Development of the Ghazal and Khaqani's Contribution

Transcription

1 Development of the Ghazal and Khaqani's Contribution A Study of the Development of Ghazal and a Literary Exegesis of a 12th c. Poetic Harbinger Bearbeitet von Alireza Korangy 1. Auflage Buch. XIV, 465 S. Hardcover ISBN Format (B x L): 17 x 24 cm Gewicht: 1100 g Weitere Fachgebiete > Literatur, Sprache > Literatur sonstiger Sprachräume > Iranische Literatur Zu Leseprobe schnell und portofrei erhältlich bei Die Online-Fachbuchhandlung beck-shop.de ist spezialisiert auf Fachbücher, insbesondere Recht, Steuern und Wirtschaft. Im Sortiment finden Sie alle Medien (Bücher, Zeitschriften, CDs, ebooks, etc.) aller Verlage. Ergänzt wird das Programm durch Services wie Neuerscheinungsdienst oder Zusammenstellungen von Büchern zu Sonderpreisen. Der Shop führt mehr als 8 Millionen Produkte.

2 Alireza Korangy Development of the Ghazal and Khāqānī s Contribution Korangy, Ghazal.indd Abs :25:47

3 Alireza Korangy Development of the Ghazal and Khāqānī s Contribution A Study of the Development of Ghazal and a Literary Exegesis of a 12 th c. Poetic Harbinger With a foreword by Wolfhart P. Heinrichs 2013 Harrassowitz Verlag. Wiesbaden Korangy, Ghazal.indd Abs :25:53

4 Bibliografi sche Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografi sche Daten sind im Internet über abrufbar. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at For further information about our publishing program consult our website Otto Harrassowitz GmbH & Co. KG, Wiesbaden 2013 This work, including all of its parts, is protected by copyright. Any use beyond the limits of copyright law without the permission of the publisher is forbidden and subject to penalty. This applies particularly to reproductions, translations, microfilms and storage and processing in electronic systems. Printed on permanent/durable paper. Printing and binding: Memminger MedienCentrum AG Printed in Germany ISBN Korangy, Ghazal.indd Abs :25:53

5 To Ghazal, Wheeler and Amir

6 Contents Foreword... ix Acknowledgments... xiii 1 The Ghazal Early Centuries of the Ghazal The Twelfth Century and the Advent of Khaqani Khaqani: Times and Ideas Khaqani s Ghazal Conclusion Bibliography Index

7 Foreword By Wolfhart P. Heinrichs I have been asked by Alireza Korangy, author of the present volume dealing with the beginnings of neo-persian literature, to write a preamble to his book. Though not an Iranist, I have decided to write something that would reflect the new poetry as well as the new society (as best I can). The locations of these new events are not that easy to characterize, which has to do with the fact that, after the Arab conquest, the various Persian dynastic families established themselves in smaller governorships. Thus did the Ṭāhirids and the Ṣaffārids in Khurasan, but also the Samanids likewise in Khurasan, and also beyond this area in Bādghīs, Soghdia and Kh w ārazm. Khurasan turned out to be a cultural center, which created the sabk-i Khurāsānī the Khurasanian cast/style. This notion entailed the strict rules of embellishment and eloquence, and these were the only considerations that apply. As true as this may be, in any search for the origins of sabk-i Khurāsānī (i.e., the Khorasanian style ) recognized as the first literary movement in the Persian-speaking world the sabk s unique qualities can be defined only through the careful study of all aspects of rhetoric. This is the case even when analyzing its earliest known forms. When scrutinizing different opinions of the most important elements in this sabk, the one constant among them seems to be the social environment. As for tenth-century Samarqand and Bukhara, which gave birth to this fledgling literary movement, it can be said that a perfect environment for the advancement of the arts existed, one which was, without doubt, the very opposite of that which had prevailed in previous (probably less advanced) dynasties. Because of the extinction of the arts and many other aspects of culture during the Arab conquest, the Samanid dynasty decided to ensure its stronghold further over its realm by encouraging an artistic renaissance. The subsequent literary movement fostered in the tenth century was primarily one that favored panegyrics. The munificence of the Samanid dynasty encouraged literati to express themselves, as they had never been able to do before in Persian under the less tolerant Arabs: the Umayyads. The panegyric qaṣida, inherited from the Arab poets, became the genre of choice. This was an especially interesting occurrence, particularly in the creation of the ghazal form, which did not exist in the Persian-speaking world in the tenth century. In tenth-century Transoxania ghazal emerged as a form of musical expression (sic!), going back to roots in the Sasanid period. Five musical forms developed (or existed already, their creation being attributed to the famous musician Bārbad) which were considered by Arab poets of the time and place as composed in rhymed prose (musajjaʿ). The ghazal as it emerged as something like a Sasanid heritage, and mainly at the Samanid court (or, more specifically) the court of Khusrau Parvīz, appeared as rhymed ballads (called Khusravānī), as invented by the musician Bārbad. The ballads were organized not through prosodical structure (as Arabic poetry would be), but by syllable-counting methods. One of the most famous Persian poets in these early days was Rūdakī, who started out as a musician. He was not the first to have versified Persian poems, but he was the first to have versified poems that were masterful and mature. These were the true beginnings of Persian poetry.

