مجله متن شناسی ادب فارسی
سال سیزدهم شماره 2 (پیاپی 50، تابستان 1400)

Mythology is an attempt to understand the ancient and strong roots of the people's cultural foundation. In this research, by the descriptive-comparative method of repetition and reflection of mythological rituals in a new era in the form of mystical acts and rituals, four mystical memoirs of Manaqib al-Arefin, Madan al-Dorar, Ferdows al-Murshediyeh, and Safvat al-Safa'a have been described using James Frazier's theory. The tradition of entrusting the body to stingers as religious and ritual ceremonies in the mystery and dissemination has a mythical aspect. Mystics, like humans- gods of mythical texts rain down with the capture of the forces of nature, and in the role of the human being, carry the burden of sins, disasters, and the sufferings of the general public. According to Frazier, the rituals of mystics’ death correspond to the cycle of nature, and their kingdom spirit is embodied in the existence of the living person. Words in the mystic-coded language based on homeopathic charm cause similar meanings. According to the diverging charm, separated fragments of mystics such as saliva, hair, blessing, clothes, and cloaks transmit the empathic effect remotely, and the mystic can impose his will on healing the sick or winning the war. Also, according to this theory, one of the reasons for the avoidance of eating meat is that the harms and undesirable states that are believed to exist in foods are caused by people.

Some customs are rooted in mythological beliefs and have subconsciously influenced and influenced the cultural community. These cultural elements have taken on a new guise in the mystical experiences of the Sufis and have been re-created in a disguised way according to the requirements of the time. The study of mystical memoirs shows that some mythical rituals are related to mystical practices and rituals in mystical texts and some of these mythical beliefs are manifested as a sacred virtue in the creation and character of godly human beings.

James Frazier in his book the Golden Branch has referred to many rituals and mythological archetypes that are the basis of this study. This descriptive-comparative study seeks to answer two questions: 1) which mythical rituals and beliefs have been used in mystical memoirs? 2) Which mythical beliefs have evolved in mystical memoirs and have been expressed in the form of mystical thoughts? It is worth mentioning that in this study, several mystical memoirs are cited, including Manaqib al-Arefin, Safvat al-Safa, Madan al-Dorar, and Ferdows al-Murshediyeh.

This study reflects mythological beliefs in mystical memoirs. The test of putting the body to the bites is one of the rituals of mystery and admiration. This is parallel to the mythical texts in mystical memoirs. The purpose of this type of austerity can also be considered as a breath of pain and a test of the resilience of the incumbents, which leads to their immortality and confirms their readiness to bear a great responsibility. Thus, the beliefs of the primitive people regarding the power of kings and supernatural persons, dressed in other clothes, have been repeated in mystical texts, and the power of mystics, like their predecessors, has no boundaries in influencing the circulation of nature.People who do not embody the power of God bring prosperity to themselves and other people by appealing to the supernatural. Sometimes mystics or human gods, according to Frazier's theory, play the role of rebellious human beings and, as representatives, bear suffering, calamities, hardships, and even death. These sacrifices, which were considered in the mythical mirrors of God, are also the perfect mystic in perfect mystical memoirs, and sometimes the followers of the elders are another example of rebellious and sacrificial personalities in the memoirs. On the subject of the death of man-God, there are similarities between mythological and mystical texts; the ceremony of death or ‘wedding’ in mystical memoirs can be considered as a metamorphosis of the celebration of prayer for spirits.The adaptation of the life cycle to the nature and gender of non-living beings, as well as the heavenly incarnation of the spirits of the dead in the existence of living beings, are among the issues that are evident in both memoirs and myths. Another point about the death of man-God is that some mystics believe that God has the power to continue to make changes in the life cycle of the ancient gods and to oppose external forces such as death. Along with the view of the world in the conquest of the divine forces, which is proposed by the idea of ​​man-God, the primitive man introduces the new idea of ​​natural law. According to this view, in homeopathic magic, the association of meanings based on similarity has led to the expansion of the range of cryptic words among Sufis. Another example of the association of similar meanings about the voice of non-living beings and their interpretation is mentioned in mystical texts. In this regard, sharp contagion refers to the association of meaning based on proximity.
  In mystical texts, according to Frazier's mythological view, it is believed that the components separated from the existence of mystics such as saliva, hair, blessing, clothes, and cloaks, after maintaining physical contact with their owners, still maintain an empathetic connection with the body. The general public also uses these devices to cure illnesses and win the war, based on the assurance that there is still empathy between it and its predecessor. Also, based on this magic, not only good effects but also adverse effects of foods such as meat are affected by people, therefore, this factor can be considered as one of the reasons for Sufis to avoid eating meat.

