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Art. XXVI.—Biographies of Persian Poets contained in Ch. V, §6, of the Tárikh-i-Guzída, or “Select History,” of Ḥamdu'lláh Mustawfí of Qazwín
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
Extract
In pursuance of the plan set forth in my article on the Sources of Dawlatsháh (J.R.A.S. for Jan., 1899, pp. 37–69), I propose in this place to give a translation of that section (the sixth of the fifth chapter) of the Táríkh-i- Guzída which treats of the Persian poets. On the importance of that excellent historical manual, which I hope to include in my Persian Text Series, I have already insisted in the above-mentioned article (pp. 39, 40, and 53–54); and of this particular section, to which my attention was especially directed by the references made to it by Dawlatsháh, I long ago prepared a text and translation. These I was more than once on the point of publishing, but certain difficulties remained, on each revision, insoluble; and I waited in the hope of obtaining further material or fuller light. Of these difficulties the chief were the so-called “Pahlaví” (i.e. dialect) verses of Abu'l-Májid Ráyagání, U'yánj or U'tánj, Júláha of Abhar, 'Izzu'd-Dín Hamadání, Káfí-i-Karají, and other poets, who, not content with the classical language, chose to employ the dialects of their native places as the vehicle of their thoughts. These dialects have, in most cases, either become extinct, or undergone great changes, since the time when the Táríkh-i-Guzída was written (a.h. 730 = a.d. 1330); and since we possess but little knowledge of them, while such fragments as are preserved have generally been hopelessly mutilated and corrupted by a succession of scribes, copying one from another, to whom they were as unintelligible as they are to us, there is but little hope that we shall ever arrive at a complete understanding of them.
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References
page 725 note 1 This is the section of which the translation follows. The old and complete MS. at Shíráz, which my friend Mr. Guy le Strange caused to be collated with another MS. in his possession, contains also biographies of Commentators, Jurisconsults, Philosophers, Astronomers, Physicians, etc. For the kindness with which Mr. le Strange freely placed at my disposal all his materials, I desire here to express my deep gratitude.
page 725 note 2 A French translation of this chapter of the Guzída was published by de Meynard, M. Barbier in the Journal Asiatique for 1857 (series v, vol. x)Google Scholar.
page 725 note 3 The MSS. which have been utilised for this article are marked with an asterisk.
page 727 note 1 This poem is given in full on pp. 704–5 of the Lakhnáw ed. of Anwarí's Kulliyyát (a.h. 1297, a.d. 1880).
page 727 note 2 K. 
; L.1
.
page 727 note 3 K. adds 
.
page 727 note 4 S. reads 
for 
.
page 727 note 5 For 
C.1 has 
; L.1
; K. 
.
page 727 note 6 For 
C.1, L.1, and K. read 
.
page 727 note 7 C.2
S. 
; C.1
.
page 727 note 8 C.2
K. 
.
page 727 note 9 C.2 omits these two hemiatichs.
page 728 note 1 This poem occurs on pp. 593–4 of the Lakhnáw ed. of Anwarí's Kulliyyát (a.h. 1297, a.d. 1880).
page 728 note 2 K. om. []; S. 
ed. 
.
page 728 note 3 For 
K. has 
.
page 728 note 4 C.1 has 
for 
.
page 728 note 5 C.1
; ed., K., L.1
; S. 
.
page 728 note 6 S. has 
for 
; K. 
.
page 728 note 7 For 
C.1 has 
; S., ed. 
.
page 728 note 8 C.2
.
page 728 note 9 C.2
; K. 
.
page 728 note 10 L.1 omits this couplet.
page 729 note 1 L.1 transposes 
and 
.
page 729 note 2 C.2
; ed. 
.
page 729 note 3 L.1
.
page 729 note 4 S. omits this couplet.
page 729 note 5 Ed. 
.
page 729 note 6 L.1
.
page 729 note 7 S. 
; ed. 
.
page 729 note 8 Ed. 
.
page 729 note 9 S. 
.
page 729 note 10 Ed. adds .
page 729 note 11 C.1, C.2
; S. 
.
page 729 note 12 C.1, C.2
; K. 
.
page 729 note 13 For 
K. has 
.
page 729 note 14 “The locust's foot” was the ant's offering to Solomon, and is used metaphorically for any humble present or poor possession.
page 730 note 1 So Náṣir-i-Khusraw (Díván, ed. Tabríz, a.h. 1280, p. 225):— 
“Quaff thou the cup of date-wine; for me suffice
The black ink and the pen as wine and goblet.”
page 730 note 2 I.e. “my material arm.” The services which the poet can render are spiritual and intellectual.
page 730 note 3 I.e., God hath prevented me from going back to the courtier's arts.
page 730 note 4 I.e., the dark blue Ṣúfí cloak and the humble cottage, to which the poet alludes earlier in his poem, sufficiently indicate his renunciation of worldly aims.
page 730 note 5 Concerning this pornograpbical work, see Jámí's, Baháristán, Const, ed. of a.h. 1294, pp. 78–79Google Scholar; the Journal Asiatique for 1827, vol. x, p. 255Google Scholar; and my forthcoming edition of Dawlatsháh, p. 72.
page 731 note 1 The circumstances of this murder are detailed by Dawlatsháh (p. 93).
page 731 note 2 C.1, C.2 have 
for 
.
page 731 note 3 L.1
.
page 732 note 1 L.1
.
page 732 note 2 L.1
; K. 
