Irdkayn (Gift of the Two Iraks).
He composed it whilst on a pilgrimage to Mecca and
describes the two Iraks (Persian Irak and Arab Irak),
44
it
Poem
Habsiya, or Prison
Ballad of Reading Gaol bears
'
his
outward resemblance.
at least
is
made
to preserve
my
chain
ah me,
for
it
gives
me
counsel
And my
My
back's
Tears fill
conform to Jami's
poetry produced under this stimulus may
definition of poetry as verbal fancies in rhyme and metre.
is
lived,
katf
wrote
kasidas of
Persians to be as
which
as those of
wat
is
chiefly
prosody, the
'ABBASID CALIPHATE,
a.d. 750-1258
45
but
it
his parodies
is
that
in
Persian
literature.
amongst
whom Anwari once likened himself with some
pride.
After
when
for
against
tragic.
latter in
between A.D.
The power
11 43
and
11 52.
46
He
and
of diction and
over the paganism of his heroes, yet such incidental propaganda is rare and is outweighed by the sincerity and
elegance of diction and by the vividness of description with
which
his
work
is filled.
His
first
followed by
laid in the
is
Arabian
scene
is
the
The
the
life
'ABBASID CALIPHATE,
a.d. 750-125S
47
favourite wives,
The last of the poet's masnawis, the Iskaudar7idma (Rook of Alexander), has for its theme the life of
Alexander. The subject is treated in pure epic style, but
with a mystical touch which makes Alexander a prophet
Nights.
The
as well as a conqueror.
five
poems are
traditionally
The exaggerated
though they
what trying to those brought up in a different literary
atmosphere. For that reason, possibly, his poems have not
been so often translated into English as their popularity in
Persia would lead one to expect.
A translation of Lay Id
a}id
Majnun, published
in
with Layla
By worldly prudence
:
uncontrolled,
To
veil
impassioned looks
at will.
48
How
fleet his
bliss.
by the
'Attar
(fl.
The
A. D.
1 1
19-1230
?)
indi-
who had
in his
dervishes.
by Chingiz Khan
much
in
of the Sufis'
'
Stages
on the
Siifi
'
Path
'
They
'ABBASID CALIPHATE,
a.d. 750-1258
49
are
described
'
'
We
Since none cometh back from this far journey, how canst thou be
informed, O thou of little patience?
Since all are utterly lost there, how can news be brought to thee,
fool that thou art ?
The valley of " Seeking" is the beginning of our labours, thereafter
comes the boundless valley of " Love ".
Third is the valley of " Knowledge '', and fourth the valley of " AllSufficiency
Then
".
is
known
of 'Attar's
J)
50
Of much greater value is the author's TazV Awliyd (Memoirs of the Saints), which provides
conversation.
kiratu
series
much
that
Sufi'ism.
The second
fables.
*ABBASID
AL IP HATE,
A. D.
750-12.58
51
You are endowed with dignity [lit. stone] and gravity through me.
Even though you keep on calling me a black pot,
You are miserly [lit. a black goblet] everywhere.
Have you never heard that agreeable saying ?
'
When
That
IVIouse
told in story that a rural mouse went with a town mouse for
a walk in the country, and that they went in company to visit the country
mouse. The country mouse dwelt in the wilderness. For his food he
had grass seed, and rain for water. When the town mouse perceived
*
But what is this? You have neither sweetthis poverty, he said:
stuff nor pleasant water nor bread.
Is this how you live ?
Come
It is
laid
out.'
'
'
ready now.'
The country mouse approached and saw the cat, and outwardly he
trembled and in his heart he was afraid. And the cat struck out his
paw and scratched him and whipped his two children away from him.
Then the country mouse turned to the town mouse, and said "Tis
thus then that people know you have extended your walls!
It is
for this that you have acquired your good name
In this fashion
is it that you heap favours on your guests
What is my business
in your house, accepting and eating the morsels you offer ?
You are
a slave humbler even than my slaves.
If you wish it I will free
:
5a
[At least] my head and appetites are subyou from your bonds.
But you are their slaves, you that are even less
servient to me.
than I. God has dealt favourably with me, and has entrusted to
me the treasure of contentment. Sorrow has been buried away as
With each day (God) gives me my daily bread.
silver.
if it were
Like a foolhardy man I forsook my own morsel. But I desire no
sweets accompanied by suffering. If you have a taste for content-
ment,
why
suffer
Whether
it
such
is
'
trials ?
been heard until they were brought into dreadful prominence by the devastation which they wrought under their
leader Chingiz (Jenghiz) Khan, the 'Very Mighty King'.
This savage general began that career of conquest which
sent his
'
name down
first
to suffer.
Khwa-
and
laid in
Chingiz died in A.D. 1227, but his tradition and bloodthirsty methods of conquest
sors in the Great Khanate.
'ABBASID CALIPHATE,
against
750-1258
55
Mesopotamia,
Persia,
Though Syria
A. D.
resisted his
destruction of
of
the
Baghdad
Isma'fli
in
Islamic hierarchy.
T/ie
The
effects
Mongol Domination
of the
many, the greatest being that Islam was for a time without
any generally recognized head, and Persia no longer
acknowledged an Arab ruler even nominally, with the imto
portant consequence for its literature that Arabic ceased
to
Persian.
and
official
Further,
be the
gave way
language
Khan
Hulagii
itself to
some extent
into
sym-
The
pathy with
its
to Islam.
