Orality and textuality in the Iranian world : patterns of interaction across the centuries /
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The volume demonstrates the cultural centrality of the oral tradition for Iranian studies. It contains contributions from scholars from various areas of Iranian and comparative studies, among which are the pre-Islamic Zoroastrian tradition with its wide network of influences in late antique Mesopotamia, notably among the Jewish milieu; classical Persian literature in its manifold genres; medieval Persian history; oral history; folklore and more. The essays in this collection embrace both the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods, both verbal and visual media, as well as various language communities (Middle Persian, Persian, Tajik, Dari) and geographical spaces (Greater Iran in pre-Islamic and Islamic medieval periods; Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan of modern times). Taken as a whole, the essays reveal the unique blending of oral and literate poetics in the texts or visual artefacts each author focuses upon, conceptualizing their interrelationship and function.
:
1 online resource (xx, 456 pages) : illustrations (some color) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004291973 :
1570-078X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Dīwān-i Jāmī. Volume 2 : Wāsiṭat al-ʿaqd, khātimat al-ḥayāh /
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Regarded by many as the last great mystical poet of medieval Persia, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī (d. 898/1492) spent the greater part of his life in Herat. As a student, he excelled in every subject he engaged in and appeared destined for an academic career. But then, in his early thirties, he went through a spiritual crisis that ended in him joining the Herat branch of the mystical Naqshbandiyya order, led by the charismatic Saʿd al-Dīn Kāshgharī (d. 860/1456). A protégé of three successive Timurid rulers in Herat, Jāmī's wide network of friendships and relations extended from spiritual and literary circles through the political to the academic. With 39.000 lines of verse and over 30 prose works to his name, Jāmī's literary production is quite overwhelming. His Dīwān , published here in two volumes, underwent various changes before he finalized it in 896/1491. This best edition so far is based on some of the oldest surviving manuscripts. 2 vols; volume 2.
:
1 online resource. :
9789004402409
9789646781146
Tadhkirat al-shuʿarāʾ /
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Born into a family of scholars and literati in Samarqand, Muḥammad 'Sulṭān' Muṭribī Samarqandī (d. 1040/1630) regarded himself as a descendant of Arghūn Āqā (d. 673/1275), viceroy of the Mongols in Khurāsān. He received a broad education with an emphasis on literature and music, first in Samarqand and then in Bukhara. His major teacher in literature in Bukhara was Ḥasan Nithārī Bukhārāʾī (d. 1004/1596). Muṭribī is well-known for his Khāṭirāt , recollections of his highly-polished conversations with the Mughal emperor Jahāngīr (d. 1627), which took place during his visit to him in Lahore in 1036/1626. The other work for which he is known is his Persian Tadhkirat al-shuʿarāʾ , a biographical dictionary of some 343 poets, emirs, and sultans, mainly from Transoxania and Badakhshān. A unique source of information on its time and modelled on a similar work by his teacher, it is based on his direct acquaintance with most of the people it describes.
:
1 online resource. :
9789004402164
9789649073354
Khulāṣat al-ashʿār wa-zubdat al-afkār. Volume 6.9 : Bakhsh-i Shīrāz wa nawāḥi-yi ān /
:
In Persian literature, tadhkira ('note', 'memorandum') works are for the most part collections of biographies of poets, combined with selections from their writings. The earliest such work is Dawlatshāh Samarqandī's Tadhkirat al-shuʿarāʾ (completed in 892/1487), which set a standard for posterity. The tadhkira genre was especially popular in the 10th/16th century and following. The work by Mīr Taqī al-Dīn Kāshānī (alive in 1016/1607) published here is an important example of this. It consists of an introduction, four divisions, and an epilogue ( khātima ), six volumes in all. From among these volumes, the epilogue listing some 394 poets from specific cities and regions in the Persianate world, many of whom were contemporaries of the author, is of special interest. Having met with many of them on his literary travels, their biographies contain a lot of information on the social and cultural climate of the time, besides new poets and poems. This volume: 6.9, Shiraz.