.
page 732 note 3 These three couplets occur in S. only.
page 732 note 4 L.1
.
page 732 note 5 C.1, C.2
.
page 732 note 6 K. 
; C.1, C.2
.
page 733 note 1 The allusion is to the Egyptian women, to each of whom Zulaykhá gave a knife and an orange just as Joseph was about to enter the room, and who, confounded by his beauty, inadvertently cut their hands instead of the fruit. The wax guttering down the candle is here compared to the blood gushing down their arms. Biting the hand indicates remorse; biting the finger, amazement.
page 733 note 2 The curious idiom in this line (. . 
. . 
) appears to be copied from the Arabic.
page 733 note 3 L.1, K. 
; S. 
. The full explanation of these difficult verses given below has enabled me to reconstruct the text with considerable certainty, so that I have not thought it necessary to note more than the principal variants.
page 733 note 4 K. 
.
page 733 note 5 S. has 
for 
; L.1
for 
.
page 734 note 1 L.1, K. 
.
page 734 note 2 L.1
.
page 734 note 3 In the text of S. 
.
page 736 note 1 So pointed in S. “Mah-satí” (
). A similar pronunciation is indicated in the Biographies of Celebrated Women entitled Khayratun Ḥusánun, lithographed at Ṭihrán in a.h. 1307 (vol. iii, pp. 103–104), where the etymology of the name ia given aa Mih “great” and Sití “lady,” though other derivations (Mah-aatí, Mih-astí) are also discusaed.
page 736 note 2 K. 
, which seems a better reading, though not so strongly supported by manuscript authority.
page 736 note 3 This is equivalent to saying “I will play with fire and not get burued.”
page 736 note 4 L.1
.
page 736 note 5 C.1, C.2
.
page 736 note 6 C.2 has 
.
page 737 note 1 S. 
for 
.
page 737 note 2 The last seven couplets are omitted by S., and the last six by L.1.
page 737 note 3 Metaphor for moles or beauty-spots on the cheeks.
page 737 note 4 I.e. the mouth or lip.
page 737 note 5 The cypress typifies a tall, shapely form; and the poet, by the rhetorical figure called 
, whereby a real fact is explained by a fanciful and poetical cause, accounts for the cypress being rooted in the ground by its having beaten its head (the sign of lamentation), in despair of emulating such grace, so much as to drive its root “like a nail” into the ground.
page 738 note 1 L.1 has 
twice; while 
occurs in Add. 7,630 of the British Museum.
page 738 note 2 For the reasons already given, I cannot pretend to establish the correct text of these dialect-verses, and therefore simply print the readings of the MSS. to which I have been able to obtain access.
page 739 note 1 L.3=Add. 7,630 of the British Museum, dated a.h. 1009.
page 739 note 2 Omitted in L.1
page 739 note 3 C.1 adds: “Khayármí (
) is a village in the Qazwín district.”
page 739 note 4 C.1 reads 
; L.1
; P.2
. C.2, L.1, L.2, P.2, and other MSS, omit all, or nearly all, of this passage.
page 741 note 1 To these two words Baron Rosen adds in his transcript the following note: “Plutôt 
seul et non pas 
.”
page 741 note 2 C.1 reads 
for 
.
page 741 note 3 C.2, L.1, L.2 read 
.
page 741 note 4 C.1
; C.2
.
page 741 note 5 C.1; L.1
; K. 
.
page 741 note 6 C.1 reads 
for 
.
page 741 note 7 C.2 and L.2 have 
for 
.
page 742 note 1 L.1, L.2 om. []; K. reads 
for 
.
page 742 note 2 L.2
.
page 742 note 3 C.2, L.1, L.2 read 
for 
.
page 742 note 4 K. om. [].
page 742 note 5 L.1, L.2, K. 
.
page 742 note 6 K., L.2 omit [
], for which L.1 reads .
page 742 note 7 L.2 reads 
.
page 742 note 8 These very coarse verses are given, with a good many variants, by Dawlatsháh (pp. 70–71 of my forthcoming edition) in his biography of Abu'l-'Alá of Ganja; and also (with French translation) by Khanikof in his excellent monograph on Kháqání (Journal Asiatique for 1864; Mémoire sur Khâcâni, pp. 14–15 of the tirage-à-part). The text of the second piece here given is so far less offensive than those alluded to in this note that it contains a retraction and an apology, whereas the more usual form is well described by Khanikof as “tout miel au commencement et tout fiel à. la fin.”
page 743 note 1 Since 
and are seldom distinguished in the older MSS., and vowelpoints are seldom inserted, the form of this name is douhtful to me. From a verse cited by Dawlatsháh (p. 43, 1. 4, of my forthcoming edition) it would appear that he adopted the first form.
page 743 note 2 So L.1 Other MSS. have “in that language” or “dialect.”
page 743 note 3 The whole of this poem is given by Dawlatsháh (pp. 182–184 of my edition), who ascribes it to Púr Bahá-yi-Jámí. This poet is the subject of the next notice (No. 17), and a transposition of these two articles in some MSS. of the Guzída (e.g. L.1 and L.2) would lead anyone using them to arrive at the same conclusion as Dawlatsháh.
page 743 note 4 For 
C.1 has 
; C.2 and S. 
