Document Type : علمی- پژوهشی
Authors
1 Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Foreign Languages, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran.
2 Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Foreign Languages, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran.Azad Isalamic University of Tabriz
3 Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Foreign Languages, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran
Abstract
Abstract: Plants, as one of the important sources of food and medicine, have been the focus of human attention since long ago. Our ancestors over thousands of years, in addition to providing the medicine, food and clothing have gained more knowledge on the plants and have used the color and smell of a number of plants in painting, dyeing, making perfume and doing the makeup. Indigo is one of the dye-producing plants that have attracted the attention of people due to its color stability and high ability to combine with a wide range of other natural colors. The extensive reflection of this plant in the poem indicates the prosperity and healthy use of the natural color of indigo, along with its healing properties, by the ancients. In the 6th century, for some reasons, including competition, the development of science or idealism by the poets, the therapeutic functions of Indigo, like the information of other sciences, have been mixed with the irony and metaphors and made it difficult to understand the meaning of the poem. This research aims to extract the reflections of the Indigo from the , Divan of Sanai, Anwari, Khaghani and Nizami by using the descriptive-analytical method to investigate and analyze its medical, literary and artistic functions and its public beliefs.
Highlights
Expanded Abstract
The functions of the Indigo in the poetry of the 6th century with emphasis on Sanai, Anwari, Khaghani and Nizami
Introduction. Entering the world of poetry in the 6th century was impossible without being aware of various sciences. One of the distinctive features of this period is the introduction of common information in the poetry. Accordingly, most of the poets were called "Hakim" due to having knowledge on the common sciences and techniques of their time. The poets of the 6th century abandoned the simplicity and fluency of the poetry of the previous periods and using narrow thinking and skillfully, they introduced their knowledge about various sciences, including astronomy, mathematics, music, medicine and medicinal plants into the poetry. Imagination of the flowers and plants has been common in the poetry since the past, but in the studied poems, we face with the names of many plants, which, in addition to literary and aesthetic aspects, their properties were also mentioned. Although the properties of flowers and plants do not play a central role in the literature, due to their innovative use and extensive reflection of the knowledge on the plants, we do require especial information about them. One of the plants whose medical, literary and artistic functions and common beliefs are mainly expressed in poetry is Indigo.
"Indigo" is an Indian word and its Arabic translation is "Nilaj". The coloring material of indigo has been a subject that the human being considered it for a long time, and use of indigo in the cellulose tissues of the plant and wood and also in the dyeing industry has caused researchers to call it "industrial-medicinal plant". This plant belongs to the Leguminosax family and its most important use is in the dyeing industry. Indigo color has a very high stability and is widely used in the fabrics and objects dyeing. It is called "king of colors" due to its attractive blue color, color stability and high ability to mix with a wide range of other natural colors. No other dye plant had its high position in the ancient civilizations. The most important use of indigo color is in the carpet weaving industry, whose consistency and beautiful color has given world fame to the carpets of Iran, Pakistan and India. Another use of indigo color in Iran and other countries, as a blue color, is partly in the cosmetics and sometimes together with Henna (Lawsonia Inermis) as a beauty agent for hair coloring and also painting the wooden objects as well as drawing on the leather.
Aim. One of the important characteristics of poetry in the sixth century was being technical. Using the common science and technique terms for creating the themes and images from the Indigo is one of the ways to explain the thoughts of poets, especially Khaqani and Nizami. The awareness of poets about the characteristics of Indigo has been widely reflected in the form of imaginative literary compositions in the poem and made the precise understanding of the poem difficult so that it requires explanation, in a way that without being familiar with the medical, literary and artistic functions of Indigo and its related common beliefs, the meaning of the poem cannot be understood correctly. There has been no book or an independent research about Indigo plant among the poetic works. Therefore, considering the present lack, wide reflection, place and importance of Indigo in Persian poetry, this essay is considered as an attempt to examine the reflection of Indigo in the poetry of the 6th century with an emphasis on Sana'i, Anwari, Khaqani and Nizami works.
