Ayyuqi

Who is Ayyuqi?

Ayyuqi was a 10th-century Persian poet. A contemporary of Mahmud of Ghazni, he wrote the epic Varqa u Gulshāh in 2,250 verses, story of the love between a youth named Varqa and a maiden, Golshah. According to the poet himself, the story is based on the Arabic work ‘Orwa wa ‘Afra. The work survives in a unique manuscript at Istanbul. He also wroted some qasidas. No reliable information about Ayyuqi has come down. His works are characterized by paired rhyme interspersed with ghazal.