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The Necessity of Re-Editing Jahān Malik Khātūn’s Dīvān 

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The Necessity of Re-Editing Jahān Malik Khātūn’s Dīvān 

Muhsin Sharīfī Sahī Last updated: May 2, 2026

21 min read

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Muhsin Sharīfī Sahī Last updated: May 2, 2026

21 min read

Cite

Introduction

A princess and a poet, Jahān Malik Khātūn wrote in the prose introduction to her Dīvān (collection of poems) that she was “the daughter of Masʿūd Shāh” of Injuids and a descendant of Khvājah Rashīd al-Dīn Fazl Allāh.1Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, edited by Pūrānʹdukht Kāshānīʹrād and Kāmil Ahmadʹpūr (Tehran: Zavvār, 1374/1995), vi and 3. The date of her birth is estimated to be AH 724/1324, and her death after the year AH 784/1382.2Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, ix. Tāj al-Dīn ʿAlī bin Ahmad Tabrīzī in AH 827/1423 introduces Jahān Malik with such titles as “innovator of subtleties”, “the most zestful of poets”, “inventor of delicacies”, “creator of meanings”, “disapprover of the embellished thoughts” and “oysters of meanings”.3Tāj al-Dīn ʿAlī bin Ahmad Tabrīzī, Safīnah [Literary miscellany], manuscript, MS 3432, Suleymaniye Library, Esad Efendi, Istanbul, AH 827/1423, fols. 102, 125, 138, 146, 162, 223. If the reports of Jahān Malik’s death after AH 784/1382 are accepted, these titles used three decades after her death signify that she has been highly respected by her contemporaries. Dawlatʹshāh Samarqandī, too, about a century after Jahān Malik’s death, introduces her with titles such as “subtle woman”, “the most talented of the day”, “the most beautiful of the world”, “the most famous of the city”.4Dawlatʹshāh Samarqandī, Tazkirah [Biography], edited by Edward Browne (Tehran: Asātīr, 1382/2003), 289. Jahān Malik was a contemporary of Hāfiz, Salmān Sāvujī and ʿUbayd Zākānī.

There are very few manuscripts of Jahān Malik’s Dīvān and also works of jung (collection of selected poems) and safīnah (literary miscellany) in which her poems are preserved. Years before the publication of Jahān’s Dīvān, Saʿīd Nafīsī in the 1340s/1960s and Parvīn Dawlatʹābādī in the 1370s/1990s introduced the manuscripts of her Dīvān with the intention of editing them:

  1. Manuscript Supplément Persan 763 in the National Library of France5Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, manuscript, Supplément Persan 763, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits, Paris.
  2. Manuscript Supplément Persan 1102 in the National Library of France
  3. A contemporary selection of world poetry which was in the possession of Edward Browne.

However, both of these scholars passed away before they had the chance to edit and publish Jahān Malik’s dīvān. One of these sources, which is Jahān Malik’s foremost Dīvān, had attracted the attention of Saʿīd Nafīsī and Henri Massé. As Parīʹmarz Nafīsī reports, “in the years 1966 and 1967, when the late Nafīsī was living in Paris, he noticed the characteristics of an invaluable Persian manuscript [i.e., MS 763], which is preserved in the National Library of France. He was often exchanging ideas with the great French orientalist and Iranologist, Henri Massé, about its content and details”.6Parīʹmarz Nafīsī, “Dīvān va sharh-i hāl-i shāʿirah-ʾi qarn-i haftum, Jahān Malik Khātūn Anjavī” [The collection of poetry and the biography of the woman poet of the AH 7th/14th century], in Majmūʿah-ʾi sukhanʹrānīʹhā-yi duvvumīn kungirah-ʾi tahqīqāt-i Īrānī, ed. Hamīd Zarrīnkūb (Mashhad: Firdawsī University Press, 1351/1972), 137.

