Nasser Kanani (Berlin)
In 1811 the British scholar William Price (1780-1830), who had obtained the situation of Assistant Secretary to the Right Honourable Sir Gore Ouseley, Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from His Britannic Majesty to the Court of Persia thanks to his good knowledge of Persian, copied the complete inscriptions on the tomb of Hāfez during a visit to his shrine and published them in 1825.
At the top of the gravestone the following sentence was sculptured in Arabic:
God is the enduring, and all else passeth away.
In the middle of the gravestone the following ghazal was engraved:
مژدۀ وصل تو کو کز سر جان برخیزم
طایر قدسم و از دام جهان برخیزم
به ولای تو که گر بندۀ خویشم خوانی
از سر خواجگی کون و مکان برخیزم
یا رب از ابر هدایت برسان بارانی
پیش‌تر زان که چو گردی ز میان برخیزم
بر سر تربت من با می و مطرب بنشین
تا به بویت ز لحد رقص کنان برخیزم
گر چه پیرم تو شبی تنگ در آغوشم گیر
تا سحرگه ز کنار تو جوان برخیزم
خیز و بالا بنما ای بت شیرین حرکات
که چو حافظ ز سر جان و جهان برخیزم
Announce the glad tidings that my soul may rise in thy enjoyment.
I am a bird of Paradise, and will fly from the snares of the world.
Were I but a servant of the table of thy elect,
I should rank above all the great men of the universe.
Oh Lord, let the cloud of guidance rain,
I may arise enriched with thy glory.
Sit on my tomb with wine and music,
That I may rise out of it amid dancing lovers.
Though I am old, let me embrace thee one night,
And I shall rise next morning in the vigour of youth.
Oh image of sweet actions, arise and show on high
That I as Hafiz, soar above the world and evil spirits.1
Around the ghazal the following verses were enchased:
ای دل غلام شاه جهان باش و شاه باش
پیوسته در حمایت و لطف الله باش
از خارجی هزار به یک جو نمی خرم
از کوه تا به کوه منافق سـپاه باش
امروز زنده ام به ولای تو یا علی
فردا به روح پاک امامان گواه باش
آن را که دوستی علی نیست کافر است
گو زاهد زمانه و گو شیخ راه باش
قبر امام هشتم و سلطان دین رضا
از جان ببوس و بر در آن بارگاه باش
حافظ طریق بندگی شاه پیـشه کن
وآنگاه در طریق چو مـردان راه باش2
Oh my heart! submit to the Sovereign of the universe and govern thy passion.
Show a sense of gratitude for divine protection
Many who put on an outward show, are not worth a single barley corn;
Let such hypocrites be banished to the mountains.
This day I am living with thy people, O Ali,
And to-morrow I may be summoned before the tribunal of the saints.
He who is not Ali’s friend, lives in infidelity,
Tell him to depart, and spend his days in solitude.
Let him kiss the tomb of the eighth emperor, and high-priest of the true faith,
And perform his devotions at its gate.
Oh Hafiz, prepare the way for the King’s servant,
And guard it whilst man is on this passage.3
From a historical point of view, the most important inscription on Hāfez’s tombstone was the two lines (چراغ اهل معنی خواجه حافظ/بجو تاریخش از خاک مصلّی) engraved on the corners of the tombstone. They are the first and the last lines of the original Persian chronogram mentioned earlier. The intermediate lines had been omitted probably for lack of space. William Price himself offered the following English translation for these two lines:
Khojeh Hafiz the lamp of the wise,
Seek the date in the soil of Mosella
He also provided the procedure for calculating the year of Hāfez’s death.
