Mirror of Heritage
Year:2015 | Volume:13 | Issue:1 (56)|Papers Count:14

Shams al-Din Mohammad Sojasi was one of the poets and monshis (secretaries in the chancellery) in the latter half of the 6th and the first half of the 7th centuries A.H./12-13 centuries CE. Unfortunately we know very little about his life-story. Not much of his poetry has remained either. There are a lot of matters worthy of discussion about him. He is the one who compiled Zahir Faryabi's Divan of which the introduction was apparently written by him; this is, of course something that the editors of Zahir's Divan have either overlooked or they may have mistaken Shams-e Kashi as the compiler of Zahir's Divan. Amongst Sojasi's other works, one is apparently Faraid al-Soluk, published anonymously by its editors.In the present study, after giving an account of the life and works of Shams-e Sojasi, the small amount of his poetry that has survived in scattered sources will be presented. Then, important information from his unpublished monsha'at (letters) will be quoted and analysed.

Safineh-ye sha'ran-e qadim (The anthology of the ancient poets) is a name given by the editor of this collection of poetry to MS No 651 preserved at the Senate Library This anthology, of which the transcription date has disappeared, was copied from an older anthology, probably in 7th-8th centuries A.H./13-14 centuries C.E. It contains a good many verses by a number of Persian speaking poets up until late 7th/14th century. One of the merits of this collection is its coverage of the poetry composed by unknown poets, of whom no other poetry has as yet been found in other sources.This anthology has been edited with utmost care and patience by Mohammad-Reza Zia, the fine scholar, and published in the "Series of Persian Texts" in 1391 Sh,/ 2012 CE.. Unfortunately, despite all the editor's care in recording the verses of the anthology, there have occurred errors, which the present writer has examined in this article and suggested alternative readings for them.

One of the debatable issues about Mawlana's Great Divan is the presence in it of a number of Turkish verses. Some studies have been undertaken on this topic. Nevertheless, most scholars have limited themselves to the translation of those verses disregarding the textological and stylistic aspects of the ghazals containing such verses. A study of this question is thus wanting in the area of Turkish literature.In the present investigation, after making some introductory remarks, reviewing the previous research on the problem, evaluating the extent of Mawlana's Turkish writing and his knowledge of the language, and some discussion on the frequency of Turkish poetry in the Divan, the Turkish verses and their meaning are dealt with, and the prevalence of the Turkish expressions shown. Then, under "textological study", the most accurate manuscripts of the Divan-e ghazaliyat-e Shams, and the frequency of the Turkish ghazals in those manuscripts are indicated. In the end, the stylistic aspects of the ghazals are addressed.

By examining several important 16th-century albums, this article is to address the practice of writing prologues and the history of the art of making albums.One of these prologues is the one prefixed to the Sepahsalar Library album, known as the Shah Mozahheb moraqqa', which resembles the text of the forewords in several other albums.The article attempts to demonstrate the historical origins of the text of this prologue. Based on the introduction to Shah Mozahheb's moraqqa', which isanother versionof the prologue written by Mir Mohammad-Baqer, son of Mir Ali Heravi, and other documents, the study of the developments in the writing of introductory notes to albums, suggests this hypothesis that the repetition of forewords in other albums, has been due to their fine calligraphy, appropriate prose style or their attribution to a great artist. This has made the identification of the original text of such prologues impossible because the pages of many of those albums and the prologue have got disarranged and new or similar introductions have been added.

By reviewing the classical texts, we come to find certain new information and expressions that acquaint us with various aspects of the life of previous generations. The Shahnameh, as one of the principal fountain heads of our ancient culture, is an invaluable source respecting this question.To avoid repetition and, for that reason, to prevent boredom of speech, and, of course, to display their merits, poets benefit from topics and ideas in line with their own aims and objectives. To enhance his memorable work, Ferdowsi also made use of the most thought-raising game, namely, the chess, which has direct relevance to epic and evokes war scenes.By applying a inductive method and a close reading of the story of "Gu va Talkhand" from the Shahnameh and investigating into the main sources on elm-e mala'eb (knowledge of games and entertainment), the present article intends to find out whether or not the arrangement and manner of playing this kind of game existed in the ancient version of the chess. What are the differences and similarities? The result of the investigation shows that, in this story, Ferdowsi has produced a new unprecedented variety of the game, which greatly differs from the versions mentioned in reference sources. Even the appearance of the Rook (castle) in this game is totally different from other kinds, something most probably disregarded by the commentators of the Shahnameh.

