‘Iyani, A Shirazi Poet and Historian in the Bahmani Deccan

Abstract

This paper examines MS D 92 of the Government Oriental Manuscripts Library, Madras/Chennai, which contains the works of 'Iyani, a late fifteenth century Shirazi poet and historian. 'Iyani had migrated to the Deccan, and wrote in Persian in the Bahmani sultanate (1347-1528), and received the patronage of both Sultan Mahmud Shah (r. 1482-924) and Habib al-Din Muhibballah, a descendant of the Sufi saint Shah Ni'matallah Wali of Kirman. The paper investigates 'Iyani's works, which comprise qasidas, ghazals, ruba'iyyat and two mathnavīs, the Jangnama-i Shahrukh and the Fathnama-i Mahmud Shahi. The latter, recording the defeat of a rebellion led by the Abyssinian commander in Gulbarga, Dastur Dinar, sheds new light on the political and factional environment in the final stages of Bahmani rule. 'Iyani's works represent a new source for the cultural, literary and political history of the fifteenth century Deccan.