The mystery of the authorship of the Majales al-Oshshaq

In the history of Persian literature, the Tadhkera-ye Majales al-Oshshaq
(Collection of the Lovers’ Discourses) has been commonly imputed to two individuals: Soltan Hoseyn Bayqara, and Kamal al-Din Hoseyn Gazargahi, one of the scholars at the Soltan Hoseyn’s court. Even though, in the text of the book itself, its author has patently been stated as Soltan Hoseyn, scholars consider Gazargahi as its real author.
Having followed the traces of the author in the Majales al-Oshshaq and conducted some research about his historical personality, thepresent article concludes that this book has not been authored by Sultan Hoseyn. Nonetheless, it is not easy either to accept Babor and Khwandmir’s claim who attribute the book to Gazargahi. Consequently, one may well concede that the book has been written by an efficient literary narrator, possibly assisted by several others in collecting his material, because the gleaning of the enormous contents of the book on figurative love and so exactly exploring the detailed information about the lives and works of a good number of Persian speaking poets and writers seems to be way beyond the capacity of one single individual. The Majales al-Oshshaq was undertaken by order of the Herat royal court designed to justify pedophilia and legitimize love, generally, for beautiful young males.