Faizi (1547-1595) was the poet laureate of Akbar's Court. He was the brother of Akbar's historian Abul Fazl. He composed beautiful poetry in Persian and is estimated by his contemporaries to have composed nearly 100 poetic works. He wanted to produce a Panj Ganj (lit. five treasures) in imitation of the Persian poet Nezami, but died after writing only three out of the five works. Towards this end he wrote Nal u Daman, Makhzan ul-advar, and Bilqis va Salman. These were in imitation of Nezami's Layla va Majnun, Makhzan ul-Asrar, and Shirin va Khusrau, respectively. Akbar highly recognized the genius in him and appointed him teacher for his son and gave place to him among his decorative 'Nav Ratnas'. He also wrote a commentary on the Quran and translated Lilavati, a Sanskrit work on mathematics, into Persian. His father was Mubarak Nagori, a scholar in the philosophy and literature of Greece as well as in Islamic theology.

[edit] His brother Abu'l-Fazl about him

Of my eldest brother what shall I say? who notwithstanding his spiritual and worldly perfections, took no step without my concurrence, indiscreet as I am, and devoting himself to my interests, advanced my promotion and was an aid to good intentions. In his poems he speaks of me in a manner which I cannot sufficiently acknowledge, as he says in his eulogium :

My verse may share both great and little worth,

Its theme sublime—I lowlier than the earth.

A father's virtues shall it far proclaim

And vaunt the glory of a brother's fame:

He, touchstone of all wisdom, who inspires

My strain with sweetness that a world admires;

If through a riper age, I pass him by,

In merit, centuries between us lie.

What though the branching savin taller grows,

What gardener mates its beauty with the rose?

He was born in the Jalali year 469, corresponding to A.H. 954 (A.D. 1547). In what tongue shall I indict his praise? In this work I have already written of him and poured forth the anguish of my heart, and quenched its furnace with the water of narration and broken the dam of its torrents and alleviated my want of resignation. His works which are the scales of eloquence and penetration and the lawns of the birds of song, praise him and speak his perfections and recall his virtues. ^[1]

[edit] References

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