DĀNIŠ-NĀMA, a medical book in Persian poetry
The ‘Maysari’s Encyclopaedia’ is the name of a book about medicine and the treatment of diseases, written in Persian poetry by Hakim Maysari, a physician from the 4th century. He was an Iranian author of a rhyme classical text on pharmacy and medicine in the Islamic period.
A handwritten copy of this book is kept in the National Library of France in Paris. The scribe of this copy, Mahmoud Tabrizi, is a “Shahnameh-khaan” (The Shahnameh-reader) who completed its transcription in the year 852 AH. Browse through the high-quality scanned version of Maysari’s Encyclopaedia here.
According to what Maysari himself has mentioned in the encyclopedia, he was born around the year 324 AH. The famous French Iranologist, Gilbert Lazard, introduced the world to Hakim Maysari in his book titled ‘Two Medical Treatises from the Fourth Century in Persian’.
Maysari has mentioned about naming this book ‘DĀNIŠ-NĀMA’ (The Encyclopaedia):
من این گفتار را اندام دادم
و دانش‌نامه اول نام دادم
I gave these words their very form and frame,
And ‘Encyclopaedia’ first claimed its name.
At the end of the book, it is also stated:
بیانجامید دانش‌نامه من
برآمد زو مراد و کامه من
My book of knowledge now is fully penned,
From it, my aims and heart’s desires ascend.
He has written about the reason for writing the book in Persian:
بگویم تازی ار نه پارسی نغز
ز هر در، من بگویم مایه و مغز
و پس گفتم زمین ماست ایران
که بیش از مردمانش پارسی‌دان
وگر تازی کنم نیکو نباشد
که هر کس را ازو نیرو نباشد
دری گویمش تا هر کس بداند
و هر کس بر زبانش بر براند
Shall I speak in Arabic, or in Persian, so fine?
In every way, I express the essence and core, mine.And then I declared, our land is Iran,
Where Persian is known more than any other span.If I speak in Arabic, it might not be as grand,
For not everyone can draw strength from that land.In Persian I’ll speak, so all may understand,
And on every tongue, my words shall grandly stand.
