Anis al-Arefin or Mathnavi of Nakhoda An Unknown Persian Lyrical Poem in the Subcontinent

Abstract
Anis ol-Arefin (Mathnavi of Nakhoda) is a fictional poem. This mathnavi has been written by Agha Mohammad Hosein Sahib Shirazi and is dedicated to Nakhoda. He composed this verse in 1293 A.H. (during the reign of Nasir al-Din Shah) in his old age and when he was the ambassador of Iran in Bengal, India. The purpose of this study is the linguistic analysis of the poem of Anis al-Arefin based on two existing lithographs of this poem. In addition, this text, apart from the linguistic benefits, has explanations and novelties from a literary point of view. This includes historical information about the Qajar era and the rulers, especially Fath Ali Shah and Naser al-Din Shah and some local border guards of India, geographical information, especially about Shiraz and India, and the birthplace and residence of the poet. Anis al-Arefin is noteworthy, readable, and fresh in terms of folk literature, anecdotes, legends, and parables. In addition, the poet of this poem was a political-literary person. This poem is a unique document in knowing the poet and with it you can get some of his personal and family information and get to know some of the political-historical figures that have not been left in history. Since literary works find meaning in a literary system, we also mentioned the connection of this work with other works, especially Khosrow and Shirin of Nizami, with which the poet of Anis al-Arifin wrote this poem.
 
Introduction 
Anis al-Arefin (Mathnavi of Nakhda) is a romantic poem mixed with mystical and religious topics and sometimes historical-geographic references. This poem, according to its poet, is a real and romantic narration of an adventure between Farrokh (son of Manouchehr, an Armenian ruler from the Hoshang generation) and Golrokh (daughter of Marzban Circassian from the Hormoz generation). Almost no information about Agha Mohammad Hossein can be obtained from the sources, but from the introduction of the poet, one can understand some of the circumstances and aspects of his life. Agha Mohammad Hossein was one of the government officials during the time of Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar (1275-1210) who sent people as political representatives to other countries. He was also sent by the Iranian government to Bengal in India and became the ambassador there for thirty years. Agha Mohammad Hossein heard the story of Anis al-Arefin in the year 1250 A.H. in his youth, from an Armenian priest who came to Shiraz from Isfahan to teach and added to it the words he had heard from others. By composing this verse, Agha Mohammad Hossein tried to imitate Khosrow and Shirin of Nizami.
  
Materials and Methods 
In this analytical-descriptive research, we investigated a folk story in poetry from the Qajar era and discussed various perspectives such as linguistic, historical, geographical, intertextual links, imaginary images, and other side benefits of the book. We had two lithographs of this work with different narratives, based on which we corrected the two editions.
 
Research Searching in Qajar era sources reveals new linguistic, literary, cultural, historical, and geographical aspects. Many parts of the works of this era, especially those that were in the Indian subcontinent, have not been corrected and there is no good print of them. The novelties of the work are as follows:Linguistic novelties: Agha Mohammad Hossein was a Persian-speaking Turkish speaker; therefore, there are many Turkish words in this work. Signs of the influence of dialect, composition, morphological and syntactic novelties, and archaism can also be seen in this text. There are Arabic words and signs of the Arabic language in it. In addition, due to the story axis of this poem, which is taken from folk culture and literature, signs of folk language can also be observed in it.
Literary novelties: Agha Mohammad Hossein was familiar with the works of his predecessors and used them in his poems. Among them are Khosrow and Shirin of Nizami, Golestan and Saadi's sermons, Hafez's Divan, Moluk al-Ajam Hosseini Qazvini’s Al-Mu'jam, and Fayyaz Lahiji’s Sam and Bahram. Another literary novelty of this text is the use of anecdotes, legends, and parables that we did not find elsewhere.
Imagery novelties: In terms of imagery, this text also has novelties, especially in the illustrations and descriptions in which the poet uses all kinds of similes.
Side benefits: This system also has benefits in terms of anthropology and sociology.
 
Discussion of Results and Conclusions 
In the subcontinent of India and Pakistan, there are many works of Persian language and literature that remain unknown and have not been corrected yet. One of these works is a romantic poem titled Anis al-Arefin (Mathnavi of Nakhoda) by Agha Mohammad Hossein Sahib Shirazi (nicknamed Nakhoda, meaning captain). Agha Mohammad Hossein Sahib Shirazi was Iran's ambassador in Bengal, India, for thirty years. This work has novelties in different aspects that have been mentioned in the previous section. It has also other aspects including 1) Personal information about the personal and political life of the poet and his positions and associates, 2) Historical information, especially about the Qajar kings and local rulers of India and referring to some of the historical events of that era and personalities that have sometimes been removed from the pages of history, and 3) Geographical information, especially from Shiraz and India, from the perspective of an observer of Naser al-Din Shah era.