Nozhat al-Majales

Noz'hat al-Majāles (Persian: نزهة المجالس) (Joy of Gatherings) is an anthology which contains around 4,100 Persian quatrains by some 300 poets of the 5th to 7th/11th-13th centuries. The anthology was compiled around the middle of the 7th/13th century by the Persian poet Jamal al-Din Khalil Shirvani. Jamal al-Din Khalil Shirvani compiled his anthology in the name of 'Ala al-Din Shirvanshah Fariborz III (r. 1225-51), son of Goshtasp. The book was dedicated it to Fariboz III.

Book

The book is arranged by subject in 17 chapters divided into 96 different sections. The anthology also includes 179 quatrains and an ode (qasida) of 50 distiches written by Jamal Khalil Shirvani himself. The book is preserved in a unique manuscript copied by Esmail b. Esfandiyar b. Mohammad b. Esfandiar Abhari on July 1331.

A significant importance of Nozhat al-Majales is that it contains quatrains from poet whose collected works are no longer extant. For example it contains thirty-three quatrains by Omar Khayyam and sixty quatrains by Mahsati Ganjavi. These are among the oldest and most reliable collections of their works. Nozhat al-Majales also contains quatrains from such scholars and mystics as Avicenna, Ahmad Ghazali (the mystic brother of Abu Hamed Ghazzali), Majd al-din Baghdadi (a major figure of traditional Sufism) and Ahmad Jam, who had never been recognized as major poets. It also contains quatrains from writers and poets who are not known for their quatrains such as Asadi Tusi, Nezami Ganjavi, Fakhruddin As'ad Gurgani and 'Onsor al-Ma'ali Kaykavus. Some quatrains are even narrated from statements and rulers such as Fariboz III Shirvanshah, the Seljuq Sultan Tugrul and Shams ad-Din Juvayni.

Caucasus region and Persian language and culture

The most significant merit of Nozhat al-Majales, as regards to the history of Persian literature, is that it embraces the works of some 115 poets from the northwestern Iran and Eastern Transcaucasia (Arran, Sharvan, Azerbaijan; including 24 poets from Ganja alone), where, due to the gradual Turkification (from the Seljuqs era till mid Safavid era), the heritage of Persian literature in that region has almost entirely vanished. The fact that numerous quatrains of some poets from the region (e.g. Aziz Shirwani, Shams Sojasi, Amir Najib al-Din Omar of Ganjda, Kamal Maraghi, Borhan Ganjai, Eliyas Ganjai, Bakhtiar Shirwani) are mentioned in a series shows that the author possed their collected works.

Unlike other parts of Persia, were the poets were attached to courts, or belonged to higher ranks of society such as scholars, bureaucrats, and secretaries, a good number of poets from the Eastern Transcaucasian regions rose among working class people. They frequently use colloquial expression in their poetry. They are referred to as water carriers (Saqqa'), Sparrow dealers, bodyguard (jandar), saddlers, blanket makers (Lehafi), and etc. Some of these poets were also Women such as Dokhatri-i Khatib Ganjeh, Dokhtar-i Salar, Dokhtar-i Sati, Mahsati Ganjavi, Dokhtar-i Hakim Kaw, Razziya Ganjai. This fact that many women and everyday people not connected to courts have composed quatrains illustrates the overall use of Persian in that region before its gradual linguistic Turkification.

To summarize:

Nozhat al-mājales is thus a mirror of the social conditions at the time, reflecting the full spread of Persian language and the culture of Iran throughout that region, clearly evidenced by the common use of spoken idioms in poems as well as the professions of the some of the poets. The influence of the northwestern Pahlavi language, for example, which had been the spoken dialect of the region, is clearly observed in the poems contained in this anthology.

Information on common culture

The Nozhat al-Majales not only has collected 4100 quatrains, but also provides information on everyday life the of the common people in the region. Chapter eleven of the anthology contains informative details about clothing, the cosmetics used by women, the games people played and their usual recreational practices such as pigeon fancying (Template:Lang-fa), even-or-odd game (Persian: tak yā joft bāzi), exercising with a sledgehammer (Persian: potk zadan), and archery (Persian:tir-andāzi). Descriptions of various musical instruments are also given such as the Tambourine (Persian:Daf), reed pipe (Persian: Ney), harp (Persian: Chang) and details on how these instruments were held by the performers.

One even finds in this anthology details of people's everyday living practices such as using a pumice (Persian sang-e pā) to scrub the sole of their feet and gel-e saršur (Persian for head-cleaning material) to wash their hair.

See also

• List of Persian poets and authors
• Persian literature
• Omar Khayyam
• Nezami Ganjavi
• Khaqani Shirvani
• Mahsati Ganjavi
• Asadi Tusi
• Avicenna
• Fakhruddin As'ad Gurgani
• Ahmad Jam
• Nozhat al-Majales

External Links

Sharvānī, Jamāl Khalīl, fl. 13 cent., Nuzhat al-majālis / Jamāl Khalīl Sharvānī ; tāʼlīf shudah dar nīmah-ʼi avval-i qarn-i haftum, tashih va muqaddimah va sharh-i hal-i gūyandigān va tawzīḥāt va fihristhā az Muḥammad Amīn Riyāḥī. Tehran] : Intishārāt-i Zuvvār, 1366 [1987] . 764 pages (In Persian containing the complete publication of the book). Digital Version [1][2]

References

• Sharvānī, Jamāl Khalīl, fl. 13 cent., Nuzhat al-majālis / Jamāl Khalīl Sharvānī ; tāʼlīf shudah dar nīmah-ʼi avval-i qarn-i haftum, tashih va muqaddimah va sharh-i hal-i gūyandigān va tawzīḥāt va fihristhā az Muḥammad Amīn Riyāḥī. Tehran] : Intishārāt-i Zuvvār, 1366 [1987] . 764 pages (In Persian containing the complete publication of the book). Digital Version [3][4]
• Hellmut Ritter, "Nachdichtungen persischer poesie", in T. Menzel, ed., Festschrift Georg Jacob zum siebsiegsten Geburstag..., Leipzig, 1932.
• NOZHAT AL-MAJĀLES". Encyclopædia Iranica. Moḥammad Amin RiāḥiRetrieved on August 11, 2009.
• Fritz Meier, Die schön Mahsati: Ein beitrage zur geschichte des persischen vierzeilers I, Wiesbaden, 1963, pp. XII, 412.