In 1812, a German diplomat by the name of M. Freygan, took a trip to Shiraz and while residing in the city he paid a visit to the shrine of Hāfez. His description of the burying place of the poet reads as follows:
“Hafiz, their greatest poet, sang the praises of love and wine: his Anacreontics4 are much esteemed by the Persians. He was buried at the distance of two miles from Shiraz; Kerim Khan erected near his tomb a magnificent hall, in the midst of a beautiful garden; opposite to which, formerly, there played a grand fountain, whose streams refreshed the air. The tomb of white marble stands amidst a thick shade of planes; here the young people of Shiraz assemble, to repeat the verses of Hafiz; while they indulge in the wine of the place, which is so much the more relished, as it is prohibited by the Koran.”5
In 1821 Sir William Ouseley (1767-1842), a British orientalist and Sir Gore Ouseley’s elder brother, gave the following description of Hāfeziyeh in his travel accounts:
“The Háfizíah is built of brick; the wall which enclose the cemetery is ornamented on that side next the road with shallow niches, or arches filled up; the garden-wall is plain. In a chamber near his [Hāfez’s] grave, are prepared the Poet’s collected works or Diván, as a vakf or religious endowment. I do not believe that it is the same book described by Pietro della Valle, (who visited the Tomb of Háfiz in 1622) as well written, ornamented with gold, and perfect.”6
In 1827 an English scholar by the name of Josiah Conder (1852-1920) visited the graveyard of Hāfez and provided the following report:
“The tombs of Hafiz and Saadi7 are among the first objects which a stranger naturally inquires after. That of Hafiz is placed within a quadrangular enclosure, called the Hafizeah, not far from the Isfahan gate. A range of chambers forming a pleasure-house, divides the quadrangle into two parts: one, facing the city, is a garden; in the back court is placed the poet’s tomb, at the foot of one of the cypresses planted with his own hands. The monument, which, in its present state at least, is the work of Kureem Khan, is a parallelogram of Tabriz marble, beautifully variegated, with a projecting base. On the tablet, two of his odes are very beautifully cut. In one of the adjoining chambers, the poet’s collected works are preserved as a vakf or endowment. This is a place of great resort for the citizens, who repair thither to smoke Kaleoons, drink coffee, and chaunt the anacreontics of their favourite poet…”8
In 1830 the British author, journalist and traveler James Silk Buckingham (1786-1855) spent some time in Shiraz and wrote a long report after visiting the burying place of Hāfez:
“It is formed of an oblong case of marble, twelve spans in length, by four in breadth, and about the same in depth, standing on a basement of stone elevated about a foot from the ground, and projecting a foot each way beyond its lower dimensions. The sides and ends of this case are perfectly plain, and the marble is marked by slightly waving veins running horizontally along the slabs in close order, changing the general colour of white by its variation of shades to a cloudy yellowness. The upper slab, which is laid flat on these sides and ends, is free from such veins, and may be called perfectly white. Around its edges is a small rope moulding, neatly cut; and the body of the interior contains the Ode of Hafiz, in the letter Sheen [ش], beautifully executed in high relief; the letters large, and of the finest possible forms. This ode occupies the whole face of the stone, except just leaving room for a small border round it; and this border is formed by a succession of certain sentences and sayings of the poet, in separate compartments, going all around the edge of the tomb. The marble is said to be that of Tabreez, which is in general described to be formed of a combination of light green colours, with here and there veins of red, and sometimes of blue; but in this instance the upper stone is perfectly white, and the sides and end ones only streaked horizontally by a close succession of cloudy and waving lines, thus differing from any other of the Tabreez marbles that I had elsewhere seen. Like the tomb of Saadi, that of Hafiz was said to have been placed on the spot which he frequented when alive; and his grave, it is believed, stands at the foot of a cypress planted by his own hands. It is only six months since that this sacred tree had fallen down, after having stood so many years; and though it was sawed off, the trunk is still preserved above ground, to be shown to visitors. Had such an event happened in England, every fibre of it would have been preserved with as much care as the mulberry of Shakespeare, but here it was generally disregarded. The first constructor of the tomb of Hafiz was one of his contemporaries. The present structure, however, is ascribed to the munificence of Kurreem Khan.… In the open central portico of the building which divides the burying-ground from the garden, are some marble pillars with Arabic capitals, no pedestals, and plain shafts, each in one piece; their proportions being, like those already described, nearly Doric. The garden beyond it has many fine cypresses and flower-beds, but there are no tombs there. Travelling Dervishes from all parts of the East come here occasionally to occupy the few chambers that are set apart for them; but the place itself, with the Book of Hafiz, and the tomb, are all under the charge of a Moollah of Shiraz.”9
In 1830 the English author-traveler George Fowler who spent three years in Persia noted the following after visiting the tomb of Hāfez:
“His tomb is of white marble, in a small garden called Hafizeen, near Shiraz, and on the tablet are two of his odes very beautifully cut. I copy the following from his epitaph.
