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The Sikh Ẓafarnāma (Epistle of Victory) is a short Persian narrative poem (a ma ṡ nav ī) in epistolary form and Gurmukhi script that is included in the Dasam Granth (Book of the Tenth [Gurū]), a part of the Sikh canon, and can be found on pages 1,389-1,394 of the standard printed edition of 1,436 pages. This work is generally perceived to have been authored by the tenth Sikh gurū, Gurū Gobind Siṅgh (1666-1708), and is thus preceded by the standard formula sr ī mukh v āk pātiśā h ī dasv ī n (“uttered from the blessed mouth of the tenth lord”). By virtue of this authorship, the text is a…

d. 858 ah (1454 ad). Persia. Poet and historian, a native of the Muzaffarid capital of Yazd. Author of the Zafar-nāma [Book of Victory].Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAlī Yazdī served under several Tīmūrid rulers and princes. He was a favourite of Shāh Rukh, who ruled over Persia and Transoxania (1405-47). During his service to the Tīmūrid prince Mīrzā Sultān Muḥammad he became involved in the 1447 rebellion of the prince, which almost cost him his life. After the death of Shāh Rukh he retired to Yazd.His Zafar-nāma on the legendary conqueror Tīmūr (known in the west as Tamerlane 1336-1405) is…

(or Niẓām-i S̲h̲āmī), Persian littérateur and chronicler of the late 8th/14th-early 9th/15th centuries. His nisba (S̲h̲āmī < S̲h̲anbī) suggests that he was born in S̲h̲anb-i G̲h̲āzānī, a suburb of Tabrīz. When on 20 S̲h̲awwāl 795/29 August 1393 Tīmūr-i Lang arrived before Bag̲h̲dād, S̲h̲āmī tells us, he was the first of its inhabitants to come and submit to him ( Ẓafar-nāma , i, 139). On his way to the Ḥid̲j̲āz not long before the conqueror’s attack on Aleppo in 803/1400, S̲h̲āmī was detained by the authorities in Aleppo, who suspec…

, a tributary of the Oxus, now called Surk̲h̲an. The name (apparently of pre-Muḥammadan origin, cf. Čag̲h̲āniyān) is mentioned in the Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam (Cod. Tumanski, 9a et seq.) written in the year 372 = 982—983, and was still in use in the viiith (xivth) century ( Ẓafar-Nāma, Indian edition, i. 196) (W. Barthold)

(ou Niẓām-i S̲h̲āmī), homme de lettres et chroniqueur persan de la fin du VIIIe/XIVe-début du IXe/XVe siècles. Sa nisba (S̲h̲anbī < S̲h̲āmī) donne à penser qu’il naquit à S̲h̲anb-i G̲h̲āzānī, faubourg de Tabrīz. Lorsque le 20 s̲h̲awwāl 795/29 août 1393 Tīmūr arriva devant Bag̲h̲dād. nous dit S̲h̲āmī, il fut le premier des habitants à aller se soumettre à lui ( Ẓafar-nāma, I, 139). Sur le chemin du Ḥid̲j̲āz, peu avant l’attaque d’Alep par le conquérant en 803/1400, S̲h̲āmī fut détenu par les autorités de cette ville qui le suspectaient d’espionnage pour l…

Persian “the iron gate”, also called Derbend-i Āhanīn. The Arabic form is Bāb al-Ḥadīd , old Turkish Tämir qapiy. A name used for various passes in the eastern Islamic world. The most famous pass called dar-i āhanīn , is the pass in Mā warāʾ al-Nahr (Transoxiana), in the Baysuntau Mountain Range near the modern village of Derbent located on the old road between Samarḳand and Tirmid̲h̲. Perhaps the earliest mention of this “Iron Gate” is in the account of the Chinese pilgrim Hsüan Tsang who went through the pass about 630 A.D. and described it briefly. The first mention of this ¶ pass under its …

(p.) «porte de fer», et aussi Derbend-i āhanīn (ar. Bāb al-ḥadīd; turc ancien Tämir qapiy), nom de divers cols du monde islamique oriental. Le plus célèbre est celui du Mā warāʾ al-Nahr ¶ (Transoxiane), dans la chaîne du Baysuntare, près du village actuel de Derbent, sur l’ancienne route Samarḳand-Tirmid̲h̲. La plus ancienne mention de cette «porte de fer» se trouve peut-ētre dans le récit du pèlerin chinois Hsüan Tsang qui y passa vers 630 de J.-C. et la décrit brièvement. La première attestation de son nom persan est dans al-Yaʿḳūbī, Buldān, 290. Par la suite, ce col fut considéré …

