Taqī Kāshānī's Account of Hāfiz Poetry and His Biography

Khulāsat al-Ash’ār va Zubdat al-Afkār (‘A Brief Account of Poetry and Views) is one of the most exhaustive and useful biographies of Persian poets which, after multiple revisions, Taqī al-Dīn Kāshānī dedicated to Ibrāhīm Ādilshāh Sānī, the king of Bijapur. The work contains the biographies of many Persian poets together with examples of their poems. To gain a deeper insight into the life and poetry of the present article uses a hitherto neglected but authentic manuscript of the third chapter (Vol. 4) of the above-mentioned work, which is currently kept at the National Library of Russia. Kāshānī’s commentaries and corrections in this chapter are also used. The manuscript is introduced in the first part of this article directly quoting Kāshī’s account of the poet’s biography and poetry. In the second part, a critical evaluation of the information will be provided.