The popular texts of ancient Persian poetry and prose constitute a part of Iran's cultural heritage. Familiarity with different aspects of this cultural heritage depends on accessing valid forms and explanations with no distortion.Referring to invalid copies and explanations of such works means distancing their original form, and consequently, alienating them from the manifestations of cultural heritage. Among such texts are the works of Khaghani and Nizami. Various scholars have tried to take a step towards unraveling some verbal and semantic aspects. They have sometimes been successful and sometimes made erroneous interpretations. In the present study, using the descriptive-analytical method based on induction, a critical reading of some academic explanations of Khaghani and Nizami’s poems focusing on chess and backgammon game terms and their accessories and the correct or approximately correct and accurate description of the contents is attempted. The results of the study show that some commentators, facing the combinations and terms of these two games, have either ignored the past or have not understood the essence of the problem. So, they have  made unjustified  interpretations. It is worth noting that because the authors’ aim has been a critical re-reading of such explanations, we have been forced to show disproportionate and unjustifiable aspects of the interpretations made in them.

Poets and writers derive parts of their work materials from the intellectual, cultural, social, and religious capacities existing in the society, surroundings, and special natural features. Old games are among the topics of interest to poets in the field of Persian language and literature. The presence of elements and symbols related to games  in poetic and prose texts could easily be observed asthere are few poets whose poems are free of such references. This issue can be justified for two reasons. The first reason is that although these games were initially reserved for the aristocracy and the elite, they gradually became public ones, and almost everyone became familiar with them, especially poets who, due to their affiliation with the courts, were given more and more opportunities to get acquainted with such games. The second reason could be found in literary traditions. From the beginning of Persian poetry, similes, metaphors, and interpretations related to these games and their rules have found a place in the poets’ mind and language and caused their descendants, even if they had not played polo, backgammon, and chess get familiar with these interpretations, terms, and metaphors due to following-up in ancient poetic divans. The frequency, variety, and beauty of using the mentioned games, especially backgammon and chess, and the terms related to them in the surviving literary works, occupy the mind of any interested reader and encourage him to clarify the reasons for  using them. The present studyintends to analyze some explanations of these two poets’ works in the field of backgammon and chess game terms and their accessories with the aim of  better understanding of such texts. help better understand these texts.

In this study, some terms of these two games, including ‘Shahrokh’, ‘Shahpil’, ‘planning’, ‘hitting’, ‘overtaking’, ‘six-five’, ‘Farzinband’, ‘Ira’, ‘Kabatin’, ‘Ziad’, ‘Qaem’, and ‘three’ based on Khaghani and Nizami’s works have been examined.Reflecting on various explanations of Khaghani and Nizami’s Divans, the authors of this study found that the problems related to the content are more evident in them with the main reason being the stylistic features of these two poets.. By detailed reviewing of different explanations and presenting different evidence of Persian texts in this research, it seems that the following explanations are valid for the mentioned terms:- ‘Three-hitting’ or ‘six-hitting’ means giving (advance) to the opponent so that the weak one can equalize, and this is more to humiliate the opponent.- Sometimes, the opponent with a surprise move while culturing the king, also hits the face piece or elephant, and because the other side has no choice but to remove the cult, the face piece or elephant is easily killed. This surprise move, which can be done with any of the pieces and greatly reduce the opponent's power, is called ‘Shahrokh’ or ‘Shahpil’, respectively. Therefore, ‘Shahrokh/Shahpil’ is the ultimate skill in doing something and hitting the opponent fatally.- Considering Persian poetry and prose texts, including Khaghani and Nizami, as well as paying attention to the structure of the word Kabatin and other mentioned arguments, it seems that this word is singular.- The ‘face’ piece is different from the ‘castle’. That is why the face piece, like horse and elephant, signifies a huge animal; however, the ‘castle’ belongs to a place in the chess corner called ‘Hassan’ that the king turns it to prevent enemy attacks.- The term ‘planning’ in chess has two meanings. The first meaning is to design and prepare various movements, and the second one is to set aside a strong opponent that can equate one or more riders to a weak opponent mostly to humiliate the opponent. Most of the commentators have paid less attention to the latter meaning.- Farzin is the strongest chess piece after the king and trapping this one is a very difficult task and can only be achieved with Latif-Al-Hail. When Farzin is in this situation and does not find a way to escape, he hits and is eventually killed. By killing this piece, it becomes much easier to confuse the opponent; therefore, ‘Farzinband’ means the ultimate trick.- ‘Qaem’ in chess has two meanings: chess map and equalization.

