Indian scholars discover 700-year-old manuscript of Divan of Hafez
TEHRAN A team of Indian scholars working at the Asiatic Society, a Kolkata based institute for Oriental studies, has stumbled upon a 700-year-old manuscript of the Divan of Hafez, the Times of India reported on Monday.
The manuscript, which bears the signature and gold insignia of Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal emperor who reigned from 1628 to 1658, also contains an unpublished ghazal. The unpublished poem begins with this verse: Beham Dellah Ke Bazam Didane Ruyat Moyasser Shod (Thank God, I have the honor of looking at your face again).
Persian poet Hafez lived much before the time of Shah Jahan, but the insignia means that the manuscript, which also embellished with beautiful illuminations and calligraphy, had landed in the Mughal emperor' s library, scholars said. Many literati and scholars recently traveled to the city to catch a glimpse of the manuscript currently on display at Asiatic Society s museum. However, it will soon be relocated, considering its antique value and fragile condition.
Asiatic Society's researchers discovered the Divan of Hafez while studying the works of the Persian Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib. Historian Ramkrishna Chatterjee of the Asiatic Society said, when our Persian scholars went through it, they were stunned. This was an original handwritten manuscript by Hafez, who preceded Ghalib by nearly 500.

کشف نسخه خطی دیوان حافظ شیرازی با قدمتی هفتصد ساله توسط پژوهشگران هندی