Vahshi Bafqi

Kamal al-din or Shams al-Din Mohammad, known by his pen name Vahshi Bafqi[1] (Persian: وحشی بافقی; born 1532 & died 1583) was a Persian poet of the Safavid period. Vahshi was born in the agricultural town of Bafq, southeast of the city of Yazd.

Vahshi Bafqi
Born1532
Bafq, Iran
Died1583 (aged 51)
Yazd, Iran

Biography

Early life

Born in Bafq, Vahshi Bafqi was trained by his eldest brother Moradi in poetry. He also trained at the local literary luminary Šaraf-al-Din ʿAli of Bāfq. He moved to Yazd before continuing onto Kashan.

Later life

In Kashan, Bafqi started working as a schoolteacher when his poetry attracted the attention of the regional governor. He wrote poems honouring Tahmasp I. From Kashan, Bafqi travelled to Arak and Bandar Abbas, before returning to Yazd. Bafqi settled in the small village of Taft where he was the foremost poet at the court of hereditary rulers of the region. Bafqi wrote poems honouring the governors of Kerman and also Ismail II.

According to Awḥadi of Balyān, Bafqi died from alcohol poisoning in 1583 in Yazd.[2]

Works

Vahshi's, Shirin and Farhad, a Persian folklore and romantic story of Sassanid Iran is written in the meter of the Persian poet Nizami's romantic epic Shirin and Farhad. Although the work was left unfinished at the time of Vahshi's death, with the introduction and barely 500 verses of the story completed, it has been recognized as one of the poets most famous masterpieces. Approximately a hundred manuscripts of this famous Persian epic from Vahshi has been catalogued around the world. Two poets from Shiraz, Wesal and Saber, took on the task of completing Vahshi's poem in the 19th century.

Awhadi, the literary executor of Vahshi gathered some 9,000 verses of Vahshi's poetry after his death. They include various Persian forms including Ghazal, Qasida and panegyrics to patrons as well praises of the saints of the time.

See also

References
  1. "VAḤŠI BĀFQI – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org.
  2. "VAḤŠI BĀFQI – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org.

Sources
  • E. G. Browne. Literary History of Persia. (Four volumes, 2,256 pages, and twenty-five years in the writing). 1998. ISBN 0-7007-0406-X
  • Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature. Reidel Publishing Company. ASIN B-000-6BXVT-K
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