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See also:LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
I. See also:Persian (Iranian) See also:Languages.—Under the name of Persian is included the whole of that See also:great See also:family of languages occupying a See also: Old Persian. New Persian. sindhu (See also:Indus) See also:hindu hindu See also:hind larva (all) haurva haruva See also:bar sama (whole) hama hama See also:ham santi (sunt) henti hantiy hend. 2. See also:Change of the original aspirates gh, dh, bh (= x, 9, d.) into the corresponding medials Sanskrit. Zend. Old Persian. New Persian. bhiimi (See also:earth) bumi bumi hum dhita (Beres) data data dad gharma (See also:heat) garema garma garm. 3. k, t, p before a consonant are changed into the spirants kh, th, f Sanskrit. Zend. Old Persian. New Persian. prathama (first) fratema fratema fradum (Parsi) kratu (insight) khratu . . . . khirad.[LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 4. The development of soft sibilants Sanskrit. Zend. Old Persian. New Persian. Asuro Medhasl Ahura. Mazdao Auramazda Ormuzd bahu (See also:arm) bazu . . . bazu hima (hiems) zima . . . . zim. Our knowledge of the Iranian languages in older periods is too fragmentary to allow of our giving a See also:complete See also:account of this family and of its See also:special See also:historical development. It will be sufficient here to distinguish the See also:main types of the older and the more See also:recent periods. From antiquity we have sufficient knowledge of two dialects, the first belonging to eastern Iran, the second to western. 1. Zend or Old Bactrian.—Neither of these two titles is well chosen. The name Old Bactrian suggests that the language was limited to the small See also:district of See also:Bactria, or at least that it was spoken there—which is, at the most, only an Zend. See also:hypothesis. Zend, again (originally azaintish), is not the name of a language, as See also:Anquetil See also:Duperron supposed, but means " See also:interpretation " or " explanation," and is specially applied to the See also:medieval See also:Pahlavi See also:translation of the Avesta. Our " Zend-Avesta " does not mean the Avesta in the Zend language, but is an incorrect transcription of the original expression " Avistak va zand," i.e. " the See also:holy See also:text (Avesta) together with the translation." But, since we still lack sure data to See also:fix the See also:home of this language with any certainty, the convenient name of Zend has become generally established in See also:Europe, and may be provisionally retained. But the home of the Zend language was certainly in eastern Iran; all attempts to seek it farther west—e.g. in See also:Media 2—must be regarded as failures. Zend is the language of the so-called Avesta,' the holy See also:book of the Persians, containing the See also:oldest documents of the religion of Zoroaster. Besides this important See also:monument, which is about twice as large as the Iliad and Odyssey put together, we only possess very scanty See also:relics of the Zend language in medieval glosses and scattered quotations in Pahlavi books. These remains, however, suffice to give a complete insight into the structure of the language. Not only amongst Iranian languages, but amongst all the languages of the Indo-European See also:group, Zend takes one of the very highest places in importance for the See also:comparative philologist. In See also:age it almost rivals Sanskrit; in primitiveness it surpasses that language in many points; it is inferior only in respect of its less extensive literature, and because it has not been made the subject of systematic grammatical treatment. The age of Zend must be examined in connexion with the age of the Avesta. In its See also:present form the Avesta is not the See also:work of a single author or of any one age, but embraces collections produced during a See also:long See also:period. The view wbich became current through Anquetil Duperron, that the Avesta is throughout the work of Zoroaster (in Zend, Zarathushtra), the founder of the religion, has long been abandoned as untenable. But the opposite view, that not a single word in the book can See also:lay claim to the authorship of Zoroaster, also appears on closer study too sweeping. In the Avesta two stages of the language are plainly distinguishable. The older is represented in but a small See also:part of the whole work, the so-called Gathas or songs. These songs form the true See also:kernel of the book Yasna; 4 they must have been in existence long before all the other parts of the Avesta, throughout the whole of which allusions to them occur. These gathas are what they claim to be, and what they are honoured in the whole Avesta as being—the actual productions of the See also:prophet himself or of his See also:time. They See also:bear in themselves irrefutable proofs of their authenticity, bringing us See also:face to face not with the Zoroaster of the legends but with a real See also:person, announcing a new See also:doctrine and way of salvation, no supernatural Being assured of victory, but a See also:mere See also:man, struggling with human conflicts of every sort, in the midst of a society of See also:fellow-believers yet in its earliest See also:infancy. It is almost impossible that a much later period could have produced such unpretentious and almost depreciatory representations of the deeds and See also:personality of the prophet. If, then, the gathas reach back to the time of Zoroaster, and he himself, according to the most probable estimate, lived as See also:early as the 14th See also:century B.C., the oldest component parts of the Avesta are hardly inferior in age to the oldest Vedic See also:hymns. The gathas are still extremely rough in See also:style and expression; the language is richer in forms than the more recent Zend; and the vocabulary shows important See also:differences. The pre-dominance of the long vowels is a marked characteristic, the See also:constant See also:appearance of a long final vowel contrasting with the preference for a final See also:short in the later speech. i Name of the supreme, See also:god of the Persians. 2 Cf. I. See also:Darmesteter, Etudes iraniennes, i. to (See also:Paris, 1883). 