مجله آینه میراث
سال دوازدهم شماره 3 (پیاپی 55، پاییز و زمستان 1393)

The present article is a brief study of the life-story of Baha al-Din Ali b. Isa of Erbil, author of The Kashf al-Ghomma fi Ma‘refat al-A’imma, glancing through some of his most outstanding personal dimensions, such as his Kurdish descent, probable Shi’i orientation, and divani (governmental) standing. Since Erbili adopts a special approach, in one the chapters of the Kashf al-Ghomma, to Imam Reza’s life and his relations with the Abbasid Caliph Ma’mun, this part of the book is given special attention as a prominent chapter presenting Erbili’s views.

Azod of Yazd is an 8th /14th century poet and statesman. From early youth, he took up divani responsibilities ascending high governmental posts. In addition to poetry, he possessed mastery in the sciences of the time. Hafiz, in some of his ghazals, was influenced by Azod. An imperfect manuscript of his Divan, kept at Noor Osmaniyeh Library in Istanbul, contains his qasidas (odes), ghazals, tarji‘bands (stanzaic refrains), and qit‘as. Of his prose works, only his laudatory introduction to the Collection of Letters by Rashid al-Din Fazlollah of Hamadan, has survived. Among his descendants, his son, Jalal, was a famous poet, and his grandchild known as Ibn-e Jalal also wrote poetry.

The story of Sheikh San‘an is one of those stories in Persian literature that has always been favoured, and such poets as Farid al-Din Attar of Neyshabur have put it into verse. Kurdish poets also have translated the story and recreated it, an interesting example of this being the poem “Sheikh San‘an” in Gurani dialect by an anonymous poet. Since comparison between literary works in different languages is one of the effective ways of understanding the intellectual, cultural and emotional characteristics of people possessed of culture and literature, in the present article, the writers, while presenting certain details about the personality of Sheikh San‘an and his life, try to examine him in the Kurdish literature. Then, the Kurdish manuscripts of the story are presented, and finally the Gurani version of Sheikh San‘an will be compared with that of Attar’s so that the degree of his influence on the Kurdish version can be decided.

Certain studies have been conducted on the great treasure of Persian manuscripts, which seem hardly enough though, compared with the volume of work yet undone. One of the issues calling for urgent investigation is the past generations’ attitude towards variations of Persian manuscripts, a topic scantily dealt with, thus an enormous number of questions have been left unaddressed. Answers to such questions will demonstrate part of our unattended culture, and can most probably be of benefit in today’s critical editing of manuscripts. Here we plan to show Jami’s stand on the variant manuscripts of Iraqi’s Lama’aat and, then, we will briefly discuss his judgment and the validity or otherwise of his views, summarizing his comments in the end.

Khwaja Majd al-Din Hamgar (607-686 H./1210-1287 CE), one of the prominent poets in the 7th century Iran, lived in one of the most important periods of this country’s social and literary history, a period coinciding socio-politically with the Mongol incursion into Iran, and with Sa‘di’s appearance on literary scene. The study of his Divan is thus useful for understanding the 7th century literary currents, and a necessity for a fresh recognition of the poet’s life and time. In this biographical examination, we have attempted to present a depiction of Majd Hamgar’s personality, life and the conditions he lived in. His name, genealogy, children, birthplace, birth and death dates, journeys, career, personality and artistic talents are amongst the important topics discussed here. In order to obtain such information, in addition to Majd Hamgar’s Divan, biographical dictionaries, literary histories and other sources have been consulted.

Of Shah Nosrat al-Din Kabudjameh, poet and eminent commander in the 6th/12th century, some scattered verses have remained in different sources. In spite of his interesting biography and ups and downs in his life and his impact on the politics and literature of his time, no accurate and trustworthy research into his political and literary life has been undertaken. Various sources have made numerous references to his political and literary career. This entails close study of his life. Furthermore, out of his five extant qasidehs, only one, which has survived with some defects in sources such as Munes al-Ahrar, Taj al-Din Ahmad Vizier’s Bayaz, Majma’ al-Fosaha and so on, has yet been published while the other unpublished four both demonstrate his poetic style and shed some light on his life. This article presents an investigation into the state of and happenings in the poet’s life, as well as an attempt to correct his verses based on the only known manuscript of his poetry.

