Rabi'ah Quzdari
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Rabe'eh Kaab Balkhi, also called as Rabi'ah Quzdari or Ghozdary (in Persian: رابعه قزداري) , or just as Rabe'eh was most likely the first poetess in the History of Persian Poetry. The exact dates of her birth and death are unknown. But some evidences indicate she lived during the same period that Rudaki, the Father of Persian Poetry, was a court poet to Nasr II of Samanid (914-943).
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[edit] Life
Her name and biography have been mentioned by Jami (in his Nafahat-ol-Uns), Attar (in his Mathnaviyat) and Aufi (in his Lubab ul-Albab). She was one of the first Iranian poetess who versified in modern Persian (Dari), and she was a renounced poetess who was killed by her fundamental brother for proclaiming her love for a man in her poetry. Her father, Kaab, was a governor and when Kaab died his son named Haares, brother of Rabe’eh, became the governor. Some documents indicate that Haares used to treat people cruelly, opposite to his fathers will, and he usually liked to oppress her sister. Haares had a Turk slave named Baktash. Rabe’eh was secretly in love with Bakhtash. In a court party where Haares and Rudaki had attended, Haares heard the secret of Rabe’eh from Rudaki. He then imprisoned Baktash in a well. He also cut the jugular vein of Rabe’eh and imprisoned her in a bathroom. She wrote her final poems with her blood on the wall of the bathroom until she died. Baktash escaped the well, and as soon as got the news about Rabe’eh, he went to the governor’s office and assassinated Haares. He then committed suicide.
[edit] Poems
Click here [1] to view a part of Rabe'eh's poem as translated from Persian into English by Manouchehr Saadat Noury. Her love affair with the slave Baktāsh inspired poet Reza Qolikhan Hedayat (a poet of the Qajar era ) to compose his Gulistan Eram or Baktash Nameh.
[edit] References
- 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
- M. Saadat Noury: A Research Note on First Iranian Poetess [2]
