Pur-Baha Jami

Tāj al-Din ibn Bahā al-Din better known as Pur-Baha Jami (; born in Jam, Khorasan, present-day Afghanistan – ) was an Iranian poet, Pun master, satirist, and often scathing social commentator. He was contemporary to Sadi, Homam Tabrizi and Ghotb al-Din Shirazi.

Biography Dawlat-shah Samarqandi devotes an article to him in his book, Taḏkerat al-šoʿarā (The Biographies of the Poets) and later other biographical works such as Atashkadeh, Haft Iqlim and Majamu-s Shuara add a little to. Little is known about his early life but he was born in Jam and spent his youth in Herat

At first he was a eulogist of Khwaja Wajih al-Din Zangi, the son of Khwaja Taher Faryumadi but after moving to Tabriz he composed eulogies for Khwaja Shams al-Din Joveini.

Literary works No one collection contains all Pur Bahāʾ’s work, and his verses remain scattered. However, the job of identifying his work is made easier by the very idiosyncratic style that he employs in almost all his work.

Nishapur earthquake In 1267–68 the city of Nishapur was destroyed by a massive earthquake. Pur-Baha elaborates with word-plays and far-fetched metaphors both the destruction and restoration of the city. In his poetic ode (Qasidah) he described the damage to different structures such as minarets, mosques, libraries and schools and then gave the date of the rebuilding of the city as early may of 1271. This poem has been quoted by Hafiz-e Abru and Fasih Khafi. In the restoration poem he refers to the good-works of Abaqa Khan, the Ilkhanid king of Iran and describes him as the "Nuširvān of our time, Abaqa, the lord of the world, the sovereign of the earth, the world conqueror, foe-binder"