Best 100 Persian Four Seasons Gardening Books, eBooks, Information, Flowers, Fruits, Vegetables, Products and Services plus lots of Promotional Contents, Free for all Visitors
The Persian Garden has its roots in history. The Persian Garden is the simple of heaven and the elements installed there all create a sense of value and beauty to the place. In this video we visit Tehran’s Persian Garden and learn more about this unique place
++++
++++
The Persian Garden – UNESCO World Heritage Centre
World Heritage Centre › The List
Jun 27, 2011 – These gardens, dating back to different periods since the 6th century BC, also feature buildings, pavilions and walls, as well as sophisticated …
The Persian Garden
The property includes nine gardens in as many provinces. They exemplify the diversity of Persian garden designs that evolved and adapted to different climate conditions while retaining principles that have their roots in the times of Cyrus the Great, 6th century BC. Always divided into four sectors, with water playing an important role for both irrigation and ornamentation, the Persian garden was conceived to symbolize Eden and the four Zoroastrian elements of sky, earth, water and plants. These gardens, dating back to different periods since the 6th century BC, also feature buildings, pavilions and walls, as well as sophisticated irrigation systems. They have influenced the art of garden design as far as India and Spain.
Outstanding Universal Value
Brief synthesis
The Persian Garden consists of a collection of nine gardens, selected from various regions of Iran, which tangibly represent the diverse forms that this type of designed garden has assumed over the centuries and in different climatic conditions. They reflect the flexibility of the Chahar Bagh, or originating principle, of the Persian Garden, which has persisted unchanged over more than two millennia since its first mature expression was found in the garden of Cyrus the Great’s Palatial complex, in Pasargadae. Natural elements combine with manmade components in the Persian Garden to create a unique artistic achievement that reflects the ideals of art, philosophical, symbolic and religious concepts. The Persian Garden materialises the concept of Eden or Paradise on Earth.
Read more: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1372/
World Heritage
Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations. Our cultural and natural heritage are both irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration.
The Persian Garden – UNESCO World Heritage Centre
++++
Rosa persica https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gol
(Ṯābeti: Hulthemia persica; Pers. varak), a low shrub (50-60 cm high), with a reddish brown macula at the base of the yellow petals of its simple flowers; habitat: the steppes of Azerbaijan, Hamadān, Qazvin, Tehran, Semnān and Dāmḡān, Gorgān, Khorasan, etc.; also found in Afghanistan (Herat) and Turkmenistan
Persian Roses particularly belong to Shiraz, the cultural capital of Iran. In fact, many people around the world know Shiraz by its enhancing Persian Roses.
Persian red rose is believed to be popular among the roses. It has a long, jagged stem and dark green leaves. This flower has a good aroma, so its aromas are used in cosmetics and hygiene products. Shiraz Roses
Persian Red Rose
Shiraz Rose
The best time to travel to Shiraz is in the spring, in May. When there is no news from the crowds of Norouz, as well as flamboyant flowers, Persian Rose, Mohammadi, Narges and Baboonai flowers have flown a flower festival in the city. It should breathe the city’s air with the smell of colorful flowers.
Persian Pink Rose
Different Colors Of Persian Roses
Persian Roses are produced in 4 colors, and all are available on the market during the whole year. Pink Roses are so favorable by Iranian which is reflected on the Persian architecture and aesthetic monuments, such as Pink Mosque and beautiful Persian gardens in Shiraz.
Persian Rose , Eram Garden
Differences Between Persian And Dutch Roses:
Appearance of buds: Difference in the appearance of Dutch and Persian roses in the form that the stalks of Persian rose is full of thorns, and also red roses of Persian with ordinary petals and bright red and Dutch rose with the petal is dark-red. Shiraz Roses
Duration of Rose Shelf: The most important difference is the duration of flowering or its useful life, so that the useful life of roses in Iran is between 3 and 6 days and the Dutch rose in the life of 10 to 20 days is not comparable to its Iranian counterpart.
Persian Roses are more suitable for gardens, and they are more durable when you plant them on the garden not to pick them for the vase. Persian Rose
Pink Rose , Shiraz
Persian Rose, Persian Tour!
Iran Destination offers a variety of Iran Tours to help you to explore the Persian Gardens as easy as possible. By contact to our experienced and skilled tour operators, we’d help you to visit the most amazing highlights of Iran. Don’t hesitate to contact us!
+++++
From : https://en.garden-landscape.com/persian-roses-new-from-orient-9384
Persian Roses: The New From The Orient
The Content Of The Article:
The fascinating flower look with basal stain is known from hibiscus and some shrub peonies. Meanwhile, there is the sexy eye in the center of bright peel blossoms even in roses. For some time, a whole range of new varieties on the market, which cause a stir as Persian roses (Rosa Persica hybrids). Their exotic look is enhanced by exotic beauties with oriental-looking names like ‘Queen of Sheba’ or ‘Alissar Princess of Phenicia’ of the Persian Rose (Rosa persica).
Blossom Beauty From Iran
The Persian rose comes from steppe-like areas in Iran and neighboring countries. In leaves and flowers, it differs so much from other roses that it long formed its own genus. Therefore, the varieties are sometimes found under the botanical name Hulthemia hybrids. For over 40 years, the Wild Rose from the Orient has been cultivating rose grower all over the world. In their homeland, the robust species grows proverbially like weeds, but in our climate it has failed so far in the field.
Persian roses ‘Esther Queen of Persia’ (left) and ‘Eyeconic’ (right)
So how was it possible to unite the beautiful savage with the advantages of modern, often-flowering garden roses? The breakthrough brought breeding with crossed Persian roses that had originated in England since the 1960s. Finally, there are garden-suitable varieties that are no longer available only to lovers. The Persica hybrids can be used as bedding or shrub roses. Read all: https://en.garden-landscape.com/persian-roses-new-from-orient-9384
++++https://www.youtube.com/embed/3YEYk3YJcek?feature=oembed
How the World’s Best Rose Water Is Made Great Big Story You’ve probably spritzed rose water on your face, or drank rose water tea. It’s trendy now, though the aromatic liquid has been a staple for centuries in the Middle East. The world’s best rose water is made by experts like Moshen Ghaffari in Iran’s Qamsar District. The soil content, sea level, temperature and gentle winds make the area perfect for growing roses. Moshen’s family uses copper pots to produce “double-fired” rose water. How many freshly-picked flowers does it take to make one liter? The answer might surprise you.
+++++
Persian gardens From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Asian Art Museum Dr. David Stronach, University of California, Berkeley, professor emeritus of Near Eastern art and archaeology, kicks off the museum’s new Perspectives on Persian Art lecture series with a talk about the influence of traditional Persian gardens in Asia and Europe. From 1961 to 1963 Stronach directed excavations of the royal garden of Cyrus the Great (559–530 BCE) at Pasargadae, in Southwest Iran. Since that time he has studied connections between the royal gardens of Mesopotamia—the gardens associated with Nineveh and Babylon—and the gardens at Pasargadae. It was at Pasargadae that Cyrus appears to have introduced the first example of a fourfold garden layout (a type known in Persian as chaharbagh). Such gardens remain in use not only in present-day Iran but also in India and Spain.
Read more: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia or https://wiki2.org/en/Persian_gardens
Eram Garden is a famous historic Persian garden in Shiraz, Iran
The tradition and style of garden design represented by Persian gardens or Iranian gardens (Persian: باغ ایرانی), an example of the paradise garden, has influenced the design of gardens from Andalusia to India and beyond.[1][2] The gardens of the Alhambra show the influence of Persian garden philosophy and style in a Moorish palace scale, from the era of al-Andalus in Spain. Humayun’s Tomb and Taj Mahal have some of the largest Persian gardens in the world, from the era of the Mughal Empire in India.
Concept and etymology
A schematic diagram of a Persian garden. Note the quadripartite structure with focal water feature, connecting aqueducts, and surrounding trees, as well as the placement of the palace
From the time of the Achaemenid Empire, the idea of an earthly paradise spread through Persian literature and example to other cultures, both the Hellenistic gardens of the Seleucid Empire and the Ptolemies in Alexandria. The Avestan word pairidaēza-, Old Persian *paridaida-, Median *paridaiza- (walled-around, i.e., a walled garden), was borrowed into Akkadian, and then into Greek Ancient Greek: παράδεισος, romanized: parádeisos, then rendered into the Latin paradīsus, and from there entered into European languages, e.g., French paradis, German Paradies, and English paradise.
As the word expresses, such gardens would have been enclosed. The garden’s purpose was, and is, to provide a place for protected relaxation in a variety of manners: spiritual, and leisurely (such as meetings with friends), essentially a paradise on earth. The Common Iranian word for “enclosed space” was *pari-daiza- (Avestan pairi-daēza-), a term that was adopted by Christian mythology to describe the garden of Eden or Paradise on earth.
The garden’s construction may be formal (with an emphasis on structure) or casual (with an emphasis on nature), following several simple design rules. This allows a maximization, in terms of function and emotion, of what may be done in the garden.
History
Gardens outside of the Palace of Darius I of Persia in Persepolis.
Persian gardens may originate as early as 4000 BC, but it is clear that this Iranian tradition began with the Achaemenid dynasty around the 6th century BCE. Decorated pottery of that time displays the typical cross plan of the Persian garden. The outline of Pasargadae, built around 500 BC, is still viewable today. Classical Iranians were seen by the Greeks as the ‘great gardeners’ of antiquity; Cyrus II (known also as Cyrus the Younger) is alleged to have told the Spartan commander Lysander that he gardened daily when not campaigning, and had himself laid out the park at Sardis, which he called his ‘paradise’ (a Greek corruption of the Old Persian word for garden).
During the suzerainty of the Sasanian Empire, under the influence of Zoroastrianism, water in art grew increasingly important. This trend manifested itself in garden design, with greater emphasis on fountains and ponds in gardens.
During the Umayyad and Abbasid periods, the aesthetic aspect of the garden increased in importance, overtaking utility. During this time, aesthetic rules that govern the garden grew in importance. An example of this is the chahār bāgh (چهارباغ), a form of garden that attempts to emulate the Abrahamic notion of a Garden of Eden, with four rivers and four quadrants that represent the world. The design sometimes extends one axis longer than the cross-axis and may feature water channels that run through each of the four gardens and connect to a central pool.
Under the Abbasid dynasty (8th century AD), this type of garden became an integral part of representational architecture.
The Persian garden is a landscape garden, designed individually and created intentionally as a space embedded in the aesthetic and spiritual context of its past and contemporary cultural, political, and social environment. Hallmarks of these formal gardens are a geometric layout following geometric and visual principles, implemented to nature by water channels and basins which divide the enclosed space into clearly defined quarters, a principle that has become known as Chahar Bagh (four gardens), waterworks with channels, basins, fountains and cascades, pavilions, prominent central axes with a vista, and a plantation with a variety of carefully chosen trees, herbs. and flowers. The old-Iranian word for such gardens “pari-daizi’ expresses the notion of an earthly paradise that is inherent to them. As such, they are a metaphor for the divine order and the unification and protection of the ones who do good. Their counterparts on earth fulfill a similar function. These principles are brought to perfection in the gardens of the emperor as the “good gardener”.
Notwithstanding a formal standardization, the landscape gardens also reflect diversity and development, bound to function, regional and chronological characteristics, as well as technological, know how personal preferences, ambitions, and demands. Persian gardens are multi-functional: they not only serve contemplation and relaxation, but are also a representation and manifestation of power. Designing and implementing a garden demonstrates the occupation of land, holding audiences and celebrating victories or marriages in these gardens signal superiority, or social and political bonds. Starting from the 12th to 13th century, tombs for members of the royal family or important personalities were placed into such formal gardens, providing believers a chance to benefit from the spirituality of a venerated person and the particular aura of the garden.
The invasion of Persia by the Mongols in the thirteenth century led to a new emphasis on highly ornate structure in the garden. Examples of this include tree peonies and chrysanthemums. The Mongols then carried a Persian garden tradition to other parts of their empire (notably India).
Bagh-e Babur in Kabul, Afghanistan
Mughal gardens at the Taj Mahal
The Mughal emperor Babur introduced the Persian garden to India, attempting to replicate the cool, refreshing aura of his homeland in the Ferghana Valley through the construction of Persian-style gardens, like those at other Timurid cities like Samarkand and Herat. Babur was a zealous gardener and personally designed and supervised at least ten gardens in his capital of Kabul in modern Afghanistan, such as the Bagh-e Babur, where he recorded the allure of the pomegranate, cherry and orange trees he had planted. Though his empire soon expanded as far as north-central India, he abhorred the stagnant heat and drab environment of the hot, dusty plains of India; he was thus interred at Bagh-e Babur in Kabul by his widow in 1544.
The Aram Bagh of Agra was the first of many Persian gardens he created in India itself. Mughal gardens have four basic requirements, symbolizing four allegorical essentials for the afterlife: shade, fruit, fragrance and running water, and this pattern was used to build many Persian gardens throughout the Indian subcontinent, such as the Shalimar Gardens of Lahore, the Shalimar Bagh and Nishat Bagh of Kashmir, and the Taj Mahal gardens. The Taj Mahal gardens embody the Persian concept of an ideal paradise garden, and were built with irrigation channels and canals from the Yamuna River. These gardens have recently been restored to their former beauty after decades of pollution by the Indian authorities, who cut down the fruit- and shade-bearing vegetation of the garden.
The Safavid dynasty (seventeenth to eighteenth century) built and developed grand and epic layouts that went beyond a simple extension to a palace and became an integral aesthetic and functional part of it. In the following centuries, European garden design began to influence Persia, particularly the designs of France, and secondarily that of Russia and the United Kingdom. Western influences led to changes in the use of water and the species used in bedding.
Traditional forms and style are still applied in modern Iranian gardens. They also appear in historic sites, museums and affixed to the houses of the rich.
Elements of the Persian garden
Chehel Sotoun pavilion and garden in Isfahan
Sunlight and its effects were an important factor of structural design in Persian gardens. Textures and shapes were specifically chosen by architects to harness the light.
Iran‘s dry heat makes shade important in gardens, which would be nearly unusable without it. Trees and trellises largely feature as biotic shade; pavilions and walls are also structurally prominent in blocking the sun.
The heat also makes water important, both in the design and maintenance of the garden. Irrigation may be required, and may be provided via a form of tunnel called a qanat, that transports water from a local aquifer. Well-like structures then connect to the qanat, enabling the drawing of water. Alternatively, an animal-driven Persian well would draw water to the surface. Such wheel systems also moved water around surface water systems, such as those in the chahar bāgh style. Trees were often planted in a ditch called a juy, which prevented water evaporation and allowed the water quick access to the tree roots.
The Persian style often attempts to integrate indoors with outdoors through the connection of a surrounding garden with an inner courtyard. Designers often place architectural elements such as vaulted arches between the outer and interior areas to open up the divide between them.
Descriptions
Shazdeh Garden is one of the largest gardens of Kerman Province.
An early description (from the first half of the fourth century BCE) of a Persian garden is found in Xenophon‘s Oeconomicus in which he has Socrates relate the story of the Spartan general Lysander‘s visit to the Persian prince Cyrus the Younger, who shows the Greek his “paradise at Sardis”. In this story Lysander is “astonished at the beauty of the trees within, all planted at equal intervals, the long straight rows of waving branches, the perfect regularity, the rectangular symmetry of the whole, and the many sweet scents which hung about them as they paced the park”
Fin Garden in Kashan
The oldest representational descriptions and illustrations of Persian gardens come from travelers who reached Iran from the west. These accounts include Ibn Battuta in the fourteenth century, Ruy González de Clavijo in the fifteenth century and Engelbert Kaempfer in the seventeenth century. Battuta and Clavijo made only passing references to gardens and did not describe their design, but Kaempfer made careful drawings and converted them into detailed engravings after his return to Europe. They show charbagh-type gardens that featured an enclosing wall, rectangular pools, an internal network of canals, garden pavilions and lush planting. There are surviving examples of this garden type at Yazd (Dowlatabad) and at Kashan (Fin Garden). The location of the gardens Kaempfer illustrated in Isfahan can be identified.