The
fl
peace, for
54
at
of the
period
is
and
it
is
one
that fratricidal
a person than Ti'miiri-Lang (i.e. Ti'mur the lame) Tamerwho was then not far away. Ti'mur professed to be
lane
is little
to choose between
order,
periods which, in
Persian history,
commonly
follow
the
THE
MONGOL DOMINATION
55
chaos reigned.
In the flood of ruin which the Tartar invasions had
poured over Asia and Europe there were yet some seeds of
growth and culture. In Europe the Mongols were an
indirect cause of the Renaissance, for it was their pressure
behind the Ottoman Turks which led to the fall of Constantinople and the consequent spread of Greek learning in
In Persia, though to this day great belts of
have
remained ruined and uncultivated, some poscountry
Islam was never entirely
of
spiritual life survived.
sibility
for
since
Khan
and his immediate
Chingiz
wiped out,
successors were heathens, they had no religious views of
their own to impose, and mysticism, which flourishes in
Europe.
Amongst
those
who escaped
or remained unaffected
by
56
was compelled
to flee.
'
came under
or not, his
Jalalu
'1
Din began
by making himself
Jalal's
lyrical
'1
any
rate
'
'
'.
'
'
known
movement
as Sanid\ an Arabic
is
S7
technically
',
his
The poems
dhvdn.
are full of longing for union with the Truth ', and dwell
without ceasing on the hope of its fulfilment. After Shamsi
'
Masnawi),
'Kur'an in the Pahlawi'
which accounts
(i.e.
'
He
contains
in
(Jalalu
'1
Din)
The Ma^nazvi
its
six
books
title
is
not
an
is
all
the
'
'
58
Here is
ordinary term for a poem in rhymed couplets.
a prose translation of a characteristic passage from the
poem the story is being told of an ambassador who
He was
He saw
aright,
in a pure soil.
O Commander of the Faithful,
Said the man to him
How does the soul come down to earth from above?
How can so measureless a bird be confined in a cage ?'
He replied God speaks fascinating words and stories to the soul,
To things of naught having neither eyes nor ears
When He speaks His words of fascination they are roused to ferment
At His words these things of naught very quickly
Are conceived and bound into being.
Again when He speaks His spells to the created things,
He swiftly drives them back mto nothingness.
He hints a sign to the body and it becomes soul,
He speaks to the sun and it spreads its rays.
Again, a dreaded hint comes to its ear,
'
'
And
a hundred eclipses
fall
upon
its
face.
Whereon
What
To
Do
Remove
The
last
59
God
for all
out
by
According
to the poet,
is
What follows
poet's Diwdn
is
all
times be
God's
will
Of mj'self
regard
Is as the river of Paradise to heal
I said
this moon remains for the
:
my heart
'1
Din's work pronounced by
Dr. R. A. Nicholson is worthy of note.
He says in the
preface to his Dnvdni Shamsi Tabriz'^'. 'Jalalu 'ddin lacks
the colour and the perfume of Hafiz, who is by turns grave
and gay, blasphemous and devout, serious and ironic his
music is rich and full, but for the most part he plays on
one string. ... As a mystic he was too much in earnest
:
if
of
fastidious
critics.
As
Cambridge, 1898.
6o
charm
Koniya
in
The poet
died
at
A.D, 1273.
his
at
own
Zangi, the
Atabeg
whom
he lived as a recluse at
in
he set down at his leisure the results of his varied experiences and enjoyed in comfort the veneration he inspired
',
'.
Sa'di
was a
name
is
6i
forms of verse,
its
their teaching
is
presentation
of
easily
assimilated
who have
Their simplicity,
is
a freshness in
wisdom that
is
Some
of his lyrics
initiated into
He
and
their habits,
the
Sufi's.
He
retail
of their
mode
of
life
Siiff
62
'
'
'
remember
'
'
63
imitdyabdt
(jests),
The
otherwise
latter
name
known
as
kJiabisdt (obscene
poems).
the collection, which Sa'df justified on the ground that
princes must be kept amused, and in the fashion which best
accords with their desires, though
that he undertook the task.
that his
name
lives
by
It
it is
his
Amongst
those
of the Mongols was the philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician Nasi'ru '1
of Tiis (f 1274).
He was in the
service of the last Grand Master of the Assassins when
Dm
Maragha
in
known book,
philosophy,
and composed
in that
tongue
his best-
Astronomical Tables)
composed
at
Maragha
for
Hulagu
64
Khan
and
Din
is
The
most unfavourable
is
belauds the
whom
'
'
'
',
',
'
'.
'
'
',
65
much
into English,
the
Amongst
(fA. D. 1310),
He
Shi'raz.
disciples
of Nasi'r
who belonged
was
Kutbu
'1
Di'n
to a family of physicians of
of his time at Mongol courts,
in Arabic a number of
works on philosophy, medicine, and astronomy but is
and, like
his
known
for
As Hulagu's secretary
Juwayn, a village in Ni'shapiir.
he marched with him against the Isma'ih's and afterwards
In his
against Baghdad, of which he became governor.
World Conqueror)
with
earlier Mongol
(i.e.
Chingiz Khan),
dealing
he
the
various
recounts
events which took place
history,
Ta^rikh
Khan and
Hulagu Khan down to the expedition against the Isma'ih's,
of whom the book contains a full and circumstantial account
of great interest. To 'Ata Malik, the Persian geographer and
own
He
court.