 Jalaluddin Ahmad, known as Jalal Tabib Shirazi, is one of the physicians and poets of the eighth century AH. Jalal Tabib’s Divan was published in 1389 (2010) with Nasrollah Pourjavadi’s correction. The authentic manuscript was not utilized in this correction. In the present study, the authors first provide a brief introduction to the poet and the published Divan. Then, the new version from the Soleimani Library of Turkey is introduced. We discuss some of the errors, mistakes, and omissions in the corrected Divan put forth by Nasrollah Pourjavadi in comparison with the Soleimani Library version, and note that a collection of Arabic poetry and Persian sonnets, as well as his Fars Nameh Masnavi, are not included in the body of the corrected text. This research was conducted using the library research method and a case study. In the end, we suggest that the Jalal Tabib Shirazi’s Divan can be revised once more using the new version of the Soleimani Library in Turkey, as well as through a comparison with other copies, in order to eliminate errors and defects in the existing published edition and to achieve a more comprehensiveand reliable version. Introduction Jalaluddin Ahmad, the son of Yusuf, known as Jalal Tabib Shirazi, is one of the physicians and poets of the eighth century AH. He was one of the poets praising the House of Inju kings (Amir Ghiyas al-Din Kai-Khusrau and King Shaikh Jamal al-Din Abu Ishaq), as well as those of the Muzaffari dynasty (Shah Mahmoud and Shah Shoja). His family was originally from Khaf and was known for scientific and literary pursuits, who emigrated  to Shiraz, where Jalal was born. His father (Yusuf, the son of Elias) was a Sufi, and his uncle (Najm Al-din Mahmoud) was one of the renowned scholars and physicians of his time. His name is mentioned in some of the great books such as Safineh-e-khoshgo, Tazkera-al-shoara by Dolatshah-e Samarghandi, and the Arafat Al-Asheghin va Arasat Al-Arefin. The date of his birth is unknown but based on the evidence, we guess he was born in the late seventh century and the beginning of the eighth century AH. The date of his death is also unknown. Taghi-al-din Kashani believes the year of Jalal's death is 795 AH (1416). But Nasrollah Pourjavadi with sound reasons rejects that. His burial place is unknown, too. Jalal Tabib is one of the influential poets in Fars and the literary domain of Shiraz. Jalal Tabib is very much influenced by Saadi Shirazi. Additionally, his Gol-va-norooz poems are used by Khajooy-e-Kermani in composing his own Gol-va-norooz poems. The first published literary work of Jalal is Gol-va-norooz poems published in Sweden in 1380 AH (2001) with Ali Mohades' correction. Jalal Tabib’s Divan was published in 1389 AH (2010) with Nasrollah Pourjavadi’s correction in 358 pages alongside the Jawaher-al-bohur's treatise. After the publication of Jalal Tabib’s divan in 1390 AH (2011), Mohammad Afshin Vafaei wrote a critique of it in the Bukhara journal and enumerated the weaknesses of the book. He reminded us that the book had to be revised. In the same year, Masih Bahramian published an article entitled ‘reflection on the divan of Jalal Tabib’ in the Dor-e-dary quarterly journal. In the present study, besides the possible effects of Jalal Tabib on Hafez's poems, the mistakes of the divan were also mentioned. Materials and Methods  A newly-found version of Jalal Tabib’s Divan was introduced in the Soleimani Library of Turkey. We obtained a copy of it, and after that, compared it with the published version. The present study was conducted using the library research method and a case study. Discussion of Results and Conclusions The reasons for the superiority of the Turkish version over the published text of Pour Javadi are as follows: 1- The Turkish version has a two-page introduction written by the compiler of the Divan of Jalal Tabib, but Pourjavadi’s version does not have it. This preface determines the fame of Tabib’s poetry and his skill in the medical profession. Also, it turns out that the book was written shortly after his death. 2- In the Turkish version, there are 264 verses of Arabic poems but there is no trace of them in Pourjavadi’s version. Also, in the Turkish version, there are 749 verses of Persian poems more than Pourjavadi’s version. 3- Fars Nameh, which is one of Jalal’s poems is only available in the Turkish version and it is not included in Pourjavadi’s version. 4- There are many deleted verses in Pourjavadi’s version, which can be specified by referring to the Turkish version. 5- Pourjavadi misread some words that are correct in the Turkish version. The authors of the present study suggest that Jalal Tabib Shirazi’s Divan could be revised once more using the new version of the Soleimani Library in Turkey, as well as thorough comparing it with other published copies, to eliminate errors and defects in the existing published edition and to achieve a more comprehensive, complete, and reliable versio.

