Dawlat-shah Samarqandi devotes an article to him in his book, Taḏkerat al-šoʿarā (The Biographies of the Poets) and later other biographical works such as Atashkadeh, Haft Iqlim and Majamu-s Shuara add a little to.[4]
Little is known about his early life but he was born in
Jam and spent his youth in
Herat[2][a]and his father was one of the judges of Jām county. He learned poetry in the presence of Rukn al-Din Kubai and Saeed Heravi.[3]
Maybe using so many non-Persian and
Mongolian vocabulary is why he is not famous nowadays. Most of his Qasidas (odes) are sociologically important rather literary because the words used in these poems reflect the violent environment of the
Ilkhanate era.[5]
At first he was a eulogist of Khwaja Wajih al-Din Zangi, the son of
Khwaja Taher Faryumadi[6][7] but after moving to
Tabriz he composed eulogies for Khwaja
Shams al-Din Joveini.
Literary works
No one collection contains all Pur Bahāʾ’s work, and his verses remain scattered. However, the job of identifying his work is made easier by the very idiosyncratic style that he employs in almost all his work.[2]
Kār-nāma-ye awqāf – a collection of
Mathnawis dedicated to Ezz-ol Din Taher Faryumadi, containing 375
bayts most of which are eulogies of Khwaja Wajih al-Din Zangi, and his father
Khwaja Taher Faryumadi and satirizing the hypocrisy found among mullahs and many members of the religious classes.[2][8]
Nishapur earthquake
In 1267–68 the
city of Nishapur was destroyed by a massive earthquake.[9] Pur-Baha elaborates with
word-plays and far-fetched
metaphors both the destruction and restoration of the city. In his poetic ode (
Qasidah) he described the damage to different structures such as
minarets, mosques, libraries and schools and then gave the date of the rebuilding of the city as early may of 1271. This poem has been quoted by
Hafiz-e Abru and
Fasih Khafi.[10][11] In the restoration poem he refers to the good-works of
Abaqa Khan, the
Ilkhanidking of Iran and describes him as the "
Nuširvān of our time, Abaqa, the lord of the world, the sovereign of the earth, the world conqueror, foe-binder"[2]
چو کهنه بود و قدیمی بنای نیشابور
نهاد روی سوی او خرابی از هر جا
خدای خواست که بازش ز نو بنا سازند
بعهد دولت نوشیروان عهد ابقا
خدایگان جهان پادشاه روی زمین
جهانگشای عدوبند، شاه شهرگشا
The buildings of Nishapur Time had striven to displace
And ruin wide from every side had thither its face
God willed that men should once again its buildings strive to rise
In the reign of Just Abaqa, The Nushirvan of our days
OF all the world the lord is he, of all the earth the king
Foe-binder, world subduer he, all kingdoms conquering.[12][11]
Notes
^Zanganeh notes that at those times Herat was a part of Greater Khorasan and indeed a part of Iran. "[3]
Contemporary Persian and Classical Persian are the same language, but writers since 1900 are classified as contemporary. At one time, Persian was a common cultural language of much of the non-Arabic Islamic world. Today it is the official language of
Iran,
Tajikistan and one of the two official languages of
Afghanistan.