Before Nafīsī and Massé, Edgard Blochet, the cataloger introducing this manuscript, was the first person to provide invaluable information about this text. He believed that this manuscript is the original text of Jahān’s dīvān. Taking into account the excellent quality of the tazhīb (illuminated manuscript) and the magnificence of the manuscript, Massé, too, agreed that it was produced during Jahān Malik’s lifetime. He stated that it is most likely the same manuscript that was produced in the court of Sultān Ahmad Jalāyir to be presented to this bibliophile ruler.7Nafīsī, “Dīvān va sharh-i hāl-i shāʿirah-ʾi qarn-i haftum,” 143. Edgar Blochet, Catalogue des manuscrits persans de la Bibliothèque nationale, 4 vols. (Paris, 1905–1934), as cited in Dominic Parviz Brookshaw, “Jahān-Malik Khātūn”, trans. Mustafā Husaynī, Kāravān 5, no. 20 (2019): 124–34.

I have previously argued in another article that “the inscription that appears in the first pages of the manuscript also reveals the fact that Jahān presented her dīvān to Sultān Ahmad Jalāyir. In the title of the poems in MS 763, we encounter prayer sentences such as “May she live long” which signify that Jahān had been still alive. Therefore, this copy was either written during the poet’s lifetime or was reproduced from the original text”.8Muhsin Sharīfī Sahī, “Barrasī-i ashʿār-i Saʿdī va Amīr Khusraw Dihlavī dar dīvān-i Jahān Malik Khātūn va muʿarrifī-i ashʿār-i naw-yāftah-ʾi ū” [A study of Saʿdī’s va Amīr Khusraw Dihlavī’s poems in Jahān Malik Khātūn’s dīvān and introducing her newly found poems], Nashriyah-ʾi Zabān va Adabiyāt-i Fārsī-i Dānishgāh-i Tabrīz [Journal of Persian language and literature of Tabriz University]  73, no. 242 (Fall and Winter 1399/2020), 196–97.

‎‎Jahān Malik‎’s Dīvān was published in 1374/1995 with the efforts and the corrections of Pūrānʹdukht Kāshānīʹrād and Kāmil Ahmadʹpūr. The editors have based their edition on manuscript no. 763 of the National Library of France and have also consulted two additional manuscripts, one in Topkapi Library (no. 867, dated AH 840/1436) and another, a manuscript containing 500 verses (“bayt”) of ‎‎Jahān Malik‎’s poetry (dated AH 1082/1671), belonging to Edward Browne. However, in their edition, there are no signs of jungs, i.e., anthologies of poetry, and more importantly, the manuscript of Jahān’s collection of poems (MS 1102), preserved in the National Library of France. After being introduced by Nafīsī, Dawlatʹābādī studied the manuscript carefully and quoted some poems from it. Some of the ghazals in MS 1102 were reproduced by Dawlatʹābādī in her article; however, they did not attract the attention of the editors of the published Dīvān and did not enter their edition.9Parvīn Dawlatʹābādī, “Jahān Malik Khātūn, shāʿir-i hamʹzamān-i Hāfiz” [Jahān Malik Khātūn, Hāfiz’s contemporary poet], in Majmūʿah-ʾi maqālāt-i sukhan-i ahl-i dil, compiled by national commission of UNESCO in Iran (1371/1992); quoted in Sharīfī Sahī, “Barrasī-i ashʿār-i Saʿdī va Amīr Khusraw Dihlavī dar dīvān-i Jahān Malik Khātūn”, 173.

The list of these ghazals include: “Oh, my idol, my pain passed the level of tolerance… / How long can I roam heartless and friendless like this”, and “Did you see the accomplishments of the pupil of the eye…”.

A few years later, Javād Basharī, having studied the poetic jung of Mūnis al-ʿushshāq, the jung of Iskandar Mīrzā, and the jung from the AH 9th/15th century located in the University of Tehran, introduced some of these poems along with a few ghazals.10Javād Basharī, “Ashʿārī nawʹyāftah az Jahān Malik Khātūn” [Newly-found poems by Jahān Malik Khātūn], Payām-i Bahāristān 1, no. 3 (Spring 1388/2009): 740–66. Also see Sharīfī Sahī, “Barrasī-i ashʿār-i Saʿdī va Amīr Khusraw Dihlavī dar dīvān-i Jahān Malik Khātūn”, 173.

