DĒDMARĪ, ḴᵛĀJA MOḤAMMAD-AʿẒAM b. Ḵayr-al-Zamān Kašmīrī (1103-79/1691-1765), historian, poet, and Sufi of Kashmir. He was born in the Dēdmar quarter of Srinagar, hence his nesba (attributive name) Dēdmarī. From his early years he studied traditional Islamic sciences with renowned scholars at the madrasas of Mollā ʿAbīd and ʿAbd-al-Razzāq in Srinagar. As a young poet he benefited from the guidance of the poet Nūr-al-Dīn Šāreq (d. 1127/1714) and later studied with Moḥammad-Reżā Moštāq Kašmīrī (d. 1143/1730) and Mollā ʿAbd-al-Ḥakīm Sāṭeʿ (1143/1730). Moḥammad-Aʿẓam joined the Naqšbandī order of Sufis in 1119/1706 and remained under the spiritual guidance of Mollā Moḥammad-Morād Naqšbandī (d. 1131/1718), leader of the order in Kashmir, for twelve years.
Ḵᵛāja Moḥammad-Aʿẓam, a prolific writer, used the pen nameAʿẓam for his poetry. Although no collection of his poems has survived, several chronograms and poems scattered throughout his Wāqeʿāt-e Kašmīr show that he was accomplished in the art. Wāqeʿāt-e Kašmīr is a compendium of political, social, literary, and intellectual information about Kashmir from ancient times to the year 1148/1735 (Rieu, Persian Manuscripts I, pp. 300-01). Ḵᵛāja Moḥammad-Aʿẓam also wrote on mysticism and the Sufi orders of Kashmir. His works include Fayż-e Morād, Resāla-ye fawāʾed al-Reżā, Resāla-ye ferāq-nāma, Qawāʿed al-mašāyeḵ, Resāla-ye eṯbāt al-jabr, Tajrabat al-ṭālebīn, Ašjār al-ḵold, and Ṯamarāt al-ašjār.
He was buried in Dēdmar.
Bibliography:
Moḥammad-Aʿẓam Dēdmarī, Wāqeʿāt-e Kašmīr, Srinagar, 1936, pp. 291-93.
Pīr Ḡolām-Ḥasan Kūyhāmī, Tārīḵ-e Ḥasan I, ed. Ḥasanšāh, Srinagar, 1954, pp. 372-73.
(Shamsuddin Ahmad)
Originally Published: December 15, 1994
Last Updated: November 18, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. VII, Fasc. 2, p. 203
