Introduction
Mahsati Ganjavi (Persian: مهستی گنجوی), (born c. 1089 in Ganja, a city in Arran, modern Republic of Azerbaijan-died after 1159) was a 12th-century Persianpoet. Mahsati (مهستی) is a compound of two Persian words "Mah/Maah" (Moon) and "Sati" (Lady).The word appears in the works of Sanai, Nizami, Attar, Rumi, and Saadi,.
As an eminent poet, she was composer of quatrains (ruba'is). Originated from Ganja, she was said to have associated with both Omar Khayyam and Nizami. She is also said to have been a companion of Sultan Sanjar. Her alleged free way of living and peddled verses have stamped her as a Persian Madame Sans-Gêne . Her purported love affairs are recounted in the works of Jauhari of Bukhara.
No details about her life are documented except that she was born in Ganja and was highly esteemed at the court of Sultan Sanjar of the Seljuk dynasty. She is said to have attracted the notice and gained the favor of Sanjar by the following verse, which she extemporized one evening when the King, on going out from his audience-hall to mount his horse, found that a sudden fall of snow had covered the ground:
It is also known that Mahsati was persecuted for her courageous poetry condemning religious obscurantism, fanaticism, and dogmas. Her only works that have come down to us are philosophical and love quatrains (rubaiyat), glorifying the joy of living and the fullness of love. The most complete collection of her quatrains are founded in the Nozhat al-Majales. Approximately 60 quatrains of her are found in the Nozhat al-Majales. A monument to her was placed in Ganja in 1980.
Example of original work in Persian
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ما را به دم تير نگه نتوان داشت |
We can't be halted by tip of the arrow |
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چون نيست ز هر چه هست جز باد به دست |
Since there is nothing left for whatever exists, except wind through the hand |