Sadr al-Afazel Qasem b. Hosayn Khwarazmi, one of the great Iranian scholars and literary men is the author of the Ketab al-Yomni fi sharh-e al-Yamini. He was killed in 617 A.H/1220 CE. at the time of Mongol invasion of Iran. As far as we know, the only person who has given an account of Sadr al-Afazel's life and works is Yaqut in his Mo'jam al- Odaba. Not only does the Ketab al-Yamini contain the history of an important period of the Ghaznavid rule, it is also one of the significant literary sources from the 5th/11thcentury, and until several centuries, men of letters devoted themselves to expounding the book and writing commentaries on it.One of the first to have written a commentary on Al-Yamini in a special way was Sadr al-Afazel Khwarazmi. He set forth a number of the words and expressions used in the Al-Yamini in simple and fluently prose according to the order adopted by Jowhari's Sehah Dictionary, referringto the divergences and misprints of the book as well.This article includes an account of the life and works of Sadr al-Afazel and a description of his personality and the literary and historical standing of the Al-Yomni, one of his less known books in the field of literature, history and geography of Iran and some other parts of the Moslem world.

One of the great detriments to the practice of expounding and analyzing the Persian literary texts, particularly the Mathnavi of Jalal al-Din of Balkh, is excessive reference to Arabic sayings and verses, taking no notice of the culture and literature of ancient Persians. To discern the heavy presence of such elements, it would suffice to glance through the lists of Arabic verses and proverbial expressions in relation to to the commentaries of the Mathnavi. Here, what have been overlooked are the thoughts and culture of ancient Persians, which, unfortunately, hold no appropriate place in the commentaries on the Persian classical texts. Despite the fact that most of the Middle Persian (Pahlavi) texts have been lost, there are still enough materials about Persians and their ancient culture scattered, varied and rich though, here and there in Arabic texts that can make up for the lost Pahlavi texts. One can claim that the most important sources for the ancient Persian culture are Arabic.In this article, we will demonstrate that not only are Arabic texts not the provenances of a good number of axioms and sayings but also most of them are originally Persian, and that. it is the Arabic literature which owes to the ancient Persian language and literature It is, therefore, essential that our literary scholars and men of insight pay necessary attention to this matter.The reason for doing this study is the huge influence of the two books, Ahadith-e Mathnavi and Ma'akhez-e qesas and tamsilat-e Mathnavi ("the origins of the stories and proverbial expressions in the Mathnavi")on the researches related to the Mathnavi.

Considering that knowledge of text redacting over the past fifty years or so, and the availability of new tools and methods have greatly improved, one expects that the texts recently edited and presented to the scholarly circle should be accurate, or at least with fewer errors. Nevertheless, texts that are being brought out with numerous oversights are far from few.Ahval and akhbar-e Barmakian ("Biographical accounts of the Barmakids") that was published through the publications office of Dr Mahmud Afshar's Endowments Foundation in 1390 A.H./2011.Unfortunately it contains a lot of mistakes, which in some places, have caused ambiguity in the text. This book consists of two treatises that were translated by an anonymous translator or translators, probably in the 6th/12 century, from various narratives about the Barmakid house existing in the Arabic language.In the present article, some of those inaccuracies are addressed and, in the meantime, the correct versions are suggested.

The Malek Library and National Museum has an invaluable collection of manuscripts and, for that reason, all sorts of coverings, in particular, exquisite glazed (rowghani) ones.Besides introducing lacquer covers bearing the signatures of their painters and illuminators (mozahheb) in the Malek collection, this article addresses the identification of artists and their works with respect to the information regarding the signatures, dates as well as the artistic features Our of 6675 manuscript books, 212 have lacquer coverings of which 13 manuscripts bear the signatures of 10 painters, illuminators and, perhaps, binders. To find answers to a number of questions raised, we employed a library-field-work approach, limiting ourselves to coverings with compressed cardboard (papier- marche), which are improved sort of lacquer covers.

