Abū ‘Umar ‘Uthmān b. ‘Umar Mukhtārī Ghaznavī (born c. 467/1074-75, died 513×15/1118×21) was a
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
poet of the
Ghaznavids
The Ghaznavid dynasty ( ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a Persianate Muslim dynasty of Turkic peoples, Turkic ''mamluk'' origin. It ruled the Ghaznavid Empire or the Empire of Ghazni from 977 to 1186, which at its greatest extent, extended from the Oxus ...
, an empire originating from
Ghazna
Ghazni (, ), historically known as Ghaznayn () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana (), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan with a population of around 190,000 people. The city is strategica ...
located in
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
. He had patrons at the courts of the
Qarakhānids, the Seljūqs of Kirman, and the Ismaili ruler of
Tabas.
In the assessment of A. A. Seyed-Gohrab,
in Persian literary history, he is known for his detailed and extensive poetic descriptions ('' vaṣf'') and his interest in literary riddles. His ability lies first of all in the minute description of courtly events such as royal banquets, hunting grounds, battlefields, and Islamic and pre-Islamic Persian festivals.
Originating from
Ghazna
Ghazni (, ), historically known as Ghaznayn () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana (), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan with a population of around 190,000 people. The city is strategica ...
, he is thought to have written the ''Shahryar-nama'', which describes the struggles of Muslims against Indian heathens during the
Ghaznavid
The Ghaznavid dynasty ( ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a Persianate Muslim dynasty of Turkic ''mamluk'' origin. It ruled the Ghaznavid Empire or the Empire of Ghazni from 977 to 1186, which at its greatest extent, extended from the Oxus to the Indus Va ...
era. The epic was composed in 3 years. Parts of it remain in the
British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
. While at Tabas in 500-508 (1105–13), he composed the ''
Hunar-nāma'', dedicating it to the ruler of Tabas, Yamīm al-Dowla, one of the Ismaili aristocrats of
Quhistān.
[A. A. Seyed-Gohrab, ''Courtly Riddles: Enigmatic Embellishments in Early Persian Poetry'' (Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2010), p. 146.]
He was a great fan of
Masud Sa'd Salman
Mas'ud-i Sa'd-i Salmān () was an 11th-century Persian poet of the Ghaznavid empire who is known as the prisoner poet as well as the first poet ever of Lashkari/Lahori (later known as Urdu) as per Amir Khosrow's tribute to him. He lived fro ...
.
References
* Jan Rypka, ''History of Iranian Literature''. Reidel Publishing Company. ASIN B-000-6BXVT-K
See also
*
List of Persian poets and authors
*
Persian literature
Persian literature comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources have been within Greater Iran including present-day ...
12th-century deaths
11th-century Persian-language poets
12th-century Persian-language poets
11th-century Persian-language writers
12th-century Persian-language writers
Year of birth unknown
11th-century Iranian people
12th-century Iranian people
Poets from the Ghaznavid Empire
Year of birth uncertain
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