Styles
The six primary styles of the Persian garden may be seen in the following table, which puts them in the context of their function and style. Gardens are not limited to a particular style, but often integrate different styles, or have areas with different functions and styles.
Classical | Formal | Casual | |
Public | Hayāt | Meidān | Park |
Private | Hayāt | Chahār Bāgh | Bāgh |
Hayāt
Naghsh-i Jahan square, the charbagh Royal Square (Maidan) in Isfahan, constructed between 1598 and 1629
Sunset at Nishat Bagh Gardens
Publicly, it is a classical Persian layout with heavy emphasis on aesthetics over function. Man-made structures in the garden are particularly important, with arches and pools (which may be used to bathe). The ground is often covered in gravel flagged with stone. Plantings are typically very simple – such as a line of trees, which also provide shade.
Privately, these gardens are often pool-centred and, again, structural. The pool serves as a focus and source of humidity for the surrounding atmosphere. There are few plants, often due to the limited water available in urban areas.
Meidān
This is a public, formal garden that puts more emphasis on the biotic element than the hayāt and that minimises structure. Plants range from trees, to shrubs, to bedding plants, to grasses. Again, there are elements such as a pool and gravel pathways which divide the lawn. When structures are used, they are often built, as in the case of pavilions, to provide shade.
Chahar Bāgh
Main article: Charbagh
These gardens are private and formal. The basic structure consists of four quadrants divided by waterways or pathways. Traditionally, the rich used such gardens in work-related functions (such as entertaining ambassadors). These gardens balance structure with greenery, with the plants often around the periphery of a pool and path based structure.
Park
Much like many other parks, the Persian park serves a casual public function with emphasis on plant life. They provide pathways and seating, but are otherwise usually limited in terms of structural elements. The purpose of such places is relaxation and socialisation.
Bāgh
Main article: Bāgh (garden)
Like the other casual garden, the park, bāgh emphasizes the natural and green aspect of the garden. Unlike the park it is a private area often affixed to houses and often consisting of lawns, trees, and ground plants. The waterways and pathways stand out less than in the more formal counterparts and are largely functional. The primary function of such areas is familial relaxation.
World Heritage Sites
UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
---|---|
Location | Iran |
Includes | Ancient Garden of Pasargadae Bagh-e Eram Bagh-e Chehel Sotun Bagh-e Fin Bagh-e Abas Abad Bagh-e Shahzadeh Bagh-e Dolat Abad Bagh-e Pahlavanpur Bagh-e Akbariyeh |
Criteria | Cultural: (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (vi) |
Reference | 1372 |
Inscription | 2011 (35th session) |
Area | 716.35 ha (2.7658 sq mi) |
Buffer zone | 9,740.02 ha (37.6064 sq mi) |
- Pasargad Garden at Pasargadae, Iran (WHS 1372-001)
- Eram Garden, Shiraz, Iran (WHS 1372-002)
- Chehel Sotoun, Isfahan, Iran (WHS 1372-003)
- Fin Garden, Kashan, Iran (WHS 1372-004)
- Abbasabad Garden, Abbasabad, Mazandaran, Iran (WHS 1372-005)
- Shazdeh Garden, Mahan, Kerman Province, Iran (WHS 1372-006)
- Dolatabad Garden, Yazd, Iran (WHS 1372-007)
- Pahlevanpour Garden, Iran (WHS 1372-008)
- Akbarieh Garden, South Khorasan Province, Iran (WHS 1372-009)
- Taj Mahal, Agra, India (WHS 252)
- Humayun’s Tomb, New Delhi, India (WHS 232bis)
- Shalimar Gardens, Lahore, Pakistan (WHS 171-002)
- Gardens of Babur, Kabul, Afghanistan (WHS —)
- Generalife, Granada, Spain (WHS 314-001)
++++
GARDEN
MULTIPLE AUTHORS https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/garden-index
referring to a garden estate, intended primarily for pleasure, numerous gardens mentioned in historical texts are designated by name, either of the founder, or of the flora or fauna associated with them and Poetical names….
Read More: https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/garden-index
In Iranian agriculture, the word bāḡ, though usually translated as “garden,” means more precisely an enclosed area bearing permanent cultures—i.e., all kinds of cultivated trees and shrubs, as opposed to fields under annual crops (zamīn-e zīr-e kešt or kešt-e sālāna)—in land-use statistics (the Village Gazetteer of 1966) as well as in everyday speech. It includes orchards (bāḡ-e mīva), vineyards (bāḡ-e mow), olive groves (bāḡ-e zeytūn), tea plantations (bāḡ-e čāy), but not vegetable gardens (sabzīkārī or ṣayfīkārī).
++++
GOL O BOLBOL, rose and nightingale, a popular literary and decorative theme.
“rose and nightingale,” a popular literary and decorative theme. Together, rose and nightingale are the types of beloved and lover par excellence; the rose is beautiful, proud, and often cruel, while the nightingale sings endlessly of his longing and devotion.
From The Encyclopædia Iranica https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gol-o-bolbol
++++
Our Daily Bread For centuries Iran was known as Persia–the greatest empire the world had ever seen. But part of her story is often forgotten. Woven together in the Bible are prophecies and accounts of Persian kings, epic battles, and royal decrees that changed the world. And surprisingly to many, the Bible speaks of Persia as being chosen and favored for God’s grand purposes. In ‘Iran in the Bible,’ this remarkable story is told using ancient Persian texts, archaeological discoveries, and insights from scholars. What’s revealed is that both Persia and the Jewish people played a strategic role in the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham–the promise that through him God would bless the world. Showing how God is directly involved in history, ‘Iran in the Bible’ offers comfort to those living in a world of uncertainty.
+++++
Paradise is ideal garden or place with worldly limitation made by human.
Switzerland is perhaps the most magnificent destination in Europe that is mostly known as paradise of the earth.
This is what Emperor Jehangir is reported to have said soulfully about Kashmir -” If there is paradise on Earth, it is here, it is here, it is here.
Paradise means a heavenly beautiful place on this Earth.
But for the believer, Heaven refers to a place beyond the atmospheric limitation where the God resides.
A place regarded in various religions as the abode of God (or the gods) and the angels, and of the good after death, often traditionally depicted as being above the sky.
Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as God or gods, angels, spirits, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or live.
Heaven is where God is and paradise is something that can be on Earth.
Some people believe, is if anyone prays and tries to make earth like heaven above, or paradise on earth, be rewarded afterlife to be closer to God in Heaven above with forever joy and satisfaction, but always with love, forgiveness, bless and grace of God. Heaven is often described as a “highest place”, a Paradise, the holiest place, and universally or conditionally accessible by earthly beings according to various standards of divinity, goodness, piety, faith, or other virtues or right beliefs or simply divine will. Some believe in the possibility of a kingdom of heaven within on Earth.
Read more : https://wiki2.org/en/Heaven
But Paradise is for every one believer or not a believer in God or Heaven, specially for those like to make earth better place to live, for themself and everyone.
Paradise Garden of Persia around 2 to 5000 years ago, simply was garden with wall around, and the person with a family, water, animals, and knowledge to grow some kinds of foods safely and living there. First time after million years hunting and gathering with all dangers in the wilderness.
So garden with wall was, Ideal place for that time, specially the best and top big gardens.
++++
Paradise Plants Garden Centre & Landscape Design …
paradiseplantsgardencentre.com › paradise-plants
Paradise Plants Garden Centre, Garden Center, Comox Valley, Courtenay, Comox. Landscaping, Landscape Design, Landscapers install irrigation, sprinklers, ..
++++
Paradise Park Resort – Old Orchard Beach Maineparadiseparkresort.com
At Paradise Park Resort you can enjoy camping in our tranquil country setting, and be within walking distance of the beautiful 7 miles of golden sandy beaches.
++++
The Paradise Gardens of Persia
From Iran Review by Hedieh Ghavidel
For the ancient Persians the symbol of eternal life was a tree with a stream at its roots. The sacred miracle tree contained the seeds of all within itself.
Tree planting was a sacred occupation and this reverence was deeply seated in the souls of the Persians.
Historical accounts tell us about gardens named Paradise filled with all things fair and good that the earth can bring forth.
The Persian Paradise garden gets its name from the old Persian word pairadaeza, meaning an enclosed area. The Achaemenid idea of an earthly paradise eventually infiltrated other cultures and was later translated into Latin as hortus conclusus, the enclosed garden, which came to symbolize the Garden of Eden.
Subsequently the English word paradise has its roots in the old Persian word pairadaeza.
The first writer to make reference to a Persian garden using the word “paradise” was the Greek narrator Xenophon. The word appears in Avestan text only in the form of Pairadaeza.
The Old Testament describes Pleasure gardens as sacred enclosures rising in terraces planted with trees and shrubs, forming an artificial hill such as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
Not only were palaces and temples enclosed within gardens, but every city had private and sometimes public gardens which were opened to all during Persian New Year celebrations.
Persian gardens were places where shade and cool water could be privately enjoyed. They were places of spiritual solace, meeting places for friends and formal adjuncts to the houses or palaces they surrounded.
For more than three thousand years, the Persian garden has been the focus of Iranian imagination, influencing the country’s art as well as literature.
Persian garden carpet |
The lavish use of flowers in such gardens inspired the weaving of floral designs into what are known as garden-carpets.
Persian gardens influenced garden design around the world and became the foundation of Islamic and later European garden traditions, an example of which can be seen in the Mughal gardens of India namely the Taj Mahal in Agra.
The paved and tiled Andalusian courtyards with arcades, pools and fountains testify to their Persian roots.
It is reputed that the main design for the Versailles Gardens has replicated the outlines of the paradise gardens of Pasargadae and provided inspiration for the gardens of the Louvre.
The remains of a garden pavilion, Pasargadae |
According to historical accounts, paradise gardens were primarily hunting-parks with fruit-trees grown for food. The bronze works datable to 1000 BCE unearthed in Luristan province are adorned with trees next to streams.
The first excavations at the ruins of the palaces in Persepolis ignored the question of gardens and neglected Garden Archaeology, the scientific study of the physical evidence of gardens recovered through excavation.
However, palaces scattered according to no rule and raised above three terraces with large open stairways brought to the mind of Garden archaeologists the simplest form of Persian garden; a rectangle of water, with enough of a flow to give it life and movement, and a raised platform to view it from.
An example of a Chahar Bagh water channel, Pasargadae |
Further excavation in Pasargadae led to the discovery of the first monumental garden, at least in western Asia, securing a place for Persian gardens in the history of garden design.
Archaeologists discovered that the four-fold garden accords with the traditional Persian garden plan known today as Chahar Bagh.
Considering the fact that the Achaemenid monarch Cyrus was known as the “King of the Four Quarters”, it can be asserted that later-day Persian gardens owed their origins to the novel garden plan of Cyrus.
The Chahar Bagh plan is a quadrangular/rectangular canal pattern in which waterways or pathways are used to quarter the garden, a layout intended to bring to mind the four rivers of the Garden of Eden.
All Persian gardens have vertical lines in their design, a central structure built on the highest point of the garden, a main waterway, a large pool in front of the structure to reflect the building, and a close relationship with nature.
Earth, water, vegetation and atmosphere are the most important elements in paradise gardens. Underground water canals called Qanat irrigated the gardens which were often built on slopes to facilitate the natural flow of water or create artificial waterfalls.
Trees and flowers are planted in gardens based on their usefulness; therefore, a Persian garden has more fruit trees, then shade trees and finally flowers.
Achaemenid inscriptions bear witness to the importance of symmetrical designs in Persian gardens. The Chahar Bagh School stresses the necessity of planting trees and flowers in regular rows.
Fruit trees bring to mind rebirth and spring; strictly aligned sycamore trees, the symbol of eternal life, provide shade while roses, jasmines and other flowers intoxicate with their heavenly scent.
The most basic feature of a Persian garden is the enclosure of the cultivated area, which excludes the wildness of nature, includes the tended greenery of the garden and makes elaborate use of water in canals, ponds, rills and sometimes fountains.
A recurring theme in many paradise gardens is the contrast between the formal garden layout and the informality provided by free-growing plants.
Persians placed great importance on having their tombs surrounded by woodlands and gardens. According to historical accounts, the tomb of Cyrus the Great was enclosed by four gardens and a grove.
This tradition has continued to the present time and can be seen at the graves of prominent Iranian figures such as the poets Hafez and Sa’di in Shiraz.
The resting place of Hafiz, Shiraz, Iran |
The resting place of Hafiz, a famous tourism hub, pleases the eyes of visitors with its cypresses, poplars, cedars flowering shrubs and rose bushes.
Persian gardens are pleasances of water, meadow, trees and flowers in which buildings take a subordinate position.
To this day, the size and beauty of these gardens continues to amaze visitors sitting under the shade of cypress trees to enjoy looking at the sky reflected in the central pool while taking in the sweet aroma of beautiful flowers.
Read more: http://www.iranreview.org/content/Documents/The_Paradise_Gardens_of_Persia.htm
Source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=54141§ionid=3510304
++++
Paradise garden
Read more: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia or https://wiki2.org/en/Paradise_garden
The paradise garden is a form of garden of Old Iranian origin, specifically Achaemenid which is formal, symmetrical and most often, enclosed. The most traditional form is a rectangular garden split into four quarters with a pond in the center, a four-fold design called chahar bagh (“four gardens”). One of the most important elements of paradise gardens is water with ponds, canals, rills, and fountains all being common features. Scent is an essential element with fruit-bearing trees and flowers selected for their fragrance.
It is also often referred to as an Islamic garden. The form of garden spread throughout Egypt and the Mediterranean during the Muslim Arabic conquests, reaching as far as India and Spain.
Etymology
Originally denominated by a single noun denoting “a walled-in compound or garden“, from “pairi” (“around”) and “daeza” or “diz” (“wall”, “brick”, or “shape”), philosopher and historian Xenophon of Athens translated the Persian pairidaeza into the Greek paradeisos.[2]:8 This term is used for the Garden of Eden in Greek translations of the Old Testament.[2]:8
In Persian, the word pardis means both paradise and garden.[2]:8
The idea of the enclosed garden is often referred to as the paradise garden because of additional Indo-European connotations of “paradise”.
History
The oldest Persian garden of which there are records belonged to Cyrus the Great, in his capital at Pasargadae in the province of Fars to the north of Shiraz. It is the oldest intact layout that suggests elements of the paradise garden.[2]:7 Likely planted with cypress, pomegranate and cherry, the garden had a geometrical plan and stone watercourses. These watercourses formed the principal axis and secondary axes of the main garden at Pasargadae, prefiguring the four-fold design of the chahar bagh.[2]:8 In the Achaemenid Empire, gardens contained fruit trees and flowers, including the lily and rose. In 330 BC Alexander the Great saw the tomb of Cyrus the Great and recorded that it stood in an irrigated grove of trees.[3]
It is believed that the Achaemenid kings built paradise gardens within enclosed royal hunting parks, a tradition inherited from the Assyrians, for whom the ritual lion hunt was a rite that authenticated kingship. The Assyrians in turn had inherited their landscaping techniques from the Babylons.
The four-fold layout was later reinterpreted in Islamic terms by Muslim Arabs after the 7th-century conquest of Persia, becoming associated with the Abrahamic concept of paradise and the Garden of Eden. Genesis 2:10 reads, “And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.”[4] and the Prophet Muhammad spoke of four rivers: of water, milk, wine and honey.[5]
By the 13th century the gardens had spread with Islam throughout Egypt, Mediterranean north Africa and into Spain. This style of garden came into India during the 16th century in the reign of Prince Babur, the first Emperor of the Mughal Empire.[2]:9 Most Mughal gardens came to have a tomb or pavilion in the centre, the most famous of which is the Taj Mahal although with the decline of the Mughal Empire and British colonial rule, the original garden has been substantially changed.[6]
Features
The essential plan of a paradise garden is a four-fold layout (charbagh) with a pond or fountain in the centre. Later designs incorporated a pavilion or mausoleum when they began to develop into elaborate status symbols. The rectangular or rectilinear design is typically quartered by water channels made using the ancient qanat system.