(a. and p.), a title meaning “Lord of the (auspicious) conjunction”. Ḳirān means a conjunction of the planets, ḳirān al-saʿdayn [see al-saʿdān ] a conjunction of the two auspicious planets (Jupiter and Venus), and ḳirān al-naḥsayn a conjunction of the two inauspicious planets (Saturn and Mars). In the title, the word refers, of course, to the former only. The Persian i of the iḍāfa is omitted, as in ṣāḥib-dil , by fakk-i iḍāfa. The title was first assumed by the Amīr Tīmūr, who is said to have been born under a fortunate conjunction, but with whom its assumption was…

(a. et p.), titre signifiant «Seigneur de la Conjonction (favorable)», Ḳirān désigne une conjonction de planètes; ḳirān al-saʿdayn [voir al-Saʿdān], la conjonction de deux planètes favorables (Jupiter et Vénus), et ḳirān al-naḥsayn la conjonction de deux planètes défavorables (Saturne et Mars). Dans le titre en question, la formule représente évidemment la première. Le i de l’ iḍāfa persane est omis, comme dans ṣāḥib-dil, en vertu du fakk-i iḍāfa. Le titre fut porté d’abord par l’ amīr Tīmūr, que l’on disait né sous une conjonction favorable, mais pour lequel il s’agis…

, ʿAbd allāh , Persian poet, son of Ḏj̲āmī’s sister, born in K̲h̲ard̲j̲ird in the district of Ḏj̲ām, a dependency of Herāt, died in 927/1521. He wrote a Timūr-nāma , an epic known also as Ẓafarnāma (lith. Lucknow 1869), on the subject of Tīmūr’s conquests. He had planned to write a K̲h̲amsa . a collection of five long poems, but this work he was unable to complete; of it we possess a S̲h̲īrīn and Farhād , a charming Laylī and Mad̲j̲nūn (ed. W. Jones, Calcutta 1788) and a Haft manẓar on the model of the Haft paykar of Niẓāmī. He was influenced by this poet (though not …

Mughal scholar chiefly famous for his alleged discovery of Malfūẓāt-e Tīmūrī or Wāqeʿāt-e Tīmūrī, an autobiographical account of Tīmūr from the 7th to the 74th year of his life. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 4, pp. 389 ABŪ ṬĀLEB ḤOSAYNĪ ʿARĪZĪ, Mughal scholar chiefly famous for his alleged discovery of Malfūẓāt-e Tīmūrī or Wāqeʿāt-e Tīmūrī, an autobiographical account of Tīmūr from the 7th to the 74th year of his life. It also contains an appendix, called Tūzok or Tūzokāt (“Institutes”). But the veracity of both texts is in doubt, since the o…

, the title (“Princess”) of Sevin Beg, a grand-daughter of Özbeg, the ruler of the Golden Horde, and the wife successively of Tīmūr’s eldest son D̲j̲ahāngīr and his third son Mīrāns̲h̲āh. After Mīrāns̲h̲āh’s outbreak of madness at Tabrīz she came in person to Samarḳand to report his behaviour to Tīmūr. Dawlats̲h̲āh describes the interview with their father-in-law “with colourful details which are not in the other sources and can hardly be true”. (J.A. Boyle) Bibliography Ibn ʿArabs̲h̲āh, ʿAd̲j̲āʾib al-maḳdūr fī nawāʾib Tīmūr, Cairo 1305/1887-8 S̲h̲araf al-Dīn ʿAlī Yazdī, Ẓafar-nāma…

, titre (= princesse) de Sevin Beg, petite-fille d’Özbeg, chef de la Horde d’Or, qui épousa successivement Ḏj̲ahāngīr, l’aîné, et Mīrāns̲h̲āh, le troisième des fils de Tīmūr. Après l’accès de folie de Mīrāns̲h̲āh à Tabrīz, elle se rendit à Samarḳand pour rendre compte à Tīmūr de la conduite de son époux. Dawlats̲h̲āh raconte son entrevue avec son beau-père «avec des détails colorés qui ne figurent pas dans les autres sources et ne peuvent guère être vrais». (J.A. Boyle) Bibliography Ibn ʿArabs̲h̲āh, ʿAd̲j̲āʾib al-maḳdūr fī nawāʾib Tīmūr, Caire 1305/1887-8 S̲h̲araf al-dīn ʿAlī Yazdī, Ẓa…

one of the finest collections of Near Eastern manuscripts, bequeathed to the Princeton University Library by Robert Garrett (1875-1961), a graduate and a trustee of the university. A version of this article is available in print Volume X, Fascicle 3, pp. 318 GARRETT COLLECTION, one of the finest collections of Near Eastern manuscripts, bequeathed to the Princeton University Library by Robert Garrett (1875-1961), a graduate (1897) and a trustee of the University (1905-61). Although the collection contains mostly Arabic manuscripts, its Pe…

