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 +"[[Beyond good and evil there is a field where we can all meet]]"--Rumi
 +|}
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-[[R. A. Nicholson]]’s ‘[[Dīvāni Shams Tabrīz]]’ (Cambridge, 1898).+'''Rumi''' (1207 – 1273), was a [[Persian poet]], [[Islamic]] [[jurist]], [[theologian]], and [[mystic]], known as the author of the ''[[Masnavi]]''.
 +==From the ''[[Library of the World's Best Literature]]''==
 +THE APPELLATION Rūmī, or Syrian, is given to the [[Persian poet]] Jalāl-ad-dīn because most of his life was passed at [[Iconium]] in Rūm, or [[Asia Minor]]. His full name is recorded as Jalāl-ad-dīn Mohammed Rūmī; he is generally known as Jalāl-ad-dīn, or “Splendor of the Faith,” but it is convenient to record his name, according to Western methods, under the simple form Rūmī.
-==Full text==+This Persian poet may best be remembered as the founder of the Maulavī sect of [[dervishes]], or the [[whirling dervishes]] as they are often called; whose austerity of life, mystic philosophy, enthusiastic devotion, and religious ecstasy superinduced by the whirling dance, are familiar to readers of [[Eastern literature]]. The writings of Jalāl-ad-dīn, like [[Jāmī]], [[Nizami]], and others, breathe the religious spirituality of [[Sūfī]] philosophy: the world and all that is comprised therein is but a part of God, and the universe exists only through God; the Love Divine is all-pervading, and the rivers of life pour their waters into the boundless ocean of the supreme soul; man must burnish the mirror of his heart and wipe away the dross of self that blurs the perfect image there. This is a keynote to the “Rūmian’s” religious and mystic poetry.
-SELECTED POEMS +
- +
- +
- +
-PROM THE +
- +
-DlVANI SHAMSI TABRIZ +
- +
- +
- +
-EDITED AND TRANSLATED +
- +
-WITH AN INTRODUCTION, NOTES, AND APPENDICES +
- +
-BY +
- +
-REYNOLD A. NICHOLSON, M.A. +
- +
-former hf Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic +
-in the I'nirersitif of Cambridge +
- +
- +
- +
-kiTAb fetlAVAN +
- +
-New Delhi-1 1 0002 +
- +
- +
- +
- +
-Kitab Bhavan +
- +
-Publishers, Distributors, Exporters & Importers +
-1784, Kalan Mahal, Darya Ganj +
-New Delhi- 1 10002 (India) +
- +
- +
- +
-Phone : (91-1 1)23277392/93,23274686 +
- +
-Web Site : www.kitabbhavan.com +
- +
-E-Mail : nasri@vsnl.com +
- +
-Fax : (91-11)23263383 +
- +
- +
- +
-ISBN 81-7151-1 97-X +
-Book Code S00088 +
- +
- +
- +
-1st Published in India 1 898 +
-4"' Edition 2004 +
- +
- +
- +
-Published in India By +
-N us rat Ali Nasri for Kitab Bhavan +
-1784, kalan Mahal Drya Ganj +
-New Delhi- 1 10002 (India) +
- +
- +
- +
-V ffirovSrj ovk aftaprlas that, aXXA 6tbv that. Plotinus. +
- +
-This is that mystic religion which, though it has nothing in it +
-but that same spirit, that same truth, and that same life, which +
-always was and always must be the religion of all God’s holy angels +
-and saints in heaven, is by the wisdom of this world accounted to +
-be madness. Law. +
- +
-But I’ll pour floods of love and hide myself. +
- +
-Browning. +
- +
- +
- +
-Primed in India at: +
- +
-Cahoot i Fine Art Press +
-1711, Sui Walan, Darya Ganj +
-New Delhi- 1 10002 (India) +
- +
- +
- +
- +
-PREFACE. +
- +
- +
- +
-ABOUT six years ago, when I consulted Professor +
