ABSTRACT
T h e twelfth century was the golden age of the panegyric in Persia. The profession of verbal flattery which Rudaki had found so profitable under the Samanids, and ‘Unsuri and his ‘school’ under the Ghaznavids, rose to new
heights of prosperity in the reigns of Alp Arslan, Malik Shah, Barkiyaruq, and above all Sanjar. The lesser ruling houses of these times competed with the greater in offering prizes for men of words, and the gilded cage of singing-birds now gathered songsters from as far afield as Lahore. The long history of IndoPersian literature opened.