Asadi’s Shahnameh (Zarrinqabaname) is one of the longest epic poems putting aside Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, which deals with the heroism of Zarrinqaba and the Rostam family in the era of the Prophet Suleiman (Solomon) and the kingdom of Kaykhosrow. The author of this poem and the time of its composition are unknown, but based on stylistic evidence, it can be guessed that this work was written after the ninth century. The familiarity of epic literature researchers with the manuscript version of this poem goes back to recent years; in 2014, this work was published with the introduction, correction and commentary of Sajjad Aidenloo (a researcher of epic literature). The publication and introduction of this nearly-unknown poem by Sajjad Aidenloo is an important and valuable job that makes the scope of research in the field of heroic texts by researchers in this field wider and more accurate. Since the researchers of epic literature need revised and elaborate texts, the author of this study offers some suggestions in reviewing some parts of this book to be examined and used in later editions of this work.

Asadi’s Shahnameh (Zarrinqabaname) is one of the less-known heroic-folk poems that, according to its corrector, was written in the Safavid era. The manuscript version of this poem has apparently not been known to any of the early epic scholars. Prior to the publication of this poem, for the first time in 1994, Soltani Gerd Faramarzi, in his book Simorgh, in the realm of Iranian culture, briefly introduced it. Zarrinqabaname, with 23123 couplets, is the longest published poem after Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh. In this poem, Solomon (Suleiman) the Prophet sends an envoy named Zarrinqaba to the court of Iran during the reign of Kaykhosrow and asks him to invite the king and the Persian heroes to the religion of God. Zarrinqaba, who is an iron hero, comes to Iran with an army of elves and fairies and captures a number of Iranian heroes. Kaykhosrow gets help from Rostam, who is in India. Rostam hastens to Iran and then to the court of the Prophet Solomon. In the court of Solomon, Rostam answers the religious questions asked and satisfies Solomon. The Prophet of God instructs Rostam to imprison the demon Efrit on Qaf Mountain. Rostam is initially caught in the spell of the Efrit, but finally frees himself and imprisons her and brings her to Solomon. During Rostam's battle with demons of Mount Qaf, seven divisions from India, China, Mazandaran, Rome, etc., are fighting the Iranian division and a number of Rostam's descendants. At the end of the poem, Rostam defeats the enemies and finally defeats Zarrinqaba, his grandson and Jahangir's son. The end of the story leads to peace and reconciliation. The name and address of the poet are not mentioned in the text, but in the version of the National Library and in the second manuscript of the Library of the Parliament, the name of the poet is mentioned as "Asadi". The poem of Zarrinqabaname has been corrected in recent years by Sajjad Aidenloo, a hardworking researcher on epic literature. Aidenloo has used the following three manuscripts correcting Zarrinqabaname: 1- The manuscripts of the National Library of Iran, numbered 1609, which is the basis for the correction of the poem of Zarrinqabaname and is marked with the abbreviation "ک". This copy was written by a scribe named Mohammad Baqer Qazvini on 5 Shawwal 1271 AH in Lahijan. 2- The first copy of the Library of the Parliament, which is registered under number 1170. This version is marked in the correction of the poem of Zarrinqabaname with the abbreviation "م". 3- The second manuscript of the Library of the Parliament with the abbreviation "م ا " numbered as13581. Since the version of the National Library with the abbreviation " ک" is older and more authentic than the other two versions, it is taken as the basis for correcting Zarrinqabaname along with two other versions.

