SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis is primarily concerned with forty-four stanzaic poems (tarji'at) in Persian by the Sufi master and poet Jalal ad-Din Rumi (604/1207 - 672/1273). These are found interspersed in manuscripts of his lyric poems (ghazaliyyat) known by the collective titles of Divan-i kabir or Divan-i Shams-i Tabrizi. The critical edition of this Divan by Badi' az-Zaman Furuzanfar is good but not altogether definitive. The present study includes a new edition of the tarji'at, with apparatus criticus, based on thirteen manuscripts produced within a century of Rumi's death. The new edition contains numerous corrections, orthographical improvements, and additional variant readings. The Persian text is preceded by introductory chapters. One describes the early manuscripts of Divan-i kabir and the relationship between them. Although the textual development of the Divan cannot be traced in detail, the history and authenticity of the text are also discussed. Also included are a study of the question of Rumi's date of birth, and an overview of the chief features of the Divan-i kabin form and rhetoric, themes and doctrines, and the place of the Divan in the author's oeuvre. An annotated bibliography lists and describes published texts and translations of all or part of the Divan. There are two index- glossaries to the tarji'at: of technical terms, and of proper names. The text of the poems is followed by full translations into English prose; they are more literal than literary in character. Finally, these works by one of the world's greatest mystics require commentaries. Rich in esoteric meaning and replete with allusions, Rumi's tarji'at contain many opaque expressions and progressions of thought. A separate commentary for each tarji' summarizes the poem; analyses textual problems; explains allusions and technical points; and attempts to elucidate other semantic obscurities.