Description

Čahār Maqāla or Four Discourses is a Persian prose work, written in the 12th century (6th Century of the Islamic Calndar), between 1155 and 1157, and the only fully surviving text by the author Nizami Aruzi نظامی عروضی (fl. 1110 and 1161). Today it is considered one of the most important texts of the Persian literature and “a book of fundamental importance for the knowledge of contemporary and preceding trends in literature” (J. Rypka, History of Iranian Literature, vol. 10, 1968, pp. 221-222).

In the book with an originally title Majma’ al-Nawadder (A Collection of Anecdotes), Nizami describes different professions that the authors believes a king needs in his palace, which are a secretary, a poet, an astronomer and a medical doctor. In the text he depicts through anecdotes “the creation of the universe, heavenly spheres, stars, minerals, plants, animals, humans, internal and external senses, and an anecdote and justifications of prophethood, imamate, rulership, and government”( Encyclopaedia Iranica, on-line source:. ČAHĀR MAQĀLA – Encyclopaedia Iranica (iranicaonline.org)).

This is the first printed edition of the text, which was followed by an Bombay edition from 1321 (1905) and a revised Cairo edition from 1327 AH (1911).

We could not find any institutional examples on Worldcat.