Nezami
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Nezami Ganjavi (نظامی گنجوی in Persian, Nizami Gəncəvi in Azerbaijani) (1140? – 1217?), with the complete name of Nezam al-Din Abu Mohammad Elyas Ibn Yosouf Ibn Zaki Ibn Mo’ayyed Nezami Ganjavi, was an Azeri-Iranian poet and storywriter. He was born in Ganja (known during the Soviet period as Kirovabad in Azerbaijan), the capital of Arran in Transcaucasian Azerbaijan, where he remained until his death. His father originated from the Persian village of Tafresh and his mother, named Ra'isa, was an Iranian Kurd.
The region of Arran (todays Republic of Azerbaijan), where Nezâmî lived and wrote, had in his time only recently become the scene of significant literary activity in Persian. In Azerbaijan and Arran, where numerous languages and dialects were spoken, the original language was local iranian dialect, Âzarî (not to be confused by the Turkic Azeri language now spoken in the region); but with increasing westward migrations of Turks in the eleventh century Turkish became widespread. When in the twelfth century the Seljuks extended their control into the region, their provincial governors, virtually autonomous local princes, encouraged Persian letters. By the mid-twelfth century many important poets enjoyed their patronage, and there developed a distinctive "Azerbaijani" style of poetry in Persian which contrasted with "Khurasani" or "Eastern" style in its rhetorical sophistication, its innovative use of metaphor, and its use of technical terminology and Christian imagery. Nezami lived in an age of both political instability and intense intellectual activity, which his poems reflect; but little is known about his life, his relations with his patrons, or the precise dates of his works, as the accounts of later biographers are colored by the many legends built up around the poet. Although he left a small corpus of lyric poetry, Nizâmî is best known for his five long narrative poems. Often referred to by the honorific Hakîm, 'the sage', Nezâmî is both a learned poet and master of a lyrical and sensuous style.His poems show that not only was he fully acquainted with Arabic and Persian literature and with oral and written popular and local traditions, but was also familiar with such diverse fields as mathematics, geometry, astronomy and astrology, alchemy, medicine, Koranic exegesis, Islamic theology and law, history, ethnics, philosophy and esoteric thought, music and the visual arts.
He was the master of Masnavi style (double-rhymed verses) and one of the four great Persian poets in 12th century. He had two poetical works; the main one is Panj-ganj (The Quinary) in 30,000 couplets. It includes five books:
- Makhzan al-Asrar (The Storehouse of Mysteries) (1165)
- Khosrow o Shirin (The story of Khosrow and Shirin) (1175)
- Leily o Majnoun (The story of Leily and Majnoun) (1188)
- Eskandar-Nameh (The Book of Alexander) (1191)
- Haft Paykar (The Seven Beauties) (1198)
Nezami also compiled a Divan (a collection of odes and lyrics) in 1188.
The Nizami Museum of Literature is located in Baku, Azerbaijan. Nizami's mausoleum is located in Gadja, Azerbaijan. The monument was built in 1991 replaced a similar obelisk dating from the late 1940s. The mausoleum is an elegant marble covered structure about 20 m tall. Behind it there is an open area with a display of scenes from Nizami's books, sculpted in metal.
See also
External links
- The Legend of Leyli and Majnun (http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/63_folder/63_articles/63_legendleyli.html)
- Nizami, Jamal al-Din Ilyas (http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/bashiri/Teahouse/Figures.html#Nizami). A biography by Prof. Iraj Bashiri, University of Minnesota.