One of the important trends in the last few decades has been the correction of poetic and prose epic texts that are part of the heritage in epic literature. Zarrinqabaname is also one of these epic texts that can be taught as a textbook on ‘Persian Epic Texts’ and ‘Research in Versions and Corrections of Epic Texts’ in the PhD course on epic literature. Since such sources need accurate and complete correction, the author of this study considers the method of scientific-critical correction and offers suggestions that a proofreader can use in the second edition.فاصله حذف شود. The present research was done using the descriptive-analytical method, known as the library method.

The points that need to be considered in the correction of Zarrinqabaname are the following: 1- The time of composing the poem: As the time of composing Zarrinqabaname is probably from the early ninth century AH to the beginning of the Qajar dynasty, it is better to reconsider the exact time of composing this poem in the tenth century. 2- Modifying the titles and their exact placement: In the printed version of Zarrinqabaname, nearly most of the titles are not in their original place and this confuses the readers. Therefore, it is necessary to modify each of the titles and put them in their original place. 3- Correct recording of verses: In Zarrinqabaname edited by Aidenloo, there are verses that have apparently not been recorded and corrected properly and the text needs to be revised. 4- Printed errors:One of the most important issues that should be considered in the next editions of Zarrinqabaname is to eliminate many typographical and printed errors. 5- Interpretation and explanation of words and verses:In the comments on Zarrinqabaname, in some cases, the meanings of words and verses are presented which, in the opinion of the author, need to be revised. 6- Editing the verses: In correcting Zarrinqabaname, in many cases, the rules of correctness have not been observed and in the places where these rules have been used, sometimes they have not been used correctly.

The poem Zarrinqabaname, which until recently was one of the least-known texts in epic literature, was corrected and published in 2014 by Sajjad Aidenloo. As in recording and correcting this book, there are items that need to be reviewed, the author of this article suggested the following points: A) Since most of the titles in the text of the poem are transliterated, it is necessary for all of them to be in their original place. B) Correction of many typographical errors that have caused the text to be misread. C) Reviewing the recording of some verses. D) Reviewing and correcting the description of some words and verses. E) Proper editing of the text.

The Masnavi of Moheb and Mahboub is a poem composed by a poet named Ikhtiar, who arranged it in the literary of Dehnameh in 830 AH. This poem deals with the love story of a prince named Moheb who dreams of a beautiful girl named Mahboub and falls in love with her. In a coherent narrative and with an artistic expression, the poet speaks of the fiery love of the lover to the beloved, especially in the form of love letters. Although this type of literature was prevalent in the history of Persian literature with a specific structure, ten letters of authority have a relatively different structure and are longer than ten or even other letters. This Masnavi is already based on an incomplete copy kept in the Tübingen Library in Berlin. But another copy of this poem is kept in the library of Atefafandi (Turkey), which is more complete and accurate. In the present study, the authors introduce the Atefafandi version and compare the recordings of the mentioned version with the printed version (as well as the corrected version) and mention the superior recordings of the Atefafandi version and quote the new verses contained in it. By comparing the two versions, it becomes clear that in order to correct this system, the emotional version must have been used. However, despite the fact that this manuscript has already been introduced in the library list, it is still not available for correction, and therefore the poem has been incompletely printed.

