Farrukhi, Abdul-Hasan Ali Ibn Julugh

(also Farrokhi of Sistan). Date of birth unknown; died 1037 or 1038. Persian and Tadzhik poet.

Farrukhi mainly wrote panegyrical qasidas. A court poet of Sultan Mahmud al-Ghazni, he first achieved recognition with the qasida Daggah (The Horse-Branding Field), a brilliant treatment of the form, in which superb landscape description alternates with fawning praise of the sultan. In a lengthy qasida, Farrukhi described Mahmud’s march into India (1025). His elegy on the sultan’s death is considered to be unsurpassed in Persian poetry. The narrative poem Shahriyar-nameh is attributed to him. Farrukhi was a man of extraordinary talent. His precise style and expressive use of language spawned many imitators, and his work was an important influence in Persian poetry.