Nastaliq: Difference between revisions

'''''Nastaliq''''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|n|æ|s|t|ə|ˈ|l|iː|k|,_|ˈ|n|æ|s|t|ə|l|iː|k}};<ref>{{Cite web|title=Nastaliq {{!}} Definition of Nastaliq by Oxford Dictionary on Lexico.com also meaning of Nastaliq|url=https://www.lexico.com/definition/nastaliq|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328182321/https://www.lexico.com/definition/nastaliq|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 28, 2022|access-date=2020-07-05|website=Lexico Dictionaries|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|language=en|via=Lexico.com}}</ref> {{big|{{nq|نَسْتَعْلِیقنستعلیق}}}}, {{IPA-fa|næsˈtʰæʔliːqnæstʰæʔliːq|lang}}; {{IPA-ur|nəsˈt̪ɑːliːqnəst̪ɑːliːq|lang}}), also [[Romanization of Persian|romanized]] as '''''Nastaʿlīq''''' or '''''Nastaleeq''''', is one of the main [[book hand|calligraphic hands]] used to write the [[Arabic script|Perso-Arabic script]], and it is used for some [[Indo-Iranian languages]], predominantly [[Persian language#Classical Persian]],|Classical [[UrduPersian]], [[Kashmiri language|Kashmiri]], and [[Punjabi dialects and languages|Punjabic languagesPunjabi]] such as ([[Punjabi language|PunjabiShahmukhi]]) and [[LahndaUrdu]] varieties ([[Shahmukhi]]). It is often used also for [[Ottoman Turkish]] poetry, but rarely for [[Arabic]]. ''Nastaliq'' developed in [[Iran]] from ''[[Naskh (script)|naskh]]'' beginning in the 13th century{{sfn|Blair|p=xxii, 286}}<ref name="Iranica">{{Cite web |urlauthor=Gholam-Hosayn Yusofi |date=December 15, 1990 |title=Calligraphy |url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/calligraphy|title = CALLIGRAPHY|author = [[Gholam-Hossein Yousefi|Gholam-Hosayn Yusofi]]|website = [[Encyclopædia Iranica]] |language = en}}</ref> and remains very widely used in [[Iran]], [[Afghanistan]], [[India]] and, [[Pakistan]], and other countries for written poetry and as a form of art.<ref>{{Cite journal|lastauthor1=Gulzar,Atif RahmanGulzar|firstauthor2=Atif, Shafiq ur Rahman|date=2007|title=Nastaleeq: A challenge accepted by Omega|url=https://www.tug.org/TUGboat/tb29-1/tb91gulzar.pdf|journal=TUGboat|volume=29|pages=1–6}}</ref>

The name ''nastaliqNastaliq'' "is a contraction of the Persian {{transliteration|fa|naskh-i ta'liq}} ({{lang-fa|{{nq|نَسْخِ تَعلیق}}}}), meaning a hanging or suspended ''[[Naskh (script)|naskh.]]''".{{sfn|Blair|p=274}} Virtually all [[Safavid Iran|Safavid]] authors (like [[Dust Muhammad]] or [[Ahmad Monshi Ghomi|Qadi Ahmad]]) attributed the invention of {{transliteration|fa|nastaliq}} to [[Mir Ali Tabrizi]], who lived at the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th century. That tradition was questioned by Elaine Wright, who traced the evolution of ''nastaliqNastaliq'' in 14th -century Iran and showed how it developed gradually among scribes in [[Shiraz]]. Moreover, accordingAccording to her studies, ''nastaliq'' has its origin from ''naskh'' alone, and not inby combining ''naskh'' and ''[[Taliq script|taliq]]'', as was commonly thought, but from ''naskh'' alone. In addition to study of the practice of calligraphy, Elaine Wright also found a document written by [[Jafar Tabrizi]] {{Circa|1430}}, according to whom:

Thus, "our earliest written source also credits Shirazi scribes with the development of ''nastaʿliq'' and Mir ʿAli Tabrizi with its canonization"."{{sfn|Blair|p=275}} The picture of origin of ''nastaliq'' presented by Elaine Wright was further complicated by studies of Francis Richard, who on the basis of some manuscripts from Tabriz argued that its early evolution was not confined to Shiraz.{{sfn|Blair|p=275}} Finally, many authors point out that development of ''nastaʿliq'' was a process which takes a few centuries. For example, Gholam-Hosayn Yusofi, Ali Alparslan and [[Sheila Blair]] recognize gradual shift towards ''nastaliqnastaʿliq'' in some 13th -century manuscripts.<ref name="Iranica"/><ref>{{Cite journal|url = http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0502|title = K̲h̲aṭṭ ii. In Persia|author = [[Ali Alparslan]]|website = [[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]|doi = 10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0502|language = en}}</ref>{{sfn|Blair|p=xxii}} Hamid Reza Afsari traces first elements of the style in 11th-century copies of Persian translations of the Qur'an.<ref name="Hamid Reza Afsari">{{Cite web|url = https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-islamica/calligraphy-COM_05000067?s.num=3|title = Calligraphy|author = Hamid Reza Afsari|website = [[Encyclopaedia Islamica]]|date = 17 June 2021|language = en}}</ref>

