Azar Bigdili

Azar-i Bigdili, Lutf'ali Biyg, (1721-1780), son of Aqakhan Bigdili Shamlu. A poet and writer who was born in Isfahan. Bigdili is the patronymic name of Turkic tribe attributed to Bigdil Khan who at the behest of Hulegu Khan emigrated from Turkestan to Syria and it was under Amir Tiymur that they emigrated to Persia, hence their appellation Bigdili-yi Shamlu. Azar's line of descent traces back to Bigdil Khan ibn Ilduguz Khan ibn Ughuz Khan, a descendant of Turk ibn Yafith ibn Nuh. Azar's father was a notable figure from the Shamlu tribe who, consequent to the Afghan rebellion, was taken to Qum by his parents. After 14 years of settlement in Qum, it was in the early reign of the Afsharid Nadir Shah that his father was appointed the ruler of Lar and the Persian Gulf and traveled to Shiraz. After his father's demise, he went on pilgrimage to Mecca and the holy shrines in Iraq with his paternal uncle, Hajj Wali Biyg Masrur. Upon his return, he went to Khurasan and joined Nadir Shah's camp and accompanied them to Azerbaijan through Mazandaran. Then, he departed for Persian Iraq and settled in Isfahan and entered administrative services, though finally resigned from his office and turned to Sufism and trod on the path of Sufism. He settled in Qum in his last years and died and was buried there. He was in charge of finances and chancery under the Afsharid 'Adil Shah. He composed his early poetry at the age of 20. His earlier noms de plume were Walih ("lover") and Nakhat ("frangrance"), though he chose Azar ("Fire") later on. He was in contacet with poets, e.g. Shu'lih, Mushtaq, and Hatif, who had founded the literary restoration movement and in his poetry, he followed in the footsteps of his predecessors. Azar was well-versed in composing poetry in most of the genres, e.g. ghazal, qasida, mathnavi, and quatrain. He composed qasidas in which he eulogized Nadir's successors, Karim Khan Zand, and some of his contemporaries. The themes of his ghazals are mainly lyrical, mystical, and ethical. He was ranked with the poets of renown under the Zands, e.g. Hatif Isfahani, Mir Mushtaq, Rafiq Isfahani, and Sabahi Kashani. He was one of the vanguards of the Iraqi restoration movement. His Divan runs to 7,000 couplets, though it perished in the ransack of Isfahan. His further works include: Atashkadih-yi Azar, a valuable work devoted to biographical accounts dedicated to Karim Khan; the Mathnavi of Yusuf and Zulaykha, composed following the meters of Gulshan-i Raz, including 12,000 couplets, 1,500 couplets of which have been incorporated in his Atashkadih; Daftar-i Nuh Asiman, consisting of the biographical accounts of his contemporaneous poets; Saqi-namih; Maghanni-namih. His most significant work, Atashkadih-yi Azar is one of the major sources for the study of the biographical accounts of poets versifying Persian poetry to his times.

Asar-afarinan (1, 19); Az Saba ta Nima (1, 13); Da'irat al-Ma'arif-i Buzurg-i Islami (1, 245-146); Farhang-i Sukhanvaran (2-3).