3 This, and not Zend-Avesta, is the correct title for the original text of the Persian See also:Bible. The origin of the word is doubtful, and we cannot point to it before the time of the Sassanians. Perhaps it means " announcement," " See also:revelation." ' The Avesta is divided into three parts: (I) Yasna, with an appendix, Visparad, a collection of prayers and forms for divine service; (2) Vendidad, containing directions for See also:purification and the penal See also:code of the See also:ancient Persians; (3) Khordah-Avesta, or the Small Avesta, containing the Yasht, the contents of which are for the most part mythological, with shorter prayers for private devotion. since then made rapid strides, especially since the Vedas have opened to us a knowledge of the oldest Sanskrit. 2. Old Persian.—This is the language of the ancient Persians properly so-called,' in all See also:probability the See also:mother-See also:tongue of See also:Middle Persian of the Pahlavi texts, and of New Persian. We Oldperslan. know Old Persian from the See also:rock-See also:inscriptions of the Achaemenians, now fully deciphered. Most of them, and these the longest, date from the time of Darius, but we have specimens as See also:late as See also:Artaxerxes Ochus. In the latest inscriptions the language is already much degraded; but on the whole it is almost as See also:antique as Zend, with which it has many points in common. For instance, if we take a See also:sentence from an inscription of Darius as " Auramazda hya See also:imam bumim ada hya avam asmanam ada hya martiyam ada hya siyatim ada martiyahya hya Darayavaum khshayathiyam akunaush aivam paruvnam khshayathiyam," it would be in Zend " Ahuro mazdao yo imam bumim ad-at yo aom asmanem adat yo mashim adat yo shaitim adat mashyahe yo darayatvohum khshaetem akerenaot oyum pourunam khshaetem."4 The phonetic See also:system in Old Persian is much simpler than in Zend; we reckon twenty-four letters in all. The short vowels e, o are wanting; in their See also:place the old " a " See also:sound still appears as in Sanskrit, e.g. Zend bagem, Old Persian bagam, Sanskrit bhagam; Old Persian hamarana, Zend hamerena, Sanskrit samarana. As regards consonants, it is noticeable that the older z (soft s) still preserved in Zend passes into d—a See also:rule that still holds in New Persian ; compare Sanskrit. Zend. Old Persian. New Persian. hasta (See also:hand) zasta dasta dast jrayas (See also:sea) zrayo daraya darya aham (I) azem See also:adam .. . Also Old Persian has no special 1. Final consonants are almost entirely wanting. In this respect Old Persian goes much farther than the kindred idioms, e.g. Old Persian abara, Sanskrit abharat, Zend abarat, Iepe: nominative baga, See also:root-form baga-s, Sanskrit bhagas. The differences in declension between Old Persian and Zend are unimportant. Old Persian inscriptions are written in the See also:cuneiform See also:character of the simplest form, known as the " first class." Most of the inscriptions have besides two See also:translations into the more complicated kinds of cuneiform character of two other languages of the Persian See also:Empire. One of these is the See also:Assyrian ; the real nature of the second is still a See also:mystery. The interpretation of the Persian cuneiform, the character and See also:dialect of which were equally unknown, was begun by G. F. See also:Grotefend, who was followed by E. See also:Burnouf, Sir See also: The abundant grammatical forms of the ancient language are much reduced in number; the See also:case-ending is lost; the noun has only two inflexions, the singular and the plural; the cases are expressed by prepositions—e.g. ruban (the soul), nom. and See also:ace. sing., plur. rubanan; dat. val or avo ruban, abl. See also:min or az ruban. Even distinctive forms for gender are entirely abandoned, e.g. the pronoun' avo signifies " he," " she," " it." In the verb See also:compound forms predominate. In this respect Middle Persian is almost exactly similar to New Persian. Sanskrit. Gat ha. Later Zend. abhi (near) aibi aiwi ilia (work) izha izha. The clearest See also:evidence of the extreme age of the language of the gathas is its striking resemblance to the oldest Sanskrit, the language of the Vedic poems. The gatha language (much more than the later Zend) and the language of the Vedas have a See also:close resemblance, exceeding that of any two Romanic languages; they seem hardly more than two dialects of one tongue. Whole strophes of the gathas can be turned into See also:good old Sanskrit by the application of certain phonetic See also:laws; for example " See also:mat lido padaish ya frasruta izhayao pairijasai mazda ustanazasto at vao ashy aredrahyaca nemangha at vat) vangehush mananghO hunaretata," becomes in Sanskrit " mana vah padaih ya pragruta ihayah parigachai medha uttanahastah at va rtena radhrasyaca namasa at vo vasor manasah sunrtaya." The language of the other parts of the Avesta is more modern, but not all of one date, so that we can follow the See also:gradual decline of Zend in the Avesta itself. The later the date of a text, the simpler is the grammar, the more lax the use of the cases. We have no See also:chronological points by which to fix the date when Zend ceased to be a living language; no part of the Avesta can well be put later thah the 5th or 4th century E.C. Before See also: Sanskrit arvebhyas (See also:dative plural of acva, a See also:horse) is in Zend aspaeibyo ; Sanskrit krnoti (he does), Zend kerenaoitti. Zend has also a great tendency to insert irrational vowels, especially near liquids; owing to this the words seem rather inflated; e.g. savya (on the See also:left) becomes in Zend havaya ; bhrajati (it glitters), Zend barazaiti; gna (-omit), Zend gena. In the .consonantal system we are struck by the abundance of sibilants (s and sh, in three forms of modification, z and zh) and nasals (five in number), and by the complete See also:absence of 1. A characteristic phonetic change is that of rt into sh; e.g. Zend asha for Sanskrit rta, Old Persian See also:arta (in Artaxerxes) ; fravashi for Pahlavi fravardin, New, Persian ferver (the See also:spirits of the dead). The verb displays a like abundance of See also:primary forms with Sanskrit, but the conjugation by periphrasis is only slightly See also:developed. The noun has the same eight cases as in Sanskrit. In the gathas there is a special See also:ablative, limited, as in Sanskrit, to the " a " stems, whilst in later Zend the ablative is extended to all the stems indifferently.
We do not know in what character Zend was written before the time of Alexander. From the See also:Sassanian period we find an alphabetic and very legible character in use, derived from Sassanian Pahlavi, and closely resembling the younger Pahlavi found in books. The oldest known See also:manuscripts are of the 14th century A.D.'
