Dramatis Personae (Major Figures and Works)

Sirāj al-Dīn ‘Alī Khān “Ārzū” (1689–1756 AD/1101–69 AH) Born to a lineage of learned men descended from Shaykh Chiragh Dihlavi and Shaykh Ghaws Gwaliori Shattari, Arzu was raised and edu- cated in Gwalior and . In 1719–20 AD/1132 AH, he moved to , where he was at the center of scholarly and literary circles. An illustrious scholar, teacher, and poet, he wrote literary treatises, commentaries, poetic collections (dīvāns), and the voluminous commemorative biographical compendium (tazkirih), Majma‘ al-Nafa’is (1750–51 AD/1164 AH) centered on Timurid Hin- dustan. He was teacher to many Persian and poets, and his position on proper idiomatic innovation was central to the development of north In- dian Urdu poetic culture. Arzu’s main patron was Muhammad ’s khān-i sāmān, Mu’tamin al-Dawlih Ishaq Khan Shushtari, and then his eldest son, Najam al-Dawlih Ishaq Khan. Through Ishaq Khan’s second son, Salar Jang, Arzu moved to Lucknow under Shuja‘ al-Dawlih’s patronage in 1754–55, as part of the migration of literati seeking patronage in the regional courts after ’s death. Arzu died soon after in 1756, and his body was transported back to Delhi for burial. xvi Dramatis Personae

Mīr Ghulām ‘Alī “Āzād” Bilgrāmī (1704–86 AD/1116–1200 AH) He was a noted poet, teacher, and scholar (of Persian and ). Born into a scholarly family of sayyids in the Awadhi town of Bilgram, his initial edu- cation was with his father and his grandfather, Mir ‘Abd al-Jalil Bilgrami. In his youth he traveled between Bilgram and Sindh (via and Delhi) in the employ of his uncle, the imperial chronicler (vaqā‘ nigār) of Sihvan. In 1738 Azad went to the Hijaz for hajj and to study hadith. After his re- turn in 1739, he settled in . There he was a participant of the Nakhshbandi Sufi lodge takiyyih)( , initially patronized by Nizam al-Mulk’s second son. He authored hadith commentaries, literary treatises, and poetry in both Arabic and Persian. During his time in Aurangabad, he was at the center of tazkirih production. Besides his own three tazkirihs, Yad-i Bayza (1732 AD/1145 AH); Ma’asir al-Kiram (1752–53 AD/1166 AH), the second part of which is Sarv-i Azad; and Khizanih-yi ‘Amirih (1763–64 AD/1176 AH), he also rescued and completed his friend Shahnavaz Khan Aurangabadi’s tazkirih of Timurid office holders, the well-known Ma’asir al-Umara, after the author’s death. Azad trained a number of students, including Shafiq Aurangabadi. He eventually relocated to Dawlatabad, where he continued his scholarly pursuits until his death. He was buried in .

Lutf ‘Alī “Āzar” Baygdilī (1722–80 AD/1134–95 AH) Born in , Azar fled with his Shāmlū family to Qum for fourteen years after the Afghan invasion, which occurred in the year of his birth. In 1736, Azar’s father was appointed governor of Lar (in place of the governor whose murder caused Hazin to flee to Hindustan) and then Fars, bringing the fam- ily to Shiraz. After his father’s death in 1738, Azar accompanied his uncle on hajj, by way of the Shi‘a shrine cities. Nadir Shah’s army was returning from Hindustan in 1741 (with Kashmiri in tow). Azar accompanied Nadir’s army to Mazandaran, Azarbayjan, and ‘Iraq-i ‘ajam, eventually settling in Isfahan. He spent the next years in service to various rulers of the city, frequenting circles of the eloquent and learned there and in Shiraz, in particular those of his teacher, Mir Sayyid ‘Ali “Mushtaq.” In the years that followed, he made Dramatis Personae xvii enough of a name for himself to be known in Delhi. Eventually, he retired to Qum in the 1760s, where he wrote poetry and his famed tazkirih, the Atashka- dih (begun in 1760–61 AD/1174 AH, with additions until 1779 AD/1193 AH). He died in 1780.

