critical analysis of saghi-nameh in catalogues of manuscripts and biographical and bibliographical sources

1. introduction one of the genres of lyrical literature that has attracted the attention of many poets. it is in fact, a poem often written in couplet-poem format in motaghareb meter which the poet addresses the tapster and expresses his ideas about issues such as the instability of the world and time, reprimanding sanctimonious ascetics, hypocrisy of the people, inviting to debauchery and expressing words of wisdom. codicology studies about this genre is one the first steps that could pave the way for further studies. in two biographies meykhaneh and peymaneh many saghi-namehes have been introduced and their texts have been recorded. however, with the discovery of newly-found manuscripts, as well as the development of new catalogues based on them, it is essential to find other examples. 2. method in this study, various catalogues of manuscripts written in iran and abroad, bibliographies and biographies have been carefully examined to find saghi-namehes. in the first phase, the exact details of the poems which in those sources had been recorded as saghi-nameh were written. then, as much as possible, the texts of the saghi-namehes were read and their version photos were studied and examined based on the criteria of this genre. eventually, the findings of the study were organized in three sections; in the first part, incorrect attributions of saghi-nameh in catalogues of manuscripts were mentioned. in the second part, newly-found saghi-namehes were introduced and described which have only been mentioned in catalogues of manuscripts, the third part consists of a critical review of saghi-namehes which could be found in the said biographical and bibliographical sources. 3. results and discussion a careful and critical examination of the catalogues of manuscripts shows that some cataloguers have attributed to some poem as saghi-nameh to some poets by mistake, or they have attributed one saghi-nameh to a few poets. among the available handwritten saghi-namehes in islamic parliament library of tehran are the following: 1. saghi-nameh attributed to anwari abiwerdi, which belongs to omidi tehrani 2. the first ten verses of saghi-nameh attributed to ghatran tabrizi, belongs to ghasemi gonabadi and the other verses is the same as one of the odes of khaghani sharwani 3. saghi-nameh attributed to shani tekeloo is not compatible with the criteria of a saghi-nameh 4. all the ten pages of the saghi-nameh attributed to emad faghih kermani are in fact the first verses of emad’s tarighat-nameh, only 38 verses are compatible with the criteria and principles of a saghi-nameh 5. saghi-nameh attributed to wahshi bafghi is in fact a story from wahshi only the last two verses address the butler 6. the poets of two saghi-namehes attributed to mola partowi and morshed are in fact partowi shirazi and morshed boroojerdi the text of their saghi-namehes has been recorded in meykhane biography 7. the poets of two handwritten saghi-namehes t-770/5 and 14199/10 is unknown, whereas, the poet of the first saghi-nameh is sharafzard tabrizi and the poet of the second one is a poet named farahi. there are other newly-found saghi-namehes. after studying and examining them, it was found that their texts are compatible with the criteria of a saghi-nameh and in two peymaneh and meykhaneh biographies do not refer to them. handwritten saghi-namehes of rooh-ol-amin esfahani, badi’, wali, naghi boroojerdi, sharif tabrizi are among these saghi-namehes which are all kept in the islamic parliament library. furthermore, saghi-namehes of ghane’ tatewi, eshragh maraghi, hazin lahiji and hatef esfahani are among other newly-found saghi-namehes, which most of them have been printed. there are other newly-found saghi-namehes which are not in two peymaneh and meykhaneh biographies, but the number of the verses, the first verse and their contents are compatible with the criteria of a saghi-namehe: five saghi-namehes of nezan-o-din ahmad agah, nashmi and mir asgari aghel khan in the oxford bodleian library; three saghi-namehes ahli torshizi, safi and an unknown poet in the malek library of tehran; two saghi-namehes ayani and wazeh savoji in the india office of england; saghi-nameh