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Saib Tabrizi | |
|---|---|
 Drawing of Saib Tabrizi byAbbas Rassam Arjangi, dated 1960/61 | |
| Born | Mirza Mohammad Ali c. 1592 |
| Died | 1676 (aged 83–84) |
| Resting place | Saeb Mausoleum, Isfahan |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Literary movement | Indian style |
Saib Tabrizi (Persian:صائب تبریزی,romanized: Ṣāʾib Tabrīzī,میرزا محمّدعلی صائب تبریزی,Mīrzā Muḥammad ʿalī Ṣāʾib,Azerbaijani:صائب تبریزی) was anIranian poet, regarded as one of the greatest masters of a form of classicalPersian lyric poetry characterized by rhymed couplets, known as theghazal. He also established the "Indian style" (sabk-i Hind) in the literature of his native language,Azerbaijani, in which he is known to have written 17ghazals andmolammaʿs.
Saib was born inTabriz, and educated inIsfahan and at some time around 1626, he traveled toIndia, where he was received into the court ofShah Jahan. He stayed for a time inKabul and inKashmir, returning home after several years abroad. After his return, the emperor ofPersia,Shah Abbas II, bestowed upon him the titleKing of Poets.
Saib's reputation is based primarily on some 300,000 couplets, including his epic poemQandahār-nāma (“The Campaign AgainstQandahār”). (The city of Qandahār orKandahar in today'sAfghanistan was in Saib Tabrizi's lifetime a long-standing bone of contention between the Mughal rulers of India and the Safavid rulers of Persia - both of whom were at different times the poet's patrons - until definitely given over to Persian rule as a result of theMughal–Safavid war of 1649–53.)
Saib Tabrizi's “Indian style” verses reveal an elegant wit, a gift for the aphorism and the proverb, and a keen appreciation ofphilosophical and intellectual exercise. Saib was especially well known for his Persian panegyric poetry during the reigns of Persian EmperorsSafi,Abbas II andSuleiman.[citation needed]
A line from Saib's poem on Kabul provided the title forKhaled Hosseini's 2007 novel,A Thousand Splendid Suns.
Saib Tabrizi was either ofPersian[1][2] orAzerbaijani[3][4][5] ancestry, withAzerbaijani as his native tongue.[6] Saib's birth date is uncertain; he was most likely born at the end of the 16th-century, as he mentions his age being eighty in one of his poems. TheIranologistPaul E. Losensky puts his birth date inc. 1592.[2] Saib was born with the name Mirza Mohammad Ali in the city ofTabriz inSafavid Iran.[2] The city was a provincial capital of theAzerbaijan province and had served as the capital of the country until 1555.[7] Saib's father was the wealthy and prominent merchant Mirza Abd-al-Rahim, while his paternal uncle was Shams-al-Din of Tabriz was skilled incalligraphy, for which he received the nicknameShirin Qalam ("Sweet Pen").[2][8]
As a result of attacks by theOttoman Empire, many families, including that of Saibs, were evacuated from Tabriz byShah Abbas I, who moved them to the Abbasabad neighbourhood inIsfahan. It was in this location that Saib spent his childhood. He received his education at home and started engaging in poetry exercises when he was a little child. Although some recent sources have disputed this, he was reportedly trained in poetry by bothMasih Kashani andShifa'i Isfahani.[8] In his youth, he made pilgrimages toMecca, theImam Reza shrine inMashhad, and theShia shrines inNajaf andKarbala.[2][8]
Saib believed that the best opportunities to advance his literary career were at the Mughal courts in India,as were the beliefs of many other ambitious Iranian poets of the time.[2] In 1624/25, he immigrated to the Mughal realm, where he became acquainted with the young governor ofKabul, Mirza Ahsan-Allah Zafar Khan. The latter also wrote poetry, and became the main patron of Saib, who became his teacher in poetry. Saib accompanied Zafar Khan and his father on military campaigns in theDeccan Plateau, before returning to Isfahan in 1632.[2]