66
interesting consequence.
Amongst
From 'Ata
Khan,
Ghazan
was but
was marked by
Rashidu '1 Din Fazlu llah, who was his vizier. Rashi'd
had begun his career as physician to Abaka Khan,
Hulagii's son, and was ultimately induced by Ghazan
Khan to become his vizier. His activities were extensive.
In spite of his many duties of state he found time to compile the
Uljaytu.
Included
in
it
6']
the dynasties of the Ghaznawids, Saljuks, and KhwaiizmOther nations of the world are
shahs, and of the Isma'i'h's.
Book
of Genesis.
either in
Whether they be
true or
exaggeration
palliation.
false he must set them down exactly in accordance with
the intention and claim of each people, so that responsi-
or
may
rest
upon
This theory
is
their intentions
if
historian.
anything be found
God
if it
please
Almighty.'
is
as follows
The
first
E 2
68
hell
was created.
were created,
namely ground herbage, grass, and trees. Also heaven was created on that
day, alter God had at dawn gathered all the waters into one place and
Also he drove some of the waters into river courses,
called them sea
so that the surface of the earth appeared and parts of it were dried and
became capable of cultivation.
On Wednesday he created the sun, moon, and other heavenly bodies,
and endowed them with light. And he made the sun the agent of day
and the conqueror of darkness, and the moon the agent of night. To
each of them he gave special qualities of dififerent kinds in the physical
'
'.
world.
On Thursday
fishes
'
upon
this earth
grandeur.
He
relates
into
all
in
'
Torah
',
The
narrative continues
him.'
The work
is
only brought
'1
Din
lived
69
Sultan Abii
Sa'i'd
(Banakiti's history),
history
entitled
which was to
Tdrikhi Bandkiti
intents a
of Histories
summary of
brought down
The
author, Fakhri
all
'
Rashi'du
'1
Din's
to the date of
'
Compendium
Abu
Sa'i'd's
accession.
(The Compendium of
the
Tdrikh
known
Wassdf (The
Panegyrist's
History),
as Tajziyatu
'
'
The number
is
subordinated
of writers, particularly in
It
may
'
70
Tdrikh
Baghdad
Wassdf which
describes the
Mongol capture
of
They that examine the records of the incidents of all ages and they
that are acquainted with the contents of the pages of events, the unveilers
of the countenance of the virgins of novelty, and they that show forth the
changes of the months and centuries (may Allah encompass them all
with his wide mercy !) have testified thus The City of Peace [Baghdad]
in the time of the 'Abbasid Caliphs was ever guarded from the hardships
and ills of fortune in the sanctuary of safety and security. It was the
envy of all the emperors of the world, and its palaces and mansions
shared secrets with the aether of the skies. Its surrounding districts
and adjacent lands were equal with the Garden of Blessings in
In its air and in its open spaces the
pleasantness and freshness.
bird of security and peace was for ever flying, and in it were blessings
and delights of every kind, comforts and luxuries of every variety,
so that the mind in wonderment is incapable of enumerating them.
:
Moses'
When
it.
schools and colleges are filled with champions of the rarest learning.
In those days discord went with tied hands and broken feet. The
masters of the various crafts and arts, in the greatness of their skill,
were such that they could limn sparks of fire upon running water, and
in its zeal for true portraiture the pen of slander broke from shame when
Its
it
touched paper.
Compare
Rashi'du
'1
'1
Tigris they came to the edge of the 'Isa canaJ. Sunjak Nuyan begged
Manjii for the command of the advanced troops that were to operate
to the west of Baghdad, and when permission was given he marched
command
Baghdad army
to flight.
Another work of
as the foregoing,
owed
its
inspiration to Rashi'du
'1
Din,
71
namely, the Tarikh i Gjizida (Select History) of Hamdullah Mustawfi, who dedicated it to Rashi'du '1 Din's son,
Ghiyasu '1 Din. In it the author seeks to trace the origins
is
Almost
at the
Ahmad
lah's
both
The Shdhanshdh-Jidina
imitations
is
little
is
alive.
Amir Khusravv of
Delhi, who died in A.D. 1325, composed a Khanisa (quintet) of romantic poems almost as fine as Nizami's own, and
he was
in
mean
order.
72
'
'
Anwar
(Garden of
Makhzanu
'/
Fires),
which had
for its
Asrdr (Treasure-house
of
model Nizami's
Secrets).
The
Abu
Ishak at
Shi'raz.
Various odes,
Sufi literature
the
II
is
Lamddt
after
its
composition, by the
73
ment of the
eroticism,
'Iraki in his
masnawi
tions on
poem.
manual of
their creed.
Sufi's
a great
poem in the
number of ques-
It is
The
dotes and
answers, which are illustrated by many anecparables, elucidate the essential doctrines of
Jam
regnum by Awhadi
Hiilagu
for
Hadikahi 7
(f
A.D.
1337) of
Maragha (where
popular.
Tv\ro rival dynasties that arose after the fall of the II
credit of having given their patronage to
Shi'raz.
The founder
irs
of the Jala
his son
74
have found
adding
his
prose works
both
his AkJildku
in
Of
of his time
on the Beard),
is
while
his
Risdla
Risk (Epistle
'i
and
and the Cat). This is a short sketch which uses cats and
mice Aesop-fashion, but with a trenchant humour worthy
of a Dean Swift.
