Book Description

Ruba'iyats of Two Great Female Persian Sufi Poets Mahsati Ganjavi & Jahan Khatun Translation & Introduction Paul Smith The ruba'i is perhaps the oldest form in Persian Sufi Poetry. In its four lines, most rhyming, can be found the wisdom, suffering, love and mysticism of two of its greatest female exponents of Sufi Spirituality and ordinary human love, despair and grief. Mahsati Ganjavi's (1098-1185) lived in Ganjeh when Sultan Sanjar reigned and as was a poet at his court she would have known Anvari. She was a court, dervish and ribald poet. She knew Nizami (she is said to have been buried in his mausoleum) and Omar Khayyam... and like Omar composed only in the ruba'i form and must be considered not only a master of that form but also to have helped to revolutionize it. She was an influence on perhaps Persia's greatest female poet Jahan Khatun. Included in the Introduction are the life of Mahsati and a history of the ruba'i and examples by its greatest exponents. Selected Bibliography included. Jahan Khatun was the daughter of the king of one of Shiraz's most turbulent times (14th century) Masud Shah; pupil and lifelong friend of the world's greatest mystical, lyric poet, Hafiz; the object of crazed desire by (among others) Iran's greatest satirist, Obeyd Zakani. Her Divan is four times the size of Hafiz's and contains many hundreds of ruba'is.. The correct rhyme-structure is kept as well as the beauty and meaning of these often mystical nd sometimes sad and griefstricken poems... Introduction on her Life, Times & Poetry and there is a unique Preface by herself. Selected Bibliography. Large Format "7 x 10" 273 pages. COMMENTS ON PAUL SMITH'S TRANSLATION OF HAFIZ'S 'DIVAN'. "It is not a joke... the English version of ALL the ghazals of Hafiz is a great feat and of paramount importance. I am astonished." Dr. Mir Mohammad Taghavi (Dr. of Literature) Tehran. "Superb translations. 99% Hafiz 1% Paul Smith." Ali Akbar Shapurzman, translator into Persian and knower of Hafiz's Divan off by heart. "Smith has probably put together the greatest collection of literary facts and history concerning Hafiz." Daniel Ladinsky (Penguin Books author). Paul Smith is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets of the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, and other languages including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Lalla Ded, Mu'in and others, as well as poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children's books, screenplays. www.newhumanitybooks.com