JOWZJĀNI, MIR JUJOK

 

JOWZJĀNI, MIR JUJOK, a late 16th century literary figure given the title malek al-šoʿarāʾ at Balkh by the Shibanid (Šaybānid) ruler there, ʿAbd-al-Moʾmen Khan (r. at Balkh 1583-98). ʿAbd-al-Moʾmen commissioned him to write a court chronicle (perhaps inspired by his father, ʿAbd-Allāh Khan’s, commission of the great Šaraf-nāma-ye šāhi by Ḥāfeẓ-e Taneš; q.v.). Maḥmud b. Amir Wali refers to it as “fotuḥāt-e ḵāni,” but there is no evidence that Mir Jujok ever wrote it or if he did that it has survived. He was better known for his poetry and composed in four languages—Arabic, Persian, Turki, and Hazāragi (q.v.; the Persian dialect of the inhabitants of Afghanistan’s central mountains). After his death, whatever poetry he had composed so fell from favor that it was reportedly banned and rejected by “people of good judgment” (ahl-e huš). The author of the sole source for his life explicitly states that he could not reproduce any of it in his work, which he was writing on commission for Naḏr-Moḥammad Khan, the Toqāy-Timurid ruler of Balkh (r. 1611-41). Mir Jujok died sometime before 1635 and was buried in the village of Sayyedābād, Juzjān. His brother, Mir Kičak, was appointed by Naḏr-Moḥammad as a professor (modarres) at the ʿAlid shrine near Balkh. He had gained some renown for having devised the chronogram jannat-e ṯāni (“second paradise”) for a park laid out by Wali-Moḥammad Khan (r. at Balkh 1600-05) at the ʿAlid shrine.

 

Bibliography:

Maḥmud b. Amir Wali, Baḥr al-asrār fi manāqeb al-aḵyār, London, British Library (India Office Collection), ms. no 575, fol. 352a-b.

(R. D. McChesney)

Originally Published: June 15, 2009

Last Updated: April 17, 2012

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Vol. XV, Fasc. 1, p. 84