Raysfromthecupandgobletovercloakedthemoon’sownlight!
TheMagichildren’sreddenedcheekswaylaidtheverysun!^13
The painter captures the difficult quintuple imagery, solar, winelike, kisslike,
archangelic,hence‘intellectual’(inthemedieval‘dawnlike’or‘illuminating’sense
ofsuccessiveemanatingarchangelicIntellectsfromthefootsteporthresholdof
God’sThrone,thatshinedownandso‘kiss’withtheirquickeninglightthesucces-
siveplanesofcreatedbeing),ofanotherofthetext’sextremelydemandingverses:
Khiradkihmulham-iGhaybast,bahr-ikasb-isharaf
Zibām-i‘arsh,sadashbūsabarjanābzada.
Intellect,theUnseenWorld’sinspirer,
tocatchitseverynobleness
onhigh
FromtherooftopoftheThrone,
Bestowedahundredkisses
Onitsedge.^14
Thepicture’spavilionis,indeed,thefamous‘TavernoftheMagi’,orrather,here,
the‘Enclosure’or‘PalaceoftheMagi’,Sarāy-i Mughān–asthepoem’sfirstline
states,butapavilionthatisalsoplantedlikea‘tent’(khayma)inthemidstofthe
‘ruinous’(kharāb)domainofthislowerillusoryworld,withtheexpecteddeliberate
wordplayonthePersianizedArabictermfor‘ruins’(kharābāt)thatcametomean
‘tavern’inPersianusage,oneofthemostrecurrentofalltheDīvān’simagesand
puns.Herethe‘ChiefMagus’orSufimaster–withhisvenerablesnowybeard,
seatedtowardsthelowerright,poursspiritualwinefromtruewisdom’sdecanter,
intothecupfromwhichavidlydrinksadisciple:
Dar-iSarāy-iMughānruftabūduābzada,
NishastaPīruṣalā’ībishaykhushābzada.
ThedoortotheMagi’sPalacewassweptandwateredclean
AndtheresattheElderMaster,pouringouthisFire
Tooldandyoungalike.^15
Sulṭān-Muḥammad’s careful composition, which the spirited movement of his
mordantlyobservedindividualcharactersstirstolife,showstheDivineLight’s
descent(nuzūl)fromthehigherplanesofBeingtothelower:inthecarefulhierar-
chyofIslamicizedneo-PlatonicthoughtandimageryuponwhichḤāfiẓsomuch
playsinverse.Itisthedescentofthe‘wine’-likeLight,loweredfromonhighlikea
decanterattheendofatāror‘string’(or‘rope’,ontheleft),ametaphorfortheall-
connectingandall-pervadingemanationofthedivinecreativeclarity,fromitsmost
Ḥāfiẓ’s Romantic Imagery and Language of Love 219