BEELAERT, A.L.F.A. — a Cure for the Grieving: Studies on the Poetry of the 12Th Century Persian Court Poet Khaqani Sirwani
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
165 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — PERSICA 166 PERSICA BEELAERT, A.L.F.A. — A Cure for the Grieving: Studies on the Poetry of the 12th Century Persian Court Poet Khaqani Sirwani. (Publication of the “De Goeje Fund”). Nederlands Instituut van het Nabije Oosten, Leiden, 2000. (24 cm, xii, 232). ISBN 90-6258-972-3; ISSN 0169-8303. / 65,-. Khaqani is not an easy poet to deal with. A highly erudite poet, his poetry is filled with allusions to contemporary fields of learning, and his imagery is drawn not only from such dis- ciplines but also from contemporary material culture. His poetry is highly Arabized (cf. his extensive use of tajnis, a device more suited to Arabic morphology than to Persian). His qaÒidas often feature multiple ma†la‘s (exordia), a poetic strategy which he is credited with inventing. Materials for his biography, mostly culled from his poetry, are unreliable (it is difficult to separate the topoi from the “facts”); and the prob- lem of “re-dedication” (addressed in the book under review) haunts the student of his panegyrics especially. His poems have generated numerous commentaries, chiefly in Persian; studies on the poet in Western languages are few and far between, save for scattered articles on individual poems and a rather heavy-handed study of his use of metaphor which reduces the vitality of his language to algebraic equations. Anna-Livia Beelaert’s book is, then, a most welcome and valuable contribution to our knowledge of this complex poet. While it deals primarily with Khaqani’s masnavi the TuÌfat al-{Iraqayn (which has sometimes, rather superficially, been described as a “travelogue” recounting the poet’s pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina), it addresses many other important issues regarding Khaqani’s poetry and places his poetry in the larger context of both earlier and contem- porary Arabo-Persian poetry. This study was originally the author’s doctoral thesis (1996), which incorporated a number of previously published articles, conference papers, etc.; this accounts for the somewhat disjointed nature of the book, but in no way detracts from what it has to offer. It has now been republished in a hardback edition by the Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, with minimal revisions, except for the addition of a few later references (see the Preface, ix-xi) and a brief discussion of an important contemporary manu- script (see Addendum). In her Introduction Beelaert reviews what little is known of Khaqani’s life, outlines the current state of studies on the poet and her own project, gives a résumé of the TuÌfa, and declares her goals. These include, most notably, the effort to show “how a single image can function as connecting ele- ment of a poem” (18; other more recent studies of Khaqani 167 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXII N° 1-2, januari-april 2005 168 as well as of other poets, have also addressed this issue), and the image of the sun as messenger, and the “messenger” how “the same item, the same word, means something totally topos in Persian poetry in general. “Messengers” include liv- different in another place, at another time” (19). She argues ing creatures (especially birds) and natural phenomena (espe- that if this principle is recognized for Khaqani, it may inform cially the wind). Khaqani treats the sun as friend and confi- our understanding of other poets as well. dant in the TuÌfa (Beelaert compares the use of this motif by One must however question the Sufistic reading often other Persian poets), and establishes a relationship between applied to Khaqani’s poetry, both here and elsewhere in the himself and the sun “by attributing to it the same professions book. The statement that “Although [Khaqani] was a court as he attributes to himself in the autobiographical section of poet, he was a court poet in an age in which this profession the poems” (54; I would question how much of this should was no longer the obvious choice for someone with literary be read literally and how much metaphorically). The sun has, talents” is belied by the proliferation of court poets in this however, an ambivalent nature: it is light-giving, and the period; and the linkage of Khaqani with his contemporary poet’s friend, but is also a symbol of unhealthiness (its yel- Farid al-Din {A††ar (a poet apparently without court connec- low color is “a sign of grief and illness” [64], its fieriness tions, but living in a different area under different conditions) has connections with Iblis/Satan [66], and both qualities are seems awkward and contrived. Such arguments beg serious associated with cupidity, especially through the connection