Hanzala Badghisi


Ḥanẓalah of Badghis was one of the earliest Persian poets.
Hanzalah was born in Badghis, Persia and lived in the time of the Tahirids, one of the earliest Persian dynasties after the Arab conquest of Persia.
Persian biographer Muhammad Aufi praises the verses of Hanzalah by saying the graceful flow of his expression is like the "water of Paradise, and his verses have the freshness of cool wine and the agreeableness of the northern wind."
So well known were the poems of Hanzalah that they were worth gathering into a Persian divan, or collection, only a few fragments of which remain, however.

''Sipand'' and the evil eye

Here is a quatrain, which contains an odd conceit founded on an old superstition: the poet warns his sweetheart that it is futile for her to throw sipand or Syrian rue seed on the fire to avert the influence of the evil eye.
یارم سپند گرچه بر آتش همی فکند
از بهر چشم، تا نرسد مر ورا گزند
او را سپند و آتش ناید همی به کار
با روی همچو آتش و با خال چون سپند
yāram sipand garchih bar ātash hamī fikand
az bahr-i chashm tā na-rasad mar wa-rā gazand
ū rā sipand u ātash n-āyad hamī bi kār
bā rūy hamchū ātash u bā khāl chūn sipand

Run the risk

More potent, however, was the charm in another stanza ascribed to Hanzalah, for it inspired a simple ass-herd to win a crown. Chancing one day to read four of Hanzalah's verses, this donkey-driver became fired with the ambition to make an attempt to gain the throne, and, rising triumphant over every obstacle, he finally grasped the sovereignty. The inspiring stanza which served the ass-herd king, Ahmad of Khujistan, as a motto for his life's success was this :
مهتری گر به کام شیر در است
شو خطر کن ز کام شیر بجوی
یا بزرگی و عز و نعمت و جاه
یا چو مردانت مرگ رویاروی
mihtarī gar ba kām-i sher dar ast
shaw khaṭar kun zi kām-i sher bi-jūy
yā buzurgī u ʽizz u niʽmat u jāh
yā chu mardānat marg rūyārūy