Poet
Originally from the vicinity of Mashad, Muḥammad Riẓā Ḫabūšānī Nawʿī became attracted to the Mughal court on account of its reputation of treating poets and consequently moved to India. Eventually he gained the patronage of Ḫān-i Ḫānan Mīrzā ʿAbd al-Raḥīm and the support of Prince Daniyal, Akbar’s son. Nawʿī is mostly known for his work Sūz va gudāz, which was composed after 1013/1604.
Sūz va gudāz is the story of a Hindū princess who accompanies her husband in death (the result of the Hindū tradition that a widow is burned at the funeral pyre with her deceased husband). Sūz va gudāz “is written in excessively artificial language,” however, it is “distinguished by the originality of its subject,” one which Nawʿī was the first poet to write about. Additionally, he composed a manavī, entitled Sāqī-nāmāh, in honor of Ḫān-i Ḫānan. Nawʿī died ca. 1018–19/1609–10.