14Ifhispoetrywaslegendaryduringhisownlifetime,afterhisdeaththeinterpreta-
tivetraditionoftheḤāfiẓianheritageexpandedvastly,mostlypreservedoutside
thelandsofGreaterPersia,particularlyinOttomanTurkey^95 andMughalIndia,
wherethemostimportantandlargestamountofcommentariesonhisDīvānwere
written.ThebestknownofthesearethemysticalcommentariesinTurkishby
Surūrī(d.969/1561)andSham‘ī(d.1000/1591).Therewasalsothesoberliteraryand
grammaticalcommentarybySūdīofBosnia(d.1006/1597)thatwascomposedin
Istanbul,^96 whichformedthebasisformostEuropeaninterpretationofthepoet.^97
ButitsaysalotaboutthestillunderdevelopedstateofḤāfiẓStudiestodaythat
whilefarmorecommentariesontheDīvānwerewritteninIndiathaninIran,
CentralAsiaorTurkey,notasingleoneoftheseIndiancommentarieshastodate
beenpublished.^98 Anexceptiontothisruleis‘theclearest,bestandmostrevealing
of all ancient and modern commentaries in solving the difficulties in Ḥāfiẓ’s
poetry’;^99 thatis,thecommentaryonḤāfiẓ’sDīvānwritteninIndiacirca1026/1617
byAbū’l-Ḥasan‘Abdal-RaḥmānKhatmīLāhūrī,onlyfirsteditedandpublishedin
1995.ForfathomingthetheosophicalbackgroundandmysticalsubtletiesofḤāfiẓ’s
esotericlanguageandtheoryoflove,Lāhūrī’smonumentalwork(over4,000pages
ofsmallprint)iscomparableinitssignificancetoMuḥammadLāhījī’s(d.912/1507)
inimitablePersiancommentaryonShabistarī’sGulshan-irāz^100 orIsmā‘īlAnqaravī’s
(d.1041/1631)grandTurkishexegesisofRūmī’sMathnawī.^101
While the oldest Ḥāfiẓ manuscripts were preserved in the fifteenth-century
courtsofTimuridPersiaandCentralAsiaandamongsttheMughalsinIndia,the
earliestprintededitionofḤāfiẓ’sDīvānappearedundertheimprintoftheEastIndia
CompanyinCalcuttain1791.Overthecourseofthenineteenthcenturyseveral
moreeditionswerepublishedinIndia.^102 LithographeditionsofḤāfiẓbeganto
appearinPersiaduringthemid-nineteenthcentury,butitwasnotuntil1941that
thefirstmajorcriticaleditionofḤāfiẓ’sDīvān(compiledbyMuḥammadQazvīnīand
QāsimGhanī)waspublished,followedbyaplethoraofotherscholarlyeditions.
Sevenoreightquitereputablescholarlyeditionstodaycanbebought.^103 Oneofthe
bestofthese,towhichmostofthecontributorstothisvolumehavereferred,isthat
compiledbyParvīzNātilKhānlarī,containing486ghazals.Despitecertainshort-
comings,^104 Khānlarī’sworkremainsstilloneofthebestcriticaleditionsinprint,^105
andrecentlyhasbeenusedasthebasisfortranslationsoftheentireDīvāninto
French(byCharlesdeFouchécour)andEnglish(byPeterAvery).
Notonceduringthepast600yearshasḤāfiẓ’sDīvānbeenoffthetop-tenPersian
‘best-seller’list.Today,noself-respectingAfghanorPersian’spersonallibraryshelf
lacksacopyofḤāfiẓ’sDīvān.^106 UniversitiesinIranhaverecentlyinauguratedasep-
aratesubfieldofPersianliterarycriticism,knownas‘Ḥāfiẓology’(Ḥāfiẓ-shināsī).^107
Modernistintellectuals,progressiveSufisandphilosophersfoolhardyenoughto
attempttocriticizeḤāfiẓfromthestandpointofhismorality,ormysticism,orpol-
itics,orpoetry,orreligion,orphilosophy,orwhatever,alwaysseemtoendup
wringingtheirhandsinremorseastheywatchtheirclevercarpingimmediately
resultintheplummetingoftheirownreputations.Inevitably,beforetheundying
ḤāfiẓandtheReligionofLoveinClassicalPersianPoetry