His vein of satire is illustrated by the
from a short collection in a Bodleian
taken
following story
manuscript
The Caliph Mahdi was once separated from his retinue in the
The Arab
huniing-field, and when night fell came to an Arab's hut.
brought him what he had at hand, namely, a jug of wine. \Vhen the
:
first
drink, he said:
'1
am
one of Mahdi's
I
am of Mahdi's
Taking a second drink, he said
At the third drink, he said
I
am Mahdi'.' On heargenerals.'
First you drank
ing this, the Arab took the jug away from him, saying
and said you were in Mahdi's service. When you drank the second
time you claimed to be a general, and now at the third drink you call
'
attendants.'
'
'
If
'II
claim to be God.'
'^^
'Ubayd's brilliance
his
of
tion
cunningly contrived
kasidus.
One well-known
arranged
in
their letters.
By
Thou
Thou
With
Thou
drawn.
is
76
fill'st
my
head with
ferment.
Tumult reigns
Cold
Thus
is
my
Hafiz, or to give
'1
Din
Hafiz,
Shuja', a
member
'
are few.
'
town of
in his native
Shi'raz
according to the
made
is
new
parably
'.
Except
for
77
an occasional eulogy
of topical or contemporaryinterest in Hafiz's poetry, and all the turmoil of the days in
which he lived seldom forced him out of his detachment to
of
make comment
great
tical
is
little
Hafiz
is
known by
Tongue of
Arabic
the
of Lisdnu
7 Ghayb (The
may be true
by many of the
that a mystical
title
the Hidden).
It
interpretation is required
are marked by a realism which
his work.
familiar, but
so that his
it
may
But never did a lover with harsh words his love so press.
If ruby wine from jewelled cup it is your wish to drink,
Then pearls and corals pierced with eyelash you must strive to
Love's savour to his nostrils to entice he ne'er can seek,
Who on the tavern's earthy floor has not swept dusty cheek.'
link.
The
78
are not always words of love that from the tongue descend:
Come, bring me wine, O taverner, and to this talk put end.
His wit and patience to the waves are cast by Hafiz' tears.
They
What can he
Here
do, that
also
is
may
not hide
how
Hafiz' Will.
Then
The end
its
half-dozen antago-
invasion of
dynasties was brought about by the
the
after
soon
Timuri
the barbarous
beginning of
Lang
nistic
A.D. 1381.
destroyed
further laid in
ruins towns and districts which had escaped the first cataIsfahan
clysm. This time, the south of Persia, including
and
Shi'raz,
As under
number of
inferior compilers
have
left
79
whom
almost entirely
improved upon
Sharafu
'1
ndma (Book
'1
in Persian.
7 Anbiyd
iva
7 8afd fi Strati
7 Mtduk wa 7
and Caliphs
',
dedicated.
The
history
deals with
the
Muhammad,
the
minor
The
poets and
8o
mystics.
of Jami,
is
(f A.D. 1406/7)
his
by
though the
rest,
spirit
and he
khamsa
Kasim
in
is
and made no
as a Shi'a saint
won
a reputation
7 'Arifin (The
Gnostics' Familiar), which expounds a number of conventional Sufi terms.
His saintliness did not protect him from
a charge of having being concerned in an attempted assassination of his patron Shah-rukh, for which he was compelled
to leave
that
he
Harat
left
for
in
Khurasan
order to
His dhvdn
colleagues.
usual verse-forms, and, in addition, he wrote a
prose essays, mainly of theological content.
number
Some
of
of his
8i
shown
And
The
'
'
comes
'
'
'
'
it ?
versifiers
and
These are
parodists of the school of 'Ubayd i Zakani.
Abti Ishak (or Bushak), the poet of food, and his imitator,
Mahmud Kari, the poet of clothes. Abu Ishak, the prototype of the French gastronomist Brillat-Savarin, devoted
himself to the composition of odes and quatrains which,
in a parody of the lyric style, sing the
delights of various
may
(i.e.
God),
2277.16
See
p. 35.
82
in
loss of her
work.'
The Diwdn
i Albisa
(Sartorial Diwan) of Kari belongs
a period a century and a half later than the work
of Abu Ishak, but its style and subject matter are in direct
to
its
mention here.
be trusted.
their
finest
The
efforts.
Memoir
The
spirit
'
Sultan Husayn, whose minister Mi'r 'Alf Shir was, is indicated by the fact that the prince himself wrote a series of
'
biographical
Nafais, or
'
It was
the lives of poets contemporary with the author.
title o{ Lata if-ndma, some
noteworthy client of
years after the author's death.
this
Afiiudri SiiJiayli
(the
83
earlier,
and much
'
',
It
and Jami
all
these forms.
said,
'
84
entirely
It
to the story of
Firdawsi,
Yiisuf
how
who
is
him by recounting
him.
If
is
first
approaches to Yusuf)
distracted
by
is
extract,
to console
A mistress
thee.
Take me
I
first
am
Thou
Thou
mine
eyes.
hast proved thyself the soul in
my
body,
Thus
finally
85
When
But Yusuf
fled
from
her.
Of
Amongst
is
his Laivd'ih,
illustrative
a short treatise
sections in verse.
His
contains a
number of
not in
Particu-
chapters
86
Turks, Indians, and others to whom Persian was the lanliterature rather than of everyday use.