Persian differs from Arabic in its proportion of straight and curved letters. It also lacks the definite article ''al-'', whose upright ''alif'' and ''lam'' are responsible for distinct verticality and rhythm of the text written in Arabic. Hanging scripts like ''taliq'' and ''nastaliq'' were particularly suitable for writing Persian -– when ''taliq'' was used for court documents, ''nastaliq'' was developed for Persian poetry, "whose [[hemistich]]es encourage the pile-up of letters against the intercolumnar ruling. Only later was it adopted for prose"."{{sfn|Blair|p=276}}

The first master of ''nastaliq'' was aforementioned [[Mir Ali Tabrizi]], who passed his style to his son ʿUbaydallah. The student of Ubaydallah, [[Jafar Tabrizi]] (d. 1431) (see quote above), moved to [[Herat]], when he becomesbecame the head of the [[scriptorium]] (''kitabkhana'') of prince [[Baysunghur]] (therefore his epithet Baysunghuri). Jafar trained several students in ''nastaliq'', of whom the most famous was [[Maulana Azhar|Azhar Tabrizi]] (d. 1475). Its classical form ''nastaliq'' achieved under [[Sultan Ali Mashhadi]] (d. 1520), a student of Azhar (or perhaps one of Azhar's students) who worked for [[Sultan Husayn Bayqara]] (1469 – 15061469–1506) and his vizier [[Ali-Shir Nava'i]].{{sfn|Blair|p=277-280}} At the same time a different style of ''nastaliq'' developed in western and southern Iran. It was associated with ʿAbd al-Rahman Khwarazmi, the calligrapher of the [[Pir Budaq]] [[Qara Qoyunlu]] (1456–1466) and after him was followed by his children, ʿAbd al-Karim Khwarazmi and [[ʿAbd al-Rahim Khwarazmi Anisi|ʿAbd al-Rahim Anisi]] (both active at the court of [[Yaqub Aq Qoyunlu|Ya'qub Beg]] [[Aq Qoyunlu]]) (1478 –; 14901478–1490). This more angular western Iranian style was largely dominant at the beginning of the [[Safavid Iran|Safavid era]], but then lost ground to the more fluid eastern style canonized by Sultan Ali Mashhadi -– although it continued to be widely used in the Indian subcontinent.<ref name="Hamid Reza Afsari"/>{{sfn|Blair|p=284, 430}}

The most famous calligrapher of the next generation in eastern lands was [[Mir Ali Heravi]] (d. 1544), who was master of ''nastaliq'', especially renowned for his calligraphic specimens (''qitʿa''). The eastern style of ''nastaliq'' became the predominant style in western Iran, as artists gravitated to work in Safavid royal scriptorium. The most famous of these calligraphers working for the court in Tabriz was Shah Mahmud Nishapuri (d. 1564/1565), known especially for the unusual choice of ''nastaliq'' as a script used for the copy of the Qur'an.{{sfn|Blair|p=430-436}} Its apogeum ''nastaliq'' achieved in writings of [[Mir Emad Hassani]] (d. 1615), "whose style was the model in the following centuries"."<ref name="Hamid Reza Afsari"/> Mir Emad's successors in the 17th and 18th centuries had developed a more elongated style of ''nastaliq'', with wider spaces between words. [[Mirza Mohammad Reza Kalhor]] (d. 1892), the most important calligrapher of the 19th century, reintroduced the more compact style, writing words on a smaller scale in a single motion. In the 19th century ''nastaliq'' was also adopted in Iran for litographedlithographed books.{{sfn|Blair|p=446-447}} In the 20th century, "the use of ''nastaliq'' declined. After World War II, however, interest in calligraphy and above all in ''nastaliq'' revived, and some outstandingly able masters of the art have since then emerged"."<ref name="Iranica"/>

