The painting from the manuscript
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Nur ad-Din Abd ar-Rahman Jami (b.1414 – d.1492), was a Persian poet who is a writer of mystical Sufi literature. His most famous poetic works are Haft Awrang, Tuhfat al-Ahrar, Layla wa Majnun, Fatihat al-Shabab, Lawa'ih, Al-Durrah al-Fakhirah. Jami was born in Jam, in Khorasan. While in Herat, Jami held an important position, he died in Herat. His Kerad-Nama-ye Eskandari an Iskandar Romance, is the seventh matnawi of his Haft Awrang. It is divided into twenty-seven units who do not form a connected story. The poem resembles a mirror for princes rather than an account of Alexander’s life.
Jami completed the work as seven books
1 Selselat adh-dhahab (Chain of Gold) a collection of didactic anecdotes
2 Yusof-o Zulaikha (Joseph and Zulaikha): the romance of Joseph and Zulaikha
3 Sabhat al-abrar (Rosary of the Pious): another collection of didactic anecdotes
The Sufi (1), the slave, and the last camel, from Rosary of the Pious (Subhat al-Abrar), by Jami. In this brief episode, a Sufi mystic meets with a merchant's encampment, and notices a slave chained in one of the tents. On asking the merchant to free him, the Sufi (1) hears from the merchant why he now has only one camel left: earlier, the slave's beautiful singing so haunted the camel train, that once their packs were unloaded at the end of the day, the animals had run away. On asking the slave to sing again, his song of longing utterly transfixed the Sufi (1), and the last camel broke its rope and escaped. A note in the lower margin states that this painting comes from an older composition (tarh) by Bihzad (the renowned Herati artist, d. c. 1535), and was made by Divana Naqqash (2). Folio, ink, colours and gold on paper, Persian text in nastaliq script, with painting (on verso), from Rosary of the Pious (Subḥat al-Abrar), by Nur al-Din Abd al-Rahman Jami (d. 1492), Bukhara, Uzbekistan, undated, c. 1560.
4 Salaman-o Absal (Salaman and Absal): A doomed romance between a prince and his nursemaid.
5 Tohfat ol-ahrar (Gift of the Free)
Taken from: Persian Poetry, Painting & Patronage Illustrations in a Sixteenth/Century Masterpiece
MARIANNA SHREVE SIMPSON
A Zanj finds a dirty mirror beside the road.
He picks it up and cleans it off.
When he looks into its shining surface,
he begins to curse,
thinking that the ugly
reflection is the fault of the mirror. (3)
6 Layli-o Majnun (Layla and Majnun)
7 Kheradnama-i Eskandari (Alexander's Book of Wisdom)
Taken from: Oriente moderno, Volume 15, Issue 2, Part 2 by Istituto per l'oriente. Gami’s Epic poem on Alexander the Great by Johann Cristoph Burgel.
The Folk-Lore Journal Vol IV 1886. Bibliography of Folk-Lore by Capt. Temple p284
Is the last poem of his Haft Awrang (Seven Thrones) also called Jami and Gami
In the country of Eum (Greece) there dwelt a great king named Failqus (Philip), whose capital was Maqadunia (Macedon). He had a son, Sikandar (Alexander), brought up by Kalqumajas, the father of Arastu (Aristotle). Failqus had designs on Persia, but died before he could accomplish anything, and Sikandar succeeded him.
……The wisdom letters having been written for him, Alexander set out to conquer the world. The conquest is related only in form of a brief summary: First Alexander proceeded to the Magrib presenting it with the splendour of his beauty…….
Soon after the Zangis (Ethiopians) attacked the Egyptians, who called in the aid of Sikandar. He defeated the Zangis in a way that created a great sensation in Persia …… polishing the mirror of Egypt from their rust(=rust is also translated as Zangi). After which he advanced to Iran…………
(1) Sufi: Sufism, is a mystic body of religious practice within Islam characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ritualism, asceticism and esotericism.
(2) Divana Naqqash: 15th-century painter whose work is known primarily from single-page paintings preserved in the Topkapı Sarayı library.
(3) This racist story is present in many versions: Shah Mardan Ibn Abi al-Khayr (11th); Hakim Sana’i (1131); Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi(1273); Khajavi Kermani (1352); Nur ad-Din Abd ar-Rahman Jami (1485).