8 The development of the ghazal flourished under the influence of another unexpected model, to wit that of Afḍal al-dīn Badīl b. ʿAlī Khāqānī Shirvānī, who was the conduit of the qaṣida into the world of the ghazal. Both the qaṣida and the ghazal influenced each other on the molecular level, which in this case means on the level of the conceit ( concetto ) (maʿnī [or maʿnā]). This may also involve Arabic poetry, cf. the following example: Al-Maʾmūnī (as quoted in al-thaʿālibī: Yatīma, ed. ʿAbd al-ḥamīd, iv, 165, ll ): Ana bayna aḥshāʾi l-layālī nāru hiya lī dukhānun wa- l-nujūmu sharāru I am in the entrails of the nights a fire which is smoke from me, while the stars are sparks. fa-matā jalā fajru l-faḍāʾi ẓalāmahā ṣaliyat biya l-aqṭāru wa- l-amṣāru And when the dawn of the sky removes their [i.e. the nights ] darkness, regions and cities are exposed to me [being a fire] bī taḥlumu l-dunyā wa-bi- l-khayri lladhī lī minhu bayna ḍulūʿihā asrāru The world dreams of me and of the good, Of which there are secrets for me between its ribs. fa-bi-kulli mamlakatin ʿalayya talahhufun wa-bi-kulli maʿrakatin ilayya uwāru And in all realms there is yearning for me and in all battles there is thirsting after me. yā ahlu mā shaṭṭat bi-raḥlī riḥlatun illā li-tusfira ʿanniya l-asfāru O people, no journey makes my saddle go far except for the purpose of the travels revealing me. lī fī ḍamīri l-dahri sirrun kāminun lā budda an tastallahū l-aqdāru In the bosom of time I have a hidden secret which the destinies will undoubtedly unsheathe. The proportions in line 1 are: I : night : stars = fire : smoke : sparks = love-passion (aḥshāʾ!) : (smoke-like) sighs : tears (?, the red bloody tears) The third series of correspondences is not beyond doubt, but there are sufficient indications to open up this third level of meaning. Cf. with this Khāqānī s ḥabsiyya (jail poem), l. 1: ṣubḥ-dam chun killa bandad āh-i dūd-āsā-yi man x

9 chun shafaq dar khūn nishīnad chashm-i shab-paymā-yi man In the early morning, when my smoke-like sigh is erecting a tent, My night-traversing eye is sitting in blood [red] like aurora. Proportions: Smoke : [tent :] sigh : night Blood : tears : aurora As can be seen, Khāqānī s line is one concentrated conceit (concetto), in which are contained both beauty and character, and this is what later Persian poetry perfected. The beginnings of Persian poetry are, roughly speaking, to be sought in the tenth century AD., however several lines of development have to be considered. The difficulty of pursuing this research lies in the fact that the information is fragmentary, and one has to have a good overview of the early sources. One source that has yielded several strands of information is the dictionary compiled by Dihkhudā (Lughatnāma-i Dihkhudā). But other, more historical, works have also yielded information. As Dr. Korangy has stated: Tenthcentury Samarkand was the home of the first literary movement in the Persian-speaking world apart from the early sabk-i Khurāsānī and the fledgling ghazal in the form of the inconspicuous taghazzul, nasīb, and tashbīb. These three terms are semantically closely related: (1) taghazzala means he affected as a self-imposed task what is termed ghazal the talk etc. between the lover and the object of love ; (2) tashbību l-shiʿri: the making of the commencement of poetry elegant, or ornate, by the mention of women; (3) nasīb an elegant amatory mentioning of a woman or of women in the beginning of a poem. Of these three terms only nasīb is a strictly technical term, which, technically, denotes the beginning of a panegyric poem with the invocation of the beloved. The beginnings of Persian literature is not a massive operation; rather the various courts each nurtured their local variety of (neo-)persian, and the influence of Arabic poetry (the poetry of the conquerors!) was felt throughout. As Dr. Korangy says, the role of sabk in classical Persian literature must be considered. To comprehend the fundamental elements of the literary movements, such as the one in tenth-century Samarkand, the social conditions, which provided the milieu for the literary movement, and hence its literati, must be evaluated. This is important for all genres of poetry but especially important when considering the early development of the qasida and the ghazal. Sabk defines the image of society that the poet or the prose writer has formulated and which he attempts to convey in a prosaic or poetic form through imagery and rhetorical language. As he continues, he states that in describing sabk, some scholars have said that the strict rules of embellishment and eloquence are the only considerations that apply. The first literary movement in the Persian Islamic world was known as sabk-i Khurāsānī, where sabk presumably means style rather than arrangement or formulation (of an expression) (although the latter cannot be excluded). As Dr. Korangy says, sabk implies the strict rules of embellishment and eloquence as the only considerations that apply. And thus it can be defined only through the careful study of all aspects of rhetoric. The transitional period between Sasanid rule and the early Islamic Persian dynasties, such as the Samanids, is difficult to deal with, because the terminologies are not yet fixed. As Dr. Korangy points out, in 10 th -century Transoxania ghazal may easily be a form of musical expression, going back to the Sasanian period, but apparently it referred to five musical xi

