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The fifth poem of Nizami’s Khamsah (Quintet), Iskandarnamah, is a two-part account of the life of Alexander the Great or Iskandar as he is called in Persian. Nizami’s portrayal of Alexander as a philosopher-king would have appealed to Akbar, who promoted himself as a just and tolerant ruler.

Nizami’s portrayal of Alexander in ‘Khamsah’ as a philosopher-king appealed to Akbar, who promoted himself as a just and tolerant ruler.

Todays post is by guest contributor and regular visitor to Asian and African Collections, Sunil Sharma, Professor of Persianate and Comparative Literature at Boston University. The British Library has one of the largest collections of manuscripts of the Persian works of Amir Khusraw of Delhi (d. 1325). There are around...