Khaqani
خاقانی
Court poet of the Shirvanshahs, master of the learned and difficult qasida.
- Known for
- Qasidas, including the ode on the palace of Mada'en
- Forms
- Qasida, Masnavi
- Places
- Arran and Shirvanاران و شروان
- East Azerbaijanآذربایجان شرقی
- Mesopotamiaمیان‌رودان
- Collection
- The Greats
Afzal al-Din Badil Khaqani was born in Shirvan, in today's Republic of Azerbaijan, the son of a carpenter and of a mother who had been a Christian. He served at the court of the Shirvanshahs but chafed at court life, and was imprisoned for a time; his prison poems, the habsiyat, are among his best known.
His pilgrimages to Mecca inspired the Tohfat al-Eraqein (Gift of the Two Iraqs) and, it is usually said, his qasida on the ruins of the Sasanian palace at Ctesiphon. His style is learned and difficult, full of allusions to astronomy, medicine and Christian lore. He died in Tabriz and is buried in the Maqbarat al-Shoara, the poets' cemetery there.
Booksکتاب‌ها
The principal works of Khaqani.
The Divan of Khaqani
دیوان خاقانیKhaqani's collected poems, dominated by long qasidas of great difficulty and brilliance: praise of the Shirvanshahs, prison poems, laments for his son and his wife, and the ode on the ruins of the palace of Ctesiphon.
Read 3 poemsThe Gift of the Two Iraqs (Tohfat al-Eraqein)
تحفةالعراقینA masnavi written after Khaqani's first pilgrimage to Mecca, describing his journey through the 'two Iraqs', Persian and Arab, the holy cities and the people he met. It also tells of his own life and family.
Poems by Khaqaniشعرها
In the original Persian, beside an English translation.
صبح دم چون کله بندد آه دود آسای من
چون شفق در خون نشیند چشم شب پیمای من
At dawn, when my smoke-like sigh spreads out its canopy,
my night-measuring eye sits in blood like the red of twilight.
At Dawn, When My Sigh Rises Like Smoke
فلک کژروتر است از خط ترسا
مرا دارد مسلسل راهب آسا
The heavens move more crookedly than the Christians’ script;
they keep me chained like a monk.
More Crooked Than the Christians’ Script
هان ای دل عبرت بین از دیده نظر کن هان
ایوان مدائن را آیینهٔ عبرت دان
Take heed, O heart that learns from warnings, look with your eyes, take heed:
know the palace of Mada’en for a mirror of warning.
The Palace of Mada’en
Khaqani in Iranian history
Iranian historySeljuks, Mongols and Ilkhanidsسلجوقیان، مغولان و ایلخانان
Turkic and then Mongol conquerors took Iran in turn. The Seljuks built mosques and colleges; the Mongols brought catastrophe, then, as the Ilkhanids, became patrons of history-writing and art.