Vazeh Bukharayi and his significant role in Persian literary biography writing in Transoxiana

Except for the lost work of Managheb al-Sho’ara (early 13th century) written by Abo-Taher Khatouni and the scientific-literary magazine of The Four Essays (Chahar Maghaleh) written poetically by N. A. Samarkandi (circa 1156), Lubab ul-Albab is the first literary biography written by ‘Aufi Bukharayi (1222). When Iran and Transoxiana were divided politically in the 17th century, this genre was still kept common through the publication of five biographies in Transoxiana. Transoxiana was in the constant struggle because of its politico-economic instability; constant struggles among the Khans in the region, and the wars in Khorasan border, all in all blocking the literary and cultural flourishing of the region; however, in 1871, Rahmat-Allah Vazeh Bukharayi (1818-1893/1894) revived this literary genre after 179 years through his biography entitled Tuhfat al-Ahbab.

Rahmat-Allah Bukharayi, the son of Mohammad Ashur, wrote under the penname of Vazeh. He was a poet, writer, and an Iranian biography writer from Bukhara. This study aims to explore the role of Vazeh Bukharayi and his biography in reviving the tradition of Persian literary biography writing in the literary environment of Bukhara in the second half of the 19th century. The assumption is that Tuhfat al-ahbab fi tazkirat al-ashab became the model of biography writing for five other writers in Bukhara in the late 19th and early 20th centuries because of the originality of the oral and written references, its comprehensiveness, the writer's fame, and the employment of the biography writing criteria in selecting the poets and poems. 

To answer the research questions, the study employed an analytic-critical approach to introduce Vazeh Bukharayi, and then analyzed the nine criteria significant for the biography writer. 

Vazeh Bukharayi's ancestors were a group of enforced immigrants from Merv under the rule of Amir Shah Morad Manghiti (ruling from 1785-1800). They moved to Samarkand and Bukhara in the early 18th (1785) century after Merv was destroyed. Vazeh was born in Bukhara and lost his father and family when he was beginning his education. However, he could finish his education in Bukhara at the age of 27 in 1844. He is most famous for his biography writing. Tuhfat al-Ahbab fi Tazkarat al-Ashab or Ghari Rahmat-Allah is a regional-epochal biography in Persian. Vazeh's biography uses a dual simple and literary language of Persian and Bukharayi’s Persian accent. The biography consists of three parts: introduction, body, and conclusion. The introduction and conclusions sections are very concise and short. The biography writer has alphabetically listed (based on their pennames) the life and works of 148 poets, scientists, Persian literary figures living in Bukhara and the surrounding region in the Manghiat era. Some other poets from the literary environment of Mings in Kokand, particularly under the rule of Amir Omar Khan Kokandi (ruling from 1810 to 1822) were noted as well. Moreover, the biography describes the career of 14 Afghan poets, 6 Qajar poets, 6 Iranian immigrants from Merv to Bukhara, 4 Indian poets, and 1 Bulgarian poet (Kazan, Russia).   

Rahmat Allah Bukharayi revived the genre of Persian literary biography writing in Bukhara after 179 years through the publication of Tuhfatal-Ahbab fi Tazkarat al-Ashab, selecting poets from the literary environment of Iran, Afghanistan, and India. This brought the literary mainstream, particularly in Iran, back to Bukhara. He established a novel approach in style and language, by avoiding the Bideli's superficial and complicated style. In this regard, Vazeh could be viewed as the survivor of the traditional Persian biography writing in Bukhara in the 19th century after Mohammad Badi' Maliha Samarandi, who wrote Mozkker al-Ashab in the late 18th century. All the literary and historical biographies authored in the Persian and Uzbek region in the 20th century are in debt to that of the Vazeh, meaning that they could all be a complementary work to Vazeh's biography.