A New Study on the Biography and Works of Valeh Daqestani

Ali Qoli Khan Valeh Daqestani is one of the twelfth century (AH) poets who was born in 1124 in a Daqestani family and went to India in 1146. In India، he entered the court of Gurkani kings and did military as well as court jobs until 1170 when he died. His Divan consists of 12 odes، 199 sonnets، 8 Qet’ehs، 5 Mathnavis، 476 quatrains، 20 couplets and 36 one-verses which are in all not exceeding 3170 Persian stanzas and a few Turkish and Urdu verses. Most of his poems are in the form of sonnet and quatrain. In composing his poems، he paid attention to the manner of poets like Anvari in ode، Hafiz and Naziri Nishaburi in sonnet and Nizami Ganjavi in Mathnavi. Most of his poems are romantic and for showing separation from his beloved Khadijeh Sultan، the very person who made him Valeh. She was the daughter of his uncle and they had been grown with each other from childhood. The invasion of Afghans and the Nadir’s dominance over Isfahan separated them and led to his infatuation and finally compulsive immigration to India. The description of this sad separation has been reflected vastly in his poems as well as the works of his contemporaries like Mathnavi “Valeh and Sultan” by Faqir Dehlavi. In spite of possibility of well living in India، he had a very simple and dervish-like living and accompanied the poor. He is a Shiite poet and has some poems in praise of Imam Ali and satire of some of his contemporaries. The similarity of his name with other poets has led some catalogue-makers into mistake and consequently the poems of other Valehs have been recorded under his name. This article aims to shed light on some corners of his life and career.