“It is but just that thou shouldst receive attribute from all fair youth, since thou art the sovereign of all the beauties of the universe. Thy two piercing eyes have thrown Khata10 and Khoten11 into confusion. India and China pay homage to thy curled locks—thy graceful mouth gave the streams of life to Khezr12—thy sugared lip renders the sweet reeds of Egypt contemptible.”13 The Persian original of the poem George Fowler has referred to here reads as follows:
سزد که از همه دلبران ستانی باج
که بر سر همه خوبان کشوری چون تاج
دو چشم شوخ تو برهم زده خطا و ختن
به چین زلف تو ماچین و هند داده خراج
دهان شهد تو داده رواج آب خضر
لب چو قند تو برد از نبات مصر رواج
This poem is, however, not inscribed on Hāfezʼs gravestone!
In 1839 Jean-Baptiste Flandin (1809-1889), a French orientalist, archaeologist and painter set out for Persia accompanied by the above-mentioned French architect Pascal Coste. During the years 1839 to 1841 they traveled across the country and visited also the tomb of Hāfez in Shiraz. In their book “Voyage en Perse” they published remarkable drawings and paintings of Persian monuments and landscapes, among them of Hāfeziyeh (Fig. 6).
Fig. 6: Hāfeziyeh around the year 184014
Tahmāsb Mirzā
The tomb of Hāfez and the site around it were restored and repaired one more time in 1857 by Tahmāsb Mirzā15 a governor of the province of Fārs.
A year later, in 1858, a British official by the name of Robert Binning (1814-1891) who was an administrator in the East India Company visited Shiraz and the shrine of Hāfez. Here is his account of the burial site of the poet:
“In the morning, I went in company with my landlord, to view the gardens and remarkable places, in the vicinity of the town; and we proceeded, in the first place, to visit the tombs of the two great bards of Sheerauz, Hâfiz and Sâdee, with whose works I had long been familiar. The tomb of the great lyric bard of Persia lies in a garden named the Hâfizeeya, about half a mile north-east of the Ispahan [Isfahan] gate of the city. The garden, which is scarce two acres in extent, is surrounded with a brick wall about twelve feet high; and is divided into two portions, by a kind of summer-house, running across the centre from side to side. The southern half of the garden is several feet lower than the rest, and is filled with trees and shrubs; while the upper division is, in fact, a burying ground, containing, besides the tomb of Hâfiz, a great number of monuments. The exterior wall enclosing the upper half, is worked in tauk-nemá [طاق نما] or false arches, a common fashion here, which looks better than a plain brick partition. The door of the garden is on the west side of the upper half, and in the centre of the cemetery, lies the grave of Hâfiz, covered with a huge slab of marble, on the surface of which are sculptured two of the poet’s odes. This marble is of a yellowish colour, streaked with veins of red, white, and green; and closely resembles Egyptian alabaster. It is brought from a quarry near Yezd. The slab was placed here about ninety years ago, by Kureem Khan, then sovereign of Persia, and who made Sheerauz his capital; who with very doubtful propriety, removed the old monument, which had stood here since the poet’s interment. The slab is more than nine feet long, about four feet broad, and a foot and a half thick. The odes are beautifully carved in low relief, upon its level surface—one occupying the centre of the stone, and the other inscribed round the margin of the first. There formerly stood beside the tomb, a cypress tree, said to have been planted by the hand of Hâfiz; and which, the custodian of the garden told me, took fire and was burnt, some years ago. It is a