From the Delicate Imagery1 of the Isfahani Style to the Remote Imagery2 of the Indian Style: Two Poetic Styles of the Safavid Era

In this article, efforts are made to shed light on the great controversy over the question whether the poetic style of the Safavid Era was Isfahani or Indian and on its metamorphosis from the late 19th century onwards, i.e. after the so-called ‘the peak of the Manner of Incidence’3. The 11th century A. H. witnessed a movement towards Delicate Imagery by poets living in central Iran which was later transferred to India by immigrant Iranian poets. The Persian Delicate Imagery was welcomed by Indian Persian-writing poets but it gradually transformed into Remote Imagery in the 12th century A. H. which was characterized by excessive use of complex imagination and farfetched visions and concepts. This article makes a distinction between these two different poetic styles and uses the data and evidence remaining from the literature in these two centuries with direct reference to the words of the poets. Accordingly, the poetry of the 11th A. H. century is identified as Isfahani which is characterized by delicate imagery and that of the 12th century A. H. identified as Indian characterized by remote imagery. Finally, the aesthetic criteria of the two styles are introduced and a relationship is established between the Indian remote imagery and the Indian rhetoric.