-A Robertson Smith, whose kindness and heroic un- +
-selfishness none of his pupils can ever forget, as to what I +
-should make the subject of the dissertation expected from +
-candidates for a Trinity Fellowship, he suggested the +
-Divani Shamsi Tabriz, in other words, the lyncal poetry of +
-Jalalu’ddin Rumi. I was the more ready to follow his +
-advice as the Sufi doctrines had even then begun to inspire +
-me with the strange and irresistible fascination which a +
-religion of love and beauty exercises over certain minds. +
-Accordingly, Mr E. G. Browne having lent me his copy of +
-the Tabriz Edition of the Divan, I worked through it page +
-by page, selecting the poems that pleased me best and +
-translating them in prose or verse. The present volume is +
-an outcome of that experiment. It is not, however, mere y +
-a rechauffe. My original dissertation was based upon a +
-single text and left many difficulties unsolved. In 1894 I +
-collated a splendid manuscript of the Divan preserved in +
-the Vienna Hofbibliothek, and on my return I examined +
-one of equal importance, which the authorities of the +
-Leyden University Library generously placed at my +
-disposal. The texts thus obtained I have corrected and +
- +
- +
- +
- +
-PREFACE. +
- +
- +
- +
-PREFACE. +
- +
- +
- +
-IX +
- +
- +
- +
-viii +
- +
-supplemented by reference to MSS. in the British Museum +
-and elsewhere. As regards interpretation also much has +
-been gained. In a wider knowledge of Sufi literature, and +
-especially of the Masnavi, I found the key to passages +
-which seemed hopelessly obscure. The comparative method +
-may be abused ; its value is beyond dispute. Sufiism has +
-few ideas, but an inexhaustible wealth and variety of +
-illustration. Among a thousand fluttering masks the +
-interpreter is required to identify each old familiar face. +
-Now one mask reveals more than another, and when that +
-has been penetrated, its neighbour can no longer dissemble +
-the likeness which hitherto remained unrecognised. I do +
-not, of course, pretend to have understood everything : +
-Sufiism is neither an exact science nor a popular history of +
-the Creation. This enigmatic and ambiguous style, of +
-which the Divan is a masterpiece, will always leave ample +
-room for conjecture, even though its chief characters are +
-easily deciphered. I trust that my explanatory notes, if +
-occasionally they prove to be beside the mark, may never- +
-theless contribute to a better appreciation of the greatest +
-mystical poet of any age. +
- +
-While the Masnatl is accessible in the scholarly abstract +
-of Mr Whinfield and the laborious but amazingly unpoetical +
-version of Bk. i. by Sir James Redhouse, the Divan, scarcely +
-inferior in merit or fame, has been less fortunate. There +
-is no English edition ; Austria has given us Rosenzweig’s +
-Auswahl (1838), and the clumsy translations of Von +
-Hammer in his Schone Redekunste Persiens. For a notice +
-of both the reader is referred to the Introduction. I have +
-included three odes which appear in the Auswahl ; the rest +
-are now published in Europe for the first time. The task +
- +
- +
- +
-of selection was not a simple one, and I have necessarily +
-relied on my own taste and feeling. If my book were not +