Although the existence of the Zend language was known to the See also:Oxford See also:scholar See also: Burnouf, and has " With verses of my making, which are now heard, and with prayerful hands, I come before thee, Mazda, and with the sincere humility of the upright man and with the believer's See also:song of praise." 2 Grammars by F. Spiegel (Leipzig, 1867) and A. V. W. See also:Jackson (See also:Stuttgart, 1892); See also:Dictionary by F. Justi (Leipzig, 1864); See also:editions of the Avesta by N. L. Westergaard (See also:Copenhagen, 1852) and C. F. Geldner (Stuttgart, 1886–1895; also in See also:English) ; translation into See also:German by Spiegel (Leipzig, 1852), and into English by Darmesteter (Oxford, 188o) in Max Mailer's Sacred Books of the East. 3 And perhaps of the Medes. Although we have no See also:record of the Median language we cannot regard it as differing to any great extent from the Persian. The Medes and Persians were two closely-connected races. There is nothing to justify us in looking for the true Median language either in the cuneiform writings of the second class or in Zend. 4 " Ormuzd, who created this earth and that See also:heaven, who created man and man's dwelling-place, who made Darius king, the one and t only king of many." 248 4. New Persian.—The last step in the development of the See also:metre and See also:rhyme; others mention as author of the first Persian language is New Persian, represented in its oldest form by Firdousi. poem a certain Abulhaf of So hd near See also:Samarkand. In point In grammatical forms it is still poorer than Middle g New Persian; except English, no Indo European language of fact, there is no doubt that the later Sassanian rulers fostered Persian. has so few inflexions, but this is made up for by the the See also:literary spirit of their nation (see PAHLAVI). Pahlavi books, subtle development of the syntax. The structure of New Persian however, fall outside of the present subject, which is the literature has hardly altered at all since the Shahnama; but the original of the See also:idiom which shaped itself out of the older Persian speech purism rom f ree ofSFiemrditic ousamii,dwhoxturemadecould everynot loneffogrtbettomakeeintp thaineed.Alangurabiagec by slight modifications and a steadily increasing mixture of f, literature and speech exercised so powerful an See also:influence on New Arabic words and phrases in the 9th and loth centuries of our Persian, especially on the written language, that it could not era, and which in all essential respects has remained the same withstand the See also:admission of an immense number of Semitic words. for the last thousand years. The See also:death of See also:Harun al-Rashid in There is no Arabic word which would be refused See also:acceptance in the beginning of the 9th century, which marks the commence-good Persian. But, nevertheless, New Persian has remained a language of genuine Iranian stock. ment of the decline of the See also:caliphate, was at the same time the Among the changes of the sound system in New Persian, as starting-point of movements for national See also:independence and a contrasted with earlier periods, especially with Old Persian, the national literature in the Iranian dominion, and the common first that claims mention is the change of the tenues k, t, p, c, into See also:cradle of the two was in the province of See also:Khorasan, between the g, d, b, z. Thus we have Old Persian or Zend. Pahlavi. New Persian. See also:Oxus and the Jaxartes. In Merv, a Khorasanian See also:town, a certain mahrka (death) See also:mark marg `Abbas composed in 809 A.D. (193 A.11 ), according to the oldest Thraetaona Fritun Feridun See also:biographical writer of Persia, Mahommed 'Aufi, the Earliest ap (See also:water) ap ab first real poem in modern Persian, in See also:honour of the Modern hvato (self) khot khod Abbasid See also:prince See also:Mamun, Harun al-Rashid's son, who Persian raucah (See also:day) roj ruz had himself a strong predilection for Persia, his Poet. haca aj az. A See also:series of consonants often disappear in the spirant; thus— mother's native See also:country, and was, moreover, thoroughly imbued Old Persian or Zend. Pahlavi. New Persian. with the freethinking spirit of his age. Soon after this, in 8zo kaufa (See also:mountain) kof koh (205 A.H.), Tahir, who aided Mamun to wrest the caliphate from gathu (place), Z. gatu See also:gas gal his See also:brother Amin, succeeded in establishing the first semi- cathware (four) . . cihar See also:independent Persian dynasty in Khorasan, which was overthrown bandaka (slave) bandak bandah in 872 (259 A.H.) by the Saffarids. Spada (See also:army) sipaham. The development of Persian See also:poetry under these first native dih dadami (I give) . . . Old d and dh frequently become y— dynasties was slow. Arabic language and literature had gained Old Persian or-.Zend. Pahlavi. New Persian. too See also:firm a footing to be supplanted at once by a new literary madhu (See also:wine) . . See also:mai idiom still in its infancy; nevertheless the few poets who arose baodho (consciousness) See also:bed boi under the Tahirids and Saffarids show already the germs of the adha (See also:foot) . . . . pai characteristic tendency of all later Persian literature, which tadha (when) . . . . kai. aims at amalgamating the enforced spirit of Islamism with their Old y often appears as j: Zend See also:yama (See also:glass), New Persian jam; own Aryan feelings, and reconciling the strict See also:deism of the yavan (a youth), New Persian Javan. Two consonants are not See also:Mahommedan religion with their inborn loftier and more or less allowed to stand together at the beginning of a word; hence vowels are frequently inserted or prefixed, e.g. New Persian sitadan or pantheistic ideas; and we can easily trace in the few fragmentary istadan (to stand), root stet; biradar (bror.her), Zend and Pahlavi verses of men like I,lanzala, Hakim Firuz and See also:Abu Salik those bratar.' See also:principal forms of poetry now used in common by Forms of Amongst modern languages and dialects other than Persian which all Mahommedan nations—the forms of the gasida Eastern must be also assigned to the Iranian family may be Modern (the encomiastic, elegiac or satirical poem), the Poetry. Dialects. mentioned: t. Kurdish, a language nearly akin to New Persian, ghazal or See also:ode (a love-ditty, wine-song or religious hymn), the with which it has important characteristics in common. It is ruba'i or See also:quatrain (our See also:epigram, for which the Persians invented chiefly distinguished from it by a marked tendency to shorten a new metre in addition to those adopted from the See also:Arabs), and words at all See also:costs, e.g. Kurd. beret (brother) =New Persian biradar; the mathnawi or See also:double-rhymed poem the legitimate form for Kurd. dim (I give) =New Persian diham; Kurd. spi (See also: Some scholars of See also:Bokhara, a writer of very See also:tender verses; Abu century. attribute it to the Iranian family; others prefer to regard it as a separate and independent member of the Indo-European group. '1-Mu2affar Nasr of See also:Nishapur; Abu 'Abdallah Mahommed of Many words that at first sight seem to prove its Iranian origin are Junaid, equally renowned for his Arabic and Persian poetry; only adopted from the Persians (K. G.) Ma'nawi of Bokhara, full of original thoughts and spiritual II. Modern Persian Literature.