Meshmesheh is a fatal disease common between man and perissodactyla, which has since long attracted the attention of many people in different civilizations, including Muslim zoologists of earlier times, thus being named variously. Amongst its different names, the Persian term khonam is noteworthy. Studies indicate that the concept behind this term goes well beyond the description of the disease meshmesheh, and has originally been applied to every kind of lymphangitis, regardless of the sort of pus oozing from it. Khonam can therefore be employed as a substitute term for “ulcerative lymphangitis”. In this article, by examining the term and its equivalents in both old and modern medical and zoological texts and considering the views of physicians and veterinarians from various centuries, the development of its meaning and application is discussed. Besides, some research is done on the etymology of khonam and a number of etymological possibilities are suggested.

Religious epics are subsumed under historical epics, written about religious figures or ceremonies. This kind of epic has long since produced very many examples, but the question of their formation, their features and their place in the Persian language and literature has not been addressed in a comprehensive way.In the present article, by reviewing the epics and its kinds, the manner of their development, characteristics and standing have been studied. It has been demonstrated, for instance, that the composing of religious epics does not merely result from the decline of national epics, and that even in the greatest national epic of Persians, namely Firdowsi’s Shahnameh, kinds of epics (mythical, national, historical, and religious) all come together. Secondly, due to strong religious incentives, religious epics in Iran present numerous instances, each having their own features and qualities, though many of them are poor in language and diction and demonstrate clear indications of imitating Firdowsi.

The reason why “The Song of Bukhara” has become of such great importance in our academic studies is that it is considered as one of the earliest songs in Persian language. This article while making a brief review of the historical course of opinions and criticisms about the song, presents a different interpretation of it. Arguing for or against some of the views of the critics and their analyses, we will make a more accurate assessment of the song on the one hand, and present a fresh analysis of its contents in the light of its historical development and ideological significance, on the other.

One of the literary genres of New Persian, which was used by the Zoroastrians in the Islamic era for translating myths, rites, rituals, and laws of the Zoroastrian religion from Avesta and Zand into Persian, is known as farsi-e Zardoshti (Zoroastrian Persian). This group of Persian texts is divided into two sub-groups: old and new. Examples of the old ones are texts referred to as Sad dar Nasr and Sad dar Boundahish. Sad dar nasr, which may be regarded the oldest Persian Zoroastrian text, is a text in Persian script, with Avestan and Pahlavi words and phrases representing Zoroastrians’ beliefs and edicts, whose date of compilation is said to go well before the year 864 of Yazdgird (late 15th and early 16th centuries). The Sad dar Boundahish is also a prose text in Persian and Avestan script allegedly dating back before the year 896 of Yazdgird. Semantically, syntactically and thematically the book is of certain importance. In the present article, these two important Persian Zoroastrian texts and their known manuscripts are introduced.

Sadr al-Din ‘Ayni (1256-1333 S./ 1878-1878) is counted as a pioneer of modern Persian-Tajiki literature in the 20th century Transoxiana. He was a critic, poet, writer, historiographer and linguist, and has created works in each and every one of these areas, most of which play a great part in the literary and socio-cultural transformations in the 20th century Transoxiana. ‘Ayni’s especial approach in most of his works gains meaning in the light of the particular definition of the Russian Socialism. Taking a critical look, the present article seeks to find answers to a few questions concerning the life and works of this great man, his attitude towards Iran, and his standing in Iran’s literary circles. Sadr al-Din ‘Ayni’s works, inspired by his thoughts, constitute a point where both his free-thinking and ideological commitment can be discerned; and the Russia’s Revolution of October 1917 is the beginning point of this dichotomy. A number of ‘Ayni’s works, such as Ketab-e yad-dashtha (Book of Memoirs) and Jalladan-e Bukhara (The Hangmen of Bukhara) belong to his former way of thinking, and his novels, poetry and articles to the latter way.