Nizami Mausoleum

The Nezami Mausoleum, built in 1991 , stands just outside the city of Ganja , Azerbaijan . It is a tall cylindrical building, surrounded by gardens. To one side, there is a metal statue commemorating Nezami 's epic poems.

Jamal al-Din Ilyas Ibn Yusif Nezami Ganjavi, the great Persian poet, was born around AD 1140 in Ganjah, in the present-day republic of Azerbaijan. He died after AD 1202 . He was buried in this mausoleum subsequently destroyed by the elements. During the past century, however, the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan has refurbished the poet's mausoleum. Nizami's father, Yusif, was a civil administrator and a devout Muslim. His mother, Ra'isah, was of Kurdish extraction. Nizami received an excellent education in mathematics, astronomy, medicine, jurisprudence, music, and the arts all of which he skillfully incorporated into his poetry. Nezami traveled very little. In fact, he refers to himself as "The Prisoner of Ganjah." For this reason, the geography he uses in his poetry must be accepted with a grain of salt.

Nezami married three times. His first wife, Afaq, a Kipchak slave girl, was sent to him by Fakhr al-Din Bahramshah, the ruler of Darband, as a part of a larger gift. She became Nizami's first and most beloved wife. The wife who gave Nezami his only son, Muhammad, could well also be the inspiration for Shirin in "Shirin and Farhad." Afaq died after "Khusrau and Shirin" was completed. Muhammad was seven at the time. Strangely enough, Nizami's other wives, too, died prematurely--the death of each coinciding with the completion of an epic, prompting the poet to say, "God, why is it that for every mathnavi I must sacrifice a wife!"

Not being a court poet, Nezami's name does not appear in the annals of the dynasties of his time. He preferred to remain independent both in belief and in artistic expression. In his works, he synthesized the heroicness of Ferdowsi , the fatalism of Khayyam , the humanism of Sana'i , the lyricism of Unsuri and Farrukhi, and the eroticism of Asad Gorgani . He does not use women as mere decoration pieces as some poets did; rather, his women are strong, subtle, and virtuous as well as tender, passionate, and enchantingly beautiful. They possess sharp, educated intellects. Similarly, his language is like the language of Firdowsi , not base, tasteless, or vulgar as was the language of many who at the time tackled the subjects of love and intimacy.

Nezami's body of works consists of a divan (collection of poems) of which only a small portion is extant and a khamsah (quintet). His Khamsah consists of the following five romances of which only "The Seven Beauties" is discussed in some detail here:

1. "The Treasury Of Mysteries ," the smallest of the five, was dedicated to Malik Fakhr al-Din Bahramshah, the ruler of Arzanjan in 1157 . It contains about 2,250 distichs on such esoteric subjects as philosophy and theology; it also contains admonitions directed to his only son, Muhammad. Not a romantic epic, "The Treasury of Mysteries" was translated into English by Gholam H. Darab in 1945.

2. Written between 1177 and 1180, " Khusrau And Shirin " was dedicated to three patrons: the Seljuq king Abu Talib Tughrul ibn Arsalan, Atabak Shams al-Din Abu Ja'far Muhammad Jahan Pahlavan, and the latter's brother, Atabak Qizil Arsalan. About 6,500 distichs in length, the story depicts the love of Sassanian Khusrau Parviz towards his Armenian queen, Shirin. Shirin is in love with Khusrau as well as with Farhad, a famed stone-cutter, commissioned by the king to cut a channel in the Bisutun mountain. When the king learns about Shirin's love for Farhad, he becomes jealous. To test Farhad's love, he sends Farhad a message informing him of Shirin's death. Upon hearing this, the stone-cutter throws himself down the side of the mountain and dies. Khusrau lives with Shirin until he is assassinated. Shirin kills herself and joins her lovers.

3. " Leyli And Majnun ," perhaps the most popular romance in the Islamic world, is traditionally referred to as the "furnace of love's fire" as well as the "rose garden of the soul." Of Arabic origin, the poem of 4,700 distichs was dedicated, in 1189, to Abu al-Muzaffar Shirvanshah, a descendant of Bahram Chubin whose exploits are reflected in Nizami's "Seven Beauties." With a theme very similar to Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," the story was written in four months time. Since its composition, it has been recreated in prose, songs, and verse in almost all the major languages of the Middle East. Its first English translation by Atkinson was published in 1836. A more recent translation was published in 1966 by the Swiss Persianist Rudolph Gelpke.