—Persian historians are greatly subtleties; Khusrawani, from whom even Firdousi condescended at variance about the origin of their national poetry. .Most of to See also:borrow quotations; Abu '1-See also:Hasan Shahid of Balkh, the first them go back to the 5th See also:Christian century and ascribe to one who made a diwan or alphabetical collection of his lyrics; and of the Sassanian See also:kings, Bahram V. (420—439), the invention of Rudagi (or Rudaki), the first classic See also:genius of Persia, who See also:im- ' Grammars of New Persian, by M. See also:Lumsden (See also:Calcutta, 1810), pressed upon every form of lyric and didactic poetry its peculiar A. B. Chodzko (Paris, 1852 ; new ed., 1883), D. See also:Forbes (1869), See also:stamp and individual character (see RUDAGi). His graceful and J. A. Vullers (See also:Giessen, 187o), A. Wahrmund (Giessen, 1875), C. captivating style was imitated by Hakim Khabbaz of Nishapur, Salemann and V. Zhukovski (Leipzig, 1889) ; J. T. Platts a great See also:baker, poet and See also:quack; Abu Shu'aib Salih of Herat, who (pt. i. 1984). For the New Persian dialects see Fr. See also: ' Cf. P. de See also:Lagarde, Armenische Studien (See also:Gottingen, 1877) ; Arabic poet; the amir Atha '1-Iilasan 'See also:Ali Alagatchi, who handled )EI. Hubschmann, Armenische Studien (Leipzig, 1883). the See also:pen as skilfully as the See also:sword; 'Umara of Merv, a famous astronomer; and Kisa'i, a native of the same town, a man of stern and ascetic See also:manners, who sang in melodious See also:rhythm the praise of `Ali and the twelve imams. All these poets flourished under the patronage of the Samanid princes, who also fostered the growing See also:desire of their nation for historical and antiquarian researches, for exegetical and medical studies. Mansur I., the See also:grandson of Rudagi's See also:patron, ordered (963; 352 A.H.) his See also:vizier Ba1'ami to translate the famous universal See also:history of Tabarl (838-923 A.D.) from Arabic into Persian; and this See also:Tabari. q'a'rikh-i-Tabari, the oldest See also:prose work in modern Persian, is not merely remarkable from a philological point of view, it is also the classic See also:model of an easy and simple style (See also:French trans. by L. Dubeux and H. Zotenberg, 1867-1874). The same prince employed the most learned among the See also:ulema of Transoxiana for a translation of Tabari's second great work, the Tafsir, or commentary on the See also:Koran, and accepted the See also:dedication of the first Persian book on See also:medicine, a See also:pharmacopoeia by the physician Abu Mansur MVIuwaffaq b. `Ali of Herat (edited by Seligmann, See also:Vienna, 1859), which forms a See also:kind of connecting See also:link between Greek and Indian medicine. It was soon after further developed by the great See also:Avicenna (d. 1037; 428 A.H.), himself a Persian by See also:birth and author of See also:pretty wine-songs, moral See also:maxims, psychological tracts, and a See also:manual of philosophic See also:science, the Danishnama-i-See also:Ala'i, in his native tongue. A still greater impulse was given, both to thepatriotic feelings and the national poetry of the Persians, by Mansur's son and successor, Prince Nub IL, who ascended the See also:throne in 976 (365 A.11.). Full of See also:enthusiasm for the glorious past of the old Iranian See also:kingdom, he charged his See also:court poet Dakiki (Daqiqi), who openly professed in his ghazals the Zoroastrian creed, to turn the Khoda'inama, or " Book of Kings," into Persian See also:verse. Shortly after commencing this work Dakiki was murdered in the See also:prime of See also:life; his death was soon followed by the fall of the Samanid dynasty itself. But Dakiki's great enterprise was not abandoned; a stronger hand, a higher genius, was to continue and to complete it, and this genius was found in Firdousi (940—1020; 328-411 A.H.), with whom we enter the See also:golden age of the national epopee in Persia (see FIRDOUSI). In loll, after See also:thirty-five years of unremitting labour, he accomplished his gigantic task, and wrote the last distichs of the immortal Shahnama, that " glorious monument of Eastern genius and learning," as Sir W. Jones calls it, " which, if ever it should be generally understood in its original language, will contest the merit of invention with See also:Homer itself." The Shah-Imitations of nama, from the very moment of its appearance, the "shah- exercised such an irresistible See also:fascination upon all lama." minds that there was soon a keen competition among the younger poets as to who should produce the most successful See also:imitation of that classic model; and this competition has gone on under different forms through all the following centuries, even to the most recent times. First of all, the old popular traditions, so far as they had not yet been exhausted by Firdousi, were ransacked for new epic themes, and a See also:regular See also:cycle of national epopees gathered See also:round the Book of Kings, See also:drawn almost exclusively from the archives of the princes of Sejistan, the family of Firdousi's greatest See also:hero, Rustam. The first and most ambitious of these competitors seems to have been Asadi's own son, `Ali b. Alimad al-Asadi, the author of the oldest Persian glossary, who completed in io66 (458 A.H.), in upwards of 9000 distichs, the Garshaspnama, or marvellous See also:story of the warlike feats and love adventures of Garshasp, one of Rustam's ancestors. The heroic deeds of Rustam's grandfather were celebrated in the Samnama, which almost equals the .Shahnama in length; those of Rustam's two sons, in the Jahagairnama and the Faramurznama; those of his daughter, an See also:amazon, in the See also:Brunhild style