Explanation and Analysis of Some Verses from Sanai’s The Walled Garden of Truth

The Walled Garden of Truth is the first Persian mystical poem. It opened the way for poems such as Tuhfat al-Iraqayn, Makhzan al-Asrar, and Masnavi. The importance of this poem in Persian literature caused many copies to be made of it, and newer errors emerged in most of these copies. Some sources indicate that at least two major copies of The Walled Garden of Truth have been made, leading to differences in chaptering and difficulties in correction of the book. In addition, the book has lingual difficulties, which has also caused problems in research studies. The thematic and lexical significance of the book on the one hand, and problematic analyses and notes on some of its verses on the other, are among the reasons that a conceptual analysis of the verses of this book is carried out in this study. Adopting a descriptive-analytic method and using library facilities, the article seeks to elucidate the position of Sanai and the The Walled Garden of Truth in Persian literature. The major undertaking of this study, in addition to correcting some of the errors made to the book by scholars and obtaining the meanings of some vague verses of it, is to introduce new concepts for some of the words, compounds, and expressions — such as Dabbabi, Poostgal and Poostgaleh, Reshteye Chah, Shiroodsooz, Dast ba Ran Gharin Shodan, and Ahmad va Ahmad — used in this book and not clearly explained in Persian dictionaries.