TEHRAN – A foundation named after Persian poet and Sufi Mirza Abdul-Qadir Bidel Dehlavi (1644-1721) was inaugurated in Tehran on Tuesday.

Bidel Dehlavi was born in Azimabad (present day Patna, India). He mostly wrote ghazals and quatrains in Persian and was the author of 16 books of poetry, which contain nearly 147,000 verses.

A number of literary figures including Academy of Persian Language and Literature director Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, chairman of the Leader’s office Ayatollah Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, ECO Cultural Institute (ECI) president Iftikhar Husain Arif and the Iranian Literature Center director Hadi Kiasari attended the ceremony.

Speaking at the ceremony, Golpayegani said that Bidel had never seen Iran, but during his time, Persian was the official language of his country.

He expressed hope that the sweet Persian language would find its real statue in the world.

Haddad-Adel said that he is happy the foundation has been established in Iran, calling it good news for the aficionados of Persian literature.

Kiasari also regarded Bidel as the greatest Persian literary figure beyond (our) borders.

The ceremony was closed with the unveiling of the logo of the foundation, which bears an inscription by master of calligraphy Gholamhossein Amirkhani and a symbol by calligrapher Hamid Ajami.

The idea to establish the foundation was proposed by literary scholars attending the international congress on Bidel organized by the Iranian Literature Center in 2011.

The Bidel Dehlavi Foundation has been established to promote Persian language and literature in the international arena, while it also helps boost research related to the thoughts of and works by Bidel.

Photo: Calligraphers Gholamhossein Amirkhani (R) and Hamid Ajami unveil a logo for the Bidel Dehlavi Foundation in Tehran on August 30, 2016. (ANA/Majid Farahani)

RM/YAW