of the German Nibelunge, in the See also:Bann; Gushaspnama; those of his grandson in the Barsunama; those of his great-grandson in the Shahriy¢rnama (ascribed to Mukhtarl and dedicated to Masud Shah, who is probably identical with Masud b. See also:Ibrahim, See also:Sultan Mahmud's great-grandson, 1099-1114; 492-508 A.H.) ; and the wonderful exploitsof a son of Isfandiyar, another hero of the Shahnama, in the Bahmannama. When these old Iranian See also:sources were almost exhausted, the difficulty was met in various ingenious ways. Where some slight historical records of the heroic age were still obtainable poetical See also:imagination seized upon them at once; where no traditions at all were forthcoming fiction pure and simple asserted its right; and thus the national epopee gave way to the epic story, and—substituting prose for verse—to the novel and the See also:fairy See also:tale. See also:Models of the former class are the various Iskandarndmas, or " Books of Alexander the Great," the oldest and most original of which is that of See also:Nizami of Ganja, the modern Elizavetpol (completed about 1202; 599 A.H.); the latter begins with the Kitab-i-Samak 'Iyar, a novel in three volumes (about 1189; 585 A.H.), and reaches its See also:climax in the Bustein-i-Khayal, or " See also:Garden of Imagination," a prose See also:romance of fifteen large volumes, by Mahommed Taki Khayal, written between 1742 and 1756 (1155 and 1169 A.H.). Some writers, both in prose and verse, turned from the exhausted See also:fields of the national See also:glory of Persia, and See also:chose their subjects from the chivalrous times of their own Bedouin conquerors, or even from the Jewish legends of the Koran. Of this description are the Anbiyanama, or history of the pre-Mahommedan prophets, by Ilasani Shabistari 'Ayani (before the 8th century of the Hegira); See also:Ibn Husam's Khdwarnama (1427; 830 A.H.), of the deeds of `Ali; Badhil's Ilamla-i-Haidari, which was completed by Najaf (1723; 1135 A.11.), or the life of Mahommed and the first four caliphs; Kazim's Farahnama-i-Fatima, the book of joy of Fatima, See also:Mahomet's daughter (1737; 1150 A.H.)—all four in the epic metre of the Shahnama; and the prose stories of (`Iatim Ta'i, the famous model of liberality and generosity in pre-Islamitic times; of Amir Ilamzah, the See also:uncle of Mahomet; and of the Mu`jizat-i-Musawi, or the miraculous deeds of See also:Moses, by Mu'in-almiskin (died about 1501; 907 A.H.). Quite a different turn was taken by the ambition of another class of imitators of Firdousi, especially during the last four centuries of the Hegira, who tried to create a new4atert3pics. heroic epopee by celebrating in rhythm and rhyme stirring events of recent date. The gigantic figure of Timur inspired Hatifi (d. 1521; 927 A.H.) with his Timurnama; the stormy See also:epoch of the first Safawid rulers, who succeeded at last in reuniting for some time the various provinces of the old Persian See also:realm into one great See also:monarchy, furnished Kasimi (died after 156o; 967 A.11.)1 with the materials of his Shahnama, a poetical history of Shah See also:Ismail and Shah Tahmasp. Another Shahnama, celebrating Shah `Abbas the Great, was written by Karnali of See also:Sabzevar; and even the cruelties of See also:Nadir Shah were duly chronicled in a pompous epic style in 'Ishrati's Shahnama-i-Nadir; (1749; 1162 A.H.). But all these poems are surpassed in length by the 33,000 distichs of the Shahinshahnama by the poet-See also:laureate of Fatly `All Shah of Persia (1797-1834), and the 40,000 distichs of the Georgenama, a poetical history of India from its See also:discovery by the Portuguese to the See also:conquest of See also:Poona by the English in 1817. In India this kind of epic versification has flourished since the beginning of See also:Humayun's reign (1530-1556) e.g. the 2afarnama-i-Shahjahani by Kudsi (d. 1646; 1056 A.H.); the Shahinshahnama by Talib Kalim (d. 1651; io6n A.H.), another panegyrist of Shah Jahan; Atashi's `Adilnama, in honour of Shah Mahommed `Adil of See also:Bijapur, who ascended the throne in 1629 (1039 A.H.) or 1627; the Tawarikhi-IKuli Kutbsltah, a metrical history of the Kutb shahs of See also:Golconda; and many more, down to the Fathnama-i-Tipil Sultan by Ghulam Hasan (1784; 1198 A.H.). But the national epopee was not the only See also:bequest the great Firdousi left to his nation. This See also:rich genius gave also the first impulse to romantic, didactic and mystic poetry; and even his own age produced powerful co-operators in these three most conspicuous departments of Persian literature. Romantic fiction, which achieved its highest See also:triumph in Niami of Ganja's (1141-1203; 535-599 A.H.) brilliant pictures of the struggles and passions in the human See also:heart 1 After 1592 (979 A.H.) according to H. E. in Grundriss, ii. 237. Firdousi. itomantk Fiction. (see N'ZAM'), sent forth its first tender shoots in the numerous love stories of the Shahnama, the most fascinating of which is that of Zal and Rudabeh, and developed almost into full See also:bloom in Firdousi's second great mathnawi Yusuf u Zalikhd, which the aged poet wrote after his See also:flight from See also:Ghazni, and dedicated to the reigning See also:caliph of Bagdad, al Qadir billah. It represents the oldest poetical treatment of the Biblical story of See also:Joseph, which has proved so attractive to the epic poets of Persia, among others to 'Am'ak of Bokhara (d. 1'49), who was the first after Firdousi to write a Yusuf u Zalikhd to Jam): (d. 1492); Mauji Kasim See also:Khan, Humayun's amir (d. 1571), Nazim of Herat (d. 167o), and Shaukat, the See also:governor of See also:Shiraz under Fath `All Shah. Perhaps See also:prior in date to Firdousi's Yusuf was his patron 'Unsuri's romance, Wimili u Adhrd, a popular Iranian See also:legend of great antiquity, which had been first written in verse under the Tahirid dynasty. This favourite story was treated again by Fasihi See also:Jurjani (5th century of the Hegira), and by many modern poets—as See also:Damiri, who died under the Safawi shah Mahommed (1577—'586; 985-994 A.H.), Nami, the historiographer of the Zand dynasty, and Ilosain of Shiraz under Fath 'Ali Shah, the last two flourishing towards the beginning of the present century. Another love story of similar antiquity formed the basis of Fakr-uddin As'ad Jorjani's Wis u Ramin, which was composed in See also:Isfahan about ro48 (440 A.H.)—a poem remarkable not only for its high See also:artistic value but also for its resemblance to Gottfried von See also:Strassburg's See also:Tristan and Isolt.
