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Bedil, Mirza Abdul Qadir (1644-1721) Poet. A Persian-language poet and thinker, Bedil travelled extensively in India. *Sufism and Vedantic philosophy influenced his philosophical views. Bedil left a rich legacy of prose and poetry. His poetic works-*ghazals, *qasidas, *rubais, *tarkibbands and *masnawis-number orne 100,000 verses.

In the masnawis, Talism-i-Hairat (' A Talisman of Wonder', 1669), Muhiti Azam ('The Great Ocean', 1681), Tur-i-Maarifat ('The Sinai of Knowledge', 1687), and Irfan ('Knowledge', 1712), *Sufi themes exi t side by side with descriptions of everyday Indian life and realistic treatments of nature and man. The romantic long poem Komde-Modan, included in the Masnawi Irfan, develops the traditions of Per ian romantic mathnawi on Indian material.

His prose works Chahar Unsur ('Four Element', 1685) and Ruqaat ('Epistles') are valuable sources on the era and the poet's own life. See also: Sabk-iHindi. WORKS: 'Kulliyat -i-Bedil' (Collected Works), Bombay, 1882.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Yu. Aliyev, 'Persian-language Literature of India', Moscow, 1968 (in Russian); I. Muminov, 'Bedil's Philosophy', Tashkent, 1957 (in Russian); Khwaja Ibadullah Akhtar, 'Bedil', Lahore, 1952.