Saib spent the remainder of his life in Isfahan, leaving the city only to visit other Iranian cities. His seven years spent living in India contributed to his reputation as the greatest poet of his time. He maintained a relationship with theSafavid courts and dedicated poemsAbbas II andShah Soleyman III. Abbas II appointed Saib to the post of poet laureate.[2]
Saib seems to have withdrawn from the public eye in his final years, only receiving a small number of students and literary supporters from all around the Persian-speaking world. He died in 1676 and was buried in a garden retreat in Isfahan.[2]
In his poetry, Saib portrayed the Safavid shahs of his era as leaders of theSafavid order, supporters ofTwelver Shia Islam, descendants ofAli and the Islamic prophetMuhammad, protectors of Iran against the Ottomans and Uzbeks, theShadows of Allah, and maintainers of security and justice.[9]
He developed a method which was called Indian method.[10] Tabrizi is also credited with establishing the "Indian style" (sabk-i Hind) ofAzerbaijaniəruz poetry (poetry using quantifying prosody).[11]
Biographical literature is abundant with references to the admiration of Saib by both his contemporary and later readers. When discussing Saib, his contemporary Mohammad Taher Nasrabadi mentions that "the sublimity of his genius and extent of his fame need no description." A few years later, in India, Sarkhosh writes that Saib's "jewel-like verses have broadcast his fame throughout the world," and that the Safavid shahs gifted copies of hisdivan (collection of poems) to leaders in other Islamic nations. TheCentral Asian poet and biographer Maliha of Samarqand provides an emotional description of his visit to Saib's tomb and the night he spent there. The admiration for Saib's literary accomplishment persisted in most Persian-speaking regions throughout the 19th-century, and according to Losensky; "reaching perhaps its fullest expression in the writings ofAzad Bilgrami inSarv-e azad andKhezana-ye amera."[2]
However, this later changed in Iran with the rise of the neo-classicalbazgasht-e adabi ("literary return") in the late 18th-century. Like most new literary movements, it partially formed its identity by opposing the ideals of its recent forebears. One of its supporters,Azar Bigdeli, accused Saib of "losing track of the established rules of previous masters” and causing poetry to go in a downward spiral. By the middle of the 19th-century,Reza-Qoli Khan Hedayat was able to simply state that Saib used "a strange style that is not now approved." In Persian literary circles, this general rejection persisted as an integral belief through the first decades in the early 20th-century. However, Saib and 17th-century poetry as a whole started to be reassessed when thebazgasht-e adabi itself came into disregard with the collapse of theQajar government and the start of modernity.[2]
The works of the literary historian Zeyn-al-Abedin Mo'taman and the poet-scholarSeyed Karim Amiri Firuzkuhi in the 1940s and 1950s were particularly noteworthy in revival of Saib's reputation. In January 1976, theUniversity of Tehran hosted a conference where various leading writers gathered, and which led to the recognition of Saib as a major classical poet.[2]
Saib*, Mirza Muhammad Ali*: Persian poet; 16031677. He was one of the most prolific poets of his time, and is highly praised by Oriental critics.
The more famous Azeri poets in Isfahan include Qavsi Tebrizi, Muhsin Te'sir, Mesihi, Sa'ib Tabrizi, and Melik Beg.
Daha çok Farsça şiirler söyleyen Âzerî şairi[Azeri poet who sang mostly Persian poems]
[...] and Azerbaijani 'Saib Tabrizi' ('from Tabriz'), also called 'Saib Isfahani' as he died in Isfahan.
After Füzuli, Qövsi Təbrizi (fl. tenth/sixteenth-eleventh/seventeenth centuries), Məsihi (d. 1066/1656), and others continued his tradition, while Saib Təbrizi (d. 1087/1676–77) firmly established the "Indian style" (səbki-Hindi/ sabk-i Hindī) of Azerbaijani əruz poetry.
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