A few other poems by Jahān were introduced by reference to Majmūʿah-ʾi latāyif va safīnah-ʾi zarāyif.11Umīd Shāhʹmurādī, Muhammad Jaʿfar Yāhaqqī and Ārif Nawʹshāhī, “Abyāt-i nawʹyāftah-ʾi shāʿirān dar Majmūʿah-ʾi latāyif va safīnah-ʾi zarāyif va ishārah-ʾī bih ahammiyat-i īn asar” [Newly-found lines by poets in ‘The collection of delicacies and of subtleties’ and a discussion of the significance of this work], Shiʿrʹpazhūhī 12, no. 44 (Summer 1399/2020), 141–70; quoted in Sharīfī Sahī, “Barrasī-i ashʿār-i Saʿdī va Amīr Khusraw Dihlavī dar dīvān-i Jahān Malik Khātūn”, 178.

As mentioned earlier, there are a number of ghazals and quatrains (rubāʿī) in MS 1102 that are not included in the published Dīvān because the editors did not use this manuscript. As Brookshaw reports, “[a]ccording to Edgar Blochet, MS Supplément persan 763, illuminated after the fashion of the schools of western Iran, dates from the late 14th century, and MS Supplément persan 1102 has been copied in Herat around 1460”.12Edgar Blochet, Catalogue des manuscrits persans de la Bibliothèque nationale [Catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the National Library], 4 vols. (Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1905–1934), as cited in Brookshaw, “Jahān Malik Khātūn”, 129.

Some ghazals have entered the published Dīvān from other sources, and comparing them with MS 763 reveals the weakness of these sources. For instance, according to one of the existing ghazals in the dīvān, ‎‎Jahān Malik‎ Khātūn wrote a short description of her youth and beauty; however, the last part of this ghazal, in which she regrets the happy days of the past and shows her grief for the passing of the time is omitted from the published Dīvān because the poet has written the four last verses in the margin of the book. These lines have escaped the attention of the editors.13Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 155v. As another example, the 5th verse of the ghazal, “Your delicate hair took my heart away, then suddenly charged for life” which is included in MS 763 is not included in the published Dīvān.14Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 85v. Also, the 4th verse of the ghazal, “When the sun of your face brightened my heart”15Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 23r. and the 4th verse of the ghazal “O, sad heart! Don’t expect faithfulness from the world”,16Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 248v. have the same destiny. The last lines with the takhallus Jahān [in the form of a pun with the word “world”] are omitted from some of the ghazals in the published Dīvān, while it is recorded in MS 763, for example, the ghazal “There’s no end to the night of separation”.17Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 91r.

It seems that Jahān’s poems written on the margins of the manuscript have not received much attention. There are 127 new ghazals among them which are not included in the published Dīvān. Also, from the 579 quatrains counted by Dawlatʹābādī, 153 quatrains are written on the margins and, like ghazals, have not found their way into the published Dīvān. In fact, there are about 500 poems in the formats of ghazal and quatrain in the oldest existing manuscript of ‎‎Jahān Malik‎’s poems which are overlooked in the editing of the poems of this poet.

In addition to the mentioned shortcomings, the edition of the published Dīvān includes the incorrect recording of the words, too. The incomplete use of the most important manuscript of Jahān’s poems, MS 763 of Paris, to edit a large part of the ghazals, has resulted in many flaws in the recording of the words. For example, in the beginning of a ghazal in the published Dīvān we read:

He’s a sacrifice to my soul, that angelic beloved
Tell me, how can I remain distant from his face18Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, 471.

The editors have not seen this ghazal in the margin of MS 763 and have recorded it based on other texts. However, according to the conventions of Persian classical poetry, it is naturally the lover who presents herself as a sacrifice for the beloved. It is uncommon for a beloved, who is no less than an angelic one, to sacrifice herself for the lover. Therefore, it is clear that the first hemistich is recorded incorrectly. The correct version of the hemistich can be found in MS 763:

He’s the food to my soul, that angelic beloved
Tell me, how can I remain distant from his face

In another instance, the beginning of a ghazal in the published Dīvān goes like this:

See! Sorrow is received from that sympathizer beloved
Many prayers and numerous salutations were received19Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, 271.

This recording cannot be correct since the meaning that the word “bīyā” (See!) creates in the mind of the audience is too colloquial and contemporary. It is the equivalent of “didn’t I say so?” or “I told you so!”, as if the narrator is saying: “See! I told you we will receive sorrow from that beloved”. This verse is correctly recorded in MS 763 in this way:

I received a message from that sympathizer beloved
Many prayers and numerous salutations were received20Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 92v.