An important and common feature is the elaborate use of water, often in canals, ponds, or rills, sometimes in fountains, and less often in waterfalls. This created the soothing sound of running water and also had the practical purpose of cooling the air.
Aromatic flowers and fruit-bearing trees are quintessential elements. The ground where the flora were planted was sunken or the walkways raised so that passers-by would be able to easily pluck fresh fruit as they walked throughout the garden. Olive, fig, date and pomegranate were ubiquitous and symbolically important. Orange trees arrived from India via the Silk Road by the 11th century and were incorporated for their fragrance and the beauty of their flowers.[7]
They are typically enclosed by high walls providing shade and protection, especially desirable in the harsh, arid climate where this type of garden flourished.
Interpretation
Much of the use and symbolism of the paradise garden is thought to have derived from the Garden of Eden, despite most elements of the design pre-dating the Abrahamic religions.
The four-fold design appears to echo the Garden of Eden, which in the Book of Genesis is described as having a central spring that feeds four rivers, which each flow out into the world beyond. In the Quran, the Garden is described as being abundant with material delights including delicious foods and constantly flowing water.
Having emerged in the desert, the thirst and gratitude for water are abundant in Islamic traditions. In the Quran, rivers are the primary constituents of the paradise, and references to rain and fountains abound. In the Quran 31:30: “God preferred water over any other created thing and made it the basis of creation, as He said: ‘And We made every living thing of water’.”
Water is associated with the virtues of purity and obedience: “Then the water was told, ‘Be still’. And it was still, awaiting God‘s command. This is implied water, which contains neither impurity nor foam” (Tales of the Prophets, al-Kisa’).
Although the concept of chahar bagh gardens representing ‘paradise on earth’ predates the Islamic adoption of the style, the paradisaical retreats of the Persians became known as “the embodiment of the celestial paradise promised to a practicing Muslim”.[2]:11 Gardens representing paradise on earth or paradise gardens spread throughout the Muslim-conquered world and developed into different, grander and more elaborate styles.
Influence
The paradise garden is one of the few original and fundamental kinds of garden from which all gardens in history derive, sometimes in combinations. In its simplest form, the paradise garden consists of a formal, rectangular pool, having a flow just sufficient to give it movement, and a dais from which to observe it. However, a pavilion provides more permanent shelter than the original tent. Strictly aligned, formally arranged trees, especially the chenar or Platanus, provide shade.
Many of the Islamic horticultural traditions and later European traditions derive from that of the paradise garden. Examples of the paradise garden and its derivations are present in many of the historic gardens of Islamic and European nations. In the east, by way of the Persian garden it gave rise to the Mughal gardens of India, a late example of which is the garden of the Taj Mahal in Agra. In the farthest west, it informed the paved and tiled courtyards, arcades, and pools and fountains of Moorish Andalusia. The fundamental design of the Gardens of Versailles in France almost replicates the paradise gardens of Pasargad, and the gardens of the Louvre in Paris appear inspired by them. Another example is the Bahá’í Terraces and Mansion of Bahjí on Mount Carmel in Israel, both of which have extensive gardens of intricate design.
Read more: https://wiki2.org/en/Paradise_garden
Charbagh
Read more: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia or https://wiki2.org/en/Charbagh
see Chahar Bagh.See also: Persian Gardens, Bagh (garden)
Layout of the Charbagh at the Tomb of Jahangir in Lahore
See also: Persian Gardens, Bagh (garden), and Paradise garden
Layout of the Charbagh at the Tomb of Jahangir in Lahore
Babur celebrates the birth of Humayun in the charbagh of Kabul
Charbagh on an incomplete Persian “garden carpet”, 17th century
Charbagh or Chahar Bagh (Persian: چھار باغ chahār bāgh, Hindi: चारबाग़ chārbāgh, Urdu: چار باغ chār bāgh, meaning “four gardens”) is a Persian and Indo-Persian quadrilateral garden layout based on the four gardens of Paradise mentioned in the Qur’an. The quadrilateral garden is divided by walkways or flowing water into four smaller parts.[1] They are found in countries throughout Western Asia and South Asia, including Iran and India.
Concept
The quadrilateral Charbagh concept is interpreted as the four gardens of Paradise mentioned in Chapter (Surah) 55, Ar-Rahman “The Beneficient”, in the Qur’an:
And for him, who fears to stand before his Lord, are two gardens. (Chapter 55: Verse 46)
And beside them are two other gardens. (Chapter 55: Verse 62)
One of the hallmarks of Charbagh garden is the four-part garden laid out with axial paths that intersect at the garden’s centre. This highly structured geometrical scheme, called the chahar bagh, became a powerful method for the organization and domestication of the landscape, itself a symbol of political territory.[3]
Famous Charbagh gardens
Naghsh-i Jahan square, the charbagh Royal Square (Maidan) in Isfahan, constructed between 1598 and 1629
The Chahrbagh-e Abbasi (or Charbagh Avenue) in Isfahan, Iran, built by Shah Abbas the Great in 1596, and the garden of the Taj Mahal in India are the most famous examples of this style. In the Charbagh at the Taj Mahal, each of the four parts contains sixteen flower beds.
In India, the Char Bagh concept in imperial mausoleums is seen in Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi in a monumental scale. Humayan’s father was the Central Asian Conqueror Babur who succeeded in laying the basis for the Mughal dynasty in the Indian Subcontinent and became the first Mughal emperor. The tradition of paradise garden brought to India by the Mughals, originally from Central Asia, which is found at Babur‘s tomb, Bagh-e Babur, in Kabul.[4]
This tradition gave birth to the Mughal gardens design and displayed its high form in the Taj Mahal — built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, the great, great, grandson of the Central Asian Conqueror Babur, as a tomb for his favourite Indian wife Mumtaz Mahal, in Agra, India. Unlike most such tombs, the mausoleum is not in the centre of the garden, however archaeological excavations have revealed another garden opposite indicating that historically the mausoleum was centered as in tomb garden tradition.[5] The garden features Italian cypress trees (Cupressus sempervirens) that symbolize death. Fruit trees in the garden symbolize life. The garden attracts many birds, which are considered one of the features of the garden.
In Pakistan, the Mughal Shalimar Gardens and the garden in the Tomb of Jehangir in Lahore are based on the Charbagh concept.
Contemporary
A charbagh is located on the roof top of the Ismaili Centre in South Kensington, London.[6] The Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat, located on Sussex Drive in the Canadian capital Ottawa, Ontario contains a charbagh in a modern setting. The Ismaili Center and Aga Khan Museum in Toronto features a modern interpretation of a charbagh between the buildings.
Read more: https://wiki2.org/en/Charbagh
++++
Related Links:
+++++++++
221 Best Persian Paradise Gardens images in 2020 …
www.pinterest.co.uk › robingoss8 ›
Explore Deborah Sutton’s board “Persian Paradise Gardens“, followed by 244 people on Pinterest. See more ideas about Paradise garden, …
The Persian Garden has its roots in history. The Persian Garden is the simple of heaven and the elements installed there all create a sense of value and beauty to the place. In this video we visit Tehran’s Persian Garden and learn more about this unique place.
+++
++++
++++
++++
++++
++++
How the World’s Best Rose Water Is Made Great Big Story You’ve probably spritzed rose water on your face, or drank rose water tea. It’s trendy now, though the aromatic liquid has been a staple for centuries in the Middle East. The world’s best rose water is made by experts like Moshen Ghaffari in Iran’s Qamsar District. The soil content, sea level, temperature and gentle winds make the area perfect for growing roses. Moshen’s family uses copper pots to produce “double-fired” rose water. How many freshly-picked flowers does it take to make one liter? The answer might surprise you.
+++++
This is the World’s Most Expensive Spice |National Geographic
Discover how this region in northern Iran produces the world’s most expensive spice.
Do you know what the world’s most expensive spice is? Known for its distinct flavor and ability to give food a golden yellow color, saffron is a highly-prized spice that is primarily produced in northern Iran. It comes from the stigmas of crocus flowers that thrive under the region’s dry climate. Knowledge of saffron’s intricate cultivation that has been passed in Iran from generation to generation. Besides cooking, saffron is also used in traditional medicine to treat cardiovascular issues and for possible cancer prevention.
About National Geographic: National Geographic is the world’s premium destination for science, exploration, and adventure. Through their world-class scientists, photographers, journalists, and filmmakers, Nat Geo gets you closer to the stories that matter and past the edge of what’s possible.
IRANIAN SAFFRON saffronirani PURE & HIGH QUALITY IRANIAN SAFFRON
Saffron Flower from Iran and all around the world
Best 100 Saffron Flower Information, Books, Products and Recipes plus lots of Promotional Contents, Free for all Visitors http://4seasonsgardensplus.com/saffron-flower/
Saffron: A Global History (Edible)
by Ramin Ganeshram | Sep 27, 2020 Hardcover$19.95
Explore the dramatic history of the world’s most expensive spice in Saffron: A Global History. Literally worth their weight in gold, sunset-red saffron threads are prized internationally. Saffron can be found in cave art in Mesopotamia, in the frescoes of ancient Santorini, in the dyed wrappings of Egyptian mummies, in the saffron-hued robes of Buddhist monks, and in unmistakable dishes around the world. It has been the catalyst for trade wars as well as smuggling schemes and used in medicine and cosmetics. Complete with delicious recipes and surprising anecdotes, this book traces the many paths taken by saffron, revealing the allure of a spice sought globally by merchants, chefs, artists, scientists, clerics, traders, warriors, and black-market smugglers.
++++
The Saffron Tales: Recipes From The Persian Kitchen
by Yasmin Khan | Sep 27, 2016Hardcover$37.00
++++
Saffron (Crocus sativus): Production and Processing
by M Kafi, A. Koocheki, et al. | Jan 4, 2006$87.95
Saffron is a precious spice which is mainly grown in Iran, India, Spain, Greece, Italy, Pakistan, Morocco, and central Asian countries. Until recently, saffron was perceived only for its value as a spice. However, with recent research findings pointing to the medicinal properties of saffron such as its antimicrobial, anticarcinogenic and antioxidant effects, interest in this plant has increased. The book presents a comprehensive account of saffron which includes the historical background, acerage underproduction, yield and applications, botanical ecophysiology, production technology, irrigation, pests, diseases and weeds, genetics, sterility, reproduction and production of secondary metabolites by in vitro method, economic aspects, indigenous knowledge in saffron production, processing, chemical composition and quality control, and research strategies.
++++
Altaj Crown 100% Spanish Saffron 1 Oz (28.30 Grams) 1 Ounce (Pack Of 1)$49.99
++++
Saffron Capsules With 88.50 Mg Of Saffron Extract. Supplement Contains 180 Capsules. Powerful Antioxidant Provides Mood Boost, Heart And Eye Health Support. High Quality Crocus Sativus Plant Extract. 180 Count (Pack Of 1)$23.00
++++
+++
++++
++++
++++
Pistachio
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia or https://wiki2.org/en/Pistachio
The pistachio a member of the cashew family, is a small tree originating from Central Asia and the Middle East. The tree produces seeds that are widely consumed as food.
As of 2017, Iran accounted for over half the world’s production of pistachios.
Pistacia vera (Kerman cultivar) fruits ripening
Roasted pistachio seed with shell
History
The pistachio tree is native to regions of Central Asia, including present-day Iran and Afghanistan.[4][5][6] Archaeology shows that pistachio seeds were a common food as early as 6750 BCE.[7] The modern pistachio P. vera was first cultivated in Bronze Age Central Asia, where the earliest example is from Djarkutan, modern Uzbekistan.
Pistachio nuts from Persia
Pistachio production, 2018 | |
---|---|
Country | (tonnes) |
Iran | 551,307 |
United States | 447,700 |
Turkey | 240,000 |
China | 74,828 |
Syria | 43,299 |
World | 1,390,269 |
Source: FAOSTAT of the United Nations |
Consumption
Pistachio Turkish delight
The kernels are often eaten whole, either fresh or roasted and salted, and are also used in pistachio ice cream, kulfi, spumoni, pistachio butter,[27][28] pistachio paste[29] and confections such as baklava, pistachio chocolate,[30] pistachio halva,[31] pistachio lokum or biscotti and cold cuts such as mortadella. Americans make pistachio salad, which includes fresh pistachios or pistachio pudding, whipped cream, and canned fruit.
Nutrition
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz) | |
---|---|
Energy | 2,351 kJ (562 kcal) |
Carbohydrates | 27.51 g |
Sugars | 7.66 g |
Dietary fiber | 10.3 g |
Fat | 45.39 g |
Saturated | 5.556 g |
Monounsaturated | 23.820 g |
Polyunsaturated | 13.744 g |
Protein | 20.27 g |
Vitamins | Quantity%DV† |
Vitamin A equiv.lutein zeaxanthin | 1205 μg |
Thiamine (B1) | 76%0.87 mg |
Riboflavin (B2) | 13%0.160 mg |
Niacin (B3) | 9%1.300 mg |
Pantothenic acid (B5) | 10%0.52 mg |
Vitamin B6 | 131%1.700 mg |
Folate (B9) | 13%51 μg |
Vitamin C | 7%5.6 mg |
Vitamin D | 0%0 μg |
Vitamin E | 15%2.3 mg |
Vitamin K | 13%13.2 μg |
Minerals | Quantity%DV† |
Calcium | 11%105 mg |
Iron | 30%3.92 mg |
Magnesium | 34%121 mg |
Manganese | 57%1.2 mg |
Phosphorus | 70%490 mg |
Potassium | 22%1025 mg |
Zinc | 23%2.2 mg |
Other constituents | Quantity |
Water | 4 g |
Link to USDA database entry | |
Unitsμg = micrograms • mg = milligramsIU = International units | |
†Percentages are roughly approximated using US recommendations for adults. Source: USDA Nutrient Database |
Raw pistachios are 4% water, 45% fat, 28% carbohydrates, and 20% protein (table). In a 100 gram reference amount, pistachios provide 562 calories and are a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value or DV) of protein, dietary fiber, several dietary minerals, and the B vitamins, thiamin (76% DV) and vitamin B6 (131% DV) (table). Pistachios are a moderate source (10–19% DV) of calcium, riboflavin, vitamin B5, folate, vitamin E, and vitamin K (table).
The fat profile of raw pistachios consists of saturated fats, monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. Saturated fatty acids include palmitic acid (10% of total) and stearic acid (2%). Oleic acid is the most common monounsaturated fatty acid (51% of total fat) and linoleic acid, a polyunsaturated fatty acid, is 31% of total fat. Relative to other tree nuts, pistachios have a lower amount of fat and calories but higher amounts of potassium, vitamin K, γ-tocopherol, and certain phytochemicals such as carotenoids, and phytosterols.
Research and health effects
In July 2003, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved the first qualified health claim specific to consumption of seeds (including pistachios) to lower the risk of heart disease: “Scientific evidence suggests but does not prove that eating 1.5 ounces (42.5 g) per day of most nuts, such as pistachios, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease”. Although a typical serving of pistachios supplies substantial calories (nutrition table), their consumption in normal amounts is not associated with weight gain or obesity.
Pistachio consumption appears to modestly lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure in persons without diabetes mellitus.
Read more: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
++++
++++
Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org › wiki › Category:Iranian_inventions
100’s of “Iranian inventions“. The following 116 pages are in this category
++++
++++
++++
In 1961, England’s Queen Elizabeth II paid a state visit to homeland where she and Prince Philip were hosted by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi at Isfahan, capital and Persepolis. Elizabeth returned for another visit in 1975. He was the second and last monarch of the House of Pahlavi of the persian monarchy.
++++
+++++
Caviar From Wikipedia https://wiki2.org/en/Caviar
Caviar (also known as caviare; from Persian: خاویار, is a food consisting of salt-cured roe of the family Acipenseridae. Caviar is considered a delicacy and is eaten as a garnish or a spread. Iran is a substantial producer of caviar. Iranian caviar is collected from sturgeons near Bandar Torkaman.