-addressed to students of Persian rather than to lovers of +
-literature, I should have been tempted to imitate Abu +
-Tarn in am, whose Hamcisa is a compilation of verses torn +
-from their context. Such a plan is peculiarly favoured by +
-the loose structure of the ghazal, where couplets complete +
-in themselves are strung together in the slightest fashion. +
-But as no writer can fairly be judged by fragments, however +
-fine, I have endeavoured to make this anthology a true +
-and sufficient reflexion of the whole Divan. +
- +
-My translation seeks to reconcile the claims of accuracy +
-and art : it is therefore in prose. Obviously English verse +
-cannot convey the full verbal sense of oriental poetry +
-without lapsing into grotesque doggerel ; the translator +
-must either profess a general adherence to his author’s +
-meaning (see Appendix II.) or, rising above the letter, he +
-must catch the elusive spirit of his original and reproduce +
-it in a worthy form. Of this, the highest and rarest kind +
-of translation, Fitzgerald’s ‘Omar Khayyam is a classic +
-example. I have done my best to avoid gratuitous ba- +
-nalities, when no misapprehension was possible. Thus I +
-have not rendered saffi. ni'dl by ‘ shoe-rack,’ nor have 1 +
-described a burning heart as ‘ roast-meat.’ Although some +
-Persian compounds can hardly be englished except by +
-coining equivalent terms, I have taken warning from the +
-sad fate of more than one inventor. ‘ Nubiquity ’ and +
-‘ nulliquity ’ are terrible epitaphs. +
- +
-Finally, my warmest thanks are due to Professor Cowell, +
-who lent me his two manuscripts of the Divan ; to Mr E. +
-G. Browne, who since I began to study Persian has never +
- +
- +
- +
- +
-X +
- +
- +
- +
-PREFACE. +
- +
- +
- +
-grudged me the benefit of his unrivalled knowledge and +
-experience ; to Mr G. Lowes Dickinson, who permitted me +
-to make use of an unpublished dissertation on Plotinus ; +
-and above all to Professor Bevan, who not only read the +
-proof-sheets throughout but assisted me with many in- +
-genious and important suggestions. +
- +
-I would also declare my obligation to the staff of the +
-Cambridge University Press for the admirable way in which +
-they have printed a very troublesome text. +
- +
-Trinity College, +
- +
-July , 1898. +
- +
- +
- +
-TABLE OF CONTENTS. +
- +
- +
- +
-Preface +
- +
- +
-. +
- +
- +
-PAGES +
- +
-vii — x +
- +
- +
-Introduction +
- +
- +
-xv — li +
- +
- +
-§ 1. +
- +
- +
-Authorship of the Divan +
- +
- +
-XV +
- +
- +
-§2. +
- +
- +
-Jalalu ’ddin RumI +
- +
- +
-xvi +
- +
- +
-§3. +
- +
- +
-Shamsi Tabriz ...... +
- +
- +
-xviii +
- +
- +
-§4. +
- +
- +
-The Spiritual Director .... +
- +
- +
-XX +
- +
- +
-§5. +
- +
- +
-Jalalu ’ddin and Shamsi Tabriz +
- +
- +
-xxii +
- +
- +
-§6. +
- +
- +
-Sflfiism in Persian poetry. Development +
- +
- +
- +
- +
- +
- +
-of Sufiism +
- +
- +
-XXV +
- +
- +
- +
- +
-The doctrines of Jalalu ’ddin and Plotinus +
- +
- +
-XXX +
- +
- +
-§8- +
- +
- +
-Criticism of the Divan .... +
- +
- +
-xxxvi +
- +
- +
-§9. +
- +
- +
-Editions and Manuscripts of the Divan +
- +
- +
-xlvii +
- +
- +
-Addenda +
- +
- +
-and Corrigenda +
- +
- +
-liii — Iv +
- +
- +
-Selected +
- +
- +
-Poems +
- +
- +
-2—195 +
- +
- +
-Notes +
- +
- +
-. +
- +
- +
-197—318 +
- +
- +