Here, “bīyā gham” is replaced with the words “payāmʹam” which are fairly similar in Persian writing. In the next verse, the narrator says, “The delicate beloved honored me with a letter”, and the association between the letter and the message makes it clear that “payāmʹam” is correct.

In another ghazal in the published Dīvān we read:

Look at the separation of that rose-cheeked idol
And look at the tulip-field on the face of Jahān made by the blood of her eyes21Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, 460.

Clearly, the first hemistich has a flaw in its rhythm and should be corrected based on the version recorded in MS 763:

Look at the separation of the face of that rose-cheeked idol
And look at the tulip-field on the face of Jahān made by the blood of her eyes22Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 238v.

127 Newly-found Ghazals

There are 127 ghazals recorded in the margin of MS 763 but from which there are no sign in the published Dīvān. These are the first verses of these ghazals:

  1. If you step into my dwelling of sorrows even for a night
    It would humbly be a blessing from you on my soul (9 verses)23Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 6v. This ghazal is repeated on 12v in seven verses and the writer has signified this by writing “repeated”.
  1. Alas, I can’t find the cure for my heart
    I am bone-weary because of the desires of my heart (4 verses)24Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 10r.
  1. How happy it is to have in my hand the hair of the beloved in the moonlit night
    And having the skirt of the beloved in my longing hands (7 verses)25Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 18r.
  1. My crazy heart is not enamored in sorrow for you
    My eyes are not world-travelers in the alley of your imagination (9 verses)26Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 20r.
  1. If you’re moving toward my union
    I’ll give my heart to your sweetened lips (8 verses)27Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 25v. The rhyming word is most likely “shikarʹkhāyat”.
  1. O fragrant-bosomed, how come you have such enmity with me
    Why do I see frowning on your eyebrows (6 verses)28Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 26v.
  1. O Muslims, how cruel is my beloved
    My days are disordered like my hair (7 verses)29Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 45v.
  1. After this, o fountain-hearted, it is only my hand and the beloved’s skirt
    I’ll swear on his life, I’ll not disobey his command even for a moment (7 verses)30Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 46r.
  1. I know that the sapling of your height is a fragrant cypress
    On that moon-like face you’re a perfumed cypress? (5 verses)31Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 49v.
  1. There’s a happy air in the alley of his union
    I have this view, and it is a good view (6 verses)32Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 49v.
  1. My heart is hugely sorrowful of your separation
    Since the steed of your cruelty is always saddled (7 verses)33Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 77v.
  1. My pain exceeded its limits and my healer did not treat me well
    And did not acquaint me with his union even for a moment (7 verses)34Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 78r. 
  1. The wind of Sabā came and brought a message from the alley of the beloved
    It brought a fragrance from the tips of that twisted hair (7 verses)35Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 85v.
  1. I received a pain in my heart which has no cure
    Since our beloved has no faithfulness (7 verses)36Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 86r.
  1. My beloved was an unfaithful one
    He took my heart and then he was only cruel (9 verses)37Jahān Malik Khātūn,
    Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 87r.
  1. You stole my heart and gave it to the wind
    May no one be like me, sorrowful, lifeless and lonely (7 verses)38Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 90r.
  1. My heart does not tolerate your separation anymore
    And does not take the night of your separation easy (7 verses)39Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 103v.
  1. Being distant from you is not possible for me even for a moment
    Nothing except sorrow is my companion in your love (7 verses)40Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 108v.
  1. I won’t be inclined to cruelty like you all the time
    I will be faithful even if I constantly see cruelty (9 verses)41Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 108r.
  1. Your height is like a cypress, your face like a full moon
    On me, by your grace, cast a full look (9 verses)42Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 112v. This ghazal with the qāfiyah of “m” is categorized in the poems with the qāfiyah of “d”.
  1. What can I do, my heart’s pain has no cure
    Unless my story reaches the wind of Sabā (7 verses)43Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 112r.
  1. Will I kiss his lips on the same day
    That my dear life also ends? (6 verses)44Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 117v.
  1. It’s time for my affairs to get organized
    And my grief-stricken heart to be healed (7 verses)45Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 117r.
  1. I’ll give my life in gratitude if my idol comes back
    Or becomes intimate with me, a broken-hearted, for one night (7 verses)46Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 118v.
  1. My beloved’s gone and my heart is heavy with his sorrow
    My blood-like tears stopped and the bow of my eyebrows collapsed (3 verses)47Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 122r.
  1. Smoke is rising from my head from the fire of your separation
    Since the time of being united with you ended very soon (7 verses)48Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 125r.