Russian and Iranian caviar tins: Beluga to the left, Ossetra in middle, Sevruga to the right
Caviar substitutes
++++
Cucumber From Wikipedia https://wiki2.org/en/Cucumber
Persian cucumbers, which are mini, seedless, and slightly sweet, are available from Canada during the summer, and all year-round in the US. Easy to cut and peel, they are 10–18 cm (4–7 in) long, on average. They are commonly eaten chopped up in plain yogurt with mint, or sliced thin and long with salt and lemon juice.
++++
+++++
In this series, Monty travels across the Islamic world and beyond in search of paradise gardens.
Monty Don begins his exploration in Spain, where he discovers the basic building blocks of paradise gardens at the Alhambra. In Morocco, he learns about the wide variety of these gardens, and in Iran he sees the influence of the gardens of old Persia, and visits some of the most.
Monty Don’s Paradise Gardens ep.2
Monty Don’s Paradise Gardens ep.2 continues his quest to uncover the secrets of paradise gardens. Having mastered their basic building blocks in Spain, Morocco and Iran, Monty sets out to explore the wide variety of gardens offering a slightly different vision of Paradise. In Turkey Monty is dazzled by an extraordinary display of the Ottoman Empire’s favourite flower – the tulip – and learns of its sacred significance. At Topkapi palace, the heart of this vast Eastern empire he learns how this sacred value was extended to all plants, landscapes and even panoramic views in a way that created gardens that rejoiced in nature.
++++
Around the World in 80 Gardens is a television series of 10 programmes in which British gardener and broadcaster Monty Don visits 80 of the world’s most celebrated gardens. The series was filmed over a period of 18 months and was first broadcast on BBC Two at 9.00pm on successive Sundays from 27 January to 30 March 2008. A book based on the series was also published.
++++
Shiraz
Read more From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://wiki2.org/en/Shiraz
Shiraz Persian: شیراز, is the fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars Province also known as Pars (پارس, Pārs) and Persis (Persia). At the 2016 census, the population of the city was 1,869,001 and its built-up area with “Shahr-e Jadid-e Sadra” (Sadra New Town) was home to 1,565,572 inhabitants. Shiraz is located in the southwest of Iran on the “Rudkhaneye Khoshk” (The Dry River) seasonal river. It has a moderate climate and has been a regional trade center for over a thousand years. Shiraz is one of the oldest cities of ancient Persia.
The earliest reference to the city, as Tiraziš, is on Elamite clay tablets dated to 2000 BC. The modern city was founded or restored by the Umayyads in 693 and grew prominent under the successive Iranian Saffarid and Buyid dynasties in the 9th and 10th–11th centuries, respectively. In the 13th century, Shiraz became a leading center of the arts and letters, due to the encouragement of its ruler and the presence of many Persian scholars and artists. It was the capital of Persia during the Zand dynasty from 1750 until 1800. Two famous poets of Iran, Hafez, and Saadi are from Shiraz, whose tombs are on the north side of the current city boundaries.
Shiraz is known as the city of poets, literature, wine (despite Iran being an Islamic republic since 1979), and flowers. It is also considered by many Iranians to be the city of gardens, due to the many gardens and fruit trees that can be seen in the city, for example, Eram Garden. Shiraz has had major Jewish and Christian communities. The crafts of Shiraz consist of inlaid mosaic work of triangular design; silver-ware; pile carpet-weaving and weaving of kilim, called gilim and jajim in the villages and among the tribes
Clockwise from top: Skyline of Shiraz, Tomb of Saadi, Shah Cheragh shrine, Nasir ol Molk Mosque, Eram Garden, Karim Khan Citadel and Tomb of Hafez.
++++
Persian language From Wikipedia https://wiki2.org/en/Persian_language
Persian, also known by its Farsi (فارسی, Fārsī, [fɒːɾˈsiː], is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages.
It is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and used officially within Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan in three mutually intelligible standard varieties, namely Iranian Persian, Dari Persian (officially named Dari since 1958) and Tajiki Persian. It is also spoken natively in the Tajik variety by a significant population within Uzbekistan, as well as within other regions with a Persianate history in the cultural sphere of Greater Iran. It is written officially within Iran and Afghanistan in the Persian alphabet, a derivation of the Arabic script, and within Tajikistan in the Tajik alphabet, a derivation of Cyrillic.
The Persian language is a continuation of Middle Persian, the official religious and literary language of the Sasanian Empire (224–651 CE), itself a continuation of Old Persian, which was used in the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BC). It originated in the region of Fars (Persia) in southwestern Iran. Its grammar is similar to that of many European languages
Persian has left a considerable influence on its neighboring languages, including other Iranian languages, the Turkic languages, Armenian, Georgian and the Indo-Aryan languages (especially Urdu). It also exerted some influence on Arabic,[21] while borrowing vocabulary from it under medieval Arab rule. The Persian language was the chosen official language for bureaucracy even among those who were not native speakers, for example the Turks in the Ottoman Empire, or the Pashtuns in Afghanistan who preferred it over their native tongue Pashto before the 20th century.
There are approximately 110 million Persian speakers worldwide, including Persians, Tajiks, Hazaras, Caucasian Tats and Aimaqs. Read more: https://wiki2.org/en/Persian_language
Persian literature (Persian: ادبیات فارسی, Adabiyâte fârsi, pronounced [ʔædæbiːˌjɒːte fɒːɾˈsiː]) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world’s oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources have been within Greater Iran including present-day Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Caucasus, and Turkey, regions of Central Asia (such as Tajikistan) and South Asia where the Persian language has historically been either the native or official language. For example, Rumi, one of the best-loved Persian poets, born in Balkh (in modern-day Afghanistan) or Wakhsh (in modern-day Tajikistan), wrote in Persian and lived in Konya (in modern-day Turkey), at that time the capital of the Seljuks in Anatolia. The Ghaznavids conquered large territories in Central and South Asia and adopted Persian as their court language. There is thus Persian literature from Iran, Mesopotamia, Azerbaijan, the wider Caucasus, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Tajikistan and other parts of Central Asia. Not all Persian literature is written in Persian, as some consider works written by ethnic Persians or Iranians in other languages, such as Greek and Arabic, to be included. At the same time, not all literature written in Persian is written by ethnic Persians or Iranians, as Turkic, Caucasian, and Indic poets and writers have also used the Persian language in the environment of Persianate cultures.
A scene from the Shahnameh describing the valour of Rustam
William Shakespeare referred to Iran as the “land of the Sophy”. Some of Persia’s best-beloved medieval poets were Sufis, and their poetry was, and is, widely read by Sufis from Morocco to Indonesia.
The influence of Persian literature on world literature notable , and also, described as one of the great literatures of humanity.
Read more: https://wiki2.org/en/Persian_literature
List of Persian poets and authors Read all: From Wikipedia https://wiki2.org/en/List_of_Persian_poets_and_authors
The list is not comprehensive, but is continuously being expanded and includes Persian writers and poets from Iran, Afghanistan,Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. This list is alphabetized by chronological order.
++++
++++
++++
Gardens of Persia by Penelope Hobhouse , Erica Hunningher Paperback$140.00
A distinguished chronicle of the Persian garden that explores its profound spiritual, historical, and virtually unacknowledged influence on the development of Western garden design in the 21st century.Gardens of Persia demonstrates world-renowned author Penelope Hobhouse’s rare ability to combine meticulous research and a practical knowledge of gardens and plants with a love of garden history and travel. By telling the story of the development of gardens throughout the Persian culture’s 5,000-year-old history, she imparts a passionate view of the Persian paradise garden as a model for today’s gardeners.
Buildings, water, and plants combine to give the gardens of Persia a beautiful spiritual quality that has served to inspire garden design across time and diverse cultures. Indeed, Ms. Hobhouse begins with the oldest living garden, Pasargadae, created by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. It represented paradise on earth and spawned other gardens to be seen as settings for sacred contemplation and spiritual nourishment. In later centuries, these gardens evolved further around the world as representations for romance, power, prestige, and symbols of the afterlife.
Gardens of Persia is beautifully illustrated with Jerry Harpur’s specially commissioned photographs of Persian gardens as well as with similarly inspired ones from around the world, and with lovely images of sumptuous carpets and Persian miniatures. Full-color photographs throughout
++++
Flowers from a Persian Garden and Other Papers W. A. Clouston Paperback$16.95
The smiling Garden of Persian Literature”: a Garden which I would describe, in the Eastern style, as a happy spot, where lavish Nature with profusion strews the most fragrant and blooming flowers, where the most delicious fruits abound, which is ever vocal with the plaintive melancholy of the nightingale, who, during day and night, “tunes her love-laboured song”: … where the voice of Wisdom is often heard uttering her moral sentence, or delivering the dictates of experience.—Sir W. Ouseley.
+++
Iran has opened possibly the world’s biggest bookstore
21 Jul 2017
- John McKennaSenior Writer, Formative Content
In a country where literary censorship is official government policy, the fact that Iran has opened what could be the world’s biggest bookstore is all the more astonishing.
Located in the Abbasabad Hills in the north-east of the Iranian capital, the Tehran Book Garden was officially opened in July.
Its opening was described by Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf as “a big cultural event in the country so that our children can make better use of this cultural and academic opportunity”.
The Book Garden hosts bookshops, an art gallery and 10 theatres and amphitheatres.
It also has a dedicated section for children and young adults that houses age-appropriate literature and offers a variety of activities aimed at encouraging reading.
According to Newsweek, more than 400,000 titles are available for children.
World beater?
Construction of the Tehran Book Garden was completed in 2016. It occupies a 110,000 square-metre site within the Abbasabad Complex, which also includes the Sacred Defence Garden Museum and the National Library and Archives of Iran.
The internal space hosting its bookstores, galleries and theatres measures 65,000 square metres.
If all of this indoor space is counted, then the book garden easily wins the title of the world’s largest bookstore.
The current Guinness world record holder is the Barnes & Noble Bookstore on Fifth Avenue, New York City. However, this US store, less than a quarter of the size of the Tehran Book Garden, closed its doors to customers in 2014.
Easing censorship
The Book Garden was first proposed back in 2004, due to the popularity of the Tehran International Book Fair showing a clear appetite among Iranians to both read and discuss books.
Following decades of literary censorship, Iran today is a country of 78 million people with just 1500 book shops.
In previous years publishers have been known to be banned and books confiscated at the book fair.
However, when Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spent time speaking with avant-garde publishers at the book fair in 2015, some believed it was a sign that restrictions on what could and could not be published within the Islamic Republic were being loosened.
The Financial Times credits the centrist government of president Hassan Rouhani with allowing Iran to be more culturally open.
Previously banned novels such as Tracy Chevalier’s Girl With a Pearl Earring, To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway, and Dostoevsky’s The Gambler have all in recent years been published in Farsi.
Equally, the length of time it takes to vet books has shortened from several years to a few months.
However, censorship remains in place.
Despite the Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance claiming that 8,000 books had been published in 2016, it last year introduced a new series of bans to counter a “Western cultural onslaught”.
Mohammad Selgi, head of book publishing at the ministry, said words such as wine, the names of foreign animals and pets, and names of certain foreign presidents were banned from publication.
These latest censures come in addition to a series of bans on Iranian authors introduced by the government of previous president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Books banned include Mahmoud Dowlatabadi’s prize-winning novel The Colonel, which takes a critical look at the fallout from the Islamic Revolution of 1979.ShareLicense and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.Written by
John McKenna, Senior Writer, Formative Content
+++++
See more : Iran Mall Public Library
(کتابخانه ایران مال)
++++
Persian Gardens & Garden Pavilions by Donald N. Wilber
Hardcover from $69.99 Kindle$9.99
This Persian gardening book showcases classic gardens and pavilions and presents gardening advice for the aspiring amateur landscaper looking to add an Eastern flair to his or her yard.
The garden has always had a special meaning for Persian (Iran). The Persian garden, with its flowing pools, fountains, waterways, rows of tall trees, rich arrays of fruit trees and flowers, and cool pavilions, has represented an image of paradise.
Persian Gardens & Garden Pavilions is both a comprehensive survey and an appreciation of this Persian tradition of gardens and garden pavilions. The text traces the historical development of Persian gardens, describes their basic features, presents existing examples, and discusses the literature and tradition behind them.
+++++
For more than three thousand years, the Persian garden has been a focus of Iran’s national imagination, influencing its art, literature, and even religion. The Persian garden’s inspirational role has, however, extended far beyond the land of its origin; its precepts have exerted a profound influence on garden design around the world. The Persian Garden: Echoes of Paradise chronicles the history of the Persian garden, from the magnificent sanctuaries and hunting parks of fifth-century b.c. Persepolis to the magical nightingale gardens of nineteenth-century Tehran. All were seen as a kind of earthly paradise (the English word paradise has its roots in the old Persian word pairi-daeza meaning a walled space). To an astonishing extent, that vision seems justified.
This book was meticulously researched and created over a period of six years in, Paris, Tehran and Washington by photographer, Mehdi Khansari and architect Minouch Yavari, together with the renowned Persian architect and architectural historian Reza Moghtader. It explains the philosophy behind Persian garden design and offers an authoritative account of its developmentintroducing new historical material in the process. This extraordinary story is enhanced by vivid descriptions of Persian gardens as seen through the eyes of travelers to Iran during the past five hundred years. Over 240 illustrations in full color, complement the text. They include magnificent color photographs, old plates and engravings, as well as exquisite architectural renderings and plans of the sites and the gardens. A selection of the finest Persian garden-carpets, textiles, miniature paintings, stone reliefs, painted tiles, pottery, and poetry, augment the reader’s experience of an ancient art form that for centuries has sought to meld the physical and the spiritual.
++++
Paradise As a Garden: In Persia and Mughal India (World Landscape Art and Architecture Series)
by Elizabeth B. Moynihan Hardcover $33.86
A study of the Paradise Garden in Persia from the sixth through the seventeenth century explores its design, architectural development, and relation to the Paradise myth and ancient nature worship
++++
Gulistan Saadi (The Rose Garden Saadi)
by Sheikh Muslih-uddin Sa’di Shirazi, Lt Col (R) Muhammad Ashraf Javed, et al. | Oct 8, 2013
Gulistan Saadi (گلستان سعدی) (The Rose Garden Saadi) written by Sheikh Muslih-uddin Sa’di Shirazi (1258) in Persian. Translated in English by Sir Edwin Arnold, Edited & Formatted by Lt Col (R) Muhammad Ashraf Javed.
++++
The Gulistan of Saadi in English Language: SHEIKH SAADI (GOLESTAN SAADI Book 13)RICHARD AUTHOR…Kindle Edition$9.00
Laudation to the God of majesty and glory! Obedience to him is a cause of approach and gratitude in increase of benefits. Every inhalation of the breath prolongs life and every expiration of it gladdens our nature; wherefore every breath confers two benefits and for every benefit gratitude is due. Whose hand and tongue is capable To fulfil the obligations of thanks to him? Words of the most high: Be thankful, O family of David, and but few of my servants are thankful. It is best to a worshipper for his transgressions To offer apologies at the throne of God, Although what is worthy of his dignity No one is able to accomplish. The showers of his boundless mercy have penetrated to every spot, and the banquet of his unstinted liberality is spread out everywhere. He tears not the veil of reputation of his worshippers even for grievous sins, and does not withhold their daily allowance of bread for great crimes. O bountiful One, who from thy invisible treasury Suppliest the Guebre and the Christian with food, How could’st thou disappoint thy friends, Whilst having regard for thy enemies? He told the chamberlain of the morning breeze to spread out the emerald carpet and, having commanded the nurse of vernal clouds to cherish the daughters of plants in the cradle of the earth, the trees donned the new year’s robe and clothed their breast with the garment of green foliage, whilst their offspring, the branches, adorned their heads with blossoms at the approach of the season of the roses. Also the juice of the cane became delicious honey by his power, and the date a lofty tree by his care. Cloud and wind, moon and sun move in the sky That thou mayest gain bread, and not eat it unconcerned. For thee all are revolving and obedient.