Dahname or Siname is one of the famous types of Persian poetry. Although  this type of poetry could been seen  since the fifth century AH, its most popular form is from the middle of the eighth century to the end of the ninth century. Many works of this type of Persian poetry have remained in this period. The subject of this type of literature is the exchange of love letters that are sent by the lover to the beloved and the answer of the lover to the beloved, which has a romantic content and is known as the decile or the syllabus according to the number of letters in the Masnavi. One of these romantic periodicals has been identified and embellished in recent years. The Moheb and Mahboub Masnavi is a poem by a poet named ‘Ikhtiar’ who composed this Masnavi in ​​the ninth century. Of course, another work in the same type of literature remains from Katebi Tarshizi (839 AH), whose main characters are also called Moheb and Mahboub, and therefore some sources have called it the Masnavi of Moheb and Mahboub. Apart from the names of the characters, there are no other similarities in the content and structure of the narration, and if this sharing is not accidental and the names of Moheb and Mahboub have been chosen based on the narration or anecdote, they have acted independently in dealing with the content.Two versions have been identified from Moheb and Mahboub. One is a copy from the Tübingen Library in Berlin, number 3723. This version, which is related to the ninth century, is incomplete from the end, and a few years ago, Ahmad Reza Yalmeha published this poem based on this incomplete manuscript. Another version, which is, in fact, a complete version of Moheb and Mahboub, and in addition to removing the shortcomings of the Tübingen version and adding verses to it, provides more accurate additional information, is kept in the Atefafandi Library of Turkey, number 2261. This version was also written in the ninth century and is a solid version that solves many of the problems of the Tübingen version. Although this manuscript was previously introduced by Tawfiq Sobhani, the editor of the poem did not know about the Turkish version and emphasized in several parts in the introduction that the Tübingen manuscript is unique and no other version is available. Therefore, in this study, the authors, while briefly introducing the Turkish version, have removed the shortcomings and corrected some of the inadequacies of the previous versions in two parts. That is to say, they first dealt with the differences between the two versions (Tübingen and Atefafandi), which also included correcting some misreading and mistakes of the respected editor. They have completed the poem based on Atefafandi's manuscript, and verses based on this version have been added to the poem.

To conduct the present study, we used the two main versions of the Masnavi of Moheb and Mahboub according to our purpose. One of these manuscripts had been edited by a respected editor (Tubingen Manuscripts), but he did not have the other manuscript, which belonged to the Atef Effendi Library in Turkey. Therefore, in this article, we first briefly introduced Atef Effendi's version. Then, we corrected it based on the shortcomings in the book's publication, and then quoted new verses that were not in Tübingen's incomplete version. Our method in this article was to juxtapose two copies  and also to compare the printed Masnavi with the manuscript which was hidden from the view of the proofreader.

According to what has been said so far, two copies of the poem of Moheb and Mahboub have been identified. One copy is kept in the Tübingen Library in Berlin, Germany, and the other in the Atefafandi Library in Istanbul. This Masnavi has been published once based on the same version of Tübingen, but due to the incompleteness of many verses, it has not been published. On the other hand, due to the poor quality of the image that was in the possession of the respected proofreader, many verses are not readable well. The obsolescence of some pages of the manuscript has also caused other problems in reading the manuscript, which results in an incomplete and confusing text. On the other hand, the incompleteness of Tübingen's version has caused the proofreader to make a mistake in examining the history of composing the poem and considering the date of composing the poem as a century before the actual date of composing the poem. But the emotional version kept in Turkey is a complete version, and this issue firstly corrects the shortcomings of the Tübingen version. Secondly, it corrects its flaws and errors. Another important point is that it determines the time of composition because the exact date of the composition of Masnavi is explicitly stated at the end. Although Atefafandi's version was introduced many years ago through the list of Persian manuscripts in Turkish libraries, the editor has not noticed it. The use of the emotive version helps to correct many of the shortcomings of the Tübingen version, in addition to adding verses to the text of the poem (about one hundred bits).