4. "The Romance Of Alexander The Great " contains 10,500 distichs. It is in two parts called "Sharaf-nama" (description of the battles and victories of Alexander) and "Iqbal-nama" (Alexander's life, feasts, and prophetic powers as well as his apprenticeship under the sage Aristotle). "Sharaf-Nama" was dedicated to the ruler Atabak A'zam Malik Nusrat al-Din Abubakr Seljuq, the son of Atabak Muhammad Jahan Pahlavan circa AD 1196 and the "Iqbal Nama" was dedicated to Malik Iz al-Din Mas'ud ibn Arsalan, the Seljuq ruler of Musil in 1202. "The Romance of Alexander the Great" was translated into English by Wilberforce Clarke in 1881.

5. In 5,136 distichs and containing some of the most beautiful descriptive passages in the entire tradition of Persian epic poetry, the " Seven Beauties " was translated by C. E. Wilson in 1924. It is the story of Bahram V, the Sassanian king, who is born to Yazdegerd after twenty years of childlessness and supplication to Ahura Mazda for a child. Following the advice of his astrologers, once born Bahram, as dear to Yazdegerd as his most cherished treasures, is sent to King Nu'man of Yemen to be educated in the manner of kings.
As for Nu'man himself, having seen to the construction of the most beautiful castle in the middle of a meadow surrounded by roses and tulips, one day he wanders into the desert and, like the legendary Kaykhusrau, disappears into thin air. After many days and nights of mourning, Manzar, Nu'man's son, ascends the throne of Yemen. Bahram and Manzar's son, also called Nu'man, grow up together in the beautiful Khwarnaq castle. Together they learn Arabic, Persian, and Greek as well astrology and philosophy. They are trained in the art of war, the manners of kings, and the intricacies of the hunt.

In Khwarnaq, Bahram is acquainted with every room but one. One day, returning from the hunt, he orders the chamberlain to open the door to that particular room. Upon entering, he finds himself surrounded by the most exquisite walls, decorated by portraits of seven women all depicted in the state of gazing at a man. He views each portrait for a while and falls in love with the woman it depicts. He falls in love with all the women adorning the walls of the room: Furak, the daughter of the Rajah of India, as beautiful as the moon; Yaghma Naz, the daughter of the Khaqan of the Turks; Naz Pari, the daughter of the king of Khwarazm; Nasrin Nush, the daughter of the king of the Slavs; Azarbin, the daughter of the king of Morocco; Humay, the daughter of the Roman Caesar; and Diroste, a beautiful Iranian princess from the House of Kay Ka'us. At the end, he turns to the portrait of the man only to find that it depicts himself. Beneath the portrait an inscription informs that, as king, he would marry all those seven beauties in real life.

Having viewed this scene, Bahram orders the door to be locked again and leaves instructions for it not to be opened under penalty of death. Only he himself, during moments of depression, enters the room and amuses himself with the fantastic thoughts of the future that awaits him.

Bahram, however, was not the sole claimant to the throne of Persia. His brother rivaled him in every way. After Bahram's return from Yemen, to determine who of the two would be the future king, a contest was arranged; whoever captures the crown from between its two guarding lions would automatically be recognized as king. Bahram kills the lions and captures the crown before his brother has a chance to approach the lions. Bahram knew that he would not be able to attain the pleasure of the company of the seven princesses awaiting his royal presence, if he were to lose the contest.

As king, Bahram dispatches messengers to China, India, Morocco, Byzantium, Russia, Khwarazm and to far-off regions of Persia and, by persuasion, threat, and war secures the hands of the princesses he had been dreaming of spending the rest of his life with. He is so certain of attaining his wishes that he commissions his best architect and designer, Shideh, to build a palace for each princess, a palace that would reflect at once the color of the clime from which each princess comes, the planet that controls her destiny, and the day of the week that she would be visited by the king. Nizami's "Seven Beauties" is an account of Bahram's visits to each individual pavilion. The stories, narrated by each queen, are told in the tradition of Shahrzad of the famed "A Thousand and One Nights."

"Love called, and I could not linger, but sought the forbidden tryst, as music follows the finger of the dreaming Latinist" RUMI

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Azerbaijan

Persian Literature

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Nizami Mausoleum

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