++++
The Gulistan (Persian: گلستان Golestȃn “The Rose Garden”) is a landmark of Persian and Shia Islamic Irfan/Sufi literature, perhaps its single most influential work of prose. Written in 1259 CE, it is one of two major works of the Persian poet Sa’di, considered one of the greatest medieval Persian poets. It is also one of his most popular books, and has proved deeply influential in the West as well as the East. The Gulistan is a collection of poems and stories, just as a rose-garden is a collection of roses. It is widely quoted as a source of wisdom and esoterics. The well-known aphorism still frequently repeated in the western world, about being sad because one has no shoes until one meets the man who has no feet “whereupon I thanked Providence for its bounty to myself” is from the Gulistan.
++++
The Gulistan (Rose Garden) of Sa’di: Bilingual English and Persian Edition with Vocabulary Paperback – August 1, 2017
by Sa’di Shirazi (Author), Thackston M. Wheeler (Author) Hardcover $64.95
Review
Is the Gulistan the most influential book in the Iranian world? In terms of prose, it is the model, which all writers of Persian seek to emulate. In terms of moral, philosophical or practical wisdom, it is endlessly quoted to either illustrate or prove a point. Sir John Malcolm even relates being told that it is the basis of the law of the Persians. It also traveled abroad. Voltaire, Goethe, Arnold, Longfellow, Emerson, Thoreau, Melville, and Franklin discovered, read, and took inspiration from the work. Moreover, travelers to Iran have often point out that to understand the mind of the inhabitants, one should read the Gulistan.
Written some seven and a half centuries ago by Sa di of Shiraz the Gulistan or Rose Garden is a collection of moral stories divided into eight themes: The Conduct of Kings, The Character of Dervishes, The Superiority of Contentment, The Benefits of Silence, Love and Youth, Feebleness and Old Age, The Effects of Education, and The Art of Conversation. In each section stories are told from which the reader learns how to behave in a given situation. Sa di can be moral. Honesty gives God pleasure. I haven t seen anyone get lost on the right road. He may be practical. If you can t stand the sting, don t put your finger into a scorpion s hole. He is philosophical in these lines which are engraved at the entrance of the United Nations: The members of the human race are limbs one to another, for at creation they were of one essence. When one limb is pained by fate, the others cannot rest.
The Gulistan is considered the essence of elegant but simple Persian prose. For 600 years, it was the first book placed in the learner s hand. In Persian-speaking countries today, quotations from the Gulistan appear in every conceivable type of literature and is the source of numerous everyday proverbial statements, much as Shakespeare is in English.
This is the first complete English translation of the Gulistan in more than a century. Wheeler M. Thackston, Professor of Persian at Harvard University, has faithfully translated Sa di into clear contemporary English. To help the student, the original Persian is presented facing the English translation. A 3,600 word Persian-English and Arabic-English glossary is included to aide with the more difficult meanings.
The Gulistan is imbued with a practical wisdom of life. Sa di recognizes people for what they are. Every personality type that exists is found in the Rose Garden, the good, the bad, the weak, the strong, the pious, the impious, honest folk, and the most conniving of cheats. Hypocrites abound, foolish kings appear with their wily ministers, wise rulers vie with their malevolent courtiers, boastful young warriors turn tail and run. The beauty of Sa di s wisdom is that it is timeless. What is expressed is in a setting so close and familiar to the modern experience that it is as relevant today as it was six hundred years ago.
++++
The Gulistan of Saadi: In Persian with English Translation (Persian Edition)
by Saadi Shirazi | Jul 28, 2016 Paperback$24.99 $9.99
One of the Greatest Persian Books of All Time!
Born in Shiraz, Iran, in 1184, Saadi is considered one of the greatest Persian poets of all time. Saadi’s two books, the poetic Bostan, or Orchard (in 1257), and the prose Gulistan, the Rose Garden (in 1258), are regarded as supreme accomplishments of Persian literature. The Persian literature and culture are deeply indebted to Saadi’s publications.
The Gulistan (The Rose Garden) is a landmark of Persian literature, and one of the most influential works of prose in Persian. Written in 1258 CE, it is considered as one of the greatest medieval Persian poets. The Gulistan is a collection of stories and poems, just as a rose-garden is a collection of roses.
The translation appearing in this book is provided by Edward Rehatsek in 1888. This bilingual book can be useful for students and enjoyable for poetry lovers of any age. Not only will poems and stories improve your Persian language, but they’ll help your understanding of Persian culture. Students will have ample opportunities to enrich their Persian learning experience and extend a range of language abilities through exploring these poems.
The English – Persian Glossary at the end of the book can help Persian students better understand keywords in the poems.
Enjoy reading one of the best Perisan books in history!
Ideal for self-study as well as for classroom usage. For Advanced Persian Learners.
++++
The Gulistan Or Rose Garden Of Sa’di Paperback – November 28, 2009
by Muslih-Uddin Sa’di (Author) Hardcover $25.00
The Gulistan is among the most famous works of Persian literature by one of Persia’s greatest poets, Muslih-uddin Sa’di Shirazi. Born in Shiraz sometime between 1184 and 1210 CE, Sa’di received his education in Baghdad and spent several decades in travel and pilgrimage. In 1256, Sa’di returned to Shiraz. He wrote the Gulistan in 1258, the same year that the Mongols sacked Baghdad. The Gulistan or Rose Garden of Sa’di, intended as a “mirror for princes,” includes prose didactic tales interspersed with short verses. The book is divided into eight parts: The Manners of Kings, The Morals of Dervishes, The Excellence of Contentment, The Advantages of Silence, Love and Youth, Weakness and Old Age, The Effects of Education, and Rules for Conduct in Life. This classic translation by Edward Rehatsek has been edited and updated with a new introduction by David Rosenbaum.
++++
Saadi Shirazi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://wiki2.org/en/Saadi_(poet)
also known as Saadi of Shiraz (سعدی شیرازی, Saʿdī Shīrāzī; born 1210; died 1291 or 1292), was a major Persian poet and prose writer of the medieval period. He is recognized for the quality of his writings and for the depth of his social and moral thoughts. Saadi is widely recognized as one of the greatest poets of the classical literary tradition, earning him the nickname “Master of Speech” (استاد سخن ostâd-e soxan) or simply “Master” (استاد ostâd) among Persian scholars. He has been quoted in the Western traditions as well.[1]Bustan is considered one of the 100 greatest books of all time according to The Guardian.
Biography
Saadi was born in Shiraz, Iran, according to some, shortly after 1200, according to others sometime between 1213 and 1219. In the Golestan, composed in 1258, he says in lines evidently addressed to himself, “O you who have lived fifty years and are still asleep”; another piece of evidence is that in one of his qasida poems he writes that he left home for foreign lands when the Mongols came to his homeland Fars, an event which occurred in 1225.
In the Bustan and Golestan Saadi tells many colourful anecdotes of his travels, although some of these, such as his supposed visit to the remote eastern city of Kashgar in 1213, may be fictional.[15] The unsettled conditions following the Mongol invasion of Khwarezm and Iran led him to wander for thirty years abroad through Anatolia (where he visited the Port of Adana and near Konya met ghazi landlords), Syria (where he mentions the famine in Damascus), Egypt (where he describes its music, bazaars, clerics and elites), and Iraq (where he visits the port of Basra and the Tigris river). In his writings he mentions the qadis, muftis of Al-Azhar, the grand bazaar, music and art. At Halab, Saadi joins a group of Sufis who had fought arduous battles against the Crusaders. Saadi was captured by Crusaders at Acre where he spent seven years as a slave digging trenches outside its fortress. He was later released after the Mamluks paid ransom for Muslim prisoners being held in Crusader dungeons.
Saadi visited Jerusalem and then set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina.[16] It is believed that he may have also visited Oman and other lands in the south of the Arabian Peninsula.
Because of the Mongol invasions he was forced to live in desolate areas and met caravans fearing for their lives on once-lively silk trade routes. Saadi lived in isolated refugee camps where he met bandits, Imams, men who formerly owned great wealth or commanded armies, intellectuals, and ordinary people. While Mongol and European sources (such as Marco Polo) gravitated to the potentates and courtly life of Ilkhanate rule, Saadi mingled with the ordinary survivors of the war-torn region. He sat in remote tea houses late into the night and exchanged views with merchants, farmers, preachers, wayfarers, thieves, and Sufi mendicants. For twenty years or more, he continued the same schedule of preaching, advising, and learning, honing his sermons to reflect the wisdom and foibles of his people. Saadi’s works reflect upon the lives of ordinary Iranians suffering displacement, agony and conflict during the turbulent times of the Mongol invasion.
Saadi Shirazi is welcomed by a youth from Kashgar during a forum in Bukhara.
Saadi mentions honey-gatherers in Azarbaijan, fearful of Mongol plunder. He finally returns to Persia where he meets his childhood companions in Isfahan and other cities. At Khorasan Saadi befriends a Turkic Emir named Tughral. Saadi joins him and his men on their journey to Sindh where he meets Pir Puttur, a follower of the Persian Sufi grand master Shaikh Usman Marvandv.
He also refers in his writings about his travels with a Turkic Amir named Tughral in Sindh (Pakistan across the Indus and Thar), India (especially Somnath, where he encounters Brahmans), and Central Asia (where he meets the survivors of the Mongol invasion in Khwarezm). Tughral hires Hindu sentinels. Tughral later enters service of the wealthy Delhi Sultanate, and Saadi is invited to Delhi and later visits the Vizier of Gujarat. During his stay in Gujarat, Saadi learns more about the Hindus and visits the large temple of Somnath, from which he flees due to an unpleasant encounter with the Brahmans. Katouzian calls this story “almost certainly fictitious”.[18]
Saadi came back to Shiraz before 1257 CE / 655 AH (the year he finished composition of his Bustan). Saadi mourned in his poetry the fall of Abbasid Caliphate and Baghdad‘s destruction by Mongol invaders led by Hulagu in February 1258.
Works
Bustan and Gulistan
Main articles: Bustan and Gulistan
The first page of Bustan, from a Mughal manuscript.
Gulistan Saadi (Calligraphy of Golestan Saadi in Nastaliq script)
Sa’di’s best known works are Bustan (The Orchard) completed in 1257 and Gulistan (The Rose Garden) completed in 1258. Bustan is entirely in verse (epic metre). It consists of stories aptly illustrating the standard virtues recommended to Muslims (justice, liberality, modesty, contentment) and reflections on the behavior of dervishes and their ecstatic practices. Gulistan is mainly in prose and contains stories and personal anecdotes. The text is interspersed with a variety of short poems which contain aphorisms, advice, and humorous reflections, demonstrating Saadi’s profound awareness of the absurdity of human existence. The fate of those who depend on the changeable moods of kings is contrasted with the freedom of the dervishes.
Regarding the importance of professions Saadi writes:O darlings of your fathers, learn the trade because property and riches of the world are not to be relied upon; also silver and gold are an occasion of danger because either a thief may steal them at once or the owner spend them gradually; but a profession is a living fountain and permanent wealth; and although a professional man may lose riches, it does not matter because a profession is itself wealth and wherever you go you will enjoy respect and sit on high places, whereas those who have no trade will glean crumbs and see hardships.
Saadi is also remembered as a panegyrist and lyricist, the author of a number of odes portraying human experience, and also of particular odes such as the lament on the fall of Baghdad after the Mongol invasion in 1258. His lyrics are found in Ghazaliyat (Lyrics) and his odes in Qasa’id (Odes). He is also known for a number of works in Arabic.
In the Bustan, Saadi writes of a man who relates his time in battle with the Mongols:
In Isfahan I had a friend who was warlike, spirited, and shrewd….after long I met him: “O tiger-seizer!” I exclaimed, “what has made thee decrepit like an old fox?”
He laughed and said: “Since the days of war against the Mongols, I have expelled the thoughts of fighting from my head. Then did I see the earth arrayed with spears like a forest of reeds. I raised like smoke the dust of conflict; but when Fortune does not favour, of what avail is fury? I am one who, in combat, could take with a spear a ring from the palm of the hand; but, as my star did not befriend me, they encircled me as with a ring. I seized the opportunity of flight, for only a fool strives with Fate. How could my helmet and cuirass aid me when my bright star favoured me not? When the key of victory is not in the hand, no one can break open the door of conquest with his arms.
The enemy were a pack of leopards, and as strong as elephants. The heads of the heroes were encased in iron, as were also the hoofs of the horses. We urged on our Arab steeds like a cloud, and when the two armies encountered each other thou wouldst have said they had struck the sky down to the earth. From the raining of arrows, that descended like hail, the storm of death arose in every corner. Not one of our troops came out of the battle but his cuirass was soaked with blood. Not that our swords were blunt—it was the vengeance of stars of ill fortune. Overpowered, we surrendered, like a fish which, though protected by scales, is caught by the hook in the bait. Since Fortune averted her face, useless was our shield against the arrows of Fate
Other works
In addition to the Bustan and Gulistan, Saadi also wrote four books of love poems (ghazals), and number of longer mono-rhyme poems (qasidas) in both Persian and Arabic. There are also quatrains and short pieces, and some lesser works in prose and poetry. Together with Rumi and Hafez, he is considered one of the three greatest ghazal-writers of Persian poetry.
Bani Adam
Main article: Bani Adam
A copy of Saadi Shirazi’s works by the Bosniak scholar Safvet beg Bašagić (1870–1934)
Saadi is well known for his aphorisms, the most famous of which, Bani Adam, is part of the Gulistan. In a delicate way it calls for breaking down all barriers between human beings:
The original Persian text is as follows:
بنى آدم اعضای یکدیگرند
که در آفرینش ز یک گوهرند
چو عضوى بدرد آورَد روزگار
دگر عضوها را نمانَد قرار
تو کز محنت دیگران بی غمی
نشاید که نامت نهند آدمی
banī ādam a’zā-ye yekdīgar-and
ke dar āfarīn-aš ze yek gowhar-and
čo ‘ozvī be dard āvarad rūzgār
degar ‘ozvhā-rā na-mānad qarār
to k-az mehnat-ē dīgarān bīqam-ī
na-šāyad ke nām-at nahand ādamī
The literal translation of the above is as follows:
“The children of Adam are the members of each other,
who are in their creation from the same essence.
When day and age hurt one of these members,
other members will be left (with) no serenity.
If you are unsympathetic to the misery of others,
it is not right that they should call you a human being.”
The above version with yekdīgar “one another” is the usual one quoted in Iran (for example, in the well-known edition of Mohammad Ali Foroughi, on the carpet installed in the United Nations building in New York in 2005, on the Iranian (500 rials) coin since 1387 Solar Hijri calendar (i.e. in 2008), and on the back of the 100,000-rial banknote issued in 2010); according to the scholar Habib Yaghmai is also the only version found in the earliest manuscripts, which date to within 50 years of the writing of the Golestan. Some books, however, print a variation banī ādam a’zā-ye yek peykar-and (“The sons of Adam are members of one body”), and this version, which accords more closely with the hadith quoted below, is followed by most English translations.
The following translation is by H. Vahid Dastjerdi:
Adam’s sons are body limbs, to say;
For they’re created of the same clay.
Should one organ be troubled by pain,
Others would suffer severe strain.
Thou, careless of people’s suffering,
Deserve not the name, “human being”.
This is a verse translation by Ali Salami:
Human beings are limbs of one body indeed;
For, they’re created of the same soul and seed.
When one limb is afflicted with pain,
Other limbs will feel the bane.
He who has no sympathy for human suffering,
Is not worthy of being called a human being.
And by Richard Jeffrey Newman:
All men and women are to each other
the limbs of a single body, each of us drawn
from life’s shimmering essence, God’s perfect pearl;
and when this life we share wounds one of us,
all share the hurt as if it were our own.
You, who will not feel another’s pain,
you forfeit the right to be called human.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in Tehran: “[…] At the entrance of the United Nations there is a magnificent carpet – I think the largest carpet the United Nations has – that adorns the wall of the United Nations, a gift from the people of Iran. Alongside it are the wonderful words of that great Persian poet, Sa’adi”:
All human beings are members of one frame,
Since all, at first, from the same essence came.