Foreign
elements in Persia were important even under Ti'mur, and
guage of
dom
was the
whom Jamf
flour-
His king-
The
chiefs,
who were
by the
rise
Modern Persia
The
MODERNPERSIA
gles with
Turkey
87
in the loss of
much
Persian territory to
Turkey.
of the latest period in Persia are an increase of intercourse with India and the countries of Europe,
The characteristics
It is
together with an enhanced religious consciousness.
these
reflected
only with the nineteenth century that literature
In the
characteristics, but the signs are then unmistakable.
the
preceding centuries literature for the most part followed
These may
traditions of the great writers of Persia's past.
The
up
crests of
waves whose
momentum
series of smaller
last
perceptible
rare intervals.
much work
mitted so
be done, and
of writers
Persia.
the encouragement
of
engaged
letters
than
in Persia.
found time to write his autobiography in the Turki lanHis cousin, Mirza Haydar Dughlat was the author
guage.
of the TayikJL
of Central Asia.
MODERNPERSIA
88
But our business here is with the poets and other men of
letters whose home was in Persia, who concerned themselves
particularly with the affairs of their own country, and whose
work is mainly the result of native patronage. Poetry in
Persia did not die with Jamf.
It would indeed have been
who
Jam
(f 1521), is
Occasionally there are graphic passages in the Tiviurndma, of which the following is one describing the storming
of a fortress
:
They came
And from
On many
MODERNPERSIA
89
For
By
it
'
The
Hafiz.
is
variously given as
1516 or 1519.
Jami's pupil Asafi was, like himself, a protege of Mi'r'Alf
Shir, whose notice he attracted by the elegance of his odes.
His later contemporary Ahli of Shi'raz (1533) was an accomplished scholar as well as the writer of highly ingenious but
artificial kasidas, the majority of them in praise of Shah
Isma'il.
form
by
in
his
An
illustration
Persian poetry
masnawi
called
is
importance attached to
provided by these poems, and
of the
Sihr
In
ways, each in a new metre and with the stress laid upon
the mechanical construction rather than upon the sense.
'
MODERNPERSIA
90
Through
Another
Siifi
He was
Astarabad.
it is
To judge from
Few men
mark
the literary history of Persia illumined the obscure years between the death of Shah Isma'i'l
and the accession of Shah 'Abbas. Shah Isma'i'l's son Sam
Mi'rza
of
was responsible
after hiai
1
the TuJifa
in
for
i
Sdvii, which
was a
series of biof.
14).
MODERNPERSIA
91
of the
graphics continuing Dawlatshah's work on the lives
of
those
are
occur
that
names
Other
Hayrati
poets.
(t 1554)5
Shah Tahmasp's
chief
poet,
Kasimi, the
and
in
The
Isma'il's reign and that of his successor.
and best known of all the poets of this period was
Muhtasham Kashi (f 1588), the panegyrist whose elegy on
the martyrdom of Husayn has provided one of the most
of
Shah
latest
When
here attempted
is
From
When
When
fell.
its
'
is
thy
Husayn."
in A.D.
1587
'.
He
Op.
cit.,
vol.
ii,
p. 36.
MODERNPERSIA
92
panegyrists.
Amongst these was Sliani
who became famous not so much for the
as
by the
of Tihran (f 1614),
rewarded him
for
one of
his
Fasi'hi of Harat
compositions by his weight in gold.
(f 1639), another panegyrist, had been at the court of the
was also a
Of
known
Affection),
Namakddn
Mihr
Two
Iraks)
after
tc
Haklkat
(The Story of
Khakani's Tjihfatu V ^Irdkayn and
(The
the
satirist
'
For example
O Thou
Chaos hastened
to meet Chaos.
didst come, none assisting Thee.
In past eternity Thou didst behold Thyself alone and none besides.
He that hath mind and reason doth understand
That there is no true servant of God but God Himself.
In Thy path reason seeth no advancement,
pace or two it goeth and doth then return.^
Thou
The
following
ironical vein
quatrain
is
in
more
characteristic
to
whom
Nor his father's strength was known nor his mother's womb.
You say I have a sound body. A thousand thanks
You mean my body has naught within. Thanks to whom.?*
Zulali of
Bodley MS.
Elliott 97,
f.
69*.
Op.
cit.,
f.
writers
472.
MODERNPERSIA
oimasnmvis who
poems
flourished under
in that form, of
of Sultan
Mahmud
and
Mahmud wa
which
his slave
93
is
'
in
in
Thou
Speak
art
still
'
thy needs.
Read aloud
The
Achievement
'
nor
a fact approved.
When He unfastens, many a locked place is opened ;
The locked door is the key to what is locked.
When He fastens a door, the opening thereof is with His
To fail in the task is more than the task itself.
Upon Him that needs no speech
'
How
? ',
is
own
lock.
The
was natural that 'Abbas's court should be a stronghold of Shi'ism, and it sheltered at least one Shi'a divine,
Bahau 1 Din Amuli (f 1621). He is reckoned a standard
It
Bodley MS.
Elliott 269,
f.
147.
MODERN PERSIA
94
he was Shaykhu
'1
Islam
renouncing
'
'
',
celebrated in verse
by
in
'Abbdsi, or
'
in
Persian literature.
Amongst
who wrote
7 Safd, and was born at
Viziers),
MODERNPERSIA
95
number
set
down by a
of hands.
Poets found
great
The
Akbar.
favour with
lyricist
Sa'ib of Isfahan,
who belonged
to the
'
includes
many poems
in the
standard forms
odes,
have had
at
in his
random from
own
day.