:
1 online resource. :
9789004404922
9786002030719
Dīwān-i Jāmī. Volume 1 : Fātiḥat al-shabāb /
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Regarded by many as the last great mystical poet of medieval Persia, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī (d. 898/1492) spent the greater part of his life in Herat. As a student, he excelled in every subject he engaged in and appeared destined for an academic career. But then, in his early thirties, he went through a spiritual crisis that ended in him joining the Herat branch of the mystical Naqshbandiyya order, led by the charismatic Saʿd al-Dīn Kāshgharī (d. 860/1456). A protégé of three successive Timurid rulers in Herat, Jāmī's wide network of friendships and relations extended from spiritual and literary circles through the political to the academic. With 39.000 lines of verse and over 30 prose works to his name, Jāmī's literary production is quite overwhelming. His Dīwān , published here in two volumes, underwent various changes before he finalized it in 896/1491. This best edition so far is based on some of the oldest surviving manuscripts. 2 vols; volume 1.
:
1 online resource. :
9789004402386
9789646781139
Dīwān-i Ishrāq /
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In early Islamic philosophy, poetry was regarded as a means to transmit the eternal truths of philosophy to the masses and to move them to virtuous conduct by the use of poetical syllogisms. We find this theory for the first time in the works of Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī (d. 339/950). In another application, poetry was used as a didactic tool in the philosophical curriculum, like Avicenna's (d. 428/1037) Urjūza fi ʼl-manṭiq or, much later, Mullā Hādī Sabzavārī's (d. 1289/1873) Manẓūma on logic and philosophy. Finally, there are the many poems which, while philosophical in spirit, were not written to be learned by heart by others but rather from personal motives. Here we can mention some of the Persian poetry ascribed to Avicenna or the philosophical poetry of Nāṣir Khusraw (d. 481/1088). The poems in this collection by Mīr Dāmād (d. 1040/1631), a prominent member of the Isfahan School in philosophy, belong to this latter category.
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Poems :
1 online resource. :
9789004404762
9789648700190
ʿArafāt al-ʿāshiqīn wa-ʿaraṣāt al-ʿārifīn. Volume 2, Bāʾ-Khāʾ /
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In Persian literature, tadhkira ('note', 'memorandum') works are for the most part collections of biographies of poets, combined with selections from their writings. The earliest such work is Dawlatshāh Samarqandī's Tadhkirat al-shuʿarāʾ (completed in 892/1487), which set a standard for posterity. The tadhkira genre was especially popular in the 10th/16th century and following. The present work by Taqī al-Dīn Awḥadī (alive in 1042/1632-33) is a good example of this. Born in Isfahan in 973/1565, as a young man his poetical talent was commended by, among others, the poet ʿUrfī Shīrāzī (d. 999/1591). After some time in the entourage of Shāh ʿAbbās I and a six-year stay in Iraq, he left Persia to try his luck at one of the courts in India. The present work, completed in 1024/1615, was written for a high official at the court of Jahāngīr. It contains about 3500 entries on Persian poets from the earliest times until his own day.
:
1 online resource. :
9789004405226
9789648700817
ʿArafāt al-ʿāshiqīn wa-ʿaraṣāt al-ʿārifīn. Volume 8, Indices /
:
In Persian literature, tadhkira ('note', 'memorandum') works are for the most part collections of biographies of poets, combined with selections from their writings. The earliest such work is Dawlatshāh Samarqandī's Tadhkirat al-shuʿarāʾ (completed in 892/1487), which set a standard for posterity. The tadhkira genre was especially popular in the 10th/16th century and following. The present work by Taqī al-Dīn Awḥadī (alive in 1042/1632-33) is a good example of this. Born in Isfahan in 973/1565, as a young man his poetical talent was commended by, among others, the poet ʿUrfī Shīrāzī (d. 999/1591). After some time in the entourage of Shāh ʿAbbās I and a six-year stay in Iraq, he left Persia to try his luck at one of the courts in India. The present work, completed in 1024/1615, was written for a high official at the court of Jahāngīr. It contains about 3500 entries on Persian poets from the earliest times until his own day.