  1. Why doesn’t any fragrance come to me from the cup of your union?
    Why doesn’t any call from your banquet come to my attentive ears? (7 verses)49Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 126r.
  1. Whoever strives to keep his promises
    His criticism comes true to Jahān (7 verses)50Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 129r.
  1. O, wind of Sabā, if you pass from his alley
    Can you tell him the state of Jahān (7 verses)51Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 136v.
  1. Tell me, until when your face will be hidden from me?
    And from its fire, a spark in my soul? (9 verses)52Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 137v.
  1. If good fortune guides my beloved
    My sweetheart comes to my bosom and the enemy becomes ashamed (8 verses)53Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 139v.
  1. What if that darling takes a look at my state
    And what if he passes through the alley of union (8 verses)54Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 140v.
  1. Lovers flourish their souls and hearts from the love of your face
    Happy are those who take benefit from the cypress of your height (7 verses)55Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 140r.
  1. O, sweet-souled, you know that life is sweet
    My soul is kind, why should it be caught in enmity (7 verses)56Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 141v.
  1. Sweet is the breeze of Sabā that comes from the city of the beloved
    And becomes the companion of the restless heart (7 verses)57Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 141r.
  1. Heart and soul will becalm in the waves of your hair
    And the eyes will be waiting to see your face (9 verses)58Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 142v.
  1. There’s no cure for the pain of you
    Jahān will not be without the face of the sweetheart (9 verses)59Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 142r.
  1. You stole my heart and gave it to the wind
    Ashamed you should be of my fatigued heart (9 verses)60Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 143v.
  1. How hard should my heart bear pain and sorrow
    I don’t know what to do with your separation (6 verses)61Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 143r.
  1. There’s no flower like your face in the garden
    And if there is, there’s no nightingale like me (6 verses)62Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 144v.
  1. The soul should bedelivered from this bloodthirsty abyss
    And the world should be made aware of this cruelty (8 verses)63Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 144r.
  1. Poor is the one who doesn’t take life from the pain of your love
    And gave his dear life to love and faithfulness (7 verses)64Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 145r.
  1. I’m lost in the path of melancholy, show me a way or a guide
    My patience is wearing out, help me o helper (6 verses)65Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 145r. The beginning is not rhymed and the qāfiyah of “r” is put alongside the sound “d”. The first verse is an allusion to Saʿdī’s poem.
  1. Although you’re separated from your friends
    I’m in need of the face of the sweetheart beloved (6 verses)66Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 155v.
  1. What should I do, the pain of you will never heal
    Without your face, my heart will never be calm (5 verses)67Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 155r.
  1. The beloved’s gone and my heart is heavy with his sorrow
    Sleep was gone from my eyes and the bow of my eyebrows are collapsed (7 verses)68Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 156v.
  1. My heart in my chest was beating from the pain of his separation like a dove
    With no avail, there’s no cure for it except his union (4 verses)69Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 165r.
  1. You’re my dear life and my life is delicate
    There is something dearer than the delicate life (7 verses)70Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 170r.
  1. Come, I am tired of all the world without you
    Don’t tell me to hide the pain of your sorrow (5 verses)71Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 177v.
  1. You have no pity on my sorrow and my pain
    You ask not about my sleep or deprivation (7 verses)72Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 178v.
  1. I take a walk in front of the door of his union
    I give my life for the face of the beloved (8 verses)73Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 178r.
  1. I’m so drunk of the wine of your passion
    And I’m on fire from your ruby-colored lips (6 verses)74Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 180v.
  1. Get up, let’s go to the gardens in time of flowers
    For the sake of the flowers let’s go toward the rose gardens (7 verses)75Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 181r.
  1. I have a sun-like and moon-faced beloved
    I have a lover-killer bad-tempered idol (8 verses)76Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 182v.
  1. My idol, I’m drunk with those drunken eyes of yours
    The skirt of your union is not falling in my hand (7 verses)77Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 182r.
  1. Although I’m versatile in the love of flowers
    I don’t know the way to his union (11 verses)78Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 183v.
  1. I chose the love of your face over the two worlds
    I bought your love with my heart and soul and the world (8 verses)79Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 183r.
  1. I’m sorrowful and ask for cure from your pain
    I’m poor and ask for alimony from your union (7 verses)80Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 184v.
  1. I’ll wear the ring of servitude and love for you
    I’ll forget everything but the memory of you (9 verses)81Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 184r.
