Attar

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عطار
Attar

Biography

Farid od-Din Attār of Nishāpur فرید الدین عطار نیشابوری, commonly referred to simply as Attār عطار, was a Persian Sufi poet, born in the city of Nishāpur (Neyshābur) around 1145-46 AD. There is little concrete information about Attār’s personal life, although it is believed that Attār was his pen-name, and his true name was possibly Abu Hāmed Mohammad ابو حامد محمد. The word عَطّار attār means ‘perfumer’, being the occupational form of the word عطر atr ‘perfume, scent’. Owing to this pen-name, we can deduce that he followed in his father’s footsteps working in an apothecary or pharmacy, before deciding to travel extensively around Greater Iran and the Middle East, which at the time was under the rule of the Seljuk Empire. It is thought that Attār was killed during the Mongol invasion of Nishāpur in 1221 AD, at the age of 70. 

Excerpt 1 from Attār’s - Manteq ot-Teyr ‘The Conference of the Birds’

Recited by Narguess Farzad

‘Among us there is a faultless king,

Behind the mountains, on Mt Qāf, he is living,

His name is Simorgh: Ruler of the Birds,

He is close to us all, yet from him we are far.’

Hast mā rā pādeshāhi bi-khalāf

Dar pas-e kuhi ke hast ān kuh-e qāf

Nām-e u simorgh soltān-e toyur

U bemā nazdik-o mā z-u dur-e dur

هست ما را پادشاهی بی خلاف

در پسِ کوهی که هست آن کوهِ قاف

نام او سیمرغ سلطان طیور

او بما نزدیک و ما زو دور دور

Notes: This excerpt is taken from the beginning of Attār’s منطق الطیر Manteq ot-Teyr ‘the Conference of the Birds’, where the reader first hears about the mythical bird the سیمرغ Simorgh, and his home on کوهِ قاف kuh-e Qāf ‘Mt Qāf’. Vocabulary:
پادشاه Pād(e)shāh ‘King, ruler’
بی خلاف Bi-khalāf ‘Faultless, without wrongdoing’
سلطان Soltān ‘Sultan, king’
طیور Toyur ‘Birds’ (this is the Arabic broken plural of طیر teyr ‘bird’, stemming from the Semitic three consonant root ط-ی-ر ṭ-y-r ‘related to flying’. The Persian equivalent is پرنده‌ها parandehā or پرندگان parandegān ‘birds’.)
زو Z-u A poetic form of از او az u ‘from him/her/it’

Excerpt 2 from Attār’s - Manteq ot-Teyr ‘The Conference of the Birds’

Recited by Narguess Farzad

‘The wise one will show us to the end,

How many leagues from here is it my friend?

On the road you’ll find seven valleys they say,

After crossing them you will reach the doorway,

Since no one has returned from that far road,

Nobody is quite sure how it will bode,

For no one has come back from this long trip,

O restless one, so how could they let the news slip? 

To start you’ll arrive at the valley of seeking,

Then through the valley of love you’ll be travelling,

Third the valley of understanding you will know,

Then fourth you’ll reach the valley of letting go,

At the fifth valley you will unite with the Lord,

Sixth the valley of wonder you’ll go toward,

Seventh is the valley of poverty and nothingness,

And after this point the path becomes useless,

Losing the path you will finally become free,

You’ll become like a single drop in a vast sea.’

Por-siyāsat mi-nemāyad in tariq

Chand farsang ast in rāh ey rafiq

Goft mā rā haft vādi dar rah-ast

Chun gozashti haft vādi, dargah-ast

Vā nayāmad dar jahān z-in rāh kas

Nist az farsang-e ān āgāh kas

Chun nayāmad bāz-kas z-in rāh-e dur

Chun dahand-at āgahi ey nā-sabur

Hast vādi-ye talab āghāz-e kār

Vādi-ye eshq ast az ān pas bi-kenār

Pas seyom vādi-st ān ma’refat

Pas chahārom vādi esteghnā sefat

Hast panjom vādi-ye towhid-e pāk

Pas sheshom vādi-ye heyrat sa’abnāk

Haftomin vādi faqr-ast-o fanā

Ba’d az-in ru-ye ravesh nabvad torā

Darkeshesh ofti ravesh gom gardadat

Gar bovad yek qatre qalzom gardadat

پر سیاست می‌نماید این طریق

چند فرسنگ است این راه ای رفیق

گفت ما را هفت وادی در ره است

چون گذشتی هفت وادی، درگه است

وا نیامد در جهان زین راه کس

نیست از فرسنگ آن آگاه کس

چون نیامد بازکس زین راه دور

چون دهندت آگهی ای ناصبور

هست وادی طلب آغاز کار

وادی عشق است از آن پس، بی‌کنار

پس سیم وادیست آن معرفت

پس چهارم وادی استغنیٰ صفت

هست پنجم وادی توحید پاک

پس ششم وادی حیرت صعب ناک

هفتمین وادی فقرست و فنا

بعد ازین روی روش نبود ترا

درکشش افتی، روش گم گرددت

گر بود یک قطره قلزم گرددت

  Vocabulary:
پر سیاست می‌نِماید/می‌نُماید por-siyāsat mi-nemāyad or mi-nomāyad There are two possible readings of this line. The first is the present tense of نمودن nemudan/namudan ‘to do, to appear, to seem’. The second option is the present of the verb نُمودن nomudan, meaning ‘to show, to guide’.
فرسنگ (فرسخ) Farsang (or farsakh) An old unit of measurement, translated above as a ‘league’. (1 farsang equals about 4 miles.)
درگه (درگاه) Dargah (dargāh) ‘Doorway, entrance, portal, threshold’
ناصبور Nā-sabur ‘Impatient’
وادی طلب Vādi-ye talab ‘Valley of seeking’
معرفت Ma’refat ‘Knowledge, learning’
وادی استغنیٰ (استغناء) Vādi-ye esteghnā ‘Valley of self-sufficiency’
وادی توحید Vādi-ye towhid ‘Valley of finding unity with God/believing in the oneness of God’
وادی حیرت Vādi-ye heyrat ‘Valley of wonder’
فقر و فنا Faqr-o fanā ‘Poverty and nothingness’

Excerpt 3 from Attār, the beginning of ghazal number 496

Recited by Narguess Farzad

‘I got lost in myself, I don’t know where I was found,

I became a dewdrop, drowned at sea,

I was a shadow, plummeting to the ground,

Just as the sun came up, I disappeared,

I don’t know from where I came, or to where I am going,

Perhaps my whole life was but a fleeting moment.’

Gom shodam dar khod nemidānam kojā peydā shodam

Shabnami budam ze daryā gharqe dar daryā shodam

Sāye-i budam az avval bar zamin oftāde khār

Rāst k-ān khurshid peydā gasht nā-peydā shodam

Z-āmadan bas bi-neshān-am v-az shodan bas bi-khabar

Gu’yā yek-dam bar-āmad k-āmadam man yā shodam

گم شدم در خود نمی‌دانم کجا پیدا شدم

شبنمی بودم ز دریا غرقه در دریا شدم

سایه‌ای بودم از اول بر زمین افتاده خوار

راست کان خورشید پیدا گشت ناپیدا شدم

زآمدن بس بی نشانم وز شدن بس بی خبر

گوئیا یکدم برآمد کامدم من یا شدم

Vocabulary:
شبنم Shabnam ‘Dew, dewdrop’
غرقه شدن Gharqe shodan ‘To be drowned’
خوار Khār ‘Low’
کان (که آن) K-ān (ke ān) ‘That [that]’
کامدم (که آمدم) K-āmadam (ke āmadam) ‘That I came’