The
his collected
following ode
works (Lucknow
edition)
MODERNPERSIA
96
Man's struggle
'
Breathe
is
life.
Sa'ib
reflected
his
'
i Shah
Towards
the poet Mfr
whose diwdn
Abbas
Sdni (History
of
Abdu
'I 'Al
Najat (f c. A.D. 17 14) of Isfahan,
has been criticized by his contemporaries as being debased
in its style and vulgar in its diction.
On the other hand
his
The Rose
Knshti (The
Wrestling Gage,
favour and has found more than one commentator.
lit.
spite of
its
ostensible
on wrestling and
is
mainly of
In
little
erotic content.
MODERNPERSTA
had beeun
to bear fruit.
One
97
compo-
sition,
He
in
His dhvdn
the towns or provinces in which they lived.
includes many poems in all the usual forms, and his versatility is further
Ztdaykhd.
displayed
in
poetical
kasidas,
He found, however,
forth.
that obscenity paid better, and, cynically attributing the
MODERNPERSIA
98
debasement of his
art to the
by becoming an
apostle of vulgarity.
In the nineteenth century the Kajar sovereign, Fath 'AH
Shah (1797-1836), attempted a not very successful imita-
tion of the
'
Round Table
'
of
Mahmud
He
of Ghazna.
Khan Saba, composed a diwdn and a Shdhanshdhndma in imitation of Firdawsi's classic work. But the
'Alf
was outdone
official versifier
in talent
by Fath
'All Shah's
Abdu
'1
Wahhab
Habi'bu
'llah
political
(f 1853),
name
of Ka'ani.
poet
that
He
Persia
who
is
is
of genius
his satires
of
is
too
some
frequently overbalanced
by
but
gloomy view
life.
An
illustration of his
lowing fragment
Upon
My
pessimism
is
provided by the
The branch
of talent or of skill
fol-
MODERNPERSIA
99
Do
caused so
'1
much comment
in the
men
journeys that he made to Europe. Of the professed
notable
was
of letters that belonged to his reign the most
Riza Kuli Khan Lala-Bashf (f 1871). An able poet and the
composer of lyrics, epics, and religious masnawis, he rendered
literary biography by his two great
the
works,
Majvia'u 7 Ftisahd and the Riydzu 7 'Arifin,
which deal with the lives and works of Persia's men of letters
valuable service to
Khwarazm (Khwa).
was prevalent
in
European
growth
in Persia
for
even 'Umar
Khayyam
is
no exotic
in the twelfth
all
translated
(many by
MODERN PERSIA
loo
from Turkish
below)
month
of
Muharram
as part of the
exists in
always been
religious.
The
ta'siyas
give expression to
phase of national consciousness and concern themselves generally with the universally acknowledged saints
this
The
who are
Few
'
'
The
(a)
'
(b)
S. Guyard.
Paris, 1886.
.
English translation ...
(c) Three Persian Plays with
London, i8go. [This reprints two plays from (6).]
et
by A. Rogers.
MODERNPERSIA
loi
hfs',
nowadays
inclined
who was
Pelly,
Gulf
in
tion of a ta'ziya,
tradition'.^
Some
of
its
The time
is
see
me
gathering.'^
The most
significant religious
movement
of nineteenth-
which alone
'
Truth
'
might be gained.
^ Sir Lewis
Felly and A. N. Wollaston, The Miracle Play of Hasan and
Husain, 2 vols., London, 1879.
2 For
ta^siyas see further Le Comte de Gobineau, Les Religions et les
philosophies dans FAsie Cenlrale, Paris, 1865-6, and Matthew Arnold's
Essay, *A Persian Passion Play' {Essays in Criticism, ist series).
MODERNPERSIA
I02
in its application.
tion to the
in
line
The largest number of Babi's attached themselves to Bahau 'llah, after whom the movement is often
The value of Babism is historical rather
called Bahaism.
than literary, for it is an illustration of the mode in which
transmitted.
religions are
formed.
literary interest.
But
it
is
not
entirely devoid of
several treatises,
number of works,
find
is
method of
engaged in a struggle
government and some
politically
of
reconciling
bours with unfortunate
MODERNPERSIA
disrepute.
They
are
condemned
human
will
for
and
103
having discouraged
for causing national
The Siydhat-ndmdi
whose aims are mainly political.
Ibrahim Beg (The Diary of Ibrahim Beg's Travels) is an
It was written by Hajji Zaynu '1 'Abidi'n, a
exception.
merchant of Kurdistan whose family came originally from
Maragha. In the course of his business travels he made
long stays in the Caucasus and the Crimea and at Stambiil,
and
in the
prose, of his
in
at
Calcutta
The
them
city.
Another
ballads
who has
finally, there is
is
whom
intellectual
life
What promise
List of
Texts,
in Enrope.
The
following
list
makes no claim
to completeness,
and
is
intended
for the
merely to indicate the most accessible of the works required
For Oriental and other editions
further study of Persian literature.
of texts the British Museum Catalogue of Persian Printed Books,
the catalogues of C. Rieu and
1922, should be consulted; for MSS.,
H. Ethe.
Books printed in Muhammadan countries bear a date of the
/\lote.
Muhammadan era (a. h. = the year of the Flight, hijra), which began
It must be borne in mind, when calculating a date A.D.
in A.D. 622.
from a date A.H., that the Muslim year is eleven days shorter than
ours.
E.
