ʿABBĀSĪ GOJARĀTĪ

 

ʿABBĀSĪ GOJARĀTĪ, ʿABD-AL-LAṬĪF B. ʿABDALLĀH KABĪR (d. 1048/1638), Indian literary figure. He was first attached to the retinue of Laškar Khan Mašhadī in Kabul and then to the court of Shah Jahān (1628-58), where he exercised the functions of dīvān-e tan and was given the title ʿAqīda Khan. He added a preface and supplement to the Botḵāna (q.v.) of Moḥammad Ṣūfī Māzandarānī, as well as a collection of biographical notices of poets entitled Ḵolāṣa-ye aḥvāl-e šoʿarāʾ (1021/1612-13). Apart from his function as court chronicler, his literary activity was devoted to his work as an editor of, and commentator on, two of the literary classics of Persian poetry, Sanāʿī’s Ḥadīqa and Rūmī’s Maṯnavī. His edition of the Maṯnavī (called Nosḵa-ye nāseḵa-ye maṯnavīyāt-e saqīma, 1032/1622-23) consists of six daftar, each of which is introduced by a separate preface. Together, these six prefaces comprise the Merʾāt al-maṯnavī, which has a preface of its own. In this preface he explains the care he took in comparing manuscripts found in Herat, Kabul, and India. His commentary on the Maṯnavī is called Laṭāʾef al-maʿnavī men ḥaqāʾeq al-maṯnavī (Lucknow, 1282/1866; Cawnpore, 1876). In his preface to Laṭāʾef al-loḡāt (a dictionary of the Maṯnavī), ʿAbd-al-Laṭīf explains that he had worked twelve years collecting all the lexicographical information which would be useful for reading Rūmī. He consulted forty-four dictionaries, the most important of which he cited. He also took note of words found in editions other than his own (Lucknow, 1294/1877; Cawnpore, 1905; Tehran, 1319 Š./1940). In 1040/1630-31 he revised the text of Sanāʾī’s Ḥadīqa, calling it Laṭāʾef al-ḥadāʾeq men nafāʾes al-daqāʾeq and added a preface, Merʾāt al-ḥadāʾeq (Lucknow, 1877). He finished his commentary on the Ḥadīqa in 1042 but in 1044 resumed work on it. In this commentary ʿAbd-al-Laṭīf compares Sanāʾī and Rūmī; he concludes that Rūmī did not plagiarize from Sanāʾī but rather developed the themes which his predecessor had treated in a condensed form.

Bibliography:

Cat. Bankipore, pp. 25-27.

Storey, I, pp. 807-08, n. 5.

Goḷčīn Maʿānī, Tārīḵ-e taḏkerahā-ye fārsī I, Tehran, 1348 Š./1969, pp. 590-97.

Monzavī, Nosḵehā, pp. 1371, 3508, 3510.

(Y. Richard)

Originally Published: December 15, 1982

Last Updated: July 13, 2011

This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 1, pp. 88-89

Cite this entry:

Y. Richard, “'Abbasi Gojarati,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/1, pp. 88-89; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abbasi-gojarati (accessed on 12 January 2014).