''Nastaliq'' was also adopted in [[Ottoman Empire]], which has always had strong cultural ties to Iran. Here it was known as ''taliq'' (Turkish ''talik''), which should not be confused with Persian ''[[taliq script]]''. First Iranian calligraphers who brought ''nastaliq'' to Ottoman lands, like [[Asadullah Kirmani]] (d. 1488), belonged to the western tradition. But relatively early Ottoman calligraphers adopted eastern style of ''nastaliq''. In 17th century, student of Mir Emad, [[Darvish Abdi Bokharai]] (d. 1647), transplanted his style to Istanbul. The greatest master of ''nastaliq'' in 18th century was [[Mehmed Esad Yesari|Mehmed Yasari]] (d. 1798), who closely followed Mir Emad. This tradition was further developed by son of Yasari, [[Yesarizade Mustafa Izzet Efendi|Mustafa Izzet]] (d. 1849), who was a real founder of distinct Ottoman school of ''nastaliq''. He introduced new and precise proportions of the script, different than in Iranian tradition. The most important member of this school in the second half of the 19th century was [[Sami Efendi]] (d. 1912), who taught many famous practitioners of ''nastaliq'', like [[Mehmed Nazif Bey]] (d. 1913), [[Mehmed Hulusi Yazgan]] (d. 1940) and [[Necmeddin Okyay]] (d. 1976). The specialty of Ottoman school was ''celî nastaliq'' used in inscriptions and mosque plates.{{sfn|Blair|p=513-518}}<ref name="Iranica2"/><ref name="NESTA‘LİK">{{Cite web|url = https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/nestalik|title = NESTA'LİK|author = [[Ali Alparslan]]|website = [[İslâm Ansiklopedisi]]|language = en}}</ref>

|Amir Khusraw Dihlavi - Incipit Page with Illuminated Headpiece - Walters W6241B - Full Page.jpg|Page from a manuscript of [[Amir Khusrau]]'s ''Khamsa'' copied by [[Muhammad Husayn Kashmiri]] and finished in the forty-second year of [[Akbar]]'s reign (March 1597 -– March 1598). [[Walters Art Museum]]

== {{transliteration|fa|Shekasteh}} ''Nastaliq'' ==

''{{transliteration|fa|Shekasteh}}'' or ''{{transliteration|fa|Shekasteh Nastaliq}}'' ({{lang-fa|{{Nastaliq|شکسته نستعلیق}}}}, {{lang|fa|{{uninaskh|شکسته نستعلیق}}}}, "cursive {{transliteration|fa|Nastaliq}}" or literally "broken {{transliteration|fa|Nastaliq}}") style is a "streamlined" form of {{transliteration|fa|Nastaliq}}.<ref name="readnast3">{{Cite book |last1=Spooner |first1=Brian |title=Reading Nasta'liq: Persian and Urdu Hands from 1500 to the Present |last2=Hanaway |first2=William L. |year=1995 |isbn=978-1568592138 |pages=3}}</ref> Its development is connected with the fact that "the increasing use of nastaʿlīq and consequent need to write it quickly exposed it to a process of gradual attrition"."<ref name="Iranica"/> The ''shekasteh nastaliq'' emerged in the early 17th century and differed from proper ''nastaliq'' only in so far as some of the letters were shrunk (shekasteh, lit. "broken") and detached letters and words were sometimes joined.<ref name="Iranica"/> These unauthorized connections "mean that calligraphers can write ''shekasteh'' faster than any other script"."{{sfn|Blair|p=441}} Manuscripts from this early period show signs of the influence of ''shekasteh taliq''; while having the appearance of a shrunken form of nastaliq, they also contain features of ''[[Taliq script|taliq]]'' "due to their being written by scribes who had been trained in taʿlīq"."<ref name="Iranica"/> ''Shekasteh nastaliq'' (usually shortened to simply ''skehasteh''), being more easily legible than ''taliq'' gradually replaced the latter as the script of decrees and documents. Later, it also came into use for writing prose and poetry.<ref name="Iranica"/>{{sfn|Blair|p=441}}

The first important calligraphers of ''shekasteh'' were [[Mohammad Shafiʿ Heravi]] (d. 1670–71) (he was known as Shafiʿa and hence ''shekasteh'' was sometimes called ''shafiʿa'' or ''shifiʿa'') and [[Mortazaqoli Khan Shamlu]] (d. 1688–89). Both of them produced works of real artistic quality, which does not change the fact that in this early phase ''shekasteh'' still lacked consistency (it is especially visible in writing of Mortazaqoli Khan Shamlu). Most modern scholars consider that ''shekasteh'' reached its peak of artistic perfection under [[Abdol Majid Taleqani]] (d. 1771), "who gave the script its distinctive and definite form"."<ref name="Iranica"/> The tradition of Taleqani was later followed by [[Mirza Kuchek Esfahani]] (d. 1813),{{sfn|Blair|p=444-445}}<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abd-al-majid-talaqani-revered-calligrapher-d-1771-72|title = ʿABD-AL-MAJĪD ṬĀLAQĀNĪ|author = [[Priscilla Soucek]]|website = [[Encyclopædia Iranica]]|language = en}}</ref> [[Mirza Gholam Reza Esfahani|Gholam Reza Esfahani]] (d. 1886–87)<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/golam-reza-kosnevis|title = ḠOLĀM-REŻĀ ḴOŠNEVIS|author = Maryam Ekhtiar|website = [[Encyclopædia Iranica]]|language = en}}</ref> and [[Ali Akbar Golestaneh]] (d. 1901).<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/golestana-ali-akba|title = GOLESTĀNA, ʿALI-AKBAR|author = Maryam Ekhtiar|website = [[Encyclopædia Iranica]]|language = en}}</ref>