common belief, among the Persians, that the cypress, as well as many other trees, when very old, take fire spontaneously and consume. The keeper of the garden has in his charge, a large and finely written copy of the works of Hâfiz, which was transcribed and placed here, in Kureem Khan’s time. It has been asserted that the copy written by Hâfiz’s own hand was taken from hence by Shah Abbas the Great: but this must be an error, as it is generally known that Hâfiz, like Shakespeare, left no complete volume of his works; which were not collected and given to the world, until after his decease.”16
In 1867 Ármin Vámbéry (1832-1913), a Hungarian orientalist and scholar of oriental languages, was along the way to Shiraz to pay a visit to Hāfez’s graveyard. He noted in his travel accounts:
“The grave of Hafiz, standing in a larger cemetery, may be seen not far from Saadi’s mausoleum. The site of his grave is marked by a monument of white marble erected by Kerim Khan, and the inscription carved upon it is a verse from his own book, the Divan. I frequently visited the grave, and, to my astonishment, found at times a merry carousing company seated about it, drinking their wine; at other times it was surrounded by penitent pilgrims. The former look upon Hafiz as their great master in a life of carelessness and jollity; the latter consider him a saint and come here to beseech him to intercede for them. Some sing his songs while the cheering cup is going the rounds, whilst others deem his book as holy as the Koran itself.17
On the occasion of visiting Shiraz, Ármin Vámbéry also witnessed the dilapidated state of Hāfez’s beloved river, the stream of Roknābād:
“The recollection of some verses by Hafiz, full of praises of the shores of Ruknabad and the flowery places of Musalla, which I had retained in my memory, contributed to raise my expectations to the highest pitch. We had been advancing for about half an hour when the shout of “Ruknabad! Ruknabad!” burst simultaneously from the lips of my companions. I immediately dismounted, thinking we should have to pass over the bridge, crossing the river, and wishing, in doing so, to lead my animal by the bridle; but my pains were all wasted. The Ruknabad river, of which poets deemed it right to sing, had shrunk into an insignificant brook hardly three spans wide, the shallow waters of which gaily leap over its gravel bottom.18 In 1869 the British orientalist and linguist Herman Bicknell (1830-1875), while residing in Shiraz and translating Hāfez’s poetry, caused to make a plate of the Mossallā Gardens, which he published in 1875 in his book “Ḥáfiz̤ of Shíráz.” The plate is reproduced in Fig. 7. The cemetery in which Hāfez was buried can be seen on the right side of the plate.
Fig. 7: Mossallā Gardens (left) and Hāfeziyeh (right) around 186919
In 1874 an English traveler by the name of John Piggot who had visited Shiraz and the tomb of Hāfez in, noted:
“The garden, called the Hafiziya, which contains the tomb of the poet, is close by the city of Shiraz. This garden contains both a burial ground and pleasure garden. In the centre of the former is the tomb, covered with a large slab of yellow and red Yezd marble, placed there by Kureem Khan (1753-79). Two of the poet’s odes are sculptured on its surface, but the tomb and surrounding walls were much injured by the earthquake of 1825. Not content with rebuilding the tomb, Kureem placed in the hands of its custodian a fine copy of the odes of the poet. This is much used for taking fals.”20
to be continued
- Ebenezer Pocock: “Flowers of the East; with an Introductory Sketch of Oriental Poetry and Music,” Hamilton, Adams & Co., London, MDCCCXXXIII (1833), p. 201.