:
1 online resource. :
9789004405578
9789648700879
ʿArafāt al-ʿāshiqīn wa-ʿaraṣāt al-ʿārifīn. Volume 1, Āʾ-Alif /
:
In Persian literature, tadhkira ('note', 'memorandum') works are for the most part collections of biographies of poets, combined with selections from their writings. The earliest such work is Dawlatshāh Samarqandī's Tadhkirat al-shuʿarāʾ (completed in 892/1487), which set a standard for posterity. The tadhkira genre was especially popular in the 10th/16th century and following. The present work by Taqī al-Dīn Awḥadī (alive in 1042/1632-33) is a good example of this. Born in Isfahan in 973/1565, as a young man his poetical talent was commended by, among others, the poet ʿUrfi-yi Shīrāzī (d. 999/1591). After some time in the entourage of Shāh ʿAbbās I and a six-year stay in Iraq, he left Persia to try his luck at one of the courts in India. The present work, completed in 1024/1615, was written for a high official at the court of Jahāngīr. It contains about 3500 entries on Persian poets from the earliest times until his own day.
:
1 online resource. :
9789004405219
9789648700800
ʿArafāt al-ʿāshiqīn wa-ʿaraṣāt al-ʿārifīn. Volume 7, Nūn-Yāʾ /
:
In Persian literature, tadhkira ('note', 'memorandum') works are for the most part collections of biographies of poets, combined with selections from their writings. The earliest such work is Dawlatshāh Samarqandī's Tadhkirat al-shuʿarāʾ (completed in 892/1487), which set a standard for posterity. The tadhkira genre was especially popular in the 10th/16th century and following. The present work by Taqī al-Dīn Awḥadī (alive in 1042/1632-33) is a good example of this. Born in Isfahan in 973/1565, as a young man his poetical talent was commended by, among others, the poet ʿUrfī Shīrāzī (d. 999/1591). After some time in the entourage of Shāh ʿAbbās I and a six-year stay in Iraq, he left Persia to try his luck at one of the courts in India. The present work, completed in 1024/1615, was written for a high official at the court of Jahāngīr. It contains about 3500 entries on Persian poets from the earliest times until his own day.
:
1 online resource. :
9789004405561
9789648700862
Sām-nāma /
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In Persian literary history, Firdawsī's (d. 411/1020) Shāh-nāma , the famous masnavi composed in celebration of the history of the kings and dynasties of Persia, is the archetypal epic poem. After the Shāh-nāma , many other epic poems saw the light, among them Asadī Ṭūsī's Garshāsp-nāma (dated 458/1066) and Īrānshāh b. Abi ʼl-Khayr's Bahman-nāma (dated 501/1107-08), but also Shīʿī adaptations celebrating the wondrous exploits of ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib and the beginnings of Shīʿism, such as Rabīʿ's ʿAlī-nāma (dated 482/1089) or Ibn Ḥusām's Khawarān-nāma (completed in 830/1427). The present masnavi is an example of an epic poem in the form of a romance, turning around the love of Sām, the grandfather of Rustam, for the daughter of the emperor of China. Previously ascribed to the 8th/14th-century poet Khwāju-yi Kirmānī, it has now been established that it is a product of later Persian folklore, blending parts of Kirmānī's Humāy u Humāyūn with elements from other tales and romances.
:
1 online resource. :
9789004406247
9786002030498
Nāmahā va munshaʾāt-i Jāmī /
:
Regarded by many as the last great mystical poet of medieval Persia, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī (d. 898/1492) spent the greater part of his life in Herat. As a student, he excelled in every subject he engaged in and appeared destined for an academic career. But then, in his early thirties, he went through a spiritual crisis that ended in him joining the Herat branch of the mystical Naqshbandiyya order, led by the charismatic Saʿd al-Dīn Kāshgharī (d. 860/1456). A protégé of three successive Timurid rulers in Herat, Jāmī's wide network of friendships and relations extended from spiritual and literary circles through the political to the academic. With 39.000 lines of verse and over 30 prose works to his name, Jāmī's literary production is quite overwhelming. The present volume, containing 433 of his letters and messages, bears witness to his great yet modest personality, his social engagement, and the expanse and variety of his network.