When time afflicts a limb with pain
The other limbs at rest cannot remain.
If thou feel not for other’s misery
A human being is no name for thee. […]
According to the former Iranian Foreign Minister and Envoy to the United Nations, Mohammad Ali Zarif, this carpet, installed in 2005, actually hangs not in the entrance but in a meeting room inside the United Nations building in New York.
Bani Adam was used by the British rock band Coldplay in their song بنی آدم, with the title Bani Adam written in Persian script. The song is featured on their 2019 album Everyday Life.
Legacy and poetic style
Saadi distinguished between the spiritual and the practical or mundane aspects of life. In his Bustan, for example, spiritual Saadi uses the mundane world as a spring board to propel himself beyond the earthly realms. The images in Bustan are delicate in nature and soothing. In the Gulistan, on the other hand, mundane Saadi lowers the spiritual to touch the heart of his fellow wayfarers. Here the images are graphic and, thanks to Saadi’s dexterity, remain concrete in the reader’s mind. Realistically, too, there is a ring of truth in the division. The Sheikh preaching in the Khanqah experiences a totally different world than the merchant passing through a town. The unique thing about Saadi is that he embodies both the Sufi Sheikh and the travelling merchant. They are, as he himself puts it, two almond kernels in the same shell.
Saadi’s prose style, described as “simple but impossible to imitate” flows quite naturally and effortlessly. Its simplicity, however, is grounded in a semantic web consisting of synonymy, homophony, and oxymoron buttressed by internal rhythm and external rhyme.
Chief among these works is Goethe‘s West-Oestlicher Divan. Andre du Ryer was the first European to present Saadi to the West, by means of a partial French translation of Gulistan in 1634. Adam Olearius followed soon with a complete translation of the Bustan and the Gulistan into German in 1654.
In his Lectures on Aesthetics, Hegel wrote (on the Arts translated by Henry Paolucci, 2001, p. 155–157):
Pantheistic poetry has had, it must be said, a higher and freer development in the Islamic world, especially among the Persians … The full flowering of Persian poetry comes at the height of its complete transformation in speech and national character, through Mohammedanism … In later times, poetry of this order [Ferdowsi’s epic poetry] had a sequel in love epics of extraordinary tenderness and sweetness; but there followed also a turn toward the didactic, where, with a rich experience of life, the far-traveled Saadi was master before it submerged itself in the depths of the pantheistic mysticism taught and recommended in the extraordinary tales and legendary narrations of the great Jalal-ed-Din Rumi.
Alexander Pushkin, one of Russia’s most celebrated poets, quotes Saadi in his work Eugene Onegin, “as Saadi sang in earlier ages, ‘some are far distant, some are dead’.” Gulistan was an influence on the fables of Jean de La Fontaine. Benjamin Franklin in one of his works, DLXXXVIII A Parable on Persecution, quotes one of Bustan of Saadi’s parable, apparently without knowing the source. Ralph Waldo Emerson was also interested in Sadi’s writings, contributing to some translated editions himself. Emerson, who read Saadi only in translation, compared his writing to the Bible in terms of its wisdom and the beauty of its narrative.
The French physicist Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot‘s third given name is from Saadi’s name. It was chosen by his father because of his great interest toward Saadi and his poems, Lazare Carnot.
Voltaire was very thrilled with his works especially Gulistan, even he enjoyed being called “Saadi” in his friends’ circle.
U.S. President Barack Obama quoted the first two lines of this poem in his New Year’s greeting to the people of Iran on March 20, 2009, “But let us remember the words that were written by the poet Saadi, so many years ago: ‘The children of Adam are limbs to each other, having been created of one essence.'”
National commemoration of ‘Saadi Day’
Saadi-Shirazi’s commemoration day
Annually, on April 21 (Apr. 20 in leap years) a crowd of foreign tourists and Iranians gather at Saadi’s tomb in order to mark the day.
This commemoration day is held on the 1st of Ordibehesht, the second month of the Solar Hijri calendar (see Iranian calendar), the day on which Saadi states that he finished the Golestan in 1256.
Mausoleum
Saadi’s mausoleum in Shiraz, Iran
Mosaic in his mausoleum
Tomb of Saadi in his mausoleum
Tomb of Sheikh Saadi by Eugène Flandin, 1851
Tomb of Saadi by Pascal Coste, 1867
Tomb of Saadi from sky, April 20, 2014
Tomb of Saadi’s entrance, April 20, 2014
The entrance part of Saadi’s tomb, Sep 18 2017
Inside tomb of Saadi-Shirazi, 18 December 2016
Mausoleum
Read more https://wiki2.org/en/Saadi_(poet)
++++
Gulistan (book)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://wiki2.org/en/Gulistan_(book)
Part of a series on |
Saadi Shirazi |
---|
Books |
BustanGulistan |
Related Topics |
Nicolas Léonard Sadi CarnotMarie François Sadi Carnot |
Monuments |
Tomb of Saadi • Saadi Metro Station •Saadi Literary Award |
Sa’di in a Flower garden, from a Mughal manuscript of the Golestan, ca. 1645. Saadi is on the right.
The Golestan (Persian: گُلِستان, also transliterated as Gulistân and Gulistan “The Flower Garden”) is a landmark of Persian literature, perhaps its single most influential work of prose. Written in 1258 CE, it is one of two major works of the Persian poet Sa’di, considered one of the greatest medieval Persian poets. It is also one of his most popular books, and has proved deeply influential in the West as well as the East. The Golestan is a collection of poems and stories, just as a flower-garden is a collection of flowers. It is widely quoted as a source of wisdom. The well-known aphorism still frequently repeated in the western world, about being sad because one has no shoes until one meets the man who has no feet “whereupon I thanked Providence for its bounty to myself” is from the Golestan.
The minimalist plots of the Golestan’s stories are expressed with precise language and psychological insight, creating a “poetry of ideas” with the concision of mathematical formulas. The book explores virtually every major issue faced by humankind, with both an optimistic and a subtly satirical tone. There is much advice for rulers, in this way coming within the mirror for princes genre. But as Eastwick comments in his introduction to the work, there is a common saying in Persian, “Each word of Sa’di has seventy-two meanings”, and the stories, alongside their entertainment value and practical and moral dimension, frequently focus on the conduct of dervishes and are said to contain Sufi teachings. Idries Shah elaborates further. “The place won by the Golestan as a book of moral uplift invariably given to the literate young has had the effect of establishing a basic Sufic potential in the minds of its readers.”
Contents
- 1 Reasons for composition
- 2 Structure
- 3 Influence
- 4 Translations
- 5 United Nations quotation
- 6 Notes
- 7 Further reading
- 8 External links
Reasons for composition
The poet Sa’di converses by night with a young friend in a garden. Miniature from Golestan. Herat, 1427. Chester Beatty Library, Dublin; workshops of Baysunghur.
In his introduction Sa’di describes how a friend persuaded him to go out to a garden on 21 April 1258. There the friend gathered up flowers to take back to town. Sa’di remarked on how quickly the flowers would die, and proposed a flower garden that would last much longer:Of what use will be a dish of flowers to thee?Take a leaf from my flower-garden.A flower endures but five or six daysBut this flower-garden is always delightful.
There follow the words illustrated in the Persian miniature, believed to be by the Mughal painter Govardhan, shown at the top of the article:”حالی که من این حکایت بگفتم دامن گل بریخت و در دامنم آویخت که الکریم اذا وعدَ وفاhāl-ī ke man īn hekāyat begoftam, dāman-e gol berīxt o dar dāman-am āvixt, ke al-karimu eza va’ada vafā“When I said this, he poured out the skirt of flowers and hung on my skirt, saying ‘The generous man, if he promises, keeps his word!’ “
Sa’di continues, “On the same day I happened to write two chapters, namely on polite society and the rules of conversation, in a style acceptable to orators and instructive to letter-writers.”. In finishing the book, Sa’di writes that, though his speech is entertaining and amusing, “it is not hidden from the enlightened minds of sahibdils (possessors of heart), who are primarily addressed here, that pearls of healing counsel have been drawn onto strings of expression, and the bitter medicine of advice has been mixed with the honey of wit”.
Structure
The opening page from the introduction
After the introduction, the Golestan is divided into eight chapters, each consisting of a number of stories, decorated with short poems:1. The Manners of Kings2. On the Morals of Dervishes3. On the Excellence of Contentment4. On the Advantages of Silence5. On Love and Youth6. On Weakness and Old Age7. On the Effects of Education8. On Rules for Conduct in Life
Altogether the work contains some 595 short poems in Persian, consisting on average of just under two couplets each, in a variety of metres; there are also occasional verses in Arabic.
Some stories are very brief. The short poems which decorate the stories sometimes represent the words of the protagonists, sometimes the author’s perspective and sometimes, as in the following case, are not clearly attributed:
Chapter 1, story 34
One of the sons of Harunu’r-rashid came to his father in a passion, saying, “Such an officer’s son has insulted me, by speaking abusively of my mother.” Harun said to his nobles, “What should be the punishment of such a person?” One gave his voice for death, and another for the excision of his tongue, and another for the confiscation of his goods and banishment. Harun said, “O my son! the generous part would be to pardon him, and if thou canst not, then do thou abuse his mother, but not so as to exceed the just limits of retaliation, for in that case we should become the aggressors.”They that with raging elephants make warAre not, so deem the wise, the truly brave;But in real verity, the valiant areThose who, when angered, are not passion’s slave.An ill-bred fellow once a man reviled,Who patient bore it, and replied, “Good friend!Worse am I than by thee I could be styled,And better know how often I offend.”
Since there is little biographical information about Sa’di outside of his writings, his short, apparently autobiographical tales, such as the following have been used by commentators to build up an account of his life.
Chapter 2, story 7
I remember that, in the time of my childhood, I was devout, and in the habit of keeping vigils, and eager to practise mortification and austerities. One night I sate up in attendance on my father, and did not close my eyes the whole night, and held the precious qur’an in my lap while the people around me slept. I said to my father, “Not one of these lifts up his head to perform a prayer. They are so profoundly asleep that you would say they were dead.” He replied, “Life of thy father! it were better if thou, too, wert asleep; rather than thou shouldst be backbiting people.”Naught but themselves can vain pretenders mark,For conceit’s curtain intercepts their view.Did God illume that which in them is dark,Naught than themselves would wear a darker hue.
The young athlete is marooned on a pillar. Chester Beatty Library, Dublin.
Most of the tales within the Golestan are longer, some running on for a number of pages. In one of the longest, in Chapter 3, Sa’di explores aspects of undertaking a journey for which one is ill-equipped:
Chapter 3, story 28
An athlete, down on his luck at home, tells his father how he believes he should set off on his travels, quoting the words:As long as thou walkest about the shop or the houseThou wilt never become a man, O raw fellow.Go and travel in the worldBefore that day when thou goest from the world.
His father warns him that his physical strength alone will not be sufficient to ensure the success of his travels, describing five kinds of men who can profit from travel: the rich merchant, the eloquent scholar, the beautiful person, the sweet singer and the artisan. The son nevertheless sets off and, arriving penniless at a broad river, tries to get a crossing on a ferry by using physical force. He gets aboard, but is left stranded on a pillar in the middle of the river. This is the first of a series of misfortunes that he is subjected to, and it is only the charity of a wealthy man that finally delivers him, allowing him to return home safe, though not much humbled by his tribulations. The story ends with the father warning him that if he tries it again he may not escape so luckily:The hunter does not catch every time a jackal.It may happen that some day a tiger devours him.
Chapter 5, story 5
In the fifth chapter of The Golestan of Saadi, on Love and Youth, Saadi includes explicit moral and sociological points about the real life of people from his time period (1203-1291). The story below by Saadi, like so much of his work, conveys meaning on many levels and broadly on many topics. In this story, Saadi communicates the importance of teachers educating the “whole child”—cognitively, morally, emotionally, socially, and ethically–using, as often in the book, homoerotic attraction as a motif. Even though adults and teachers have been accorded great status and respect in Iranian culture and history, in Saadi’s story, he shows that a young boy has great wisdom in understanding his educational needs.A schoolboy was so perfectly beautiful and sweet-voiced that the teacher, in accordance with human nature, conceived such an affection towards him that he often recited the following verses:I am not so little occupied with you, O heavenly face,That remembrance of myself occurs to my mind.From your sight I am unable to withdraw my eyesAlthough when I am opposite I may see that an arrow comes.Once the boy said to him: “As you strive to direct my studies, direct also my behavior. If you perceive anything reprovable in my conduct, although it may seem approvable to me, inform me thereof that I may endeavor to change it.” He replied: “O boy, make that request to someone else because the eyes with which I look upon you behold nothing but virtues.”The ill-wishing eye, be it torn outSees only defects in his virtue.But if you possess one virtue and seventy faultsA friend sees nothing except that virtue. Note: for the sake of utmost correct pronunciation, in the text above the word Golestan has been corrected in spelling and may differ from the spelling which exists in the english sources.
Influence
Sa’di’s Golestan is said to be one of the most widely read books ever produced. From the time of its composition to the present day it has been admired for its “inimitable simplicity”, seen as the essence of simple elegant Persian prose. Persian for a long time was the language of literature from Bengal to Constantinople, and the Golestan was known and studied in much of Asia. In Persian-speaking countries today, proverbs and aphorisms from the Golestan appear in every kind of literature and continue to be current in conversation, much as Shakespeare is in English. As Sir John Malcolm wrote in his Sketches of Persia in 1828, the stories and maxims of Sa’di were “known to all, from the king to the peasant”.
In Europe
The Golestan has been significant in the influence of Persian literature on Western culture. La Fontaine based his “Le songe d’un habitant du Mogol” on a story from Golestan chapter 2 story 16: A certain pious man in a dream beheld a king in paradise and a devotee in hell. He inquired, “What is the reason of the exaltation of the one, and the cause of the degradation of the other? for I had imagined just the reverse.” They said, “That king is now in paradise owing to his friendship for darweshes, and this recluse is in hell through frequenting the presence of kings.”Of what avail is frock, or rosary,Or clouted garment? Keep thyself but freeFrom evil deeds, it will not need for theeTo wear the cap of felt: a darwesh beIn heart, and wear the cap of Tartary.
Voltaire was familiar with works of Sa’di, and wrote the preface of Zadig in his name. He mentions a French translation of the Golestan, and himself translated a score of verses, either from the original or from some Latin or Dutch translation.
Sir William Jones advised students of Persian to pick an easy chapter of the Golestan to translate as their first exercise in the language. Thus, selections of the book became the primer for officials of British India at Fort William College and at Haileybury College in England.
In the United States Ralph Waldo Emerson who addressed a poem of his own to Sa’di, provided the preface for Gladwin’s translation, writing, “Saadi exhibits perpetual variety of situation and incident … he finds room on his narrow canvas for the extremes of lot, the play of motives, the rule of destiny, the lessons of morals, and the portraits of great men. He has furnished the originals of a multitude of tales and proverbs which are current in our mouths, and attributed by us to recent writers.” Henry David Thoreau quoted from the book in A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers and in his remarks on philanthropy in Walden.
Note: for the sake of utmost correct pronunciation, in the text above the word Golestan has been corrected in spelling and may differ from the spelling which exists in the english sources.
Translations
Frontispiece of André du Ryer’s translation
Saʿdi was first introduced to the West in a partial French translation by André du Ryer (1634). Friedrich Ochsenbach based a German translation (1636) on this. Georgius Gentius produced a Latin version accompanied by the Persian text in 1651. Adam Olearius made the first direct German translation.
