Forum Pakistan

Faizi, Shaykh Abul Faiz (1547-95)
Poet. A Persian-language poet of India and a scholar who has to his credit works on philosophy, religion, philology, medicine, mathematics and astrology. Faizi promoted the synthesis of all the religious communities in India on the basis of their spiritual legacy. He headed the translation projects at the court of Akbar, including his translation of a poetic text on mathematics from Sanskrit into Farsi, and edited the Persian translation of Mahabharata, Ramayana, and Atharvaveda. Faizi wrote the commentary of the Quran, Mawarid al-Qalam ('Foundations of Theology'), and Sawati al-Ilham ('The Splendour of Inspiration'). Faizi's poems have been collected in a *diwan; among them are *qasidas, *ghazals, and *rubai that were composed in the traditions of classical Persian poetry. His ghazals betray the influence of Hafiz and Jarni. From the 'Quintuple' in response to Khamse by Nizami and Amir Khusrau *Dehlawi, Faizi managed to complete only two poems, including the *masnawi, Nal wa Daman-a creative interpretation of the poem Nal and Damayanti, a component of the Mahabharata. Faizi's poem is one of the first examples of a plot for a masnawi being borrowed from traditional Indian literature by a Persianlanguage poet of India. (See also: Sabk-i-Hindi).

WORKS: Nal wa Daman, 'Diwan-i-Faizi', Lucknow, 1834.