:
1 online resource. :
9789004401839
9789646781313
Khulāṣat al-ashʿār wa-zubdat al-afkār. Volume 6.2 : Bakhsh-i Iṣfahān /
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In Persian literature, tadhkira ('note', 'memorandum') works are for the most part collections of biographies of poets, combined with selections from their writings. The earliest such work is Dawlatshāh Samarqandī's Tadhkirat al-shuʿarāʾ (completed in 892/1487), which set a standard for posterity. The tadhkira genre was especially popular in the 10th/16th century and following. The work by Mīr Taqī al-Dīn Kāshānī (alive in 1016/1607) published here is an important example of this. It consists of an introduction, four divisions, and an epilogue ( khātima ), six volumes in all. From among these volumes, the epilogue listing some 394 poets from specific cities and regions in the Persianate world, many of whom were contemporaries of the author, is of special interest. Having met with many of them on his literary travels, their biographies contain a lot of information on the social and cultural climate of the time, besides new poets and poems. This volume: 6.2, Isfahan.
:
1 online resource. :
9789004404694
9789648700312
Tarjuma-yi manẓūm-i waṣiyyat-i Imām ʿAlī (ʿalayhi al-salām) bih Imām Ḥusayn (ʿalayhi al-salām) : Kuhantarīn tarjuma-yi manẓūm-i Fārsī az kalām-i ʿAlawī /
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In Shīʿī literature, there exist several texts containing the last will ( waṣiyya ) of ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, son-in-law of the Prophet and, in Shīʿism, his rightful successor. These last wishes were addressed to his sons Ḥasan and Ḥusayn and to the Muslim community at large. Transmitted through various sources, they are important insofar as each of them, in its own way, justifies the Shīʿī view on ʿAlī's succession after he was murdered in Kufa in the year 40/661. This volume contains two Persian versions-one in verse, the other in prose-of ʿAlī's last will and injunctions addressed to Ḥusayn, the third imam. The original Arabic prose text has come down to us through various ancient sources, the oldest one dating from the fourth/tenth century. The Persian translation in verse was made by the poet Sayyid Ḥasan Ghaznawī (d. 556/1161), the prose version possibly around 910/1504 by a scribe named Muʿīn al-Dīn Munshī Shīrāzi.
:
1 online resource. :
9789004405653
9786002030023
Rubāʿiyyāt-i Ḥakīm Khayyām /
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The rubāʿī or quatrain is a short Persian poem in a special metre with a rhyme suitable to its form. Its use is not bound to any specific field, there being philosophical, satirical, romantic, lyrical and other types of quatrain. In the past, it was believed that the rubāʿī was a special form of the hazaj metre of Arabic poetry. Meanwhile, it has been established that it is in fact Iranian, its origin being the pre-Islamic tarānah or song for feasting and wine. In the West the quatrain was rendered immortal through the work of ʿUmar al-Khayyām (d. ca. 517/1123). A native of Nishapur, he was a respected mathematician and astronomer, as well as a recognized expert in poetry. Many of the quatrains ascribed to him are, however, spurious. This volume contains a reprint of Yār Aḥmad Rashīdī's selection (dated 867/1460), first published in 1953, followed by two other works in Persian, also by Khayyām.
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Includes facsimile text originally published in Istanbul, 1953. :
1 online resource. :
9789004404885
9789648700374
The medieval reception of the Shahnama as a mirror for princes /
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Nasrin Askari explores the medieval reception of Firdausī's Shāhnāma , or Book of Kings (completed in 1010 CE) as a mirror for princes. Through her examination of a wide range of medieval sources, Askari demonstrates that Firdausī's oeuvre was primarily understood as a book of wisdom and advice for kings and courtly elites. In order to illustrate the ways in which the Shāhnāma functions as a mirror for princes, Askari analyses the account about Ardashīr, the founder of the Sasanian dynasty, as an ideal king in the Shāhnāma . Within this context, she explains why the idea of the union of kingship and religion, a major topic in almost all medieval Persian mirrors for princes, has often been attributed to Ardashīr.