The last-named Persian poet was apparently one of the earliest eulogists of the See also:Seljuks, and it was under this See also:Turkish dynasty Encomiasts that lyrical romanticism See also:rose to the highest See also:pitch. and What Firdousi and the court-poets of Sultan Mahmud satirists. had commenced, what Abu 'l-Faraj Rani of See also:Lahore
and Masud b. Sa'd b. Salman (under Sultan Ibrahim, 1059-
'099) had successfully continued, reached its perfection in the
famous group of panegyrists who gathered in the first See also:half of the 6th century of the Hegira round the throne of Sultan Sinjar, and partly also round that of his great antagonist, Atsiz, shah of Khwarizm. This group included Adib Sabir, who was drowned
by See also:order of the prince in the Oxus about '145 (54o A.H.), and his
See also:pupil Jauhari, the See also:goldsmith of Bokhara; Amir Mu'izzi, the king of poets at See also:Sin See also:jar's court, killed by a stray arrow in 1147 (542 A.H.), Rashid Watwat (the See also:Swallow) who died in '182 (578 A.H.), and left, besides his kasidas, a valuable See also:treatise on poetry (Hada'See also:ili-essihr) and a metrical translation of the sentences of
'Abd-alwasi' Jabali, who sang at first, like his contemporary Hasan Ghaznawi (d. 1169; 565 A.11.), the praise of the Ghaznevid shah See also:Bahrain, but afterwards bestowed his eulogies upon Sinjar, the conqueror of Ghazni; and Aul7ad-uddin Anwar'., the most celebrated kasida-writer of the whole Persian literature. Anwar'. (died between 1189 and 1191; 585 and 587 A.H.), who in early life had pursued scientific studies in the madrasa of Tus, and who ranked among the foremost astronomers of his time, owes his renown as much to the inexhaustible See also:store of poetical similes and epitheta ornantia which he showered upon Sinjar and other royal and princely personages, as to his cutting sarcasms, which he was careful to See also:direct, not against individuals, but against whole classes of society and the cruel wrong worked by an inexorable See also:fate—thus disregarding the example of Firdousi, whose attack upon Sultan Mahmud for having cheated him out of the See also:reward for his epopee is the oldest and most finished specimen of See also:personal See also:satire. This legitimate See also:branch of high See also:art, however, soon degenerated either into the See also:lower forms of See also:parody and See also:travesty—for which, for instance, a whole group of Transoxanian writers, Suzani of Samarkand (d. 1174; 569 A.H.) and his contemporaries, Abu 'All Shatranji of the same town, Lami' of Bokhara, and others gained a certain literary reputation—or into mere comic pieces and jocular poems like the " Pleasantries " (Hazliyyat) and the humorous stories of the " See also:Mouse and See also:Cat " and the " See also: '370; 772 A.H.). See also:Anwari's greatest See also:rival was Khakani (d. 1199; 595 A.H.), the son of a See also:carpenter in See also:Shirvan, and panegyrist of the shahs of Shirvan, usually called the See also:Pindar of the East. To European See also:taste only the shorterepigrams and the double-rhymed poem Tuhfatul'irdleain, in which Khakani describes his See also:journey to See also:Mecca and back, give full See also:satisfaction. Among his numerous contemporaries and followers may be noticed Mujir-udd'.n Bailakani (d. 1198; 594 A.H.); Zahir Faryabi (d. '202; 598 A.H.) and Athir Akhsikati (d. 121'; 6o8 A.H.)—all three panegyrists of the atabegs of See also:Azerbaijan, and especially of Sultan Kizil Arslan—Kamal-uddin Isfahani, tortured to death by the Moguls in 1237 (635 A.H.), who sang, like his See also:father Jamal-uddin, the praise of the See also:governors of Isfahan, and gained the epithet of the " creator of See also:fine thoughts " (Khallak-ulma'See also:ani) ; and Saif-uddin Isfarangi (d. '267; 666 A.H.), a favourite of the shahs of Khwarizm. Fruitful as the 6th and 7th centuries of the Hegira were in panegyrics, they attained an equally high See also:standard in didactic and mystic poetry. The origin of both can again Didactic and be traced to Firdousi and his time. In the ethical Mystic reflections, See also:wise maxims and moral exhortations Poetry• scattered throughout the Shahnama the didactic See also:element is plainly visible, and equally See also:plain in it are the traces of that mystical tendency which was soon to pervade almost all the literary productions of Persian genius. But the most characteristic passage of the epopee is the mysterious disappearance of Shah Kaikhosrau, who suddenly, when at the height of earthly fame and splendour, renounces the world in utter disgust, and, carried away by his fervent longing for an See also:abode of See also:everlasting tranquillity, vanishes for ever from the midst of his companions. The first Persian who employed poetry exclusively for the See also:illustration of Sufic doctrines was Firdousi's See also:con- ~urc poets. temporary, the renowned See also:sheikh Abu Sa'id b. Abu 1-Khair of Mahna in Khorasan (968-1049; 357-440 A.H.), the founder of that specific form of the ruba'i which gives the most concise expression to religious and philosophic aphorisms —a form which was further developed by the great See also:free-thinker 'See also:OMAR B. KHAYYAM (q.v.), and Afdal-uddin Kiash (d. 1307; 707 A.H.). The See also:year of Abu Sa'id's death is most likely that of the first great didactic mathnawi, the Rushan. a'indma, or " Book of Enlightenment," by NAS'R KHOSRAU (q.v.), a poem full of sound moral and ethical maxims with slightly mystical tendencies. About twenty-five years later the first theoretical handbook of Sufism in Persian was composed by 'Ali b. 'Uthman al-Jullabi al-Hujwiri in the Kashf-ulmalhjub, or, " Revelation of Hidden Things," which treats of the various See also:schools of Sufis, their teachings and observances. A great See also:saint of the same period, Sheikh `Abdallah Ansari of Herat (1006-1089; 396-481 A.H.), assisted in spreading the pantheistic See also:movement by his Munajat or " Invocations to God," by several prose tracts, and by an important collection of See also:biographies of eminent Sufis, based on an older Arabic compilation, and serving in its turn as groundwork for Jami's excellent Nafahat-aluns (completed in 1478; 883 A.11.). He thus paved the way for the publication of one of the earliest textbooks of the whole See also:sect, the &dikatulhakikat, or " Garden of Truth " (1130; 525 A.11.), by Hakim Sann of Ghazni, to whom all the later Sufic poets refer as their unrivalled See also:master in spiritual knowledge. As the most uncompromising Sufis appear the greatest pantheistic writer of all ages, Jelal ud-din See also:Rumi (1207-1273; 604-672 A.H.; see RUMI), and his scarcely less renowned predecessor See also:Farid ud-din `See also:Attar, who was slain by the Moguls at the age of 114 lunar years in 1230 (627 A.H.). This prolific writer, having performed the See also:pilgrim-age to Mecca, devoted himself to a stern ascetic life, and to the See also:composition of Sufic See also:works, partly in prose, as in his valuable " See also:Biography of Eminent Mystic Divines," but mostly in the form of mathnawis (upwards of twenty in number), among which the Pandnama, or " Book of Counsels," and the Mantik-uttair, or the "Speeches of Birds," occupy the first See also:rank. In the latter, an allegorical poem, interspersed with moral tales and pious contemplations, the final absorption of the Sufi in the deity is most ingeniously illustrated.
