Licit Magic — GlobalLit Working Papers 17. Persian Literary Criticism in India
Khān-i Ārzū’s Critique of Ḥazīn’s Poetry
By Nasrin Askari
In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, when a new style of Persian poetry was developing in the Persianate world, several erudite literary critics appeared in India, whose meticulous critiques of Persian poetry was unprecedented in the long history of Persian literature. A close study of the works produced by these critics reveals their vast knowledge of Persian literary techniques and their attention to the details of semantics and forms in their evaluation of Persian poetry. A poet who was the main target of these critics was Ḥazīn Lāhījī (d. 1766), whose perception of the aesthetics of poetry did not align with that of some of his contemporaries in India. A serious critic of Ḥazīn’s verses was the eminent litterateur, philologist, lexicographer, and poet Khān-i Ārzū (d. 1756), whose critique of Ḥazīn’s poetry motivated a number of other critics to write their own critique of Ḥazīn’s verses and pass judgements on Ārzū’s critique of Ḥazīn’s poetry. This issue of GlobalLit Working Papers, presents in English translation excerpts from Ārzū’s critique of Ḥazīn’s verses, and the critiques of two scholars who tried to a be fair judges between Ārzū and Ḥazīn.
To read the full paper, click here.
Read more of GlobalLIT below.