The present study introduces the Treatise of Kamal by Budagh Azhari Shirazi (died 991 AH.). He was one of the unknown poets of the Safavid era. No research has been done on him and his poetry collection, which he calls the Treatise of Kamal (perfection). He began to write it from 1030 to 1059. There is only one manuscript in the poet’s own handwriting in the library of the Sepahsalar School, which is currently being corrected. The authors of the present study aimed to introduce the version by analyzing the content and structure of the poet’s poems as much as possible to help to know him and his poetry with a descriptive-analytical approach based on the text of the poet's poems and referring to the historical sources of the Safavid era. The question posed in this study was: What is the structure of his poetries and what topics did he deal with? According to the results of the study, it is clear that the poet's divan has two proses prefaces and 1034 verses in the form of odes, sonnets, fragments, rhymed couplets, and quatrains. The poet’s poems were mostly dedicated to the Prophet’s household (PBUH), especially Imam Ali (AS) and the praise of the Safavid sultans. Finally, his fragments and rhymed couplets portrayed the thoughts and life events and contained redundancies, smuts, and chronograms. Most of his quatrains were about love, and boasting was one of the main motifs of his poetry. Paying attention to archaic diction, and imitating his predecessors’ style, especially Khaqani, Anvari, and Hafez, were evident in the formal and semantic structure of his poetry. The use of his predecessors’ handwriting style was another important feature of this manuscript.

Boudagh Azhari Shirazi (died 991 AH.) is an anonymous Poet who lived in the Safavid era. Among diverse treaties written in that era, his name was just mentioned in al-Zaria’h by Aghabozorgh Tehrani. His collection of poems, entitled Kamalnameh by the poet himself, is the only work by him left behind. Azhari has written about different issues of his time in his poems by using rhythm, rhyme, and literary figures.

There is only one manuscript from Azhari’s collection of poems written in his handwriting which is preserved in the library of Sepahsalar School (number 377) in Teheran. The scan of this very manuscript is available in the library of Tehran University (code F-6078). There is a CD of thescan in the National Library. This manuscript has about 343 pages of fifteen lines. In total, the collection has 10385 lines including odes, sonnets, and quatrains which are written in the margins of the book. This manuscript has been written in a nice Nastaliq handwriting on rough octavo paper (24 cm length and 15 cm width). The book has a marcasitic binding. The present manuscript has footnotes (Rekabeh) and the titles of its odes are written in cinnabar (Shangarf/red ink). Between the first and the second odes by Azhari and after his sonnet number 160, some pages are missing. According to the book, the poet has started writing his formerly-composed poems from1030 AH. He has finished the book, based on what has been mentioned in the final pages of the book, in 1054 AH in GharaBagh when he was about 63. The writings in the margins of the collection finished four years later in 1059. This treaty has been corrected deductively, and the writers have used a descriptive-analytical style to elaborate and analyze the content and the structure of the poems.

Azhari (born 991 AH) is said to be originally from Fars Province. He was a contemporary of Hakim Shafaie Isfahani who has accompanied King Abbas I, the well-known Safavid king, in his military attack on Gharabagh and had a luxurious life for many years. Meanwhile, he became the correspondent of Ghale’h Bost for some time and felt homesick many times. Azhari has written his poems in many genres including odes, sonnets, couplets, quatrains, and fragments. His collection of poems has two prologues in poetic prose, one of which starts the collection, before his odes, and the other follows the odes and precedes his sonnets. The preface of his collection starts with the praise of God, the Prophet (PBUH), Imam Ali (AS), and other Imams (AS). It follows with the praise of Shah Abbas Safavi and finishes with points about the book itself. There are 627 sonnets in his collection. In total, they have 4494 lines. The major theme of his sonnets is the description of love and the beloved. A distinctive feature of his sonnets is the literary figures and novel identical ending syllables (Radif). In his sonnet writing, he has followed the Iraqi School, especially Hafez’s style. He has about 215 fragments with 1208 lines. These poems are mostly about requests, demands, satire, and history-telling. His fragments provide the reader with good information about the poet’s life. Among his poems, there are 505 quatrains. In this type of poem, Azhari gives voice to his emotions about love, the beloved, carpe diem, and a strong desire for visiting Mecca. The specific feature of his quatrains is their four-line rhyming pattern. Azhari has 7 poems in the pattern of couplet poems (Masnavi) which include 271 lines. The couplets are largely satiric in nature. Despite his contemporaries, Azhari has not deployed the every-day language in his poems. His poems are full of archaic words, phrases, and structures. This showshis imitation of six-century poets, especially Khaghani. Furthermore, his use of many literary figures such as fantastic etiologies, oxymorons, allusions, preferential similes, and implicit similes is evidence of his following the Iraqi style, especially Hafez.