A good number of the Ruba'iyat (quatrains) ascribed to Khayyam have been attributed to other poets here and there in poetry books, and this has caused researchers to cast doubt on the attribution of the Rubaiyat to this or that particular poet. However, they have also made certain mistakes regarding Khayyam and his Rubaiyat. It is over a century since both Persian and foreign scholars have investigated into the accuracy of attribution to Khayyam of these quatrains. Yet, the necessity for more research in this field holds as urgent now as ever.By examining the Rubaiyat common between Khayyam and Majd-e Hamgar, this article is to examine and assess the validity of the attribution of these quatrains to the two poets concerned. In this study, after citing each one of the Ruabaiyat, place anddate of their attribution to either of the poets have been determined. Having mentioned the important variants of the manuscripts examined, we have addressed linguistic stylistics and historical background of the Rubaiyat, comparing the contents of the Rubaiyat under study with those of Khayyam’s genuine quatrains. In the end, we have presented our opinion on the possible attribution of these quatrains to either of the two or other poets.

The purpose of this research is to identify types of forgery and deception in manuscripts with a view to enhancing researchers’ insight and sense of recognition concerning manuscripts, helping towards the creation of an appropriate basis for textological studies.The methodology adopted in this research is initially library- based in order to examine previous researches; then we switch to a field-work method for identifying documented examples of forgery and fraudulence.According to the data collected, forgery and fraudulence in manuscripts can be divided into three categories: complete book- forging (ketab-sazi); forgery and fraudulence in the content of the text; and forgery and fraudulence in the physical elements of the manuscript. Methods of forgery and fraudulence in each of these categories differ depending on the kind of the manuscript (either normal non-illustrated texts or artistic ones).Book counterfeiting is often executed by educated people, well acquainted with manuscripts, committing this unethical act for either monitory or non-monitory gains.Our findings indicate that forgery and fraudulence in the physical elements of manuscripts is committed by different individuals, normally executed a long time after the making of the manuscript. Therefore, the frequency of this kind of forgery is more common. Forgery and fraudulence in the colophon of manuscripts, especially change of the copying date (thus, making it appear older) is more widespread.

Al-Loma' fi al-Tasawwof, by Abu Nasr Sarraj-e Tusi, edited and annotated by Reynold A. Nicholson, translated into Persian by Mahdi Mahabbati, Tehran, Asatir, 2nd reprinting, 1388 A.H./2009.Abu Nasr Sarraj wrote, in Arabic, the Al-Loma' to repudiate the doubts expressed by anti-Sufis, strengthen the principles of Sufism and show its conformity with the Qor'an and Prophetic tradition. Several centuries passed until in the 20th century the Al-Loma' was put into European languages, and belatedly into Persian. There are two translations of the Al-Loma'. The first translation, which is imperfect and contains only the first six books of the Al-Loma' was published in1380 A.H./2001. The second one, which is complete, was printed in 1382/2003 by the Asatir Publishers.The present article is a critical study of the second translation.

One of the poets who apparently had no separate Divan of his own, and undoubtedly part of his poetry has been lost, is Abu Al-Ma'ali Nohas-e Razi, a 6th /12th-century learned poet, during the Saljuq rule. Some of his poetry appears in printed sources. By doing further research into various sources such as anthologies, collectanea, and poets’ biographies and miscellanies, which have generally remained in manuscript form, one can find some of the extant verses and compile them.What appears in this article for the first time is a study of the poetry painstakingly gleaned here and there from both manuscript and printed sources such as poets' biographies, anthologies, safinehs and the likes of them.

In the post-Islamic era, one of the writing systems used in writing the Persian language was Hebrew alphabet, which, like other Semitic alphabetical systems, is not suitable for recording the Persian language. Persian texts written this way are referred to as "Persian-Hebrew" or "Persian-Jewish". The structure of the Hebrew handwriting that has identical graphemes standing for different phonemes (sounds) has led to tashifs (incorrect writing) and imprecise readings in the editing of Persian-Jewish texts.This article attempts to rectify a number of the words that have not been correctly recorded by the editors of the Persian-Hebrew texts.