Diwan-e-Tehrani
About this text
Introductory notes
Shāpur Tehrāni (d.1621) came from a family of influential landholders in Rey, Iran. His great-grandfather, Khwāja Arjasp Omidi Razi (d.1519) had studied with the philosopher Jalal al-Din Davani, and wrote poems for leading administrators of the early Safavid state. His son Mohammad Tāhir migrated to India, and Shāpur and his brothers established themselves eminently in the Mughal court. Ghiyās al-Din, served the Mughal government, and gained the title of I‘temad ud-Daula, while his daughter married the Mughal emperor Jahangir; and Ahmad Amin Razi, became the famous author of Haft Eqlim, a large biographical compendium that covered the seven climes of the known world. Shāpur became a leading poet of his time, making a large fortune as a long-distance trader. His case demonstrates the close alliances between literary and economic interests that brought together the Indian and Iranian migrant communities. Shāpur was welcomed into the literary circles of Lahore, Agra, and other imperial cities. Tālib Amuli, the poet laureate, wrote verses in his praise, and copies of his divāns circulated in court among Mughal noblemen.
1.
juz ghussah falak hawālah-e- mā nakunad
juz lakht-e- jigar niwālah-e- mā nakunad.
yak jur‘ah bemā nami dehad sāqi daur
tā khun be dil-e- piyālah-e- mā nakunad.
2.
The sky does not proffer us anything but grief;
And does not give us anything to eat but the pieces of our heart.
The cup-bearer of the Time does not give us a drop without pouring blood
into the cup of our heart.
3.
kam bād ze ‘ālam as̱ar-e bimāri
ta tu nakashi dard-e- sar-e- bimāri
ay wāi be man garm nami khurd begosh
az muzhdah-e- ṣeḥḥat khabar-e- bimāri
4.
May there be less decease in the world;
So that thou doth not suffer from the headache of illness.
Fie upon me if my ears do not hear the good news of thy well-being;
And not of thy ill health.
5.
har qadam az z̤o‘af yād ārad rowān-e- khwish rā
gar be mor-e- murdah bakhsham nim jān-e- khwish rā.
koh goyee mi kanam Shāpur az bas zo‘af-e- tan
tā be lab nazdik mi sāzam fughān-e- khwish rā
6.
It is so hard for me to drag my lament up to my lips due to my frail body that;
O Shapur, you would say I am trying to dig a mountain.
7.
az zo‘af be rāhash chu ghubārim nashistah
ammā na ghubāri ke tawānad ze zamin khāst
8.
Because of weakness, we are sitting like dust on the beloved’s path;
But this is the dust which can not rise from the earth.
9.
Shāpur rasad harche naṣib ast be har kas
dar kāsah-e- khud rozi-e-mihmān natawān khurd.
10.
O Shapur, one gets whatever one’s fate has instore for him;
One cannot eat in his bowl the food that is destined for ones guest.