In strong contrast to these advanced Sufis stands the greatest moral teacher of Persia, Sheikh Sa'di of Shiraz (died about 1 ro lunar years old in '292; 691 A.H.; see SA`DI), whose two best known works are the Bustin, or " See also:Fruit-garden," and
the Gulistan, or " Rose-garden." However, both have found the emperors of See also:Delhi, 'Ala-uddin Khilji (1296–1316), his pre-comparatively few imitations—the former in the Daslurnama, decessor Feroz Shah and his successor Kutb-uddin Mubarek See also:save or " Book of Exemplars," of Nizari of See also:Kohistan Shah—the Miftah-ulfutuh, or " See also: Many poets followed in Jami's footsteps, taxi (d. 1320; 720 A.H.), the Jam-i-Jam, or " See also:Cup of Jamshid," first of all his See also:nephew Hatifi (see above), and either wrote whole by Auhadi (d. 1338; 738 A.H.), the Anis-ul 'Arifin, or "Friend khamsahs or imitated at least one or other of Nizami's epopees; of the Mystics," by Kasim (Qasim)-i-Anwar (d. 1434; 837 A.H.), thus we have a Laila u Majnun, for instance, by Maktabi (1490), and others; 'Assar's Mihr u Mushtari, or " See also:Sun and See also:Jupiter " Hilali (see above), and Ruh-ulamin (d. 1637). But their 1376; 778 A.H.), 'tlrifi's Gui u Chaugan, or "The See also:Ball and the efforts could not stop the growing corruption of taste, and it was See also:Bat " (1438; 842 A.H.), Ilusn u Dil, or " Beauty and Heart," only at the court of the See also:Mogul emperors, particularly of the by Fattahl of Nishapur (d. 1448; 852.A.H.), Sham' u Parwana, or great See also:Akbar (1556–1605), who revived Sultan Mahmud's " round " The See also:Candle and the See also:Moth," by Ahli of Shiraz (1489; 894 A.H.), table," that Persian literature still enjoyed some kind of " Indian Shah u Gada, or " King and See also:Dervish," by Hilali (put to death summer " in poets like Ghazali of Mashhad or See also:Meshed 1532; 939 A.H.), Baha-ud-din 'Amili's (d. 162,; 1030 A.H.) (d. 1572); 'Urfi of Shiraz (d. 1591), who wrote spirited l~asidas, Nan u Halwa, or " See also:Bread and Sweets," Shir u Shaken', or " See also:Milk and, like his contemporaries Wahshi and Kauthari, a mathnawi, and See also:Sugar," and many more. Farhad u Shirin; and Faieli (d. 1595), the author of the romantic During all these periods of literary activity, lyric poetry, pure poem, Nal u Daman, who also imparted new life into the ruba'i. and simple, had by no means been neglected; almost all the In Persia proper only Zulali, whose See also:clever romance of " Sultan Lyric poetry. renowned poets since the time of Rudagi had sung in Mahmud and his favourite Ayaz " (1592) is widely read in the endless strains the pleasures of love and wine, the East, Sa'ib (d. 1677), who is commonly called the creator of a beauties of nature, and the almighty See also:power of the Creator; but new style in lyric poetry, and, among the most modern, Hatif it was left to the incomparable genius of IJafiz (d. 1389; 791 A.H.; of Isfahan, the See also:singer of sweet and tasteful odes (died about see IJAF12) to give to the world the most perfect models of lyric 1785), deserve a passing See also:notice. composition; and the lines he had laid down were more or less But we cannot conclude our brief survey of the national strictly followed by all the ghazal-writers of the 9th literature of Persia without calling attention to the rise of the Ghazal- writers. and loth centuries of the Hegira—by Salman of Sawa See also:drama, which has only sprung up in the beginning of The Drama. (d. about 1377; 779 A.H.), who excelled besides in the nineteenth century. Like the Greek drama and kasida and mathnawi; Kamal Khujandi (d. 1400; 803 A.H.), the mysteries of the European middle ages, it is the offspring of a IJafiz's friend, and protege of Sultan IJosain (1374-1.382 A.D.); purely religious ceremony, which for centuries has been performed Mahommed Shirin Maghribi (d. at See also:Tabriz in 14(36; 809 A.H.), an annually during the first ten days of the See also:month Muharram—the intimate friend of Kamal; Ni'mat-ullah See also:Wall (d. 1431; 834 A.R.), See also:recital of mournful See also:lamentations in memory of the tragic fate the founder of a special religious order; Kasim-i-Anwar (see of the See also:house of the caliph 'Ali, the hero of the Shi'itic Persians. above); Amir Shahi (d. 1453; 857 A.H.), of the princely family Most of these See also:passion-plays See also:deal with the slaughter of 'Ali's son of the Sarbadars of Sabzewar; Banna'i (d. 1512; 918 A.H.), IJosain and his family in the See also:battle of See also:Kerbela. But lately this who also wrote a romantic poem, Bahram u Bihruz; Baba narrow range of dramatic subjects has been considerably widened, Fighani of Shiraz (d. 1519; 925 A.H.), usually called the " Little Biblical stories and even Christian legends have been brought See also:Hafiz "; Nargisi (d. 1531; 938 A.H.); Lisanl (d. 1534; 941 A.H.), upon the Persian See also:stage; and there is a See also:fair prospect of a further who himself was imitated by Damiri of Isfahan, Muhtasham development of this most interesting and important movement. Kash and Wahshi Bafiki (all three died in the last See also:decade of the (See further DRAMA: Persian.) loth century of the Hegira); Ahli of Shiraz (d. 1535; 942 A.H.), In the various departments of See also:general Persian literature not author of the Sihr i-Ilaldl, or "Lawful See also:Witchcraft," which, like touched