Month: September 2011

Persian historian and poet of the Timurid period. Born in Yazd ( d. 1454 ), he was the favourite of the Timurid ruler Shah Rukh and in 1429 became tutor to the captured young Cingzid Yunus Khan, to whom he dedicated many poems. Yazdi had a high reputation as a literati and poet. He wrote poetry under the takahluss of Sharaf, he wrote a commentary  on the Burda ode of al Basiri, a work on the...

Indo Persian  poet of 17th Century AD. Died 1648, and was buried in Kashmir. Kuli was not formally educated. A native of the Shamlu tribe of the Turks and was a native of Tehran. In Persian he served under Mirza Ald Allah Khan, the Governor of Gilan. Salim addressed his poems to Safawid rulers such as Shah Abbass 1 and also Shah Safi. In 1631 he travelled to India to seek patronage, where he...

Jamal al Din Salman b.Muhammad-i- Sawadji Persian poet , and panegyrist of Djalayirids ( a Mongol dynasty ). Born in the 14th century AD in Sawa ( modern day Iran ). Died 1376. His Father held the post of Financial Administrator of the Ilkhanids and amongst the patrons of Salman was the Vizier , Ghiyath al Din Muhammad b. Rashid al Din Fadl Allah. It was Dilshad Khatoon , widow of IIlkhan Abu...

Mirza Rajab Ali ( 1787-1867 ). Lived in Lucknow ( present day India ) and was the early writer of Urdu fiction. He was well educated and had command of Arabic, Persian and Urdu. Surur also excelled in calligraphy and also was a good musician. Surur was trained in poetry by Nawazish, a student of Suz, and was a close friend of Mirza Ghalib, who regarded him as a leading Urdu prose writer of his...

Important Turkish poetess who lived towards the end of the 15th century AD. She was the descendent of Pir Ilyas and her father was a Kadi wo wrote poetry under the Makhlas Belayi. Mihri belonged to the literary circle of Price Ahmed and almost all her Kasidas in her diwan are addressed to him. She is known to have fallen in love numerous times and sang of her loves in her Ghazals and the `...

A female Persian poet whose life is difficult to trace. She is reoprted to have lived between the 11th and 12th centuries AD, most probably in Azarbaijan. Mashati was given the title of Dabir/Dabira ( scribe ). She is presented as a poet and singer , not a panegyrist. She is known to have mainly written quatrains, their dominating themes are the lovers complaint of the absence , lack of...

Mirza Muhammad Tahir Wahid Persian poet , Court historian, epistle writer, and state dignitary. Born in Kazwin at the start of 17th centrury AD and probably died in 1698 AD. His family had served in the state Chancery and Wahid had learnt the traditional sciences and had also acquired a good knowledge of accountancy and secretarial work. He became a Court Historian to Shah Abbass 11 ( 1642- 166...

A mystic who wrote in a dialect of Persian language. According to Rida Kuli Khan ( 19th century AD ) Baba Tahir lived in the period of Daylami rule in 1010AD. He may have been the contemporary of Ibn Sina , who dies in Hamdan in 1037 AD. In the quarter of Khuurramabad there is a quarter bearing the name Baba Tahir. Since all the facts and traditions connect the poet with Hmadan and Luristan , it...

Zahir al din Abu al Fadl Tahir b.Muhammad Al Faryabi- Persian poet of 12th century AD, born at Faryab  ( modren day Afghanistan ) on 1156 AD. Faryabi served a number of patrons and was also a Court poet to the ruler of Nishapur and eventually retired in Tabriz where he died in 1201 AD and was buried in the cemetery of the poets , called Surkhab. His Diwan was collected by Shams i Sudjasi and his...

Nazim Farrukh Husayn- A Persian poet born in Harat ( modern day Afghanistan ) in 1607 ( AD ). Husayn spent many years in the town of Jahangir Nagar , India. He was a Court poet of Belerbegis of Harat. His greatest work – ” Yusuf and Zuleikha ” , completed in 1661, was dedicated to one of the Governors-Abbass Kali Khan Shamlu. This work is an imitation of Ferdowsis work of the same name....