-Additional Notes +
- +
- +
-319—330 +
- +
- +
-Appendices +
- +
- +
-331—350 +
- +
- +
-I. +
- +
- +
-Illustrative passages from the Divan with +
- +
- +
- +
- +
- +
- +
-a list of the historical and autobiogra- +
-phical allusions ..... +
- +
- +
-331 +
- +
- +
-II. +
- +
- +
-Translations in verse .... +
- +
- +
-342 +
- +
- +
-III. +
- +
- +
-Table showing where the Selected Poems +
- +
- +
- +
- +
- +
- +
-occur in other editions of the Divan +
- +
- +
-347 +
- +
- +
-IV. +
- +
- +
-Comparative Table of passages quoted +
- +
- +
- +
- +
- +
- +
-from the Masnavl .... +
- +
- +
-349 +
- +
- +
-Indices +
- +
- +
- +
- +
-351—367 +
- +
- +
-I. +
- +
- +
-Persian and Arabic +
- +
- +
-351 +
- +
- +
-II. +
- +
- +
-English . +
- +
- +
-362 +
- +
- +
- +
- +
-LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. +
- +
-J.R.A.S. = Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. +
- +
-Kor. = Kor’an. +
- +
-Lakh. — Lakhnau Edition of the Dlvani Shamsi Tabriz. +
- +
-R. = Roscnzweig’s Auswahl. +
- +
-T. = Tabriz Edition of the Dlvani Shamsi Tabriz. +
- +
-Z.D.M.G. = Zeitsckrift tier Deutschen morgenldndischen Gesell- +
-schaft. +
- +
-For the MSS. denoted by the letters BB 2 B ri CC 2 LV see the +
-Introduction, § 9. +
- +
-References to the Tabriz Edition of the Divan are by page +
-and beyt ; those to the Preface of that Edition are by page and +
-line. Small ‘a ’ affixed to a number denotes that the correspond- +
-ing line or beyt belongs to the marginal text. +
- +
- +
- +
-LIST OF AUTHORS AND EDITIONS REFERRED +
-TO IN THE NOTES. +
- +
- +
- +
-(This list includes only those editions which have +
-not been specified.) +
- +
-Alchldqi Jalall (Lucknow, 1889). +
- +
-Ardd Vlrdf the Book of ed. and translated by M. Haug and +
-E. W. West (Stuttgart, 1872). +
- +
-‘Attar, Mantiqu ’ ttair , ed. and translated by Garcin de Tassy +
-(Paris, 1864). +
- +
-‘Attar, Pendnameh, ed. and translated by Silvestre de Sacy +
-(Paris, 1819). +
- +
-Bahari ( Ajam, a Persian Dictionary (Lucknow, 1847 ; Delhi, +
-1853). +
- +
-Burhani Qati\ a Dictionary of the Persian Language (Calcutta, +
-1818). +
- +
-Dabistiin , translated by Shea and Troyer (Paris, 1843). +
- +
-Deutsche Mystikei-, ed. by Franz Pfeiffer (Leipzig, 18(>7). +
- +
-Firdausi, S/uihndma, ed. by Vullers (Lugduni Batavorum, +
-1877, etc.). +
- +
-Freytag, G. W., Arabum Proverbia (Bonnae ad Rhenum, 1838, +
-etc.). +
- +
-Ghiyasu ’ llughdt , a Persian Dictionary (Lucknow, 1849). +
- +
-Gulshani Raz, ed. and translated by E. H. Whinfield (London, +
-1880). +
- +
-Hafiz, the Divan of, ed. and translated by Vincenz Ritter v. +
-Rosenzweig-Sehwannau (Wien, 1858, etc.). +
- +
-Hariri, les Seances de, publiees en Arabc avec un commentaiie +
-choisi pur Silvestre de Sacy (Paris, 1847, etc.). +
- +
- +
- +
- +
-XIV +
- +
- +
- +
-LIST OF AUTHORS REFERRED TO. +
- +
- +
- +
-Ibnu '1 Farid, Td ’iyya, ed. and translated by Hammer-Purgstall +
-(Wien, 1854). +
- +
-Ibn Khallikan, Biographical Dictionary, translated by De Slane +
-(Paris, 1842, etc.). +
- +
-JamI, Bahdristdn , ed. and translated by Freiherr v. Schlechta- +
-Wssehrd (Wien, 1846). +
- +
-Jam!, Nafahdtu ’l Uns, with a biographical sketch of the author +
-by W. Nassau Lees (Calcutta, 1859). +
- +
-.Jam!, Yusuf u Zulaikhd, ed. and translated by Vincenz v. +
