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Introductory notes

Having failed to win entry into the Safavid court, Talib (c.1580-1627) moved to India around 1608, with other emigrating Persian merchants, administrators, and scholars who were seeking new markets. After wandering between Moltan and Agra for a couple of years, he joined the literary circle of Mirzā Ḡāzi Tarḵān in Qandahar. After Mirzā Ḡāzi’s death in 1612, Talib spent several years roaming northern India, before he gradually worked his way into Jahangir’s court by serving Mughal generals such as Firoz Jang in Gujarat. In Lahore, Talib met the poet Shāpur of Tehran (d.1616) and was introduced to Iʿtemād ud-Daula. With the support of this influential administrator, Talib entered Jahangir’s service in 1616. He was appointed poet laureate (malik al-shuʿarā) in 1619, and accompanied Jahangir on journeys through his domains. Taleb is thought to have played a crucial role in the transformation of poetic style in the early 17th century. He worked in the “Indian Style” that had emerged earlier in the poetry of Naziri and ʿUrfi, attempting to revitalise conventional images and common idioms through a figurative process he termed his ṭarz-e esteʿāra(‘metaphorical style’).