Faizi

(Abdul-Faiz Mubarak-Shah). Born 1547; died 1595. Indian Persian-language poet.

The work of Faizi, who held the honorary title Malek ol-shoara (“king of poets”), marks the beginning of the golden age of Indian literature in Persian. He assisted Shah Akbar in his efforts at reform, which were aimed at reconciling Indians of different faiths. Faizi’s poetry includes many qasidas, ghazals, and rubai. Although reflecting a Sufist world view, his lyric poetry occasionally reveals a concern with sociopolitical issues; it asserts the equality of all men, regardless of religion, and deals with the theme of friendship between Hindu and Muslim. The narrative poem Nal and Daman reworks a story from the third book of the Mahabharata in accordance with the demands of the mathnawi genre. Faizi also wrote works on philosophy, philology, mathematics, medicine, and the history of religion. He helped translate into Persian the Mahabharata, Ramayana, and other works of classical Indian literature.