SOME RECENT GENERAL CRITICAL WORKS RELATING TO THE LITERATURE, HISTORY, LANGUAGE,
GEOGRAPHY, &c., OF PERSIA.
G. Browne. A Literary History of
1906, 1908.
2 vols.
Persia.
London,
works.
W.
2 vols.
Geiger and E. Kuhn. Grundriss der Iranischen Philologie.
of Iranian philology,
Strassburg, 1896-1904. An encyclopaedia
The various sections contain complete
literature, and history.
bibliographies.
E. G. Browne.
1915,
2nd
II.
Fr. Spiegel.
History of Persia.
2 vols.
London,
1st ed.
ed. 1921.
&C.
Uebersetztmg,
C. Kossowicz, Inscriptiones Palaeo-Persicae Achaemenidaru}n.
Petersburg, 1872.
St.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
L.
W. King and
J.
J.
R. Campbell Thompson.
H.
105
mentaire historiqtie
et philologique.
3 vols.
Paris, 1892-3.
III.
&c.
IV.
W. West, M. Haug,
E.
text
and London,
Pahlawi
Bombay
1874.
E.
&c.
...
in
Stutt-
gart
V.
and
xlvii of
WORKS ON
S.
Memorial
VI.
London, 19 11.
Abu
by H. Ethe
'1
Khayr.
('All
Awhadu
which the
'1
latest is
and 1878.
Oriental lithographed editions only, of
Din).
the Lucknow edition of 1889.
Anwari
Quatrai7ts.
in Sitsungsberichte
BIBLIOGRAPHY
io6
'Ata Malik).
The Tarikhi-i'1 Din
Part I.
"A/dtt 'd din 'Atd Malik-i-Jmvayni.
Containing the history of Chingiz Khan and his successors, ed.
*At4 Malik
Juwayni ('Alau
Jahdn-Gushay of
with an introd.
E. G. Browne).
don, 1912.
Oazwini (and
Lon-
vol. xvi.
Bal'amf.
de
Chronique
Bel'ami
.,
1867-74.
Dawlatshah.
1901.
Faridu
'1
le livre
Pend-Nameh, ou
Paris,
1819.
Mantic Uttatr, ou le langage des oiseaux; poeme de philosophic religieuse public en Perse par Garcin de Tassy. Paris,
1857.
trad, du persan par G. de Tassy.
Pans, 1863.
Tadhkiratu V Awliya {Memoirs if the Saints) of Muhatnmad
ibn Ibrahim Farid u'ddin Attar. Ed. in the original Persian
by R. A. Nicholson. Persian Historical Texts, vols, iii and iv.
London, 1905-7.
.
Firdawsi.
Turner
Shdh-ndma.
The Shah nameh.
Macan.
vols.
Calcutta,
1829.
8vo.
8 vols.
Italo Pizzi.
A
J.
Atkinson.
Torino, 1886-8,
London, 1832.
Friedrich Riickert. Firdosi 'sKbnigsbuch . . Obersetzt vonFriedrich
Riickert.
Berlin, 1890-4.
I. Pizzi.
Leipzig, 1891.
Anto/oi'ia Firdusiana.
Anecdota Oxoniensia.
Ed. by H. Ethe.
and
Zalikhd.
Yfisuf
.
Oxford, IQ08.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(Shamsu
Hdfiz
Dm
'1
Muhammad).
The Diwdn.
107
Ed. H. Brockhaus.
Leipzig, 1854-6.
Ed. and translated
Memorial
Vol. xiv.
Series.
i.
London, 191 o.
ii,
Zafar-
Anvari Suhaili
Translated by E. B. Eastwick.
Hertford,
1854.
.
.
cotfimonly known as Kaltlah and
Trans, ... by A. N. Wollaston.
London, 1877.
AkhlakiMuhsini. Translated by H. G. Keene. Hertford, 185 1.
The Anwdr-i-Suhaili
Damnah
Edited by D. C. Phillott
and Md. Kazim Shirazi. Calcutta, 1910.
Masnawi'1 Din Rumi (Muhammad ibn Muhammad Balkhi).
i-Ma'nawi. Oriental editions. Bombay, A. H. 1280 Lucknow,
A.H. 1282 and 1291
(with Turkish translation) Bulak, a.h.
1268.
Masnavi
Mcinavi
Whinfield.
2nd
.
ed.
1913-
1846.
Vienna,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
io8
Jami (Mulla Nuru
'1
mann.
Calcutta, 1867.
cutta, 1907.
Kay Kaus
The Kdbus-nduia.
The Kdbus-7idma.
Khdkdni.
1883.
First two volumes translated by E. Rehatsek and T. F. Arbuthnot in New Oriental Translation Fund Series. 5 vols. Lon-
London, 1910.
Mahmud
Shabistari.
Gulshan i Rdz. Persisch u. deutsch herausgegeben von Hammer-Purgstall. Leipzig, 1838.
Translated with introduction, &c., by E. H. Whinfield. London,
1880.
Minuchihri.
A. de Biberstein-Kasimirski
Menoutchehri
texte,
Paris, 1886.
traduction, notes, et introduction historique.
Mir Abdu '1 'Al Najdt. Qui u Kushti. Lucknow, 1S81.
Mirkhwdnd (Muhammad ibn Khdwand Shdh). Raivzatit 7 Safd.
(a) Histoire des Samanides : texte persan, traduit etc. . . . par
M.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(c)
Historia Seldschukidarum
A. Vullers. Giessen, 1837.
persice
109
germanice ed.
etc.