The added frills made ''shekasteh'' increasingly difficult to read and it remained the script of documents and decrees, "while ''nastaʿliq'' retained its pre-eminence as the main calligraphic style.".{{sfn|Blair|p=445-446}} The need for simplification of ''shekasteh'' resulted in development of secretarial style (''shekasteh-ye tahriri'') by writers like [[Adib-al-Mamalek Farahani]] (d. 1917) and [[Hasan Ali Khan Garroosy|Nezam Garrusi]] (d. 1900). The secretarial style is a simplified form of ''shekasteh'' which is faster to write and read, but less artistic. Long used in governmental and other institutions in Iran, ''shekasteh'' degenerated in the first half of the 20th century, but later again engaged the attention of calligraphers.<ref name="Iranica"/>{{sfn|Blair|p=445, 471}} ''Shekasteh'' was used only in Iran and to a small extent in Afghanistan and Ottoman Empire. Its use in Afghanistan was different from the Persian norm and sometimes only as experimental devices (''tafannon'')<ref name="Iranica"/><ref name="NESTA‘LİK"/>

|File:Double page from "Majmu‘a-i munsh‘at" by Abu‘l-Qasim Ivughli Haydar (S2014.7).jpg|Double page from the "Majmu‘a-i munsh‘at" -– collection of correspondence sent by Persian rulers compiled by Abu‘l-Qasim Ivughli Haydar. [[Isfahan]], 1682. [[Arthur M. Sackler Gallery]]

|Plea for Tax Relief, folio from an album (HUAM 1958.212).jpg|Plea for tax relief copied by [[Mirza Kuchak Esfahani]]. Iran, 1795-17961795–1796. [[Harvard Art Museums]]

== ''Nastaliq'' typesetting ==

In print: ^{[[#Nastaliq typesetting|[note]]]}

| A [[couplet]] versified by the Persian poet [[Hafez]] in Nastaliq font (by Software), in print: ^{[[#Nastaliq typesetting|[note]]]}

In 1994, [[InPage]] Urdu, which is a fully functional page layout software for Windows akin to [[QuarkXPress]], was developed for Pakistan's newspaper industry by an Indian software company Concept Software Pvt Ltd. It offered the ''Noori Nastaliq'' font licensed from Monotype Imaging. This font, with its vast ligature base of over 20,000, is still used in current versions of the software for Windows. As of 2009, [[InPage]] has become Unicode based, supporting more languages and the ''Faiz Lahori Nastaliq'' font with Kasheeda has been added to it along with compatibility with OpenType Unicode fonts. Nastaliq Kashish{{clarify|date=November 2013}} has been made for the first time{{clarify|date=November 2013}} in the history of {{transliteration|fa|Nastaliq}} Typography.{{Citation needed|reason=there is no reference / citation given for these statements|date=June 2017}}

For the [[Arabic alphabet]] and many others derived from it, letters are regarded as having two or three general forms each, based on their position in the word (though obviously [[Arabic calligraphy]] can add a great deal of complexity). But theThe ''Nastaliq'' style uses more than three general forms for many letters,<ref>{{cite web|last1=FWP|title=Urdu: some thoughts about the script and grammar, and other general notes for students assembled from years of classroom notes by FWP|url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00urdu/urduscript/index.html|website=www.columbia.edu|access-date=28 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406004235/http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00urdu/urduscript/index.html|archive-date=2023-04-06}}</ref><ref name="Scanned table">{{cite web|title=The chart below gives the different positional variants of some of the significantly different letters. (scanned document)|url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00urdu/urduscript/graphics/naimchart.gif|website=Linked by www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00urdu/urduscript/section00.html#00_01|access-date=28 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407145904if_/http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00urdu/urduscript/graphics/naimchart.gif|archive-date=2023-04-07|url-status=dead}}</ref> even in non-decorative documents. For example, most documents written in [[Urdu]].{{Clarify|date=April 2022}}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100928182912/http://www.wegoiran.com/iran-information/iran-culture/nastaliq-script-persian-calligraphy.htm Nastaliq Script |{{!}} Persian Calligraphy]