- این غزل که به حافظ نسبت داده می شود فقط در چند نسخه قدیمی آورده شده است، از جمله در نسخه قُدسی، نسخه کتابخانه مجلس شورا به شماره ۲۴۱۴، نسخه کتابخانه ملک به شماره ۴۶۷۷ و نسخه فریدون میرزای تیموری. در دیوان های امروزی بجز در دیوان حسین پژمان این غزل دیده نمی شود و در آنجا نیز در زیرنوشتی تصریح شده است که این غزل در نسخه های قدیمی نیامده و سستی کلام و مضمون آن با فکر و بیان حافظ همخوانی ندارد. اما «رویش نیوز» اصفهان در گزارشی آورده است که آيت الله حاج شيخ عبدالقائم شوشتری از قول استاد خود حاج سيد ابوالحسن حافظيان نقل کرده که «جناب حافظ يک سفر به مشهد مقدس به پابوسي حضرت امام رضا صلوات الله عليه داشته و در آن سفر يک اربعين در دارالتوحيد معتکف شده و بعد از آن يک اربعين اعتکاف این غزل را سروده است.» علامه طباطبائی نیز اظهار داشته است که «بنده گمان نمی کردم این غزل از خواجه باشد، ولی کنار مزارش که رفتم بر من ثابت شد که این غزل از اوست.»
- Ebenezer Pocock, op. cit., pp. 201-202.
- Anacreon (582-485 B.C.) was a Greek lyric poet.
- F. K. von Freygang and W. von Freygang: “Letters from the Caucasus and Georgia: To which are Added, the Account of a Journey into Persia in 1812,” John Murray, London, MCCCXXIII (1823), p. 358.
- Sir William Ouseley: “Travels in Various Countries of the East,” Vol. II, op. cit., p. 4.
- Saadi considered one of the greatest poets and prose writers in the Persian language was born in Shiraz in 1210 and died there in 1291.
- Josiah Conder: “Modern Traveller. A Description, geographical, historical, and topographical of the various countries of the glob in thirthy volumes, volume the twelfth: Persia and Chian,” James Duncan, London, MDCCCXXX (1830), pp. 341-342.
- James Silk Buckingham: “Travels in Assyria, Media, and Persia,” Vol. II, Herny Colburen, London, 1830, pp. 23-27.
- Cathay: خَتا, the old Persian name for China.
- Khitan: خُتَن, the old Persian name for Tartary, the north-eastern region of modern-day China.
- Khezr (خذر): a highly revered figure in the Muslim world because of his great wisdom and mystic knowledge. The Sufis believe that he, always clothed in a green robe as an emblem of perennial youth, occasionally appears at holy places to persons whom he desires especially to favor.
- George Fowler: “Three Years in Persia with Travelling Adventures in Koordistan, in two volumes,” Henry Colburn, Publisher, London, 1841, pp. 45-46.
- Drawing by the French orientalist Eugène Flandin, see footnote 17.
- شاهزاهتهماسبمیرزامؤیدالدوله (۱۱۸۴-۱۲۶۱ خورشیدی) ازنوادگانفتحعلیشاهقاجارودرشماررجالمعروفدورانمحمدشاهوناصرالدینشاهبود. اوسال هادرایالاتمهمایرانازجملهدرفارسفرمانروائیکرد.
- Robert B. M. Binning: “A Journal of Two Years’ Travel in Persia, Ceylon etc. in two Volumes,” WM. H. Allen and Co., London, 1857, pp. 216-219.
- “Arminius Vambéry: His Life and Adventures Written by Himself,” T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1884, p. 127.
- Arminius Vambéry, op. cit., p. 135.
- Herman Bicknell: “Ḥáfiz̤ of Shíráz, a selection from his poems,” London, Trübner & Co., 1875, pp. xvi-xvii
- John Piggot: “Persia — Ancient and Modern,” Henry S. King & Co., London, 1874, p. 198.