The Golestan has been translated into many languages. It has been translated into English a number of times: Stephen Sullivan (London, 1774, selections), James Dumoulin (Calcutta, 1807), Francis Gladwin (Calcutta, 1808, preface by Ralph Waldo Emerson), James Ross (London, 1823), S. Lee (London, 1827), Edward Backhouse Eastwick (Hartford, 1852; republished by Octagon Press, 1979), Johnson (London, 1863), John T. Platts (London, 1867), Edward Henry Whinfield (London, 1880), Edward Rehatsek (Banaras, 1888, in some later editions incorrectly attributed to Sir Richard Burton), Sir Edwin Arnold (London, 1899), Launcelot Alfred Cranmer-Byng (London, 1905), Celwyn E. Hampton (New York, 1913), and Arthur John Arberry (London, 1945, the first two chapters). More recent English translations have been published by Omar Ali-Shah (1997) and by Wheeler M. Thackston (2008).
The Uzbek poet and writer Gafur Gulom translated The Golestan into the Uzbek language.
Note: for the sake of utmost correct pronunciation, in the text above the word Golestan has been corrected in spelling and may differ from the spelling which exists in the english sources.
United Nations quotation
Main article: Bani Adam
This well-known verse, part of chapter 1, story 10 of the Golestan, is woven into a carpet which is hung on a wall in the United Nations building in New York:
بنیآدم اعضای یکدیگرند
که در آفرينش ز یک گوهرندچو عضوى بهدرد آورَد روزگار
دگر عضوها را نمانَد قرارتو کز محنت دیگران بیغمی
نشاید که نامت نهند آدمی
Human beings are members of a whole,In creation of one essence and soul.If one member is afflicted with pain,Other members uneasy will remain.If you have no sympathy for human pain,The name of human you cannot retain.
U.S. President Barack Obama quoted this in his videotaped Nowruz (New Year’s) greeting to the Iranian people in March 2009: “There are those who insist that we be defined by our differences. But let us remember the words that were written by the poet Saadi, so many years ago: ‘The children of Adam are limbs to each other, having been created of one essence.'”
Note: for the sake of utmost correct pronunciation, in the text above the word Golestan has been corrected in spelling and may differ from the spelling which exists in the english sources.
Dancing dervishes on a double-page composition from an illustrated manuscript of the Golestan Iran, ca. 1615
++++
GOLESTĀN-E SAʿDI From https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/golestan-e-sadi
GOLESTĀN-E SAʿDI, probably the single most influential work of prose in the Persian tradition, completed in 656/1258 by Mošarref-al-Din Moṣleḥ, known as Shaikh Saʿdi of Shiraz (for the confusion about his name, see Ṣafā, III/1, pp. 584-614). It was dedicated to the Salghurid Atabeg in Fārs, Moẓaffar-al-Din Abu Bakr b. Saʿd b. Zangi (G51), and his son, Saʿd (G54), as well as the vizier Faḵr-al-Din Abu Bakr b. Abi Naṣr (G55; concerning these dedicatees see Qazvini, pp. 721-31, 747-49). Saʿdi hoped his work would also cause future readers to remember the “dervishes” in their prayers. He evidently did not appear at court in person to present the Golestān, feeling it inappropriate to the station of the dervishes with whom he associated (ṭāʾefa-ye darvišān), though this group did feel an obligation to acknowledge their benefactors (šokr-e neʿmat-e bozorgān wājeb). Saʿdi apologizes for the delay in presenting a token of service to the court, perhaps suggesting that he had not submitted any work since the dedication of the Bustān (q.v.) in the previous year.
+++++
National Library Building of Iran
Gulshan I Raz: The Mystic Rose Garden Of Sa’d Ud Din Mahmud Shabistari (1880)
by Sa’d Ud Din Mahmud Shabistari, Muhammad Bin Yahya Lahiji, et al. Hardcover$30.36 Paperback$19.90
Gulshan i Raz was composed in A.H. 717 (A.D. 1317), in answer to fifteen questions on the doctrines of the Sufis, or Muhamrnadan Mystics, propounded by Amir Syad Hosaini,1 a celebrated Sufi doctor of Herat. The authors name was Sad uddin Mahinud Shabistari, so called from his birth-place, Shabistar,2 a village near Tabriz, in the province of A zarbaijan. From a brief notice of his life in the Mujalis ul Ushshak, repeated in substance in the Haft I klim, the Sajina i Khushgu, and the Riaz ush Slniara, it would appear that he was bom about the middle of the seventh century of the Hejira (A.D. 1250), and that he died at Tabriz, where he had passed the greater part of his life, in A.H. 720. The only particulars of his life recorded in these Tazkiras are, that he was devotedly attached to one of his disciples named Shaikh I brahim, and that in addition to the Gulshan i Raz he wrote treatises entitled Hakk ul Yakin and Risala i Shahid. No further information as to the circumstances of his life and times is to be found in the poem itself or in the commentary, but we know from the Habib us Siyar and other chronicles3 that his birth was about contemporaneous with the incursion of the heathen Moghuls under Hulaku Khan, the conquest of Persia, Syria and Mesopotamia, and the downfall cf the A bbaside Khalifs, or Vicars of God. And living as he did 1H is life is given in the Nafliat ul Uns of Jami. This name is sometimes written Jabistar or Chabistar. The Persian cliim is usually expressed by the A rabic shin. Ouseley, I bn Haukal, 156. See Malcolm, History of Persia, ii. 252.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don’t occur in the book.)
Gulshan-i Raz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gulshan-i Raz or Gulshan-e Raz (Persian: گلشن راز, “Rose Garden of Secrets”) is a collection of poems written in the 14th century by Sheikh Mahmoud Shabestari. It is considered to be one of the greatest classical Persian works of the Islamic mystical tradition known in the west as Sufism. The poems are mostly based on Irfan, Islam, Sufism and sciences dependent on them.
The book was written about 1311 in rhyming couplets. It was written in response to seventeen queries concerning Sufi metaphysics posed to “the Sufi literati of Tabriz” by Rukh Al Din Amir Husayn Harawi (d. 1318).[1] It was also the main reference used by François Bernier when explaining Sufism to his European friends (in: Lettre sur le Quietisme des Indes; 1688). In English the book’s title is variously given as “Garden of Secrets,” “The Garden of Mystery,” “The Mystic Rose Garden,” or “The Secret Rose Garden.”
Sufi poet Sheikh Alvān of Shiraz translated Gulshan-i Raz into Azeri Turkish verse.[2]
This is the opening verse of Gulshan-i Raz:
به نام آنکه جان را فکرت آموخت / چراغ دل به نور جان برافروخت
In the name of Him who taught the soul to think,and kindled the heart’s lamp with the light of soul
Life and work
Shabistari was born in the town of Shabestar near Tabriz in 1288 (687 AH), where he received his education. He became deeply versed in the symbolic terminology of Ibn Arabi. He wrote during a period of Mongol invasions.
His most famous work is a mystic text called The Secret Rose Garden (Gulshan-i Rāz) written about 1311 in rhyming couplets (Mathnawi). This poem was written in response to seventeen queries concerning Sufi metaphysics posed to “the Sufi literati of Tabriz” by Rukh Al Din Amir Husayn Harawi (d. 1318).[6] It was also the main reference used by François Bernier when explaining Sufism to his European friends (in: Lettre sur le Quietisme des Indes; 1688)
Other works include The Book of Felicity (Sa’adat-nāma) and The Truth of Certainty about the Knowledge of the Lord of the Worlds (Ḥaqq al-yaqīn fi ma’rifat rabb al-‘alamīn. The former is regarded as a relatively unknown poetic masterpiece written in khafif meter, while the later is his lone work of prose.
Life and work
Shabistari was born in the town of Shabestar near Tabriz in 1288 (687 AH), where he received his education. He became deeply versed in the symbolic terminology of Ibn Arabi. He wrote during a period of Mongol invasions.
His most famous work is a mystic text called The Secret Rose Garden (Gulshan-i Rāz) written about 1311 in rhyming couplets (Mathnawi). This poem was written in response to seventeen queries concerning Sufi metaphysics posed to “the Sufi literati of Tabriz” by Rukh Al Din Amir Husayn Harawi (d. 1318).[6] It was also the main reference used by François Bernier when explaining Sufism to his European friends (in: Lettre sur le Quietisme des Indes; 1688)
Other works include The Book of Felicity (Sa’adat-nāma) and The Truth of Certainty about the Knowledge of the Lord of the Worlds (Ḥaqq al-yaqīn fi ma’rifat rabb al-‘alamīn. The former is regarded as a relatively unknown poetic masterpiece written in khafif meter, while the later is his lone work of prose.
شیخ محمود شبستری (سعدالدّین محمودبن امینالدّین عبدالکریمبن یحیی شبستری) | |
---|---|
زادروز | ۶۸۷ هجری قمری شبستر |
درگذشت | ۷۲۰ هجری قمری (۳۳ سالگی) |
آرامگاه | شبستر |
محل زندگی | شبستر و تبریز |
ملیت | ایرانی |
استاد | امینالدین و بهاءالدین یعقوب تبریزی |
شناختهشده برای | عارف و شاعر |
دین | تصوف و عرفان |
آثار | مثنوی گلشن راز به نام آن که جان را فکرت آموخت،«حق الیقین»،«شاهد نامه» |
سعدالدّین محمودبن امینالدّین عبدالکریمبن یحیی شبستری (معروف به شیخ محمود شبستری) یکی از عارفان و شاعران سدهٔ هشتم هجریست.[۱] با توجه به مطالب مندرج در کتاب روضات الجنان جلد ۲، وی معاصر شیخ بابا ابی شبستری (متوفی به سال ۷۴۰) بوده و در همان سال فوت نموده، لذا سن شیخ محمود شبستری در زمان فوت باید ۵۲ یا ۵۳ بوده باشد.[۲] وی از مشاعر عرفای ایران است و بیشتر شهرت او به خاطر اثر معروفش گلشن راز است.
آثار وی را میتوان به دو دسته منظوم و منثور بخش کرد.
آثار منظوم[ویرایش]
آثار منثور[ویرایش]
- حقّالیقین
- مرآةالمحقّقین
- شاهد (یا شاهدنامه)
گلشن راز مقالهٔ اصلی: گلشن راز
مثنوی گلشن راز مهمترین و مشهورترین اثر منظوم محمود شبستری است که در بردارندهٔ اندیشههای عرفانی وی و حدود هزار بیت میباشد. با وجود حجم اندکش، این کتاب یکی از یادگارهای پرارزش و بلندنام ادبیات عرفانی کهن فارسی است، که در آن بیان مفاهیم صوفیانه با شور، شوق، و روانی ویژهای همراه گردیده است. مطابق شیوهٔ معمول عطار و مولانا، در اینجا نیز، از حکایات و تمثیلات برای بیان و عرضهٔ مؤثّر معانی عرفانی و حکمی استفاده شدهاست.[۵]
شبستری این مثنوی را در پاسخ به پرسشهای امیر حسینی هروی سروده است. در هفدهم ماه شوال سال ۷۱۷ فرستادهای از خراسان مشکلات و مسائل مربوط به فهم و تبیین پارهای از رموز و اشارات عرفانی را در قالب نامهای منظوم در مجلسی با حضور شبستری میخواند.[۶]
این اثر تا کنون به دفعات چاپ گردیدهاست. یکی از موثقترین نسخههای چاپ شده به کوشش دکتر جواد نوربخش میباشد که براساس ۸ نسخه خطی و ۲ نسخه چاپی معتبر تصحیح و منتشر گردیدهاست.[۳]
این کتاب، تا کنون، به زبانهای ترکی، آلمانی،فرانسوی، انگلیسی، و نیز اردو ترجمه شدهاست.
شرحهای بر گلشن را
عرفای بنام شروح مفصلی بر «گلشن راز» نگاشتهاند از آنجمله:[۳]فرانسوی
- منظومه غنچه باز در شرح گلشن راز جلال الدین علی میر ابوالفضل عنقا عارف قرن سیزدهم هجری
- شرح کمال الدین حسینی اردبیلی (الهی) معاصر شاه اسماعیل اول
- نسایم گلشن از شاه داعی الی الله
- شرح لاهیجی از محمد بن یحیی لاهیجی
- شرح مظفرالدین علی شیرازی
- شرح منسوب به عبدالرحمن جامی
- شرح ادریس بن حسام الدین بدیعی
- شرح شیخ بابا نعمتالله بن محمود نخجوانی
- شرح حاج میرزا ابراهیم شریعتمدار سبزواری
- شرح قاضی میر حسین یزدی
- شرح منظوم اسیری
- شرح حسام الدین علی بدلیسی (پدر ادریس بدلیسی نویسندهٔ کتاب هشت بهشت)
- شرح حسین الهی قمشه ای : انتشارات علمی و فرهنگی (۱۳۷۷)
+++++
By Mohsen Mohammadi
Iran, UNESCO to celebrate 700th anniversary of “The Secret Rose Garden”
TEHRAN – Iran and UNESCO will jointly celebrate the 700th anniversary of the composing of “The Secret Rose Garden” (Gulshan-i Raz), a collection of poems by Iranian mystic and poet Sa’d-ud-Din Mahmud Shabistari (1288–1340), Iran’s Organization of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO) announced on Sunday.
“The book contains moral standards for the world,” CHTHO official Farhad Nazari said in a press release.
“The book was written to instill moral into humanity and also to help people achieve a balance between their souls and bodies, as well as to prevent extremism, violence and damage to the environment,” he added.
He said that the Republic of Azerbaijan also will collaborate in organizing the celebration and added that so far, over 40 books have been written about “The Secret Rose Garden”, which also known as “The Mystic Rose Garden”.
According to Nazari, the book has previously been translated into English, French, German, Turkish and Urdu.
The report gave no more details about the celebration.
+++++
گرامیداشت ثبت گلشن راز توسط یونسکو در همایش ملی شیخ محمود شبستریچهارشنبه ۱۵ اردیبهشت ۱۳۹۵سرویس شهرستانها: معاون فرهنگی و هنری اداره کل فرهنگ و ارشاد اسلامی آذربایجان شرقی گفت: ثبت هفتصدمین سالگرد تالیف گلشن راز در سال ۲۰۱۶ و ۲۰۱۷ توسط یونسکو در همایش ملی شیخ محمود شبستری گرامی داشته میشود.
محمد حسن چمیده فر افزود: در این همایش دو روزه که امروز و فردا در شبستر برگزار میشود، از تندیس و کتاب «چراغ جان»، آخرین اثر تحقیقی در خصوص شخصیت و اندیشه و زندگی شیخ محمود شبستری، رو نمایی میشود. وی افزود: کتاب «چراغ جان» اثر تحقیقی محمد طاهری خسرو شاهی توسط اداره کل فرهنگ و ارشاد اسلامی آذربایجان شرقی به چاپ رسیده است.وی با بیان اینکه همایش بزرگداشت یاد و نام «شیخ محمود شبستری» شاعر و عارف شهیر آذربایجان در شهر شبستر، زادگاه وی، برگزار میشود، ادامه داد: در روز دوم همایش، مدرسه گلشن راز افتتاح و از ۱۸ تابلو خط استادان بنام خوشنویسی کشور با موضوع گلشن راز رونمایی میشود.چمیدهفر اظهار داشت:شیخ محمود شبستری صاحب منظومه کم نظیر و پرمحتوای گلشن راز است که نقشی مهم در توسعه عرفان اصیل اسلامی در جهان بر عهده داشته است
+++++
ثبت مشاهیر برجسته ایران در فهرست مشاهیر علم و ادب یونسکو
ثبت مشاهیر برجسته ایران در فهرست مشاهیر علم و ادب یونسکو
طبق پیگیریهای کمیسیون ملی یونسکو و همکاری دفتر نمایندگی جمهوری اسلامی ایران در یونسکو، نام سه تن از مشاهیر برجسته کشورمان در سال 2015 در مرحله مقدماتی در فهرست مشاهیر علم و ادب یونسکو ثبت شد.
