ʿEMĀDĪ RĀZĪ

 

ʿEMĀDĪ RĀZĪ, well-known poet of the first half of the 6th/12th century. His real name is not known, but his reputation as ʿEmādī, according to his contemporary Rāvandī, derives from the title of his first patron ʿEmād-al-Dawla Farāmarz b. Rostam (q.v.), the ruler of Māzandarān from 515/1121(Rāvandī, p. 210). Some hagiographers and, following them, most modern scholars maintain that he was a native of Šahrīār of Ray (Ātaškada,pt. III, p. 1039; Nafīsī, Naẓm o naṯr I, p. 82; Ṣafā, Adabīyāt II, p. 743). His date of death is also disputed. Quoting Taqī-al-Dīn Kāšī, Qazvīnī records his death in 573/1177 (p. 270), which agrees with the date given by Āḏar Bīgdelī (Ātaškada, pp. 574, 1094). Muhammad Iqbal, however, quoting the index of Rieu’s Persian Manuscripts, records his death in 582/1186 (Rāḥat al-ṣodūr, p. 57, n. 1). After the death of ʿEmād-al-Dawla, ʿEmādī left Māzandarān for Iraq, where he entered the service of the Saljuqid Ṭoḡrel b. Moḥammad b. Malekšāh.

Compared with other Persian poets of the 6th/12th century, ʿEmādī’s poetry is distinguished by simplicity of diction, clarity of imagery, and absence of intricate syntax (Forūzānfar, p. 519), which made Šams-e Qayṣ-e Rāzī quote one of his ḡazals as an example of a fine poem with a pleasant meter (p. 416). Reference to him and quotations of his poetry by contemporary or near-contemporary poets attest to his fame and wide recognition as a poet (e.g., Anwarī, I, p. 487, II, p. 760; Ḥasan Ḡaznavī, pp. 190, 198, 228; Sanāʾī, p. 87; Adīb Ṣāber, introd., pp. yhá). The only extant manuscript of ʿEmādī is preserved at the British Library (Or. 298; with a photostatic copy [no. 4828] housed at the Central Library of Tehran University). It contains 1,500 verses of qaṣīdas, ḡazals, qeṭʿas, and robāʿīs.

 

Bibliography (for cited works not given in detail, see “Short References”):

Adīb Ṣāber Termeḏī, Dīvān, ed. M.-ʿA. Nāṣeḥ, Tehran, 1343 Š./1964.

Anwarī, Dīvān, ed. M.-T. Modarres Rażawī I, 2nd ed., Tehran, 1347 Š./1968; II, 1st ed., Tehran, 1340 Š./1961.

B. Forūzānfar, Soḵan wa soḵanvarān, 2nd ed., Tehran, 1350 Š/1971, pp. 517-32.

M. Qazvīnī, “Mamdūḥ-e ʿEmādī” in idem, Bīst maqāla II, ed. ʿA. Eqbāl, Tehran, 1313 Š/1934, pp. 265-74.

Moḥammad b. Solaymān Rāvandī, Rāḥat al-ṣodūr, ed. M. Iqbal, Tehran, 1333 Š./1954.

Ṣafā, Adabīyāt II, pp. 743-50.

Šams-e Qayṣ-e Rāzī, al-Moʿjam fī maʿāyīr ašʿār al-ʿajam, ed. M.-T. Modarres Rażawī, Tehran, 1335 Š./1956.

Sanāʾī, Dīvān, ed. M.-T. Modarres Rażawī, Tehran, 1320 Š./1941.

Sayyed Ḥasan Ḡaznavī, Dīvān, ed. M.-T. Modarres Rażawī, Tehran, 1328 Š./1949.

(Taqi Pūr-Nāmdārīān)

Originally Published: December 15, 1998

Last Updated: December 13, 2011

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Vol. VIII, Fasc. 4, pp. 385-386