ʿABD-AL-RAŠĪD TATTAVĪ

 

ʿABD-AL-RAŠĪD B. ʿABD-AL-ḠAFŪR TATTAVĪ, SHAIKH, noted lexicographer attached to the court of the Mughal ruler Shah Jahān. He was born in Thatta, Sind, but little else is known of his life. Of his two dictionaries, the Arabic-Persian Montaḵab al-loḡat-e Šāh Jahānī, known as Rašīdī-e ʿarabī, was compiled from al-Qāmūs al-moḥīṭ of Maǰd-al-dīn Fīrūzābādī (d. 817/1414) and al-Ṣorāḥ men al-ṣeḥāḥ (681/1282) of Jamāl Qorašī. It was completed in 1046/1636 and dedicated to Shah Jahān. The most popular Arabic-Persian dictionary in India, it has been printed many times, including a rearranged version published by J. H. Taylor in Calcutta, 1816.

The Persian-Persian Farhang-e Rašīdī or Rašīdī-e pārsī, completed almost two decades later in 1064/1654, was also dedicated to Shah Jahān. It summarized Farhang-e Jahāngīrī (1017/1608) of Jamāl-al-dīn Ḥosayn Īnǰū Šīrāzī and Maǰmaʿ al-fors or Farhang-e Sorūrī (1008/1599) of Moḥammad Qāsem Kāšānī, excluding the superfluous material and non-Persian words from both (ed. Ḏu’l-faqar ʿAlī, Bib. Ind., Calcutta, 1875; ed. M. ʿAbbāsī, Tehran, 1337 Š./1958; ed. and tr. of the introduction, here termed the first philological essay of a critical nature in Persian, by Dr. Splieth in Grammaticae Persicae praecepta ac regula, Halle, 1846).

Although ʿAbd-al-Rašīd’s dīvān does not appear to have survived, Mīr ʿAlī Šīr Qāneʿ praises his erudition and gives a specimen of his poetry taken from a qaṣīda in praise of ʿAlī b. Abū Ṭāleb (Maqālāt al-šoʿarāʾ, Karachi, 1957, pp. 419f.). He is mentioned in the taḏkeras as having found a chronogram to date Awrangzēb’s accession (e.g., Sarḵᵛoš, Kalemāt al-šoʿarāʾ, Madras, 1951, p. 197). A chronogram fixes ʿAbd-al-Rašīd’s death in 1077/1666 (Ḡolām-ʿAlī Āzād Belgrāmī, Ḵezāna-ye ʿāmera, Cawnpore, 1871, s.v. Māher).

Bibliography:

H. Blochmann, “Contributions to Persian Lexicography,” JASB 37, 1868, p. 20.

M. ʿAlī Dāʿī-al-eslām, “Farhang-e Rašīdī” in Dehḵodā, intro., pp. 218f.

Ethé, Cat. Ind. Off. I, pp. 1302-03, 1350-51.

C. Salemann, “Chronologisches Verzeichniss der Farhange,” Mélanges asiatiques 9, 1880-81, pp. 531-35.

(W. M. Thackston)

Originally Published: December 15, 1982

Last Updated: July 14, 2011

This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 2, p. 151

Cite this entry:

W. M. Thackston, “'Abd-Al-Rasid Tattavi,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/2, p. 151; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abd-al-rasid-b-abd-al-gafur-tattavi-shaikh-17th-century-lexicographer (accessed on 16 January 2014).