, Persian historian and poet of the Tīmūrid period, born at Yazd, died in 858/1454. He was a favourite of the Tīmūrid ruler S̲h̲āh Ruk̲h̲ [ q.v.] and of his son Mīrzā Abu ’l-Fatḥ Ibrāhīm Sulṭān, governor of Fārs, and in 832/1429 became tutor to the captured young Čingizid Yūnus K̲h̲ān. to whom he dedicated many poems. He was then in the service of the Tīmūrid prince Mīrzā Sulṭān Muḥammad in ʿIrāḳ ʿAd̲j̲amī or western Persia, and narrowly escaped death when that prince rebelled in 850/1447. After S̲h̲āh Ruk̲h̲’s death he …

, ʿAbd Allāh, poète persan, fils de la sœur de Ḏj̲āmī, né à Ḵh̲ard̲j̲ird dans le district de Ḏj̲ām, dépendant de Hérat, mort en 927/1521. Il a écrit, sur les conquêtes de Tīmūr, un Tīmūr-nāma, épopée nommée aussi Ẓafar-nāma (11th. Lucknow 1869). Il avait formé le projet de composer, lui aussi, un Ḵh̲amsa, ensemble de cinq grands poèmes, I mais il n’a pu le réaliser; on possède de lui un Shīrīn ¶ we-Farhād, un charmant Laylī we-Mad̲j̲nūn (éd. W. Jones, Calcutta 1788), un Haft manẓar qui fait pendant au Haft payhar de Niẓāmī. Il a subi l’influence de ce poète (mais non celle de ses art…

, Ḥamd Allāh b. Abī Bakr b. Aḥmad b. Naṣr al-Mustawfī al-Ḳazwīnī, a Persian geographer and historian. He belonged to au old family of Ḳazwīn of which he himself ( Tārīk̲h̲-i Guzīda, ed. Browne, p. 839—842, 848) gives a full account. It was a S̲h̲īʿī family, which traced its descent from Ḥurr b. Yazīd al-Riyāḥī who fought at Karbalāʾ and had held the governorship of Ḳazwīn since the time of the Caliph al-Muʿtaṣim with only a brief interruption under the Sāmānids. In the time of Maḥmūd of G̲h̲azna this office was taken from them. Ḥamd Allāh’s great-grandfather was accountant ( mustawfī) of the ʿ…

, also written Tok̲h̲tami̊s̲h̲ (e. g. regularly in Russian annals), Ḵh̲ān of the Golden Horde. The reading Tuḳātmīs̲h̲ described as correct by E. G. Browne ( Persian Literature under Tartar Dominion, Cambridge 1920, p. 583 ¶ probably on the authority of the lines quoted on p. 328) is contradicted by the reading in many manuscripts and on the Uig̲h̲ur coins and documents; for example Ibn ʿArabs̲h̲āh (Egypt. ed., p. 14 and pass.) regularly writes Toḳtāmīs̲h̲-Ḵh̲ān. The accounts of his origin vary a good deal. The name of his father…

historian and geographer of the Il-khanid period (1281-1344), author of Tāriḵ-e gozida, Ẓafar-nāma, and Nozhat al-qolub. A version of this article is available in print Volume XI, Fascicle 6, pp. 631-634 ḤAMD-ALLĀH MOSTAWFI, historian and geographer of the Ilkhanid period (b. Qazvin, ca. 680/1281, d. ca. 744/1344). There is some disagreement over whether his name was Ḥamd or Ḥamd-Allāh (Navāʾi, intro. to Tāriḵ-e gozida, p. yā; Homāyun-Farroḵ refers to him as Ḥomad). His mausoleum still exists in Qazvin. Life. Mostawfi was descended from a family of Arab origin that had pr…

Ibrāhīm Sulṭān b. Shāh Rukh (796–838/1394–1435) was a Tīmūrid prince who served as governor of Fars under his father Shāh Rukh (r. 811–50/1409–47), son of the dynasty’s founder Tīmūr (Temür, Tamerlane, r. 771–807/1370–1405). Ibrāhīm Sulṭān was active in military affairs but is better remembered for his cultural patronage. At his birth, on 28 Shawwāl 796/26 August 1394, Ibrāhīm Sulṭān, like many grandsons of Tīmūr, was entrusted to Tīmūr’s wife Ṭūmān Āghā and educated in kingly culture (adab-i pādshāhī) at the central court. Judging from Tīmūr’s own patronage and the care…