Method. Using the descriptive-analytical method, this library research aims to extract the reflection of the Indigo's various qualities from the Sana'i, Anwari, Khaqani and Nizami works and investigate and analyze its medical, literary and artistic functions and its related public beliefs.
Result. In the studies works, Indigo has been introduced as a "precious material" which was widely used in dyeing along with the treatment of edema. The blue color of Indigo was used as a mourning color, as well as in marking and doing the makeup. According to the ancients, the effect of Indigo on removing the influence of evil eye has had main reflection in the poetry. The coloring feature of Indigo is reflected in Persian poetry and literature more than its therapeutic properties so that it reminds the color of indigo before the name of the plant. The compound expressions of Indigo show that the use of Indigo was not merely for beautifying the words or making the poem attractive; Rather, all the wise and thoughtful poets, in their innovative and conscious similes and metaphors, made Indigo qualities a bed for offering their irony expression.
The color "indigo" was used in the works of these poets in different and opposite concepts (dark and black, blue and green) and it is placed in the row of blue, Azragh and turquoise colors. It does not mean that the narrow-minded and accurate poets of the 6th century were unfamiliar with different colors in describing the nature, but it shows their dealing with objects such as turquoise, Zabarjad, Lapis lazuli, and indigo. In some cases, poets used them as a Vehicle and similes regardless of their color difference. These words are not used to generally denote the color. On the other hand, the recognition of the color components has occured gradually over the time, and the blue color has been defined and recognized much later than the other colors. In such a way that in the works of this period, the word "blue" means "quince" fruit, or it attributed to the water (blue) element. Unlike today that indigo is placed between the sky blue and purple in the color spectrum, poets described the sky, heaven, and sea as blue and Lajavardi, and also green, emerald, and Zabarjad, which was influenced by the literary traditions and there was no contradiction between these colors, especially the use of green instead of blue color. Today, in most languages, blue is used instead of green, and it can be said that it refers to color tolerance.
The poets of this period widely used the ironic phrases, including "Nilgari in the sense of mourning", "Nili-Hejab", "Nil Xom of sky" or " Nilgun Falak" as a symbol of darkness or irony for the misery. Also, phrases such as "Parde_ye Nilgun", "Khome Nilgun", "Nilgun Meejar", "Nilgun Meghfar", "Nili Veta", "Nili Gheta" and "Nili Hoqqeh" in the metaphorical meaning of the sky as mourning. Phrases, such as throwing the cloth in the Indigo", putting the clothes in indigo, covering the wisdom by indigo are allusions to mourning and being miserable, and sometimes in the opposite meaning it shows the happiness. The phrase of "covering the swelling by Indigo" is concisely used by Anwari which shows the therapeutic properties of Indigo in healing the swelling and in the traditional medicine books, one of the medicinal properties of indigo is mentioned in "treatment of swelling".
Out of totally 138 reflections of indigo in the reviewed works, the lowest frequency relates to the medical function and the highest frequency refers to the color of mourning and its dark symbol. Then, removing effect of evil eye, coloring, marking, and doing makeup have respectively had many functions in the reviewed works. Among the poets, Khagani used the quality of coloring, marking, and removing the evil eye effect, and Nizami used the most ironic expressions.
Key words: Persian poetry, Herbal Medicines, Woad, Indig.
References:
Ibn-e Abitaleb, A. (1380). Nahj al-Balaghe,Trans; Mohammad Dashti, 2 ed, Bushehr: Mowoud-e Islam.
Ibn-e Sina,mA. (1389). Law, Trans; Abd al-Rahman Sharafkandi, 9 ed, Tehran: Soroush, Vol; 2.
Anwari, O. (1394). Anwari’s Diwan, Descripted by Nafisi S, 2 ed, Tehran: Negah.
https://doi.org/10.22034/perlit.2023.52243.3346
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