-Rosenzweig (Wien, 1824). +
- +
-Juan de la Cruz, in the Biblioteca de autores Espaholes, Vol. 27 +
-(Madrid, 1853). +
- +
-JuijSnl, Kitdbu 'tta i rifdt, ed. by G. Fliigel (Lipsiae, 1845). +
- +
-Lane, E. W., an Arabic- English Lexicon (London, 1863, etc.). +
- +
-„ , the Thousand and One Nights (London, 1841). +
- +
-„ , an Account of the Manners and Customs of the +
- +
-Modem Egyptians (London, 1871). +
- +
-Law, W., The Spirit of Love (London, 1893). +
- +
-Masnam, by Jal&lu 'ddln Rami. See Appendix IV. +
- +
-Nis&ml, Ishandar-ndma (Calcutta, 1812). +
- +
-‘Omar Khayyam, ed. and translated by E. H. Whinfield (London, +
-1883). +
- +
-Sa'di, Bnstdn , ed. by Ch. H. Graf (Vienna, 1858J. +
- +
-„ , Oulistdn , ed. by Platts (London, 1874). +
- +
-Tabari, ed. by M. J. De Goeje and others (Lugduni Batavorum, +
-1879, etc.). +
- +
-Tholuck, F. A. D., Ssufismus (Berolini, 1821). +
- +
-Vaughan, R. A., Hours vhth the Mystics (London, 1860). +
- +
-Vullers, J. A., Lexicon Persico-Latinum (Bonnae ad Rhenum, +
-1855, etc.). +
- +
- +
- +
-INTRODUCTION. +
- +
-§ 1. The Dlvani Shamsi Tabriz acquaints us with a +
-striking literary phenomenon 1 . It is true that books have +
-been ascribed by ambition or malice to those who had no +
-hand in producing them. It is true, again, that while +
-the fashion of pseudonymous authorship is everywhere +
-understood and practised, in Persia the poet k la mode +
-cannot dispense with a takhallus, which instead of exciting +
-curiosity and sparing modesty a blush serves to gratify the +
-generous patron, to immortalise a place or event, to unfold +
-some characteristic, and in fine to secure that its owner +
-shall not for all time lie buried under one of those cumbrous +
-family trees that betray alike the poverty and confusion of +
-Mohammedan nomenclature. But here is no question of +
-takhallus 3 , forgery, or composition holding up to ridicule +
-the imagined author. The Divan was never attributed to +
-Shamsi Tabriz, who probably died before it was complete. +
-Why then does his name appear on the title-page and at +
-the end ot most of the odes ? Who was he, and in what +
- +
-1 The case of Plato and Socrates is similar in kind, not in degree. +
- +
-2 In a certain mystical sense Shamsi Tabriz may be regarded as +
-a takhallus. Jalalu ’ddin asserts the identity of subject and object : +
-to him Shamsi Tabriz represents the divine Beloved, the one Being +
-in whom all individual names are manifested and ultimately merged. +
- +
 +Jalāl-ad-dīn Rūmī was not only himself renowned, but he inherited renown from a noble father and from distinguished ancestors. The blood of the old Khvarismian kings flowed in his veins. He was born in Balkh, [[Bactria]], A.D. 1207. The child’s father was a [[zealous]] teacher and preacher, a scholar whose learning and influence won for him so great popularity with the people of Balkh as to arouse the jealous opposition of the reigning Sultan. Obliged to leave his native city, this worthy man wandered westward with his family, and ultimately settled in Syria, where he founded a college under the generous patronage of the Sultan of Rūm, as Asia Minor is termed in the Orient. He died honored with years and with favors, at a moment when his son had recently passed into manhood.
