Mahsati
Mahsati Ganjavi (Persian: مهستی گنجوی), (born c. 1089 in Ganja – died after 1159) was a 12th-century Persian poet. Mahsati (مهستی) is a compound of two Persian words "Mah/Maah" (Moon) and "Sati" (Lady, which is short for sayyidati, or 'My Lady' in Arabic).The word appears in the works of Sanai, Nizami, Attar, Rumi, and Saadi,. As an eminent poet, she was composer of quatrains (ruba'is). Her quatrains are known for including bawdy themes.
Contents
- 1 Biography
- 2 Example of original work in Persian
- 3 Commemorations
- 4 See also
- 5 References
- 5.1 Bibliography
- 6 External links
Biography
According to Attar's Ilahi-Nama Mahsati worked as a scribe under Seljuq 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.
Her real name was Manija whereas Mahsati was merely taken as a literary pseudonym. It is *umed by some modern philologists that she used to live in Balkh, Merv, Nishapur and Herat, and then returned to Ganja in adulthood.
No details about her life are do*ented 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:
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.
Example of original work in Persian
Mahsati Ganjavi Center in GanjaCommemorations
Azerbaijani composer Ertogrul Javid dedicated his unfinished opera based on a poem written by Azerbaijani poet Nigar Rafibeyli to Mahsati.
A depiction of Mahsati Ganjavi appeared on the Azerbaijani stage in 1942 in the play "Nizami", written by Mehti Huseyn.
For the first time, rubai’s and gazals written by Mahsati were collected from various sources and published by Sahab Tahiri.
Life and work of Mahsati Ganjavi were studied by a German scientist, orientalist Fritz Meier (“Schöne Mahsati”, 1963, Wiesbaden).
In memory of Mahsati Ganjavi in 1982, a monument was erected in Ganja (sculptor M. Rzayeva, architect L. Rustamov). There is a museum in Ganja dedicated to her which is functioning in the building of the caravanserai, part of the Sheikh Bahauddin ensemble.
On May 17, 2013, the 900th anniversary of Mahsatiwas celebrated at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The event was organized by the Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan to UNESCO.
On May 18, 2013, as part of the International Museum Day, an exhibition dedicated to Mahsati was held in the Azerbaijan History Museum.
See also
- List of Persian poets and authors
- Persian literature
References
Bibliography
- Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature. Reidel Publishing Company. 1968 OCLC:460598. ISBN:90-277-0143-1
- Edward Brown, A Literary History of Persia. 4 vol. Cambridge university Press 1969, vol. 2, p.:344)
- R. M. Chopra, Eminent Poetesses of Persia, Iran Society, Kolkata, 2010.
- Mahsati Ganjavi’s quatrans
External links
- Poetry portal
- Gould, Rebecca (2011). "Mahsatī of Ganja's Wandering Quatrains: Translator's Introduction". Literary Imagination. 13 (2): 225–227. doi:10.1093/litimag/imr013.
- Original poetry of Mahsati in Persian on Ganjoor site
- sample poems by Mahsati Ganjavi in English
- Poems and biography of Mahasti Ganjavi (in Persian)
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