of wala badakhshi in the bangal library; saghi-nameh of fotovat in the anjoman taraghi of karachi; saghi-nameh of mohammad-rafi’ bazel mashhadi in the lahore university library; saghi-nameh of tasali in the national museum of karachi; saghi-nameh of fadawi in the ami-al-momenin library of najaf; saghi-nameh of unknown poet in the marashi ghom. there are other newly-found saghi-namehes which are not in two biographies meykhaneh and peymaneh and only cataloguers have called them saghi-nameh, without giving complete information: nine saghi-namehes of salek yazdi, kashef esfahani, mohammad-bagher khalil kashi, poet with pseudonym salek, naser bokhari, shah ne’mat-ol-lah wali and unknown poets, all in the central library of tehran university; saghi-nameh of shoeyb joshaghani and two saghi-namehes unknown in the malek library of tehran; three saghi-namehes unknown in the islamic parliament library; two saghi-namehes of amir ali-shir nawai and sanai ghaznawi in the library of tashkent; two saghi-namehes of monshi jesowant-ray and da’i shirazi in the india office of england; two saghi-namehes khaje basir and helali joghatai in the national library of iran; saghi-nameh of hashem naghshbandi in the india office of england and oudh king; saghi-nameh of ozlati khalkhali in the shah-cheragh library of shiraz; saghi-nameh of mokhles boroojerdi in the marashi library of ghom; saghi-nameh of fayez kermani in the theology faculty of tehran university; saghi-nameh of naf’i in the national library of paris; saghi-nameh of seyyed ashraf in the royal library of tehran. too, in other bibliographies and biographies, except two biographies meykhaneh and peymaneh there is some information about saghi-namehes as follows: mentioning some verses of the two saghi-namehes of taleb tabrizi and mayel dehlawi in the nasrabadi’s tazkereh; referring to two saghi-namehes mir ma’soom nami termazi behkari in the kholast-ol-ash and maghalat-ol-shoa; mentioning verses of the saghi-nameh of sarkhosh lahoori in the kalamat-ol-shoa’ra; mentioning verses of the saghi-nameh of monshi bamroodi in the baharestan (in men history and biographies ghaenat and ghohestan); saghi-namehes attributed to azhari, khaje nasir toosi, asheghi and mohammad-reza mashhadi in the kashf-ol-zonoon; two saghi-namehes attributed to mola ahmad astarabadi and gharibi balayani kazerooni in the history prose and poetry in the iran and persian language and saghi-nameh attributed to abolghasem fendereski asterabadi in the al-zari’e. 4. conclusion saghi-nameh is one of the major topics covered in persian poetry which many poets have written poems in this genre, especially in safavid era. fakhr-o-din asa’d gorgani is the first persian-speaking poet who has a couplet-poem in motaghareb meter which includes saghi-nameh themes and nezami ganjawi followed him and wrote some verses at the end of eskandar-nameh stories which included saghi-nameh themes and was addressed to the tapster. later, a group of poets continued to write saghi-nameh in that format and meter and other groups used hazaj meter in saghi-nameh or they used return-tie and composite-tie format. writing saghi-nameh became common from tenth to fourteenth century. at the beginning, the verses were no more than 200 but later, is reported increased to 20000. the first step to investigate the saghi-nameh genre was examining its codicology. correcting and evaluating it in great series could be the next step. besides the two biographies meykhaneh and peymaneh, some information has been mentioned in catalogues of manuscripts and biographical and bibliographical sources. some of the information of these sources is incorrect and some is vague and suspicious. in this article, many newly-found saghi-namehes have been introduced and some information about a number of saghi-namehes has been completed or corrected. the findings of this, study showed that a number of saghi-namehes are only recorded in catalogues of manuscripts' pages and are not well-known. many saghi-namehes which have been attributed to some poets by cataloguers are in fact not saghi-namehes at all. the writers of some saghi-namehes remain unknown and there is doubt and suspicion about some saghi-namehes being attributed to some poets. also, some saghi-namehes have been lost.