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A Qasida by Rudaki

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Extract

In the course of an article I published in this Journal (October, 1924) entitled ‘ Rūdakī and Pseudo-Rūdakī ’ I referred to a long qaṣīda beginning with the words ‘ mādar-i-may’, which has been commonly attributed to Rūdakī, but could not be definitely assigned to that poet until the identity of the mamdūḥ Abū Ja‘far Aḥmad b. Muḥammad had been established. Moreover, Riẓā Qulī Khān, who quotes a few verses from it, was persuaded that the poem was not the work of Rūdakī but of Qaṭrān. I pointed out that I had not found it anywhere else attributed to Qaṭrān, and that the mamdūḥ was certainly not among the patrons of this poet. Thanks to my learned friend Mīrzā Muḥammad Khān of Qazwīn, the question has now been finally disposed of, and the qaṣīda is proved beyond doubt to be the work of Rūdakī. This discovery is of the highest importance for the history of Persian literature, as the qaṣīda represents the only genuine long poem of the “ Father of Persian Poetry ” which has hitherto been found. I naturally wish to disclaim any credit for the discovery, and the notes I now give and the edition of the poem which I print below are due entirely to the learned Mirza Muhammad.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1926

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References

page 213 note 1 The notes to the text having been finally prepared by Mirza Muhammad in French, I have allowed them to remain in that language.

page 215 note 1 Sic, in Tihrān edition (p. 55). Calcutta ed. reads .

page 216 note 1 The famous general of the Samanids who, at the end of his life, revolted against them and was killed in a.h. 329. (See Chahār Maqāla, pp. 15–16, 105–106, etc.)

page 233 note 1 An allusion to Qur’ān iv, 62.