Āqā Ahmad Bihbahānī (1777–1819) Aqa Ahmad was descended from the late Safavid Shaykh al-Islam of Isfa- han, Muhammad Baqir Majlisi, and related by descent or marriage to other great Shi‘a juris-consults (mujtahids) of late eighteenth-century Iraq, such as Vahid Bihbahani and Sayyid ‘Ali Tabataba’i. Born in Kermanshah, educated in the Iraqi shrine cities, he traveled extensively in , studying and seeking patronage before traveling to Hindustan in 1805. He circulated through port cities and regional centers, such as Bombay, Hyderabad, Murshidabad (where he had relatives), Faizabad, Lucknow, and Patna, where he finally found pa- tronage under the East Company as Friday prayer leader. He wrote his Mir’at al-Ahval before returning to Iran in 1810. The text is dedicated to the Qajar prince Mohammad ‘Ali Mirza Dawlatshah (1789–1821), though he purposefully left multiple copies in Patna.

Joseph Emin (1726–1809) Born in to a merchant family, Emin circulated with his merchant family through Iran and Iraq-i ‘arab (Hamadan, Gilan, Baghdad, Basra) be- fore finally settling in Calcutta. He grew up largely in the care of his pious grandfather, who was also responsible for his education. He arrived in Cal- cutta when he was seventeen. There he began learning English, though he ultimately rejected his family’s vocation and fled to England in1751 , where he charmed his way into elite circles, received military training, and made the ostensible liberation of an Armenian homeland a celebrated cause. His patrons and correspondents included Dukes of Northumberland and Cum- berland, Lady Montague, and Edmund Burke. He traveled three times to the Caucasus over the next two decades to achieve his goal. After these failed attempts to inspire the Armenian Catholicos, Georgian Prince Heraclius, or most of the Armenian merchant community, Emin finally settled in New xviii Dramatis Personae

Julfa Isfahan, where he married. When Karim Khan died in 1779, Emin re- turned to Calcutta, where he found himself marginalized by the East India Company’s increasingly exclusionary governance policies. He wrote a mem- oir of his life and times in English in Calcutta (1788), which was republished in London (1792 and later reissued in 1918).

Shaykh Muhammad ‘Alī “Hazīn” Lāhījī (1692–1766 AD/1103–80 AH) Though born and raised in Isfahan, Hazin identified himself according to his father’s birthplace of Lahijan. At the age of twenty, he traveled through Iraq-i ‘ajam and Fars to expand his education. He lived through the Afghan siege of Isfahan, though he lost many family, friends, and possessions. Afterward, he traveled incessantly between the lands of western and central Iran (‘Iraq-i ‘ajam), Mesopotamia (‘Iraq-i ‘arab) and the Hijaz, never remaining in one place for more than a couple of years. His alleged involvement in the assassination of Nadir Shah’s governor in Lar resulted in his voyage to Timurid Hindustan in 1734. He spent various periods of time in Sindh and the Punjab, particularly in Lahore. After a notorious decade in Delhi, where he alienated many politi- cal and learned elites, Hazin resettled in Benares in the year of Muhammad Shah’s death (1748) and lived out the rest of his days. He ostensibly wrote three dīvāns in Iran before migrating, though all are lost. His fourth dīvān was writ- ten in India, and collected by his companion and patron, Valih Daghistani, in 1742–43 AD/1155 AH. He wrote a memoir of his life and times, which came to be called Tazkirat al-Ahval (1742 AD/1154 AH). His narrowly focused Tazkirat al-Mu‘asirin was completed (1752 AD/1165 AH) soon after his move to Bena- res, where he was warmly received by its ruler, Raja Balvant Singh. During that time he taught a number of Hindu and Muslim students, including Raja Ram Nara’in (later governor of Patna), Sher Afgan Khan “Basiti,” Kumar Chet Singh, Shaykh Gulshan ‘Ali Jaunpuri, Ghulam Husayn Tabataba’i, and Tafaz- zul Husayn Khan. He is buried in Benares in a tomb of his own design.

