Qajar-era miniature of the poets Ferdowsi, Unsuri and Asjadi

Abu Nazar ʿAbdul ʿAziz bin Mansur ʿAsjadi (Persian: ابونظر عبدالعزیز بن منصور عسجدی) was a 10th-11th century royal Persian poet of the Ghaznavid empire located in the Ghazni province of today's Afghanistan.

Originating from Merv, and in some accounts Herat, he was a follower of the panegyric school of poetry of Unsuri in Khorasan, and was a companion of Farrukhi Sistani and Ferdowsi as well.[1][2]

His Divan was already unavailable by the 15th century (if not earlier) and is unknown though around 200 of his verses had been recorded elsewhere.[2] A quatrain attributed to Asjadi was translated by Edward Granville Browne as follows:

I do repent of wine and talk of wine,

Of idols fair with charms like silver fine:

A lip-repentance and a lustful heart—

O God, forgive this penitence of mine![3]

Another verse, quoted in the Qabus-Nama and attributed to Asjadi, is also translated by Browne: "In youth or age did the question lie, / The young would live and the old would die."[4]

Asjadi died between 1040 and 1043 CE.[2]

References

  1. ^ Browne, Edward G. (1956). A Literary History of Persia Vol. II: From Firdawsi to Sa'di. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 129.
  2. ^ a b c "ʿASJADĪ – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
  3. ^ Browne, Edward G. (1956). A Literary History of Persia Vol. II: From Firdawsi to Sa'di. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 123.
  4. ^ Browne, Edward G. (1956). A Literary History of Persia Vol. II: From Firdawsi to Sa'di. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 285.

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