10 forms considered by Arab poets to be musajjaʿ i.e., rhymed, but not metrical, with ghazal-like themes (i.e. love-songs). It appears that rhymed ballads originated with the famous musician Bārbad who was active at the Sasanid court of Khusrau Parvīz; the ballads were consequently called Khusravānī as mentioned earlier. The Samanids apparently claimed to have ancestral roots that went as far back as Bahrām Chūbīn of the Sasanian era, and they capitalized on this (in some kind of nationalist maneuver!). At the same time, the ghazal and its general uses had to go through many changes before it finally took on a recognizable form and significative purpose. There is evidence to support this assertion in the works of some of Rūdakī s contemporaries in Khurasan. Though the small number of poems cited by some of the early scholars does raise doubts, they do point to a group of literati whose poetic works include rudimentary ghazals. In terms of Rūdakī s specific contributions to this genre, the various hypotheses about it are all as plausible, since not enough of his poetry has survived to either prove or disprove them. Dr. Korangy manages well to keep his attention as a historian of literature on the various genres of (Arabic and) Persian literature in this particularly decisive period. The next highly important literary figure is Rūdakī who, interestingly, started as a musician (as was not uncommon, see above). He was not the first to have versified poems, rather he was the first to have versified poems that were masterful (as Dr. Korangy stresses) and mature. To quote him again: Persian poetry owes its true beginnings to him (i.e., Rūdakī). And the modern scholarly appreciation of the beginnings of Persian poetry is owed to Dr. Korangy s brilliant efforts. xii

11 Acknowledgments There are three individuals to whom I owe the existence of this book. I would like to express my eternal gratitude first and foremost to Professor Wheeler McIntosh Thackston Jr. without whose support, mentorship and immeasurable help in editing and formatting there would be no book at all. I would like to thank Wolfhart P. Heinrichs whose surgical attention to detail and support was extraordinary and detrimental in keeping intact the scope of this monograph. I would like to thank Professor Ahmad Mahdavi Damghani whose pedagogical patronage and his photographic memory guided me through and in-between the corpora of the many poets discussed in this study. They gave me the direction as to the content and the outline of this book. Professor Thackston, I must add, always encouraged me to do more, learn more, and feel humble in face of literature. As simple as that may sound, many are not privileged with that kind of information bestowed upon them by an advisor. I like to thank Professors Shafi i Kadkani and Mir Jalal al-din Kazzazi for contributing so much to the development of the book s thematic outline while I was conducting research in Iran; specially Professor Shafi i Kadkani who insisted I should choose this topic as a study. I would like to thank my uncle Asghar Korangy # "!, whose soft voice in imparting with his wisdom and his hard act to follow when it came to an unbending appreciation of poetry guided me tremendously and enthused me spiritually. I would like to thank my angelic mother whose mere voice revived me on a daily basis. I would like to thank my brother, the love of my life, who is one of the two main reasons I am and want to be. I would like to thank my father, who is to me both a divine and an earthly beloved. I would like to thank Lappe, who kept me company dusk until dawn and offered his unselfish love. I would like to thank Ghazal, my wife, whose name gives meaning to this work. This book is dedicated to my loving wife Ghazal, my beloved advisor, best friend, and for me the ultimate example of academic and moral integrity Wheeler M. Thackston; and my brother Amireza, Amir. I also would like to thank Jonathan Hubbard, who did a fantastic job in proofreading this book and encouraged me throughout the process with his articulate kind words. Many thanks to Barbara and Jens for their patience with me and their invaluable help throughout every step of this book s production. I hope my dear colleagues could find it in them to forgive any shortcomings and there are many I am sure they may find.