Mirzā Abū Tālib Khān Isfahānī (1752–1806) Born in Lucknow to a migrant father from Isfahan and mother from a Dramatis Personae xix

well-established Mughal family, both in service to the second Navvab of Luc- know, Safdar Jang. Due to a change in political fortunes the family fled to Murshidabad in 1766. After serving in an administrative capacity there, Abu Talib returned to Lucknow after the rise of Asaf al-Dawlih and then moved to Calcutta in 1787, where soon after he met ‘Abd al-Latif Shushtari. His taz- kirih, Khulasat al-Afkar (1208 AH/1793–94 AD), focuses on the genre of masnavī (narrative verse). He also authored scientific treatises, adīvān , a masnavī, and historical works. In Calcutta, he entered into the employ of the East India Company, under whose auspices he traveled to London in 1799. On his return journey, he disembarked at Istanbul and traveled overland to the Iraqi shrine cities. His travel text, Masir-i Talibi, was written after his return in 1803.

Khvājih ‘Abd al-Karīm Kashmīrī (d. 1784) Originally from Kashmir, he was a resident of Delhi at the time of Nadir Shah’s conquest (1739). He accompanied Nadir’s army as a functionary (mutasaddī) to Iran via Turan. He parted ways from Nadir’s army in Qazvin (1741) and made his way to the Iraqi shrine cities and then onto the Hijaz to perform hajj. He returned via ship to (1742) and resettled in Delhi. Written soon after his return (though ongoingly added to for decades), Bayan-i vaqi‘ provides an account of Nadir Shah’s rise and invasion, Kash- miri’s travels and pilgrimage, and the high politics of the Mughal kingdom from the 1740s up through his death. It was among the commemorative texts translated into English by East India Company officials in the late eigh- teenth century as they became a regional power in the subcontinent.

Navvāb ‘Alī Ibrāhīm Khān “Khalīl” Banārasī (d. 1793–94 AD/1208 AH) Khalil was born in Patna and was initially in the service of Mir Qasim of Lucknow. After Mir Qasim’s defeat, he entered the East India Company’s service and was appointed judge (qāzī) of Benares. Notably, he was friendly with Warren Hastings. In addition to a history of the Maratha wars, he au- thored three tazkirihs, Gulzar-i Ibrahim, on Rīkhta (Urdu) poets; Khulasat al-Kalam, on Persian masnavīs; and the vast Suhuf-i Ibrahim (1205 AH/1790– 91 AD, though he worked on it until his death), on Persian poets. xx Dramatis Personae

Mirzā ‘Alī “Maftūn” ‘Azīmābādī (d. after 1833) Not much is known about Maftun aside from the fact that he was born in Delhi and moved with his family to Azimabad Patna, from where he under- took the hajj in November 1825. He traveled to the Hijaz via Calcutta and the Indian Ocean. Afterward, he arrived in the port of Bushihr in November 1826, traveling through Shiraz, Isfahan, and Tehran on his way to the tomb of the eighth Shi‘a Imam in Mashhad, from where he returned overland to Hindustan (1828). His hajjnāma, Zubdat al-Akhbar (1833) also contains a great deal of his own poetry.

Mīr Muhammad Taqī “Mīr” (1723–1810 AD/1135–1225 AH) Mir was born in Agra to a family descended from migrants who had ar- rived to north India from the Hijaz in ’s time. His father died while he was young, causing the family to suffer financial hardships. Mir migrated to Delhi, initially staying with Arzu, his relative by marriage, with whom he had a difficult relationship. A poet of both Persian and Urdu, Mir is consid- ered amongst the finest of this early generation of poets writing inRīkhta in mid-eighteenth-century Delhi. His Nikat al-Shu‘ara (1165 AH/1751–52 AD) is considered the first tazkirih dedicated to Rīkhta poets. Written while Arzu was still alive, the Nikat places Arzu as the third (after Amir Khusraw and Bidil) and most immediate ancestor of Mir’s circle of poets. Mir completed Zikr-i Mir (1782–83 AH/1197 AD) after he had fled Delhi and relocated to Lucknow. The text commemorates his life and the difficult times he lived through. His poetic corpus was both prodigious and wide-ranging.