  1. I’ve given a whole life to the wind for the memory of your hair
    I’ve put my life on the palm of my hand for the love of your face (7 verses)82Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 186r.
  1. I want to be with the beloved for a night
    And be awake like his green fortune (11 verses)83Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 187r.
  1. I’m in need of those two fire-like ruby-colored lips
    Have mercy on me, I’m disordered like your hair (6 verses)84Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 188v.
  1. I’m committed to you and more than that
    I’m drunken and desperate like your eye (7 verses)85Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 188r.
  1. My heart imagined that I have a beloved
    Or I have to pursue the hope of his union (9 verses)86Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 221v.
  1. It’s a lifetime, my beloved, that I’m Majnūn in your love
    Until when you’re going to shed my blood with your cruelty like Laylī (7 verses)87Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 222v.
  1. If I tell my heart’s story of separation
    I’ll batter a thousand hearts with the sorrow of my state (8 verses)88Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 223v.
  1. Every dawn I send a prayer toward your
    Because there’s nothing I can do but praying (7 verses)89Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 223r.
  1. Tell me, my idol, what should I do to get intimate with you
    And make poetry about the bounty of the night of your union (6 verses)90Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 224r.
  1. We drink wine with the covenant of your love
    We are done with hypocrisy (6 verses)91Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 225v.
  1. O beloved, how long should we toil in your separation
    How long should we wail in your separation like a reed (6 verses)92Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 226v.
  1. It’s time for your pain to heal me
    It’s time for your union to becalm me (10 verses)93Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 226r.
  1. I have a heavy heart since the day of separation
    There’s rusting on the mirror of my heart (7 verses)94Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 227r.
  1. I have an idol, flower-scented, flower-shaped
    He has a face like morning, hair like night (9 verses)95Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 228r.
  1. When I remember the night of your union
    I make my heart happy with that hope (7 verses)96Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 229r.
  1. My idol is heavy-hearted and unfaithful
    He will bring no healing to my pain (3 verses)97Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 246r.
  1. I’ve put the scar of the love of your face on our heart
    We’ve given our life to the wind for the scent of your hair (7 verses)98Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 250v.
  1. If your love does not help my heavy heart
    Tell me, how can I bear the abasement (8 verses)99Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 263v.
  1. If there was hope for your union, I had no fear
    My clothes were not torn apart from the sorrow of your separation (7 verses)100Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 263r.
  1. I’ve become a reed since I’ve wailed in your sorrow so much
    My heart has become like a spot from the sorrow of your face (7 verses)101Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 264v.
  1. To that moment when you turn your face toward my need
    Not to torment your captive with cruelty (10 verses)102Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 264r.
  1. Alas, if I could lay hand on that idol for union
    So that it added a soul to my body and a light to my eyes (9 verses)103Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 270v.
  1. Why do you look at this destitute so cruelly
    O, my heart and soul, are you unaware of Jahān’s state? (6 verses)104Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 271v.
  1. You’re not aware of the plight of my heart
    That’s why you don’t come near me (8 verses)105Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 274v.
  1. The burden of the sorrow of your separation is a pain on my soul
    I’m personally unable to sleep and eat in this situation (9 verses)106Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 274r.
  1. Oh, you’re like a moon who’s never been seen before
    On the throne of sweetness has been no king like you (7 verses)107Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 275v.
  1. Oh, you’re my supporter in both worlds
    I am a poor slave and you’re a king to that slave (9 verses)108Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 275r.
  1. Why can’t you act friendly with me
    Out of kindliness for one moment (9 verses)109Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 276v.
  1. If you had the slightest awareness of my pain
    I’m sure you’d cast a look at the state of my fatigue (7 verses)110Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 276r.
  1. O, Sabā, since you’re like a confident to lovers
    You came from the alley of my sweetheart (7 verses)111Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 277v.
  1. Your coquetry and cruelty have no end?
    I can’t bear them, o selfish idol, they have no end? (9 verses)112Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 277r.
  1. Why do you intend to shed the blood of this tired heart
    Why do you vex my mind with the sword of cruelty (7 verses)113Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 278v.
  1. Why, my life, did you break, like the waves of your hair,
    The promise that you made with us a long time ago (9 verses)114Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 278r.
  1. A playful, captivating beloved
    A fresh-faced life-giving opponent (9 verses)115Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 279v.
