A Stylistic Study of the Manuscript of Faqir Dehlavi's Dorre Maknun [the Hidden Gem] Masnavi

Faqir Dehlavi, one of the Persian Shia poets, was born in the court of Shah Jahanabad and lived in the 12th century A.H. Dehlavi was one the prolific Persian poets whose famous work is the Dorre Maknun [the Hidden Gem] Masnavi. This Masnavi is romantic and portrays the love affair of Malikeh, the daughter of the Roman emperor, with Imam Hassan Askari, the 11th Imam in the Twelver Shia Islam. The present paper is aimed towards studying the stylistics of Faqir Dehlavi's Dorre Maknun and introducing its manuscripts. This study is conducted using a descriptive-analytical method as well as employing various library resources. The emendation method was grounded upon the basic version. To this end, any observed defects, inaccuracies, and errors, were emendated by the emendators through recording another version, called the alternative version. Initially, a biography of the poet along with his works was briefly provided. Afterwards, the analysis of the topic, the structures and features of the manuscript, and its stylistics and calligraphy were all taken into account. The findings suggest that the stylistic features of Faqir Dehlavi's Dorre Maknun Masnavi include a fluent language, thematic compositions, taskin-e motaharek, explicit analogies, the due use of imageries to the extent that they do not result in word and meaning contradiction and complexities in discourse.  IntroductionMir Shams al-din Faqir Dehlavi was one of the prominent Indian orators who has left behind precious works including Dorre Maknoun [the hidden gem] Masnavi. This Masnavi accounts for a romantic love affair of Malike, the daughter of the Roman Kaiser, with Imam Hasan Askari and the birth of the twelfth Imam named Mahdi. Dorre Maknun Masnavi is an invaluable literary work that has not been thoroughly introduced to the fans of Persian literature yet. This paper is aimed at pondering upon the stylistics of the work and linguistic, thinking, and literary layers besides introducing the Dorre Maknoun Masnavi. The correction method of this version rests upon the correction of the basic version. On this basis, upon finding any blatant mistake, in this paper, we have emendated it by recording an alternative version.  Discussion and Analysis2.1. Introducing the manuscript of Dorre Maknoun Masnavi and its general featuresThere are only four versions of Dorre Maknoun Masnavi left:The first version belongs to the public library of Ayatullah Golpaigani, coded 1/50, dates 1234 (A.H.). The scriber of this version is unknown. It is written beautifully with Nastaliq calligraphyThe second version also belongs to the public library of Ayatullah Golpaigani, coded29/58, dates 1171 (A.H.). The scriber has called himself by KarimAnother manuscript is kept at Malek library in Tehran coded 5611. This version includes a preface at the beginning of the Masnavi. This preface is about 3033 verses, written in Nasta'liq on the 12th of Jamadi-ol Aval. The scriber is Mohammad Ali Khan. This version is written in India in 16 lines on the Terme sheet with the seize 17* 14.5. In the preface, the scriber has stated that the Masnavi includes 3033 verses. But he has opted for 1100 verses. This shows that the version is not the complete one.There is another version in the library of the Astane Ghods-e Razavi, coded 28268 which is written in the broken Nastaliq in the twelfth century without mentioning the name of the scriber. This is not a complete version and there are some missing verses at the beginning.2.2. Stylistic and content characteristics of Dorre Maknoun2.2.1. The thinking featuresAs Faqir Delhlavi is devoted to the Literary Wayback style, the thinking features of this literary style are evident in his poems. Among the important thinking features of Dorre Maknoun one can refer to the praise of the Imams, the Iranian myths, poetic swaggering, the love and position of the beloved ones, determinism, giving reference to Quranic verses and Hadith, the opposition between reason and love, astronomical and mystic terms, and musical instruments.2.2.2. Linguistic levelAt this stylistic level, different problems related to language are put under an analytical lens. At the phonetic level, the following styles are widely used: taskin-e motaharek if necessitated by the meter; Hamza deletion after "alif" if necessitated by the meter; the use of "Italq alif"; the use of "redundant alif"; lexical attenuation if necessitated by the meter. At the lexical level, the Masnavi has employed terms of Christianity, Arabic words, pluralization with "an", the use of "andar" for "dar", "koja" for "ke", and the use of "b" at the initial position of simple past tense. Syntactically, one can point to the use of suffixed verbs, two prepositions for one argument, the use of "mar", the use of "y" indicating uncertainty, the use of "y" indication conditionals, the use of emotive and Neishabouri verb. Concerned with the grammatical level, we can show the use of fake-ezafe, the use of "ra" for "be" and "baraye" and the use of "ou" for inanimate things.2.2.3. Literary characteristicsThe major poetic meter in Faqir Dehlavi's Dorre Maknoun Masnavi is "mafailon/mafailon/faoulon". Of prominent and widely used literary devices in the "Dorre Maknoun Masnavi is referring to analogy (reason to reason, Baligh, Malfuf, Mafrough, Mozmar), irony, metonymy, pun, opacity, allusion, and allegory.  ConclusionFaqir Dehlavi's Dorre Maknoun [the hidden gem] Masnavi narrates the love story of Malike, the daughter of the Roman Kaiser, with Imam Hasan Askari. This Masnavi includes about 4000 verses. There are only 4 versions of this Masnavi left. Imitating Nezami's Khosrow and Shirin, Faqir composed this Masnavi on "mafailon, mafailon, faoulon" meter. As Faqir was skillful in poetic meters, there are few metric disorders. However, there are a few rhyme deficiencies in some verses. Fluent language is the characteristic of this Masnavi. Therefore, obsolete words can not be found in it. However, mystic and astronomical terms in thinking layers, Malike's love to Imam Hasan Askari, reference to Quranic verses and Hadith, praise of Imams, the opposition between reason and love are the important themes of this Masnavi. Arabic words are frequently used in it. Besides the poet has employed nearly all literary devices to deepen and enrich the internal musical aspect of the Masnavi.