Amīn ibn Ahmad Rāzī (d. 1619) Born in Ray to a family with members in Safavid imperial service during Shah Tahmasp’s reign. Razi was also related to , queen to the Timurid ruler, . Amin Razi migrated to Hindustan near the end of Akbar’s reign and completed the Haft Iqlim, a geographically organized taz- kirih of great men, in 1002 AH/1593–94 AD. Dramatis Personae xxi

Lachmī Nara’in “Shafīq” Aurangābādī (1745–1808) Descended from a family of Lahori Khatri Kapuris, Shafiq’s grandfather was a Persian munshi who migrated to Aurangabad with ‘Alamgir’s camp in the late seventeenth century. He was educated by Azad Bilgrami, who also helped advance his father’s career. Shafiq wrote three tazkirihs: Chamanistan- i Shu‘ara, on Rīkhta/Urdu poets (1761–62 AD/1175 AH); Gul-i Ra‘na, on Persian poets born in Hindustan (1767–68 AD/1181 AH); and Sham-i Ghariban, on poets who came to Hindustan (1782–83 AD/1197 AH). Later, during his long career as an administrator in Hyderabad, he wrote a collection of letters, sev- eral masnavīs, and several histories: of the Asaf Jahis (Ma’asir-i Asafi), of the city of Hyderabad (Ahval-i Haydarabad), of the Deccan (Tanmiq-i Shigarf ), and of the Maratha wars (Bisat al-Ghana’im).

Mīr ‘Abd al-Latīf Khān Shūshtarī (1759–1806 AD/1172–1220 AH) Born to a family of Musavvi sayyid scholars who settled in Shushtar in the late seventeenth century, ‘Abd al-Latif was educated in Shushtar and Shi- raz, before migrating to Hindustan. Once there he traveled widely. In 1788, Shushtari came to Calcutta, where he met Abu Talib and benefited finan- cially from lucrative trade with his brother, who was based in Basra. After some years he relocated to Hyderabad under the auspices of his cousin, ‘Abd al-Qasim Mir ‘Alam, a powerful figure in Asaf Jahi Hyderabad. The family was engulfed in a scandal involving his cousin and the East India Company resident. He was under house arrest in the aftermath when he wrote Tuhfat al-‘Alam, a commemorative text of his life, times, and knowledge dedicated to Mir ‘Alam. After the family regained its fortunes, he wrote an appendix to the text in which he mentions meeting the young Aqa Ahmad Bihbahani, newly arrived in Hyderabad in 1805.

‘Alī Qulī Khān “Vālih” Dāghistānī (1712–56 AD/1124–69 AH) He was born in Isfahan to a noble family from Daghistan, titled Shamkhal, claiming descent from the ‘Abbasid Caliphs. By the time Isfahan had fallen xxii Dramatis Personae to the Afghans in 1722, his family had been several generations in imperial service. His great uncle, Fath ‘Ali Khan Daghistani, vizier under Shah Sultan Husayn, was deposed in 1720, at which time the whole family were removed from their offices. This childhood in Isfahan provides the site of Valih’s fa- mous love story with his cousin, Khadijih “Sultan,” set to verse later in Delhi by Mir Shams al-Din “Faqir” Dihlavi as Masnavi-yi Valih Sultan (1747). Valih joined the retinue of Shah Tahmasp II in Qazvin in 1729–30. When Nadir imprisoned Tahmasp in 1732 as part of consolidating his own rule, Valih re- turned to Isfahan to find his betrothed forcibly seized out of wedlock by Nadir, and subject to a number of forcible marriages, first to Nadir’s gover- nor of Yazd and then to a servant of Karim Khan Zand. By 1734, Valih had migrated to Hindustan with Hazin, whom he had met earlier in Lar, when its infamous governor was assassinated. In Lahore, he met Azad Bilgrami, in whose company he and Hazin traveled to Delhi. Upon his arrival in Delhi, Valih was presented to Muhammad Shah through the patronage of Burhan al-Mulk, the ruler of Awadh and a migrant from Nishapur, and was made commander of four thousand, given the post of the second Mir Tuzuk and the title Zafar Jang. In 1737–38 AD/1150 AH, Valih married a dancer and poet, Ram Jani, and had a daughter, Gunnah Baygum, who eventually married Imad al-Mulk, the notorious Timurid vizier of the 1750s. Valih remained in Timurid service in the retinue of Burhan al-Mulk and his successors, ad- vancing steadily in position, until his death. Valih authored the voluminous tazkirih Riyaz al-Shu‘ara (1749 AD/1162 AH) and a dīvān (compiled by Faqir Dihlavi in 1744–45 AD/1157 AH).

Persianate Selves