Rabia Balkhi
RÄbi'a bint Ka'b al-QuzdÄrÄ« (Persian: رابعه بنت کعب‎‎), popularly known as RÄbi'a BalkhÄ« (رابعه بلخی) and Zayn al-'Arab[1] (زین العرب), is a semi-legendary[2] figure of Persian literature and was possibly the first woman poet in the history of New Persian poetry. References to her can be found in the poetry of RÅ«dakÄ« and 'AttÄr. Her biography has been primarily recorded by ZÄhir ud-DÄ«n 'AwfÄ« and renarrated by NÅ«r ad-DÄ«n DjÄmÄ«. The exact dates of her birth and death are unknown, but it is reported that she was a native of Balkh in KhorÄsÄn (Afghanistan). Some evidences indicate that she lived during the same period as RÅ«dakÄ«, the court poet to the Samanid Emir Naá¹£r II (914-943).[3]
Life
Her name and biography appear in 'AwfÄ«'s lubÄbu 'l-albÄb, 'AttÄr's maá¹nawÄ«yat, and DjÄmÄ«'s nafahÄtu 'l-uns. She is said to have been descended from a royal family, her father Ka'b al-QuzdÄrÄ«, a chieftain at the Samanid court, reportedly descended from Arab immigrants who had settled in eastern Persia during the time of Abu Muslim.[3]
She was one of the first poets who wrote in modern Persian, and she is, along with MahsatÄ« DabÄ«ra Ganja'Ä«, among a very few female writers of medieval Persia to be recorded in history by name.[2] When her father died, his son HÄres, brother of RÄbi'a, inherited his position. According to legend, HÄres had a Turkic slave named BaktÄsh, with whom his sister was secretly in love. At a court party, HÄres heard RÄbi'a's secret. He imprisoned BaktÄsh in a well, cut the jugular vein of RÄbi'a and imprisoned her in a bathroom. She wrote her final poems with her blood on the wall of the bathroom until she died. BaktÄsh escaped the well, and as soon as got the news about RÄbi'a, he went to the governor’s office and assassinated HÄres. He then committed suicide.
Her love affair with the slave BaktÄsh inspired QÄjÄr poet RezÄ QulÄ«-KhÄn ḤedÄyat to compose his BaktÄshnÄma.
See also
References
- ↑ H. Rowley/P. Weis, Journal of Semitic studies, Vol. 23-24, Oxford University Press, 1978, p. 139
- 1 2 G. Lindberg-Wada, Literary History: Towards a Global Perspective, Gruyter; 1st ed., 2006, p. 204: "This does not mean that no women composed poetry [...] but the system kept obviously such efforts out of sight. The very few whom we know by name are more legendary than real, for example Rabi'a bint Ka'b Quzdari ..."
- 1 2 Indo-Iranica, Vol. 2, Iran Society India, Calcutta, 1947, p. 39
Literature
- E.G. Browne: Literary History of Persia. (Four volumes, 2,256 pages, and twenty-five years in the writing). 1998. ISBN 0-7007-0406-X
- Jan Rypka: History of Iranian Literature. Reidel Publishing Company. 1968 OCLC 460598. ISBN 90-277-0143-1
External links
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