ADHAM, MĪRZĀ EBRĀHĪM, 11th/17th century poet. He was a son, by a daughter of Shah ʿAbbās I, of Mīr Rażī Ārtīmānī (q.v.) of the powerful Šahrestānī family. Mīr Rażī, sometime grand vizier and keeper of the seal of the properties assigned to the Imams, was himself a poet (see Ethé, Cat. Ind. Off. no. 1522). Adham went to India in the reign of Shah Jahān, while still a young man. He was introduced at court by the court physician, Ḥakīm Dāʾūd Taqarrob Khan. (The latter had been physician to Shah ʿAbbās, as had his father, Ḥakīm ʿEnāyatallāh Yazdī.) For a time Adham was esteemed for his Safavid connections and poetic skill. He fell from favor, however, as a result of his outrageous behavior (“like a mad Darwysh” according to Mīrzā Moḥammad Afżal “Sarḵᵛoš;” see A. Sprenger, A Catalogue of the . . . Manuscripts of the Libraries of the King of Oudh I, Calcutta, 1854, p. 109; and Sarḵᵛoš, Kalemāt al-šoʿarāʾ , ed. Ṣ. ʿA. Delāvarī, Lahore, n.d., p. 3). After further indiscretions he was imprisoned; he died (or was executed) in Shahjahanabad or Delhi in 1060/1651.
Adham left a dīvān of poetry (Sprenger, op. cit., p. 313), which is said to be written in the classical manner, despite the fact that he was an avowed admirer of the contemporary Iranian poet Ṣāʾeb. Citations of his poetry are also found (e.g., marginal additions in Ind. Off. no. 1689, fol. 70b, and no. 1741, fol. 12a).
Bibliography:
ʿA. Pārsā, “Mīr Rażī Ārtīmanī va pesaraš Adham,” Armaḡān 19, 1317 Š./1938, pp. 639-50.
Āzād Belgrāmī, Sarv-e āzād, Lahore, p. 84.
Šāhnavāz Khan Awrangābādī, Maʾāṯer al-omarāʾ, tr. H. Beveridge, Calcutta, 1911-14, p. 128.
(W. Thackston)
Originally Published: December 15, 1983
Last Updated: July 22, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 5, p. 456
W. Thackston, “ADHAM, MĪRZĀ EBRĀHĪM,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/5, p. 456; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/adham-mirza-ebrahim-11th-17th-century-poet (accessed on 7 February 2014).
