Rug depiction of Nizami Ganjavi (1939). Ganja Museum, Azerbaijan.

Nezami

For the Persian New Year and the vernal equinox, the first day of spring, I would like to take you to a secret garden with thousands of blossoms and thousands of scents. The passage will be provided by the twelfth-century Persian poet Nezami, who described this enchanting place in his poem Haft Peykar, The Seven Beauties.

Nezami (1141-1209), also known as Nizami Ganjavi, lived in the city of Ganja, the area of Azerbaijan that was part of the Persian empire until the 19th century. Like most poets of his day, Nezami had skills in various branches of arts and science. He was a philosopher, a mathematician, an astronomer, a historian, and a botanist, to name only a few fields in which he was skilled, and his marvellous erudition and knowledge of Persian literature and folklore make his works vivid.

The Haft Peykar is the story of the Sasanian ruler Bahram-e Gur, who discovered a mysterious palace with seven portraits of seven beauties. He resolved to find them and win them over, and after a series of adventures, Bahram-e Gur does that, installing his beauties in seven splendid palaces, each with its own colour and theme. The story doesn’t end with the king and queens living happily ever after, however. The hero has to learn a lesson on justice, fairness and responsibility.

The story of each princess is full of sensuous and lush details, scents, tastes, colours, sounds. The seven colours–one of which is sandalwood–represent seven stages of love, human as well as divine. The garden to which Nezami will lead us is from a section called “The Black Dome,” where lives the Indian princess, governed by the planet Saturn. The concept of planets is also important in Nezami’s work, and it’s only fitting that in our universe there exists a small plant called 3770 Nizami in honour of the poet.

Should you wish to read the full version of The Haft Peykar, I recommend the English translation by Julia Scott Meysami. Nezami may not be as well known today as Rumi, but his poetry has influenced the world literature and other arts. Goethe was inspired by his images as he wrote his West–östlicher Divan. Giacomo Puccini’s opera Turandot is based on the story that Nezami’s Princess of the Red Pavilion narrates to Bahram-e Gur. Finally, Eric Clapton’s hit “Layla” is named after a character in Nezami’s Layla and Majnun.  Centuries after it was written, The Haft Peykar remains a beguiling work that asks big questions about the world–what is the meaning of love, what is justice, and how to stay true to oneself.

As you read the excerpt below, savour each line, imaging the place Nezami describes, with its hues and scents that become more layered the further down the garden path you proceed. May your spring be just as resplendent.

Written by Victoria from boisdejasmin.com

Extract from English translation of Haft Paykar

(Garden of the Seven Beauties)

I saw a garden pure as paradise

Untouched by human dirt and human vice:

Thousands of blossoms bloomed, and small streams crept

So gently through the leaves you’d say they slept;

A myriad of different hues lay mingled there,

A myriad scents drenched miles of perfumed air;

The rose lay in the hyacinth’s embrace,

The jasmine nuzzled the carnation’s face,

The blushing Judas blossoms kissed the grass–

The sand seemed glittering grains of polished glass,

The dust was camphor and the grave lay

Like shining jewels strewn in the wanderer’s way.

The flowing streams seemed rose-water that showed

Smooth beds where precious pearls and agates glowed–

Quick in their midst slim fish slipped playfully

Like silver coins in liquid mercury.

A massive rampart of bright emerald green

Ran round the garden and enclosed the scene;

Its slopes were covered with thick, shady trees,

Tall, noble poplars, slender cypresses.

(Its stones were rubies and when autumn came

The poplars’ leaves glowed with the self-same flame.)

Sweet sandalwood and aloe trees grew there

Censing with fragrance all the garden’s air.

Finding this lovely place I knew the pleasure

Of one who stumbles on a hidden treasure:

Astonished by such gorgeous wealth I praised

The world’s great God, and the explored–amazed

And feeding on delicious fruit–each sight

That opened like a vista of delight.

Until at last light-hearted, tired, I lay

Beneath a cypress; there I passed the day

Till nightfall came, surrounded by such beauties

That I forgot the world and all its duties;

I slept and ate, gave thanks to God, and then

Contentedly I slept and ate again.