Mahsati

Mahsati Ganjavi (Persian: مهستی گنجوی‎), (born circa 1089 in Ganja, a city in Arran, modern Republic of Azerbaijan/ died after 1159) was a 12th-century Persian^{[1] [2] [3]}poet. Mahsati (مهستی) is a compound of two Persian words "Mah/Maah" (Moon) and "Sati" (Lady). ^[4] The word appears in the works of Sanai,^[4] Nizami,^[4] Attar,^[5] Rumi,^[6] and Saadi,.^[4]

As an eminent poet, she was composer of quatrains (ruba'is). Originated from Ganja, she was said to have associated with both Omar Khayyam and Nizami. She is also said to have been a companion of Sultan Sanjar. Her alleged free way of living and peddled verses have stamped her as a Persian Madame Sans-Gêne . Her purported love affairs are recounted in the works of Jauhari of Bukhara.

No details about her life are documented except that she was born in Ganja and was highly esteemed at the court of Sultan Sanjar of the Seljuk dynasty. She is said to have attracted the notice and gained the favor of Sanjar by the following verse, which she extemporized one evening when the King, on going out from his audience-hall to mount his horse, found that a sudden fall of snow had covered the ground:

In Persian:

شاها فلکت اسب سعادت زین کرد

وز جملهٔ خسروان تو را تحسین کرد

تا در حرکت، سمند زرین نعلت

بر گِل ننهد پای، زمین سیمین کرد

English translation by Edward G. Browne

For thee hath Heaven saddled Fortune’s steed,

O, King, and chosen thee from all who lead,

Now o’er the Earth it spreads a silver sheet

To guard from mud thy gold-shod charger’s feet*

It is also known that Mahsati was persecuted for her courageous poetry condemning religious obscurantism, fanaticism, and dogmas. Her only works that have come down to us are philosophical and love quatrains (rubaiyat), glorifying the joy of living and the fullness of love. The most complete collection of her quatrains are founded in the Nozhat al-Majales. Approximately 60 quatrains of her are found in the Nozhat al-Majales.^[7] A monument to her was placed in Ganja in 1980.

Example of original work in Persian

ما را به دم تير نگه نتوان داشت

در حجره ی دلگير نگه نتوان داشت

آن را که سر زلف چو زنجيــــر بود

در خانه به زنجير نگه نتوان داشـت

English translation :

We can't be halted by tip of the arrow
In a melancholic cell
The one whose hair is like a chain [for the lover]
Can't be chained indoor

چون نيست ز هر چه هست جز باد به دست
چون نيست ز هر چه نيست نقصان و شکست
پندار که هر چه هست، در عالم نيســـــت
و انگار که هر چه نيست، در عالم هســـــــت

English translation :

Since there is nothing left for whatever exists, except wind through the hand
Since everything is immutable and has an end
Think that everything that exists, does not exist
And that which does not exist is like it exists

Notes

References

• Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature. Reidel Publishing Company. 1968 OCLC 460598. ISBN 90-277-0143-1
• Edward Brown, A literary History of Persia in Four Volumes. Cambridge university Press 1969, vol. 2, p. 344)

External links

• Original poetry of Mahsati in Persian on Ganjoor site
• sample poems by Mahsati Ganjavi in English
• Poems and biography of Mahasti Ganjavi (in Persian)

See also

• List of Persian poets and authors
• Persian literature