  1. O, beloved, you’re the cure of my pain
    You’re the companion to any distressed one (9 verses)116Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 279r.
  1. O wind, what news do you have of my beloved
    You have passed by the door of the beloved (8 verses)117Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 280v.
  1. We don’t have any comforter in this world except your love
    We don’t have any work except bearing the pain of your love (7 verses)118Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 280r.
  1. O heart, until when you’re going to revolve around pain
    You made my color yellow from your pain (9 verses)119Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 281v.
  1. You’re both my pain and my cure
    You made me miserable and incurable with your pain (7 verses)120Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 281r. The radīf (rhyming word) is incorrectly recorded as “kardam”.
  1. Sabā brought a scent from the tip of your hair
    And made me all agitated again (7 verses)121Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 282v.
  1. When in spring the grass grows in the river
    Get up and search for the face of the agreeable beloved (8 verses)122Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 282r.
  1. Come, my life, you have my cure
    You’re keeping me disordered like your hair (7 verses)123Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 283v.
  1. You afflicted me with the pain of separation again
    You tied me up with the braid of your hair (7 verses)124Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 283r. The last hemistich is not recorded.
  1. You have a height like cypress, a face like moon
    Take a look at the life of the forlorn lovers (9 verses)125Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 284v.
  1. Announce this hearty news that that spiritual beloved
    Stealthily put his love in our hearts (7 verses)126Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 284r.
  1. My heart was stolen from me by a charmer
    A beloved, hot-tempered and unfaithful (7 verses)127Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 285v.
  1. If you were to pass my alley
    You would look at me, like a cypress at the soil (8 verses)128Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 285r.
  1. Why don’t you have any vigor for me
    And don’t have a cure for the pain of my heart (8 verses)129Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 286v.
  1. I didn’t see any happiness in your love
    My heart tolerated a lot of pain until you understood it (7 verses)130Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 286r.
  1. O, Sabā, take his mask from his face
    Let it becomes a starting point for us (10 verses)131Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 287v.
  1. Why did you seek separation from my side
    And took the road of unfaithfulness (9 verses)132Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 287r.
  1. Since my heart is acquainted with the love of you
    It can’t bear the pain of separation (7 verses)133Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 288v.
  1. O, my heart, until when are you going to stay broken in this small house?
    Why should you stay a stranger to the familiar beloved? (7 verses)134Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 288r.
  1. I have a secret with your excellency
    And beside the secret, I have a desire (7 verses)135Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 289v.
  1. What if your heart was not so destitute
    And your cruelty was not so much (9 verses)136Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 289r.
  1. I told your hair that you stole my dignity
    I told your eyes that you made a hundred intrigues again (7 verses)137Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 290r.
  1. Sabā, if you happen to pass by that beloved, tell him
    Don’t abandon your beloved for the words of the backbiter enemy (7 verses)138Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 291v.
  1. O, musk-scented hyacinth-haired idol
    O, rose-cheeked amber-scented idol (7 verses)139Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 291r. The second hemistich of the third verse is not recorded.
  1. I’m ailing in the pain of your love, you should know
    I’ve given my heart to the sorrow of your love foolishly (7 verses)140Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 292r.
  1. Although you’re a tall cypress in the garden
    Why do you refine the blood of my eyes (7 verses)141Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 293v.
  1. My heart has no cure expect the pain of your love
    My tired body has no desire to take any orders (7 verses)142Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 293r.
  1. My delightful sweetheart one day
    O, my beautiful fresh cypress one day (7 verses)143Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 294v.
  1. O, you’re like the sight of my eyes
    I don’t have the strength of patience (9 verses)144Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 294r.
  1. Although I have to access to your union
    I take my desire to the cauldron of your imagination (7 verses)145Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 295v.
  1. O beloved, if you have a vigor for patience for me
    I don’t have any hidden secrets for you (7 verses)146Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 295r.
  1. My heart is heavy from the pain of loneliness
    Come, I don’t have a moment of patience without you (9 verses)147Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 296v.
  1. Don’t turn away from me like an unruly curl
    I may suddenly raise my head from rapture (7 verses)148Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 296r.
  1. Tell my, yellow flower, how are you near the beloved
    How are you bearing the pains of thorns on your heart (9 verses)149Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 297r.