 +Upon his father’s death Jalāl-ad-dīn succeeded to the noble teacher’s chair, and entered upon the distinguished career for which his natural gifts and splendid training had destined him. He was already married; and when sorrow came through the untimely death of a son, and in the sad fate of a beloved friend and teacher, known as Shams-ad-Dīn of Tabrīz, Jalāl’s life seems to have taken on a deeper tinge of [[somber]] richness and a fuller tone of spiritual devotion, that colors his poetry. Revered for his teaching, his purity of life, and his poetic talents, the “Rūmian’s” fame soon spread, and he became widely followed. Among many anecdotes that are told of his upright but uneventful life is a sort of [[St. Patrick]] story, that ascribes to him supernatural power and influence. Preaching one time on the bank of a pond, to a large concourse of eager listeners who had assembled to drink in his inspired words, his voice was drowned by the incessant croaking of innumerable [[frogs]]. The pious man calmly proceeded to the brink of the water and bade the frogs be still. Their mouths were instantly sealed. When his discourse was ended, he turned once more to the marge of the lake and gave the frogs permission again to pipe up. Immediately their hoarse voices began to sound, and their lusty croaking has since been allowed to continue in this hallowed spot.
 +To-day, Jalāl-ad-dīn Rūmī’s fame rests upon one magnum opus, the ‘Masnavī’ or ‘Mathnavī.’ The title literally signifies “measure,” then a poem composed in that certain measure, then the poem par excellence that is composed in that measure, the ‘Masnavī.’ It is a large collection of some 30,000 or 40,000 rhymed couplets, teaching Divine love and the purification of the heart, under the guise of [[tales]], [[anecdotes]], [[precepts]], [[parables]], and [[legends]]. The poetic merit, religious fervor, and philosophic depth of the work are acknowledged. Six books make up the contents of the poem; and it seems to have been finished just as Jalāl-ad-dīn, the religious devotee, mystic philosopher, and enthusiastic poetic teacher, died A.D. 1273.
 +The best collection of bibliographical material is that given by [[Ethé]] in Geiger and Kuhn’s ‘[[Grundriss der Iranischen Philologie]],’ Vol. ii., pages 289–291. The first of the six books of the ‘Masnavī’ is easily accessible in a metrical English version by [[J. W. Redhouse]], London, 1881 ([[Trübner]]’s Oriental Series); and three selections are to be found in Samuel Robinson’s ‘[[Persian Poetry for English Readers]],’ 1883, pages 367–382. Both these valuable works have been drawn upon for the present sketch. The abridged English translation of the ‘Masnavī’ by [[E. H. Whinfield]] (Trübner’s Oriental Series, London, 1887) is a standard to be consulted, as well as [[C. E. Wilson]]’s ‘Masnavī, Book 2’ (London, 1910), and [[R. A. Nicholson]]’s ‘[[Dīvāni Shams Tabrīz]]’ (Cambridge, 1898).
 +==See also==
 +* [[Great Seljuk Empire]]
 +* [[Iranian philosophy|Persian philosophy]]
 +* [[Persian literature]]
 +* [[Persian mysticism]]
 +* [[Sufism]]
 +* [[Blind men and an elephant]]
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Rumi (1207 – 1273), was a Persian poet, Islamic jurist, theologian, and mystic, known as the author of the Masnavi.

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THE APPELLATION Rūmī, or Syrian, is given to the Persian poet Jalāl-ad-dīn because most of his life was passed at Iconium in Rūm, or Asia Minor. His full name is recorded as Jalāl-ad-dīn Mohammed Rūmī; he is generally known as Jalāl-ad-dīn, or “Splendor of the Faith,” but it is convenient to record his name, according to Western methods, under the simple form Rūmī.

