Qatran Tabrizi
Encyclopedia
Abū-Mansūr Qatrān-i Tabrīzī was a royal Persian
poet.
He was born in Sahar near Arrah, bihar Tabriz
and was the most famous panegyrist of his time in Iran
. His full name according to an old manuscript handwritten by the famous poet Anvari Abivardi
(529 Hijra about 60 years after the death of Qatran) is Abu Mansur Qatran al-Jili al-Azerbaijani. The Al-Jili would identify his ancestry from Gilan while he himself was born in Shadiabad. He also identifies himself as part of the Dehqan class.
According to Jan Rypka
: “He sings the praise of some thirty patrons. His work has aroused the interest of historians, for in many cases Qatran has perpetuated the names of members of regional dynasties in Azerbayjan and the Caucasus region that would have otherwise fallen in oblivion. His best qasidas were written in his last period, where he expressed gratitude to the prince of Ganja
, the Shaddadid
Fadlun, for the numerous gifts that were still recollected by the famous Jami (d. 1492). Qatran’s poetry follows in the wake of the poets of Khurasan and makes an unforced use of the rhetorical embellishment. He is even one of the first after Farrukhi
to try his hand at the Qasida-i Masnu’i, ‘particular artificial qasida’".
According to Jan Rypka: When Nasir Khusraw visited Azarbaijan in 1046, Qatran requested to him to explain some of the most difficult passages in the divan of Munjik and Daqiqi that were written in “Persian”, i.e. according Chr. Shaffer, in the Persian of Khurasan, a language that he, as a Western Persian, might not be expected to understand, in contrast to the guest from Khurasan.
Kasravi is of the opinion that the text of the Safar-nama has here been corrupted because Qatran, though he spoke Iranian Adhari (the old Iranic language of Azerbaijan before the advent of Oghuz Turks) was fully acquainted with (Khurasani dialect of) Persian, as his Divan shows. De Blois mentions that: The point of the anectode is clear that the diwans of these poets contained Eastern Iranian (i.e. Sogdian etc.) words that were incomprehensible to a Western Persian like Qatran, who consquently took advantage of an educated visitor from the East, Nasir, to ascertain their meaning .
Qatran Tabrizi has an interesting couplet mentioning this fact:
Qatran’s qasidehs on the earthquake of Tabriz in 1042 CE has been much praised and is regarded as a true masterpiece (Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature. Reidel Publishing Company. 1968).
In his Persian divan of 3000 to 10000 couplet
s, Qatran praises some 30 patrons.
He is not to be confused with another Persian author: Qatran of Tirmidh, who wrote the Qaus-nama one hundred years later.
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
poet.
He was born in Sahar near Arrah, bihar Tabriz
Tabriz
Tabriz is the fourth largest city and one of the historical capitals of Iran and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Situated at an altitude of 1,350 meters at the junction of the Quri River and Aji River, it was the second largest city in Iran until the late 1960s, one of its former...
and was the most famous panegyrist of his time in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. His full name according to an old manuscript handwritten by the famous poet Anvari Abivardi
Anvari
Anvari , full name Awhad ad-Din 'Ali ibn Mohammad Khavarani or Awhad ad-Din 'Ali ibn Mahmud was one of the greatest Persian poets....
(529 Hijra about 60 years after the death of Qatran) is Abu Mansur Qatran al-Jili al-Azerbaijani. The Al-Jili would identify his ancestry from Gilan while he himself was born in Shadiabad. He also identifies himself as part of the Dehqan class.
According to Jan Rypka
Jan Rypka
Jan Rypka was a prominent Czech orientalist, translator, professor of Iranology and Turkology at Charles University, Prague.Jan Rypka was a participant in Ferdowsi Millenary Celebration in Tehran in 1934....
: “He sings the praise of some thirty patrons. His work has aroused the interest of historians, for in many cases Qatran has perpetuated the names of members of regional dynasties in Azerbayjan and the Caucasus region that would have otherwise fallen in oblivion. His best qasidas were written in his last period, where he expressed gratitude to the prince of Ganja
Ganja, Azerbaijan
Ganja is Azerbaijan's second-largest city with a population of around 313,300. It was named Yelizavetpol in the Russian Empire period. The city regained its original name—Ganja—from 1920–1935 during the first part of its incorporation into the Soviet Union. However, its name was changed again and...
, the Shaddadid
Shaddadid
The Shaddadids were a Kurdish dynasty who ruled in various parts of Armenia and Arran from 951-1174 AD. They were established in Dvin. Through their long tenure in Armenia, they often intermarried with the Bagratuni royal family of Armenia....
Fadlun, for the numerous gifts that were still recollected by the famous Jami (d. 1492). Qatran’s poetry follows in the wake of the poets of Khurasan and makes an unforced use of the rhetorical embellishment. He is even one of the first after Farrukhi
Farrukhi Sistani
Abul Hasan Ali ibn Julugh Farrukhi Sistani was a 10th- and 11th-century royal poet of Ghaznavids.As an ethnic Persian, he was one of the brightest masters of the panegyric school of poetry in the court of Mahmud of Ghazni...
to try his hand at the Qasida-i Masnu’i, ‘particular artificial qasida’".
According to Jan Rypka: When Nasir Khusraw visited Azarbaijan in 1046, Qatran requested to him to explain some of the most difficult passages in the divan of Munjik and Daqiqi that were written in “Persian”, i.e. according Chr. Shaffer, in the Persian of Khurasan, a language that he, as a Western Persian, might not be expected to understand, in contrast to the guest from Khurasan.
Kasravi is of the opinion that the text of the Safar-nama has here been corrupted because Qatran, though he spoke Iranian Adhari (the old Iranic language of Azerbaijan before the advent of Oghuz Turks) was fully acquainted with (Khurasani dialect of) Persian, as his Divan shows. De Blois mentions that: The point of the anectode is clear that the diwans of these poets contained Eastern Iranian (i.e. Sogdian etc.) words that were incomprehensible to a Western Persian like Qatran, who consquently took advantage of an educated visitor from the East, Nasir, to ascertain their meaning .
Qatran Tabrizi has an interesting couplet mentioning this fact:
Qatran’s qasidehs on the earthquake of Tabriz in 1042 CE has been much praised and is regarded as a true masterpiece (Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature. Reidel Publishing Company. 1968).
In his Persian divan of 3000 to 10000 couplet
Couplet
A couplet is a pair of lines of meter in poetry. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter.While traditionally couplets rhyme, not all do. A poem may use white space to mark out couplets if they do not rhyme. Couplets with a meter of iambic pentameter are called heroic...
s, Qatran praises some 30 patrons.
He is not to be confused with another Persian author: Qatran of Tirmidh, who wrote the Qaus-nama one hundred years later.
Qatran's Qasideh on the Earthquake
On the earthquake at Tabriz and an Ode to Amir Abunasr Mamlan (Shaddadid prince) and his son (fragment). This qasideh is considered one of Qatran's greatest masterpiece. Here is an English translation from the original Persian by Tom Botting:See also
- List of Persian poets and authors
- Persian literaturePersian literaturePersian literature spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language...