A Study on Animal Drugs in Khaqani’s Divan

Difficulty and strangeness are the adjectives which have been ascribed to Khaqani’s Daivan for a long time. A notable part of such difficulties originates from the extensive cultural background on which the poet has based different themes, images and novel expressions. His strange manner in poetry is so that, for staying away from widely-used expressions, he has linked various kinds of knowledge with his poetic competence and created valuable and high poetry. His outstanding talent in using language and the delicacy he showed in using such kinds of knowledge all cause his words not to be strictly scientific and non-literary. Medical statements are one part of his cultural background used by the poet prominently in composing his poems. Due to the presence of great physicians such as Zakariaye Razi, Majusi Ahwazi, Abu Ali Sina, Ismail Jurjani etc. medicine developed a lot in his time. Moreover, the literary milieu of his time required our poet to be a knowledgeable person, especially due to the presence of prominent rivals such as Abul’ala Ganjavi and others. This article aims to investigate animal drugs as a part of such medical knowledge.