upon in the foregoing pages the same wonderful activity Katibi's (d. 1434; 838 A.H.) Majma'-ulbahrain, of the " Con- has prevailed as in the realm of poetry and fiction, Historical fluence of the Two Seas," can be read in two different metres; since the first books on history and medicine appeared works. Nau'i (d. 16ro; 1019 A.H.), who wrote the charming romance of under the Samanids (see above). The most important a Hindu princess who burned herself in Akbar's reign with her See also:section is that of historical works, which, although deficient in deceased See also:husband on the funeral See also:pile, called See also:Sus u Gudaz, or sound See also:criticism and often spoiled by a highly artificial style, " Burning and Melting," &c. Among the immediate predeces- See also:supply us with most valuable materials for our own See also:research. sors of Hafiz in the 8th century of the Hegira, in which also Ibn Quite unique in this respect are the numerous histories of India, Yamin, the great lcit'a-writer,' flourished, the highest fame was from the first invasion of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni to the English gained by the two poets of Delhi, Amir IJasan and Amir Khosrau. conquest, and even to the first decades of the present century, The latter, who died in 1325 (725 A.H.), two years before his most of which have been described and partly translated in the friend IJasan, occupies the foremost place among all the Persian eight volumes of Sir H. M. Elliot's History of India (1867–1878). poets of India by the richness of his imagination, his graphic Persian writers have given us, besides, an immense variety of style, and the historical See also:interest attached to his writings. Five universal histories of the world, with many curious and See also:note-extensive diwans testify to his versatility in all branches of lyric worthy data (see, among others, See also:Mirkhond's and Khwandamir's poetry, and nine large mathnawis to his mastership in the epic works under MiRKHOND); histories of Mahomet and the first See also:line. Four of the latter are poetical accounts of the reigns of caliphs, partly translated from Arabic originals, which have been ' A lcit'a or mulcatta'a is a poem containing moral reflections, and lost; detailed accounts of all the Persian dynasties, from the differs from the basida and ghazal only by the absence of a matla' Ghaznevids to the still reigning Kajars, of Jenghiz Khan and or initial distich. the Moguls (in Juwaini's and Wassaf's elaborate Ta'rikhs), and Fottto re. Hama, the T ittinama, or " Tales of a See also:Parrot," and others, and at the translations of standard works of Sanskrit literature, the epopees of the Ramayana and Mahabadrala, the Bhagavad-Gita, the Yoga-Vasishtha, and numerous Purdnas and Upanishads, for which we are mostly indebted to the See also:emperor Akbar's indefatigable zeal. Rudagi's Vorlaufer and Zeitgenossen," in Morgenlandische Forschungen (Leipzig, 1875) ; of Kisa'i's songs, Firdousi's lyrics, and Abu Sa'id b. Abu 'l-Khair's ruba'is, in Sitzungsberichte der bayr. Akademie (1872, p. 275 seq.; 1873, p. 622 seq. ; 1874, p. 133 seq. 1875, p. 145 seq. ; and 1878, p. 38 seq.) ; of Avicenna's Persian poems, in Gottinger Nachrichten ((1875, p. 555 seq.) ; and of Asadi and his munakarat, in " Persische Tenzonen,' Verhandlungen See also:des 5ten Orientalisten-Congresses (See also:Berlin, 1882, pt. ii., first half, P. 48 seq.); H. Zotenberg's Chronique de Tabari (Paris, 1867–1874); Jurjani's Wis u Raman, ed. in the Bibl. Indica (1864) (trans. into German by C. H. See also:Graf in Zeitschrift der morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, See also:xxiii. 375 seq.) ; and A. de B. Kasimirski's Specimen du diwan de Menoutchehri (See also:Versailles, 1876). On Khakani, see N. de Khanykoff's M6moire," in See also:Journal asiatique, 6th series, vol. iv. p. 137 seq. and vol. v. p. 296 seq., and C. Salemann's edition of his ruba'is, with See also:Russian trans. (See also:Petersburg, 1875) ; on Farid uddin 'Attar, S. de Sacy's edition of the Pandnama (Paris, 1819), and Garcin de Tassy's Mantijz-uttair (Paris, 1857); on the Gulshan-i-raz, E. H. Whinfield's edition (See also:London, 1880) ; and on Amir Khosrau's mathnawis, the abstracts given in Elliot's History of India, iii. 524 seq. German translations of Ibn Yamin were published by O. Schlechta-Wssehrd, Bruchstucke (Vienna, 1852) ; of ami's See also:minor poems, by V. von Rosenzweig (Vienna, 1840); by See also:Ruckert, in Zeitschrift See also:fur See also:die Kunde des Morgenlandes, vols. v. and vi., and Zeitschrift der d. morgenl. Gesellsch., vols. ii., iv., v., vi., xxiv., See also:xxv. and See also:xxix.; and by M. Wickerhauser (Leipzig, 1855, and Vienna, 1858) ; German translation of Yusuf u Zalikha, by Rosenzweig (Vienna, 1824), English by R. T. H. See also:Griffith (London, 1881); French translation of Laila u Majnun, by A. L. de Ch6zy (Paris, 1805), German by A. T. See also:Hartmann (Leipzig, 18o7); Hilali's See also:Konig and Derwisch," by Ethe, in Morgenland. See also:Stud. (Leipzig, 1870, p. 197 seq.). On the Persian drama, compare J. A. de Gobineau's Religions et philosophies dans l'Asie centrale (Paris, 1866) ; A. Chodzko's See also:Theatre persan (new ed., Paris, 1878) ; and Effie, " Persische Passionspiele," in Morgenland. Stud., p. 174 seq. (H. 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