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Nezami Ganjavi (نظامی گنجوی in Persian, Nizami Gəncəvi in Azerbaijani)‎ (1141 – 1209), whose full Arabic name was Nizām ad-Dīn Abū Muhammad Ilyās ibn-Yusūf ibn-Zakī ibn-Muˤayyid Nizāmī Ganjavī, was a Persian poet, philosopher and storywriter. He was born in Ganja, the capital of Arran in Azerbaijan, where he remained until his death. His mother, named Ra'isa, was Kurdish. According to some sources, his father originated from the village of Ta or Tafresh near Qom.

Nizami 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. His only son Mohammad was from Afaq. Afaq died after "Khosrow and Shirin" was completed. Mohammad 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!"

The region of Arran (the central lowland part of today's Republic of Azerbaijan), where Nezami lived and wrote, had in his time only recently become the scene of significant literary activity in Persian. In Azerbaijan, where numerous languages and dialects were spoken, one of the original languages was a local Iranian dialect, Azari (Arabic Āzarī, 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 ("Eastern") style in its rhetorical sophistication, its innovative use of metaphor and its use of technical terminology and Christian imagery.

Works

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, Nezami is best known for his five long narrative poems.

Often referred to by the honorific Hakim "the Sage", Nezami 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.

Nezami was a master of the Masnavi style (double-rhymed verses) and one of the four great Persian poets of the 12th century CE. He wrote poetical works; the main one is the Panj Ganj (Persian: Five Jewels) "Quinary", also known by the Persian pronunciation of the same word in Arabic, Khamse. The Quinary includes the five Persian books of Nizami:

• Makhzan al-Asrar "The Storehouse of Mysteries" (1157)

Persian: مخزن الاسرار It contains about 2,250 Persian distichs on such esoteric subjects as philosophy and theology; it also contains admonitions directed to his only son, Muhammad. Not a romantic epic, the "The Treasury of Mysteries" was translated into English by Gholam H. Darab in 1945.

• Khosrow o Shirin "Khosrow and Shirin" (1177-1180)

A story of Persian origin. It contains about 6,500 distichs in length, the story depicts the love of Sassanian Khusrau Parviz towards his Armenian queen, Shirin.

• Leyle o Mæjnun "Layla and Majnun" (1188)

A story 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."

• Eskandarname "The Book of Alexander" (1196)

The Romance of Alexander the Great" contains 10,500 distichs. The story is based on the Islamic myths developed about Alexander the Great, considered by many muslims to be the Dhul-Qarnain of the Quran.

• Haft Peykar "The Seven Beauties" (1198)

A story of Persian origin. It is the story of Bahram V, the sassanid king, who is born to Yazdegerd after twenty years of childlessness and supplication to Ahura Mazda for a child.

The Nezami Museum of Literature is located in Baku, Azerbaijan. Nezami's mausoleum is located in Ganja, Azerbaijan. The monument was built on Nizami's grave in 1947, and replaced a similar obelisk dating from the early 1900s. 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 Nezami's books, sculpted in metal.

Quotes

• همه عالم تن است و ايران دل "The world is a body and Iran is its heart", Translated from Nezami's original work (in Persian)

"In this Habash my Turkishness is not appreciated, That's why my tasty doga is not eaten"

In Persian: "Torkiemra der in Hebesh neherend, lacherem dugbaje-hesh nehorend". (From: Seven beauties/Haft paykar, fourth epic poem of Nizami).

"Ganja, having tied me up, has firmly taken me, Iraq's wealth I hold without node" (From: Treasure of Mysteries (Secrets), first epic poem of Nizami. Note: Ganja, the capital of Arran/Azerbaijan, was part of the Seljuq Turkic Empire at the time of Nizami with capital in Baghdad -- hence Iraq. Meanwhile, Iran did not exist as a separate or otherwise independent or semi-independent unified state since the 7th century AD and until resurrection in 16th century under Shah Ismail Khatai Sefevi).

"If my (dear) Turkic (wife Appaq/Afak) escaped from (my) tent, o God, (I beg you) take care of my Turkic-born (son Muhammed)!" (From: Khosrov and Shirin, second epic poem of Nizami)

"From Khazar mountains till Chinese sea, Whole land I see full of Turks" (From: Iskender-nameh, 1199-1201, fifth and last epic poem of Nizami. Note: this quote is said by Alexander the Great in the poem)

Notes

1. ^
2. Iraj Bashiri. Nizami's Life and Works.

Biography of Nizami Dr. Julie S. Meisami of Oxford University

Some Persian links on Nizami

An article on the history of Persian poetry in Arran and Shirvan

Comprehensive scholarly paper on Nizami's life and heritage by Adil Baguirov, Ph.D., in Russian

References

• E.G. Browne. Literary History of Persia. (Four volumes, 2,256 pages, and twenty-five years in the writing). 1998. ISBN 0-700-70406-X
• Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature. Reidel Publishing Company. ASIN B-000-6BXVT-K

See also

• List of Persian poets and authors
• Persian literature
• Nizami Mausoleum

External links

• Biography of Nezami Ganjavi by Professor Julia Scott Meysami
• Bio: Nezami Ganjavi
• Nizami, Jamal al-Din Ilyas. A biography by Prof. Iraj Bashiri, University of Minnesota.
• Nezami's works in original Persian
• The Legend of Leyli and Majnun

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