153 Newly found Quatrains

In addition to the new ghazals, 153 quatrains are also recorded on the margins of MS 763; however, the editors have failed to edit and publish them in Dīvān. According to my count, in MS 763, there are 392 quatrains in the main text and 153 quatrains on the margins.150Dawlatʹābādī says the number of quatrains is 579. See Dawlatʹābādī, Manzūr-i khiradʹmand, 23. The editors of the published Dīvān have included a total number of 372 quatrains, from which we should subtract 21 quatrains by Saʿdī which are written down with a new pen. In other words, while having access to three manuscripts of the libraries of Paris, Turkey and Edward Browne, the editors have only recorded 351 quatrains by Jahān Malik. In fact, they have not mentioned a number of quatrains from among the 392 quatrains in the text of MS 763; also, they have not paid any attention to any of the quatrains on the margins of the text. It is beyond the scope of this article to reproduce all the 153 quatrains, most of which are newly found. The readers of Jahān’s poetry and the researchers who intend to study or re-edit her dīvān may consult the text and the margins of MS 763.151For this purpose, refer to pages 305v to 333r in MS 763. Jahān Malik Khātūn, Dīvān, Supplément Persan 763, 305v, 333r. A number of quatrains from among the newly-found quatrains in the manuscript will be reproduced here as examples:

The editors were aware of MS 1102, too, but have ignored more than 110 ghazals and quatrains in this manuscript.

As discussed earlier, some of Jahān’s newly-found poems are recorded in works of jung and poetic collections rather than in the manuscript of her dīvān. The editors have paid no attention to any of these collections, probably because they have not had access to them.

MS 763 contains intricacies in the recording of Jahān’s quatrains in order to maintain the thematic consistency among them. Not paying attention to these details, the editors have disrupted this consistency by organizing the quatrains in alphabetical order, thus creating another flaw in Jahān’s dīvān.

In classic Persian literature, there is no woman as fortunate as ‎‎Jahān Malik Khātūn. What has remained from poets like Rābiʿah, Pādishāh Khātūn, ʿĀyishah and many others is only a name and a few lines of poetry. There is no definitive and original dīvān from Mahastī. But from ‎‎Jahān Malik Khātūn, several thousand poems have remained and there is no doubt in attributing them to her. However, after centuries, a properly edited collection of her poems is not available. Even the research conducted on Jahān’s poetry have remained incomplete and inadequate because her published Dīvān is suffering from many flaws. Therefore, it is necessary to produce a new edition of her poems by making accurate use of old and new manuscripts and references, both her own dīvān and the poetical works of safīnah and jung, in order to address the shortcomings and provide a refined and flawless edition of ‎‎Jahān Malik Khātūn’s poems.

Cite this article

Muhsin Sharīfī Sahī (2026). The Necessity of Re-Editing Jahān Malik Khātūn’s Dīvān . In Women Poets Iranica. Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation https://poets.iranicaonline.org/article/5843-2/
Muhsin Sharīfī Sahī. "The Necessity of Re-Editing Jahān Malik Khātūn’s Dīvān ." Women Poets Iranica, Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation, 2026. https://poets.iranicaonline.org/article/5843-2/
Muhsin Sharīfī Sahī (2026). The Necessity of Re-Editing Jahān Malik Khātūn’s Dīvān . In Women Poets Iranica. Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation. Available from: https://poets.iranicaonline.org/article/5843-2/ [Accessed May 2, 2026].
Muhsin Sharīfī Sahī. "The Necessity of Re-Editing Jahān Malik Khātūn’s Dīvān ." In Women Poets Iranica, (Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation, 2026) https://poets.iranicaonline.org/article/5843-2/

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