J.
Ed.
W. H.
Morley.
Najat (Mir Abu '1 *A1). Giili Kushti. Lithographed, Lucknow, 1881.
Nasiri Khusravv.
Relation die voyage de Nasirt
Safar Nameh.
Khusrau en Syrie, etc.
Publ. des langues onentales vivantes,
.
Serie
2, vol.
Paris, 1881.
i.
'1
Din Shdh.
his tour
London, 1910.
Revised translation of the Chahdr Maqdla {Four Discourses)
by E. G. Browne. E. J. W. Gibb Memorial Series, vol, xi. 2.
London, 1921.
Nizdmi of Ganja (11yds ibn Yusuf). Laili and Majnun.
From the
original Persian by J. Atkinson.
London, 1836; reprinted, Lon.
don, 1894.
Makhzan
Ed. by N. Bland.
London, 1844.
Indica).
Trans, by H. B. Clarke.
London,
1881.
Nizamu
'1 Mulk.
Siydsat-ndma.
Siyasat Nameh. Traite de gottvernetnent compose pour le Sultan
Melik-Chah par le visir Nizam oul Moulk. Texte persan dd.
par C. Schefer. (Publications de I'Ecole des langues orientales
vivantes, Serie
3, vol. vii.)
Dm
Jdmi'u V Tawd?ikh.)
el Tawarikh
Histoire genirale du monde par Fadl
Allah Rashid ed Din
Histoire des Mongols, ed. par E.
Blochet. E. J. W. Gibb Memorial Series, vol. xviii. London, 1911.
\h&
Djami
Riza Kuli
Khan
(Lala-Bashi).
Majma'uH
Ftisahd.
2 vols.
Teheran,
1877.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
no
London, 1891.
77ie Bustati
Translated
into prose
by W. H. Clarke.
London, 1879.
The Garden of Fragrance: a complete translation of the Bostan
of Sadi
into English verse by G. S. Davie.
London, 1S82.
With Sadi in the Garden: or the book of love; being the Ishk
or third chapter of the Bostan of the Persian poet Sadi embodied in a dialogue held in the garden of the Taj Mahal at Agra,
by Sir Edwin Arnold. 3rd ed. London, 1888.
77/1? Gulistan.
A new edition by E. B. Eastwick. Hertford,
.
1850.
cutta, 1885-8.
Letters.
Tahir Wahid.
Lucknow, 1873.
The Text and Translation of the oldest MS. of the
quatrains ascribed to ''Umar Khayydm. E. H. Allen. London,
'Umar Khayyam.
1898.
Delhi, 1847.
Mahmud
1290.
edition.
Lucknow, A.H.
LIST OF
The main
AUTHORS
Abdu
'1
Razzak, 79.
Abii Ishak (Bushak), 81, 82.
Abii '1 Fazl Ahmad"(Badi'u '1 Zaman).
28.
Abu Shukur of Balkh, 18.
Adib Sabir, 45.
heavy type.
Fighani, 89.
Firdawsi, 13, 14, 21, 24-6, 35, 45,
83, 84, 85.
Ahmad
G.
Tabrizi, 71.
Awhadi
Azur
of Maragha, 73.
(Lutf 'Ali), 97.
B.
Babur, 87.
Badi'u '1 Zamdn, 28.
Bahai = Bahau
'1
Din Amuli.
Bahar, 103.
Bahau
'1
40.
al Ghazali,
H.
Hafig
(Muhammad Shamsu
40, 82.
Banakiti, 69.
J.
Bayzawi, 17.
D.
Din Riimi,
Jalalu
Bidpai, 40.'
'1
Jurjani, 39.
Din),
104.
al Bal'ami, 21,
al
'1
7.
K.
Dawlatshah, 82.
Ka'ani, 98.
F.
Kabus
v. 'Atjir.
ibn
Washmgir, 22.
Kamal Khujandi,
Kam41i, 94.
Kasimi, 91.
80, 81.
LIST OF
112
AUTHORS
Rashidu
Katibi, 80.
Kay Kaus ibn Iskandar, 39.
Kazvvini, 65.
Khakani, 43.
Rhazes, 22.
Riza Kuli Khan, 91, 99.
Rudagi, 18-21.
Rumi,
'1
V.
Din
Jalalu
P'azlu 'llah,
66-9,
70.
Din Rumi.
'1
Khwandamir, 94.
Kutbu '1 Din Shiiazi, 65.
Sa'di, 55,
M.
Maghribi, 80.
Sam
Mahmiid Kari,
8i, 82.
lu
Minuchihri, 23.
Mir 'Abdu'l 'Al Najat, 96.
Mir 'Ali Shir Navva i, 82, 87, 89.
Mirkhwand, 79, 94.
Mirza Haydar Dnghlat, 87.
Mirza, 90.
'1
T.
83.
91.
Nashat, 98.
Nasiri Khusraw, 31, 32, 36.
'1
Nizamu
R.
Rashidi Watwat, 44.
v. also Jala-
Shani, 92.
Sharafu '1 Din 'Ali Yazdi, 79,
94.
Shaybani, 99.
Shifa'i, 92.
N.
Nasiru
Nasiru
Din Riimi.
95.
'Utbi, 28.
W.
Wassaf, 69.
Z.
39, 40.
Zaynu
'1
Zulniri, 95
Zulali, 92.
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