questions concerning patronage, which, as both the qaÒidas with gold [zar; see 69 ff.]). This reminds us of Beelaert’s and other poems, and not least the TuÌfa, suggest, Khaqani argument that the same words/motifs/images may mean dif- actively sought throughout his poetic career. (This is reme- ferent things at different times, in different places, and, espe- died, however, by Beelaert’s detailed treatment of the mam- cially (though this is not fully articulated) in different con- duÌs of the TuÌfa in subsequent chapters.) Complaints about texts. the profession of court poet (especially by poets who would The author then takes up the issue of Khaqani’s criticisms not wish to be anything else, but who feel they are not being and disavowals of the profession of court poet. Since the treated as they deserve) are frequent in Persian poetry. The TuÌfa was addressed to a wide variety of patrons and poten- broad geographical and political area of Khaqani’s dedica- tial patrons, should we take everything the poet says literally, tees testifies to his constant search for reliable patronage, or read his statements as poetic topoi? Here we encounter the through which he could be confidant of support. Beelaert also issue of the poetic personae Khaqani (like other poets before discusses the possibility of alternative titles for the TuÌfa (13- and after) adopts: the court poet, the devout pilgrim, and, not 14), but comes to no definite conclusion, as is indeed impos- least, the moral advisor. This latter persona applies particu- sible given the tendency of scribes and redactors to allocate larly to the poet’s verses which equate the sun, and the titles which they deem appropriate but which are of no use Prophet MuÌammad, as physicians who heal both body and to modern scholars in attempting to identify a given work. soul. Beelaert further discusses the common analogy between TuÌfat al-{Iraqayn is generally translated as “a gift from the the sun and the mamduÌ. Just as the sun may represent cupid- two Iraqs” (Arab and Persian); but in view of the recipients ity, it also represents generosity: it is life-giving, and its of its praise, might it not be construed as a gift to the two “gold” is a symbol of the patron’s generosity (see 93ff.). The Iraqs? sun is also seen as a symbol of himmat, a word which is basi- A “Philological Intermezzo”, in which the author dis- cally untranslatable but which has connotations of virtue, cusses the text of the TuÌfa as found in various manuscripts, high aspiration, nobility, and all the qualities which a ruler and the commentaries on both it and on Khaqani’s Diwan in or patron should possess (see 101ff.). Himmat is given two general, precede the study of the masnavi itself. Chapter I different readings here: as ascribed to Jamal al-Din MawÒili, deals with the imagery of the sun in the TuÌfa. In the poem’s the primary mamduÌ of the TuÌfa, and to the Prophet, and as introductory section the poet addresses the sun, and contin- Khaqani’s own, and specifically his desire to liberate himself ues to address it throughout. Beelaert ranges further afield in from cupidity (az). This seems somewhat simplistic; and placing his imagery, and other related conceits and topoi, in while the author brings many other texts into evidence, she a broader historical-literary context. It is impossible to do jus- seems to ignore her own dictum that words, or concepts, may tice in the space of a brief review to the richness of this chap- mean different things in different contexts. ter (or, indeed, to that of the book as a whole); I will try to In Chapters 2 and 3, Beelaert turns to the mamduÌs focus on some important points, both here and elsewhere. addressed in the TuÌfa, beginning with Jamal al-Din MawÒili, Beelaert views the TuÌfa as a Ìabsiyya (“prison poem”; who was, at the time, a vizier of the Zangids in Mosul (the closely related to the shakwa}iyya, “complaint poem”). While date of his death, 559/1164, would seem to put a terminus ad this should perhaps not be taken literally (Khaqani wrote quem on the composition of the TuÌfa) and an important other Ìabsiyyat during periods of actual imprisonment), it patron, even if “his generosity…was not primarily… devoted indicates his feeling of being “imprisoned” in Shirwan, to artistic aims” (124; how do we know this?). While, as which he “claims to be unable to leave” (30). But if Khaqani Beelaert states, “Mosul [in this period] was not at all a cen- was literally (and not metaphorically) “imprisoned” in Shir- tre of Persian culture” (116; author’s emphasis), we do know wan, how did he manage to make the pilgrimage, not once, of other Persian works composed in this period, e.g. the trans- but twice, as has been adduced from his poetry? A number lation of Kalila wa-Dimna composed for Sayf al-Din Ghazi of his qaÒidas express the desire to make the pilgrimage, and (cf.