This Persian poet may best be remembered as the founder of the Maulavī sect of dervishes, or the whirling dervishes as they are often called; whose austerity of life, mystic philosophy, enthusiastic devotion, and religious ecstasy superinduced by the whirling dance, are familiar to readers of Eastern literature. The writings of Jalāl-ad-dīn, like Jāmī, Nizami, and others, breathe the religious spirituality of Sūfī philosophy: the world and all that is comprised therein is but a part of God, and the universe exists only through God; the Love Divine is all-pervading, and the rivers of life pour their waters into the boundless ocean of the supreme soul; man must burnish the mirror of his heart and wipe away the dross of self that blurs the perfect image there. This is a keynote to the “Rūmian’s” religious and mystic poetry.

Jalāl-ad-dīn Rūmī was not only himself renowned, but he inherited renown from a noble father and from distinguished ancestors. The blood of the old Khvarismian kings flowed in his veins. He was born in Balkh, Bactria, A.D. 1207. The child’s father was a zealous teacher and preacher, a scholar whose learning and influence won for him so great popularity with the people of Balkh as to arouse the jealous opposition of the reigning Sultan. Obliged to leave his native city, this worthy man wandered westward with his family, and ultimately settled in Syria, where he founded a college under the generous patronage of the Sultan of Rūm, as Asia Minor is termed in the Orient. He died honored with years and with favors, at a moment when his son had recently passed into manhood.

Upon his father’s death Jalāl-ad-dīn succeeded to the noble teacher’s chair, and entered upon the distinguished career for which his natural gifts and splendid training had destined him. He was already married; and when sorrow came through the untimely death of a son, and in the sad fate of a beloved friend and teacher, known as Shams-ad-Dīn of Tabrīz, Jalāl’s life seems to have taken on a deeper tinge of somber richness and a fuller tone of spiritual devotion, that colors his poetry. Revered for his teaching, his purity of life, and his poetic talents, the “Rūmian’s” fame soon spread, and he became widely followed. Among many anecdotes that are told of his upright but uneventful life is a sort of St. Patrick story, that ascribes to him supernatural power and influence. Preaching one time on the bank of a pond, to a large concourse of eager listeners who had assembled to drink in his inspired words, his voice was drowned by the incessant croaking of innumerable frogs. The pious man calmly proceeded to the brink of the water and bade the frogs be still. Their mouths were instantly sealed. When his discourse was ended, he turned once more to the marge of the lake and gave the frogs permission again to pipe up. Immediately their hoarse voices began to sound, and their lusty croaking has since been allowed to continue in this hallowed spot.

To-day, Jalāl-ad-dīn Rūmī’s fame rests upon one magnum opus, the ‘Masnavī’ or ‘Mathnavī.’ The title literally signifies “measure,” then a poem composed in that certain measure, then the poem par excellence that is composed in that measure, the ‘Masnavī.’ It is a large collection of some 30,000 or 40,000 rhymed couplets, teaching Divine love and the purification of the heart, under the guise of tales, anecdotes, precepts, parables, and legends. The poetic merit, religious fervor, and philosophic depth of the work are acknowledged. Six books make up the contents of the poem; and it seems to have been finished just as Jalāl-ad-dīn, the religious devotee, mystic philosopher, and enthusiastic poetic teacher, died A.D. 1273.

The best collection of bibliographical material is that given by Ethé in Geiger and Kuhn’s ‘Grundriss der Iranischen Philologie,’ Vol. ii., pages 289–291. The first of the six books of the ‘Masnavī’ is easily accessible in a metrical English version by J. W. Redhouse, London, 1881 (Trübner’s Oriental Series); and three selections are to be found in Samuel Robinson’s ‘Persian Poetry for English Readers,’ 1883, pages 367–382. Both these valuable works have been drawn upon for the present sketch. The abridged English translation of the ‘Masnavī’ by E. H. Whinfield (Trübner’s Oriental Series, London, 1887) is a standard to be consulted, as well as C. E. Wilson’s ‘Masnavī, Book 2’ (London, 1910), and R. A. Nicholson’s ‘Dīvāni Shams Tabrīz’ (Cambridge, 1898).

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