:
1 online resource (398 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004307919 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Mathnawi-yi Haft awrang. Volume 1 : Silsilat al-dhahab, Salmān wa-Absāl, Tuḥfat al-aḥrār wa-suḥbat al-abrār /
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Regarded by many as the last great mystical poet of medieval Persia, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī (d. 898/1492) spent the greater part of his life in Herat. As a student, he excelled in every subject he engaged in and appeared destined for an academic career. But then, in his early thirties, he went through a spiritual crisis that ended in him joining the Herat branch of the mystical Naqshbandiyya order, led by the charismatic Saʿd al-Dīn Kāshgharī (d. 860/1456). A protégé of three successive Timurid rulers in Herat, Jāmī's wide network of friendships and relations extended from spiritual and literary circles through the political to the academic. With 39.000 lines of verse and over 30 prose works to his name, Jāmī's literary production is quite overwhelming. Highly imaginative in their treatment of the human condition, Jāmī's seven long mathnawī s contained in the present two-volume edition bear witness to his great artistic talents and wide intellectual horizon. 2 vols; volume 1.
:
Poems.
Vol. 2 edited by: Aʻlākhān Afṣaḥʹzād and Ḥusayn Aḥmad Tarbiyat. :
1 online resource. :
9789004402423
9789646781030
Rustam nāma : Dāstān-i manẓūm-i Musalmān shudan-i Rustam bih dast-i Imām ʿAlī ('alayhi al-salām) bih inḍimām-i Muʿjiz-nāma-yi Mawlā-yi muttaqiyān /
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In his Meccan days Muḥammad's message was rejected by many as a threat to the values and interests of the community. Among his opponents, there was a merchant called Naḍr b. Ḥārith. From his visits to the city of Ḥīra in Mesopotamia, a cultural melting-pot of Iranian, Christian, and pagan Arab beliefs and traditions, he had brought back stories from Iranian folklore, especially about Rustam and Isfandyār, with which he tried to attract the attention of those listening to Muḥammad's speeches, away from the latter's revolutionary message. This explains why the religious elite of the Persianate world rejected Iranian epic folklore as contrary to the message of Shīʿī Islam, Rustam in particular being viewed as incompatibele with the person of Imam ʿAlī. But folklore being difficult to eradicate, Rustam was often depicted as a Muslim convert and enemy-turned-friend of ʿAlī, like in this poem from Safavid times. A miracle story involving ʿAlī accompanies it.
:
1 online resource. :
9789004405042
9789648700657
Mathnawi-yi Haft awrang. Volume 2 : Yūsuf wa-Sulaykhā, Laylā wa-Majnūn, wa-Khiradnāma-yi Iskandar /
:
Regarded by many as the last great mystical poet of medieval Persia, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī (d. 898/1492) spent the greater part of his life in Herat. As a student, he excelled in every subject he engaged in and appeared destined for an academic career. But then, in his early thirties, he went through a spiritual crisis that ended in him joining the Herat branch of the mystical Naqshbandiyya order, led by the charismatic Saʿd al-Dīn Kāshgharī (d. 860/1456). A protégé of three successive Timurid rulers in Herat, Jāmī's wide network of friendships and relations extended from spiritual and literary circles through the political to the academic. With 39.000 lines of verse and over 30 prose works to his name, Jāmī's literary production is quite overwhelming. Highly imaginative in their treatment of the human condition, Jāmī's seven long mathnawī s contained in the present two-volume edition bear witness to his great artistic talents and wide intellectual horizon. 2 vols; volume 2.
:
Poems.
Vol. 2 edited by: Aʻlākhān Afṣaḥʹzād and Ḥusayn Aḥmad Tarbiyat. :
1 online resource. :
9789004402447
9789646781054
Dīwān-i ghazaliyāt-i Asīr-i Shahristānī /
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Persian poetry of the pre-modern era is divided into three successive styles, each belonging to a different period: Khurāsānī, ʿIrāqī and Hindī. The Hindī style's name comes from Safavid times, during which it developed; poets no longer enjoyed the shah's patronage, so that many of them went to India, where Persian poetry had flourished from Ghaznavid times (11th-12th cent.). The Hindī style is often regarded as being of a lesser kind than the Khurāsānī or ʿIrāqī ones, but has the merit of having ended the decline that Persian poetry was suffering from at the time and also, by its accessible language and subject matter, of having brought poetry within reach of the ordinary man. The poems of Asīr Shahristānī (11th/17th cent.), whose ghazal s are published here, are written in the Hindī style. Popular in India, even if he never went there, their appreciation in Iran has varied.
:
1 online resource. :
9789004404137
9789646781733