ʿABDĪ ŠĪRĀZĪ

 

ʿABDĪ ŠĪRĀZĪ, ḴᵛĀJĀ ZAYN-AL-ʿĀBEDĪN ʿALĪ B. ʿABD-AL-MOʾMEN (921-88/1513-80), also known by his taḵalloṣ Novīdī, a poet from a notable family of Shiraz (not Isfahan as is reported in Rūz-e rowšan). He was probably born and raised in Tabrīz, his mother’s hometown, where his father had settled. He worked as a secretary-accountant in the royal chancellery of the Safavid king Shah Ṭahmāsp. As a young poet he wrote only ḡazals and robāʿīs, but following the king’s instruction and encouraged by Qāsemī Gonābādī, he turned to the writing of maṯnavīs, which constitute the bulk of his poetry. Little is known of his private life, except that he made trips to Georgia and Armenia and died in Ardabīl in 988/1580.

His main poetical works are three Ḵamsas composed in imitation of Neẓāmī Ganǰavī. Each Ḵamsa comprises five independent versified narratives. Of these Ṣaḥīfat al-eḵlāṣ, mostly a descriptive account of the palaces, gardens, and artists of Qazvīn (then the capital of the Safavids) is of special interest, but is unpublished. The only poem yet published is his Maǰnūn o Laylā (ed. A. Hashumogly Rahimov, Moscow, 1966). His other maṯnavīs seem to have been lost, except possibly for his Ṭarabnāma, which may be the manuscript known as Qeṣaṣ al-anbīāʾ or Ketāb-e naẓm-e sīar va ḡazavāt-e Sayyed al-Bašar and attributed to Bīrūnī. This manuscript is preserved in the Oriental Institute of the Uzbek SSR. He also wrote a history called Takmelat al-aḵbār, which he dedicated to the king’s daughter Parīḵān Ḵānom and which is a significant source for events of the 10th/16th century (see Storey, I/2, p. 1239). His Dīvān has been published (Lucknow, 1267/1851).

Bibliography:

Toḥfa-ye Sāmī, p. 59.

Sayyed ʿAlī Khan Golšān, Ṣobḥ-e Golšān, 1295/1878, p. 277.

Fasāʾī, II, p. 152.

Moḥammad Moẓaffar Ḥosayn Ṣabā, Taḏkera-ye rūz-e rowšan, ed. R. Ādamīyat, Tehran, 1343 Š./1964, pp. 856-57.

Ātaškada, ed. J. Šahīdī, Tehran, 1337 Š./1958, p. 304.

Rahimov’s intro. to his ed. of Maǰnūn o Laylā, pp. 3-30.

Monzavī, Nosḵahā III, pp. 1897, 2589-90.

Ḵayyāmpūr, Soḵanvarān, p. 621.

For a facsimile edition and the Russian translation of the part of Takmelat al-aḵbār concerning the reign of Esmāʿīl I, see O. A. Efendiev, Obrazovanie azerbaĭdzhanskogo gosudarstva Sefevidov v nachale XVI veka, Baku, 1961, pp. 143-65, 179-99.

For additional bibliography concerning his works, see Storey-Bregel, I, pp. 404f.; II, pp. 875, 1085.

(M. Dabīrsīāqī and B. Fragner)

Originally Published: December 15, 1982

Last Updated: July 15, 2011

This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 2, pp. 209-210

Cite this entry:

Multiple Authors, “Abdi Sirazi,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/2, pp. 209-210; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abdi-sirazi-1513-80-poet (accessed on 21 January 2014).