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Sunil Sharma
Boston University
English Lecture
Monday, May 4, 2026 at 11:00 am Pacific Time
Online via Zoom
Registration Required:
https://ucla.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6QTp311ZThKErILePfrBEQ
The poet behind the Divan-e Makhfi is thought to have been the Mughal Princess Zebunnisa (d. 1702). However, there are historical and philological problems with this attribution that have been debated by some scholars. While also discussing the problem of authorship of the Divan, this talk will focus on the history of compilation and readership of the text, as it circulated in manuscript and lithographed copies, and came to be considered as a kind of canonical work by an early female poet whose poems deserved a modern scholarly edition.
 Sunil Sharma is Professor of Persianate & Comparative Literature and Director of the Center for the Study of Asia at Boston University. He has authored several books and also published translations of works from Persian and Urdu. His areas of research are Persian poetry and court cultures, history of the book, and travel writing, and has a particular interest in the participation of women in Persianate literary cultures.
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