; L.1
; K. 
.
page 744 note 1 L.2 has 
.
page 744 note 2 C.1 has 
.
page 744 note 3 L.2 has: 
.
page 744 note 4 L.2 has Jamálu'd-Dín.
page 744 note 5 C.1 has 
for 
.
page 744 note 6 L.2 omits these two couplets, and L.1 the second of them.
page 745 note 1 L.2 omits the iirst of these couplets, and L.1 both of them.
page 745 note 2 This couplet is wanting in L.1 and L.3
page 745 note 3 Over 
the word 
is written as a correction or a variant.
page 746 note 1 This couplet is wanting in L.1 and L.3
page 746 note 2 Wanting in S., L.1, L.2, and L.3
page 746 note 3 L.2 has Jalálu'd-Dín.
page 747 note 1 L.1 omits this and all the remaining verses except the refrain, to which it prefixes the words: 
. L.2 omits this and the next three verses.
page 748 note 1 See my forthcoming edition of Dawlatsháh, pp. 104–105, where the first verse of the poem, as well as the verse here cited, is given in full.
page 748 note 2 C.2 has: '
. L.1 has: 
.
page 748 note 3 L.1 reads 
for 
.
page 749 note 1 According to Dawlatsháh (p. 251, 1. 15, of my forthcoming edition) the proper title of this work is the Rawḍatu'l-Azhár, but Ḥájí Khalífa (No. 6,629) confirms the Guzída.
page 749 note 2 L.3 has 
for 
.
page 749 note 3 For 
C.1 reads 
.
page 749 note 4 L.1 omits all the following verses, and L.2 all except the last.
page 749 note 5 For 
C.2 reads 
.
page 750 note 1 L.2 reads 
for 
.
page 750 note 2 “Smoke of the heart” is a common metaphor for sighs.
page 750 note 3 Because the “heart” or pith of the reed is removed to make it into a flute.
page 751 note 1 C.1
; C.2
; L.1
; L.2
. Cf. n. 4 on next page.
page 751 note 2 L.2
.
page 751 note 3 C.1 has 
for 
; L.2 and S. 
.
page 751 note 4 S., L.1
.
page 751 note 5 L.2 omits this and the next five verses.
page 752 note 1 L.1 omits this and the next four verses. The MSS., except S., read 
for 
.
page 752 note 2 C.1 and C.2 have 
for 
.
page 752 note 3 For 
C.1 and C.2 have 
.
page 752 note 4 C.1
. The word-play in this line confirms the reading Bikrání.
page 752 note 5 C.2 has 
for 
; L.2
.
page 752 note 6 L.2 transposes 
and 
.
page 752 note 7 S. has 
for 
.
page 752 note 8 L.1 omits this line. C.1 reads: '
.
page 753 note 1 Or “powerful” or “precious,” for the word 
has both meanings.
page 753 note 2 I.e. “of thy poems.”
page 754 note 1 This name is doubtful; the reading 
also occurs.
page 755 note 1 Or Mushrif, or Musharrif, or Sharaf.
page 756 note 1 C.1 reads 
.
page 757 note 1 This quatrain is ascribed by Whinfield (No. 195 of his edition, p. 133) to 'Umar Khayyám, as also im the answer to it (No. 144, p. 99), which is here (No. 50, infra) attributed to 'Izzu'd-Dín Karají.
page 758 note 1 Literally, “hath given a horse (knight) and a rook (castle).” The metaphor applies to the game of chess. Cf. Bústán, ed. Graf, , p. 145, 1. 70Google Scholar: “A beggar [so wily] that he could put a saddle on a male lion, or give a knight and a queen to Abú Zayd.” (Abú Zayd is the Persian Zukertort.)
page 758 note 2 A paraphrase of Qur'án xvii, 83.
page 758 note 3 See Rieu's, Persian Suppl., pp. 161–2Google Scholar.
page 758 note 4 C.1 reads 
for 
.
page 759 note 1 C.2 omits this life.
page 760 note 1 C.1 has 
for 
.
page 760 note 2 C.1
; C.2
.
page 761 note 1 For 
C.2 has 
.
page 761 note 2 C.1 has 
for 
.
page 762 note 1 None of the MSS. contain any notice of this poet, hut some of them (e.g. C.1), by omitting the next title, make it appear that what is said of Fakhru'd-Dín applies to 'Asjadí.