The directory «Plots»

Mahsati Ganjevi
(1089— XII c.)

Mahsati was a contemporary of Nizami and an outstanding XII c. Azerbaijanian poetess – a rare phenomenon in the medieval Moslem Orient. No details about her life are known except that she was born in Ganje 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.

For thee hath Heaven saddled Fortune’s steed,
O, King, and chosen thee from all who lead,
Now o’er the Earth it spreads a silver sheet
To guard from mud thy gold-shod charger’s feet*

It is also known that Mahsati-khanum (khanum-a form of address in Azerbaijan applied for women) 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.

USSR, 1984.04.17, Vazekh monument in Kirovobad

USSR, 1984.04.17, Mekhseti Ganjavī monument in Kirovobad