اسامی این شخصیتها عبارت است:
– هزارویکصد و پنجاهمین سال تولد محمد زکریای رازی
– هفتصدمین سال نگارش کتاب گلشن راز، شیخ محمود شبستری
– هزاروپنجاهمین سالروز تولد سیدمرتضی علم الهدی
دبیرخانه یونسکو پس از دریافت اسامی مشاهیر پیشنهاد شده از طرف کشورها، اسامی آنها را در اختیار کمیتههای تخصصی مربوط در معاونتهای فرهنگی، علوم انسانی و اجتماعی، علوم طبیعی و ارتباطات یونسکو قرار می دهد. این کمیتهها پس از بررسی، نتایج بهدست آمده را دوباره در اختیار دبیرخانه یونسکو قرار می دهند. پس از طی این فرایند، دبیرخانه فهرست تاییدشده مشاهیر را به شورای اجرایی ارسال می کند تا در صورت تصویب در شورا، در نشست کنفرانس عمومی (اکتبر 2015) تصویب نهایی شود.
باتوجه به جایگاه بسیار مهم ثبت جهانی مشاهیر در فهرست مشاهیر علم و ادب یونسکو و رقابت جدی کشورهای عضو باهدف بالابردن توان چانهزنی فرهنگی و هنجارسازی در مجامع بینالمللی، لزوم شناسایی و معرفی مشاهیر ایران و نیز برگزاری همایشها، بزرگداشتها و انتشار و انعکاس آموزههای مفاخر ایران-زمین در حوزه داخلی و بینالمللی از اهمیت بهسزایی در عرصه فرهنگ داخلی و جهانی برخوردار است.
علاقهمندان می توانند اسامی مشاهیر کشورمان را که تاکنون در فهرست مشاهیر یونسکو ثبتشده است در لینک زیر مشاهده کنند:
http://www.irunesco.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1730
Garden of Mystery: The Gulshan-i Raz of Mahmud Shabistari
by Mahmud Shabistari Garden of Mystery, the ‘Gulshan-i Raz’, holds a unique position in Persian Sufi literature. It is a compact and concise exploration of the doctrines of Sufism at the peak of their development that has remained a primary text of Sufism throughout the world from Turkey to India. It comprises a thousand lines of inspired poetry taking the form of answers to questions put by a fellow mystic. It provides a coherent literary bridge between the Persian ‘school of love’ poetry and the rapidly growing number of metaphysical and gnostic compositions from what had come to be known as the school of the ‘Unity of Being’. Translated by Robert Darr who has for thirty-five years been a student of classical Islamic culture.
++++
+++++
Related Links:
++++
Traditional Persian Cats Wikipedia
++++
Iran From Wikipedia https://wiki2.org/en/Iran
Iran ( ایران ) also called Persia is a country in Western Asia.
Iran is home to one of the world’s oldest civilizations, beginning with the formation of the Elamite kingdoms in the fourth millennium BC. It was first unified by the Iranian Medes in the seventh century BC, and reached its territorial height in the sixth century BC, when Cyrus the Great founded the Achaemenid Empire, which stretched from Eastern Europe to the Indus Valley, making it one of the largest empires in history. The empire fell to Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC and was divided into several Hellenistic states. An Iranian rebellion established the Parthian Empire in the third century BC, which was succeeded in the third century AD by the Sasanian Empire, a major world power for the next four centuries.
Ruins of the Gate of All Nations, Persepolis
Iran has the world’s second largest proved gas reserves after Russia, with 33.6 trillion cubic metres, and the third largest natural gas production after Indonesia and Russia. It also ranks fourth in oil reserves with an estimated 153,600,000,000 barrels. It is OPEC‘s second largest oil exporter, and is an energy superpower, with considerable influence in international energy security and the world economy.
The country’s rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 22 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the third largest number in Asia and 10th largest in the world. Historically a multi-ethnic country, Iran remains a pluralistic society comprising numerous ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups, the largest being Persians, Azeris, Kurds, Mazandaranis and Lurs.
GDP (PPP) | 2019 estimate |
---|---|
• Total | $1.471 trillion[7] (18th) |
• Per capita | |
GDP (nominal) | 2019 estimate |
• Total |
A bas-relief at Persepolis, depicting the united Medes and Persians
Tomb of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Empire, in
lin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill—issued the Tehran Declaration to guarantee the post-war independence and boundaries of Iran. During the rest of World War II, Iran became a major conduit for British and American aid to the Soviet Union and an avenue through which over 120,000 Polish refugees and Polish Armed Forces fled the Axis advance.
Mount Damavand, Iran’s highest point, is located in Amol, Mazenderan.
Haft-Seen, a customary of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year
Iran’s official New Year begins with Nowruz, an ancient Iranian tradition celebrated annually on the vernal equinox. It is enjoyed by people adhering to different religions, but is considered a holiday for the Zoroastrians. It was registered on the UNESCO‘s list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2009, described as the Persian New Year, shared with a number of other countries in which it has historically been celebrated.
Nowruz From Wikipedia https://wiki2.org/en/Nowruz
Nowruz (Persian: نوروز, pronounced [nowˈɾuːz]; lit. ‘ “new day”‘) is the Iranian New Year, also known as the Persian New Year, which is celebrated worldwide by various ethno-linguistic groups.
Nowruz has Iranian and Zoroastrian origins; however, it has been celebrated by diverse communities for over 7,000 years in Western Asia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Black Sea Basin, the Balkans, and South Asia. It is a secular holiday for most celebrants that is enjoyed by people of several different faiths, but remains a holy day for Zoroastrians, Bahais, and some Muslim communities
Illumination of the Earth by the Sun on the day of equinox
Nowruz is the day of the vernal equinox, and marks the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. It marks the first day of the first month (Farvardin) of the Iranian calendars. It usually occurs on March 21 or the previous or following day, depending on where it is observed. The moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator and equalizes night and day is calculated exactly every year, and families gather together to observe the rituals.
While Nowruz has been celebrated since the reform of the Iranian Calendar in the 11th century CE to mark the new year, the United Nations officially recognized the “International Day of Nowruz” with the adoption of UN resolution 64/253 in 2010. Read more: https://wiki2.org/en/Nowruz
+++++
solstice celebration Introduction to Yalda Night or Chelleh Shab-e Yalda MUN Iranians
Cuisine Main article: Iranian cuisine
Chelow kabab (rice and kebab), one of Iran’s national dishes
Due to its variety of ethnic groups and the influences from the neighboring cultures, the cuisine of Iran is diverse. Herbs are frequently used, along with fruits such as plums, pomegranate, quince, prunes, apricots, and raisins. To achieve a balanced taste, characteristic flavorings such as saffron, dried lime, cinnamon, and parsley are mixed delicately and used in some special dishes. Onion and garlic are commonly used in the preparation of the accompanying course, but are also served separately during meals, either in raw or pickled form.
Iranian cuisine includes a wide range of main dishes, including various types of kebab, pilaf, stew (khoresh), soup and āsh, and omelette. Lunch and dinner meals are commonly accompanied by side dishes such as plain yogurt or mast-o-khiar, sabzi, salad Shirazi, and torshi, and might follow dishes such as borani, Mirza Qasemi, or kashk e bademjan as the appetizer.
The Azadi Stadium in Tehran is West Asia’s largest football stadium.
Sports in Iran
With two-thirds of the population under the age of 25, many sports are played in Iran.
Iran is most likely the birthplace of polo, locally known as čowgān, with its earliest records attributed to the ancient Medes. Freestyle wrestling is traditionally considered the national sport of Iran, and the national wrestlers have been world champions on many occasions. Iran’s traditional wrestling, called košti e pahlevāni (“heroic wrestling”), is registered on UNESCO‘s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
Read more: https://wiki2.org/en/Iran
Sports in Iran
Football has been regarded as the most popular sport in Iran, with the men’s national team having won the Asian Cup on three occasions. The men’s national team has maintained its position as Asia’s best team, ranking 1st in Asia and 33rd in the world according to the FIFA World Rankings (as of May 2020).
Volleyball is the second most popular sport in Iran. Having won the 2011 and 2013 Asian Men’s Volleyball Championships, men’s national team is currently the strongest team in Asia, and ranks eighth in the FIVB World Rankings (as of July 2017).
Basketball is also popular, with men’s national team having won three Asian Championships since 2007.
Iron Age gold cup from Marlik 3000 years old
Iran’s oldest literary tradition is that of Avestan, the Old Iranian sacred language of the Avesta, which consists of the legendary and religious texts of Zoroastrianism and the ancient Iranian religion, with its earliest records dating back to the pre-Achaemenid times.
Of the various modern languages used in Iran, Persian, various dialects of which are spoken throughout the Iranian Plateau, has the most influential literature. Persian has been dubbed as a worthy language to serve as a conduit for poetry, and is considered one of the four main bodies of world literature. In spite of originating from the region of Persis (better known as Persia) in southwestern Iran, the Persian language was used and developed further through Persianate societies in Asia Minor, Central Asia, and South Asia, leaving massive influences on Ottoman and Mughal literatures, among others.
Iran has a number of famous medieval poets, most notably Rumi, Ferdowsi, Hafez, Saadi Shirazi, Omar Khayyam, and Nezami Ganjavi. Iranian literature also inspired writers such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Henry David Thoreau, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Tomb of Hafez, the medieval Persian poet whose works are regarded as a pinnacle in Persian literature and have left a considerable mark on later Western writers, most notably Goethe, Thoreau, and Emerson
The blossoming literature, philosophy, mathematics, medicine,
While there are ancient relations between the Indian Vedas and the Iranian Avesta, the two main families of the Indo-Iranian philosophical traditions were characterized by fundamental differences, especially in their implications for the human being’s position in society and their view of man’s role in the universe.
The Cyrus Cylinder, which is known as “the first charter of human rights“, is often seen as a reflection of the questions and thoughts expressed by Zoroaster, and developed in Zoroastrian schools of the Achaemenid era. The earliest tenets of Zoroastrian schools are part of the extant scriptures of the Zoroastrian religion in Avestan. Among them are treatises such as the Zatspram, Shkand-gumanik Vizar, and Denkard, as well as older passages of the Avesta and the Gathas
Education in Iran is centralized and divided into K-12 education plus higher education. Elementary and secondary education is supervised by the Ministry of Education and higher education is under supervision of Ministry of Science, research and Technology and Ministry of Health and Medical Education (medical fields). As of September 2015, 93% of the Iranian adult population are literate. In 2008, 85% of the Iranian adult population were literate, well ahead of the regional average of 62%. This rate increases to 97% among young adults (aged between 15 and 24) without any gender discrepancy. By 2007, Iran had a student to workforce population ratio of 10.2%, standing among the countries with highest ratio in the world. Each year, 20% of government spending and 5% of GDP goes to education, a higher rate than most other developing countries. 50% of education spending is devoted to secondary education
Foreign languages
See also: Iran Language Institute and Media in Iran
Persian is officially the national language of Iran. Arabic, as the language of Koran, is taught grades 7-12. In addition to Arabic, students are required to take one foreign language class in grades 7-12. Although other foreign languages such as German, French, Spanish and Chinese are offered in most urban schools, English continues to be the most desired language.
Kanoun-e-Zabaan-e-Iran or Iran’s Language Institute affiliated to Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults was founded in 1979. Persian, English, French, Spanish, German, Russian and Arabic are taught to over 175,000 students during each term.
English language is studied in first and second high school. However, the quality of English education in schools is not satisfactory and most of students in order to obtain a better English fluency and proficiency have to take English courses in private institutes.
Before 2018, some primary schools also taught English. However, in January 2018, a senior educational official announced that teaching English is banned in primary schools, including non-government primary schools.
Presently, there are over 5000 foreign language schools in the country, 200 of which are situated in Tehran. A few television channels air weekly English and Arabic language sessions, particularly for university candidates who are preparing for the annual entrance test
As of 2013, 4.5 million students are enrolled in universities, out of a total population of 75 million. Iranian universities graduate almost 750,000 annually
Education in Iran From Wikipedia
The adult literacy rated 93.0% in September 2015
According to the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities (as of January 2017), Iran’s top five universities include Tehran University of Medical Sciences (478th worldwide), the University of Tehran (514th worldwide), Sharif University of Technology (605th worldwide), Amirkabir University of Technology (726th worldwide), and the Tarbiat Modares University (789th worldwide)
Sharif University of Technology, Amirkabir University of Technology, and Iran University of Science and Technology also located in Tehran are nationally well known for taking in the top undergraduate Engineering and Science students; and internationally recognized for training competent under graduate students. It has probably the highest percentage of graduates who seek higher education abroad.
K.N.Toosi University of Technology is among most prestigious universities in Tehran. Other major universities are at Shiraz, Tabriz, Isfahan, Mashhad, Ahvaz, Kerman, Kermanshah, Babolsar, Rasht, and Orumiyeh. There are about 50 colleges and 40 technological institutes.
In 2009, 33.7% of all those in the 18–25 age group were enrolled in one of the 92 universities, 512 Payame Noor University branches, and 56 research and technology institutes around the country. There are currently some 3.0 million university students in Iran and 1.0 million study at the 500 branches of Islamic Azad University. Iran had 1 million medical students in 2011.In September 2012, women made up more than 60% of all universities’ student body in Iran.[35] This high level of achievement and involvement in high education is a recent development of the past decades. According to UNESCO world survey, Iran has the highest female to male ratio at primary level of enrollment in the world among sovereign nations, with a girl to boy ratio of 1.22:1.
Field of study | 2010 | Remarks |
---|---|---|
Engineering and construction | 31% | Highly developed with one of the highest graduation rates in the world. |
Social science, business and law | 23% | Limited because of ideology issues but is developing rapidly. |
Humanities and the arts | 14% | |
Science | 10% | Highly developed with one of the highest graduation rates in the world.. |
Statistics
- As of 2016 Iran has the 5th highest number of STEM graduates worldwide with 335,000 annual graduates.
- In 2010, 64% of the country’s population was under the age of 30.
- There are approximately 92,500 public educational institutions at all levels, with a total enrollment of approximately 17,488,000 students.
- According to 2008 estimates, 89.3% of males and 80.7% of females over the age of 15 are literate; thus 85% of the population is literate. Virtually all children of the relevant age group enrolled into primary schools in 2008 while enrollment into secondary schools increased from 66% in 1995 to 80% in 2008. As a result, youth literacy rates increased from 86% to 94% over the same period, rising significantly for girls.
- A <i>literacy corps</i> was established in 1963 to send educated conscripts to villages. During its first 10 years, the corps helped 2.2 million urban children and 600,000 adults become literate. This corps was replaced with the Literacy Movement Organization after the Islamic Revolution.
- In 1997, there were 9,238,393 pupils enrolled in 63,101 primary schools, with 298,755 teachers. The student-to-teacher ratio stood at 31 to 1. In that same year, secondary schools had 8,776,792 students and 280,309 teachers. The pupil-teacher ratio at the primary level was 26 to 1 in 1999. In the same year, 83% of primary-school-age children were enrolled in school. As of 1999, public expenditure on education was estimated at 4.6% of GDP (not budget).
- In 2007, the majority of students (60%) enrolled in Iranian universities were women.
- According to UNESCO world survey, Iran has the highest female to male ratio at primary level of enrollment in the world among sovereign nations, with a girl to boy ratio of 1.22 : 1.00.
- Each year, 20% of government spending and 5% of GDP goes to education, a higher rate than most other developing countries. 50% of education spending is devoted to secondary education and 21% of the annual state education budget is devoted to the provision of tertiary education.
++++
++++
++
[ Some of the best free motivational, promotional, informational, educational documentary, and sample books, ebooks, videos, audios, music, pictures, links, about 4 Seasons Gardening From top to bottom of the page to read or watch, listen, learn, use and to enjoy with satisfaction ]
Promotional Guide charges companies some promotional fees.
For the buyers of any items, prices are the same as they buy directly from Amazon or other companies.
++++
Disclaimer of liability The information, books, ebooks, products, services, material plus any other content in this site and related sites or other [ Pak Company and Promotional guide network and links ] or any third party all are for general information, entertainments and promotion purposes only. However, we [ Pak company, Promotional Guide, 4 seasons Gorden plus, or anyone any way related ] makes no responsibility or warranty, regarding accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of information, products, and services plus other items. You should consult medical professionals, an expert in the field of interest for more direct, reliable advice and action, all strictly on your own risk. |