() is a collection of speeches (or narrative poems) authored by the Indo-Persian poet Amir Khusraw around 1302. Written in Persian, it forms the final poem in KhusrawâÂÂs Khamsah (quintet) and is modeled on Nizami GanjaviâÂÂs ' (c. 1197), which itself draws inspiration from FirdausiâÂÂs Shahnameh (c. 1010). Like Nizami's ', Khusraw's uses a legend about Bahram V Gur as its frame story and, in the style of One Thousand and One Nights, introduces folktales told by seven princesses. Most famously, Khusraw appears to be the first writer to have added The Three Princes of Serendip, , including the well-known episode involving the detection of a camelâÂÂs features through inference.
The eight "paradises" in the poem link closely with the Islamic conception of Heaven with its eight gates and eight spaces, each one decorated with a special precious stone or material. Seven of the eight paradises are pavilions constructed for Bahram's "therapy" of storytelling. There is also a link to the architectural and garden plan of eight paradises. These serve as the backdrop for BahramâÂÂs metaphorical transformation from a pleasure-seeking ruler to a wise sovereign.
A deluxe illustrated manuscript of Khamsah-i Dihlavë, including Hasht Bihisht, was produced in Lahore during the reign of Mughal emperor Akbar (r. 1556âÂÂ1605) by the celebrated calligrapher Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-Kashmërë, known as Zarrën Qalam. The manuscript (W.624), now held by the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, features elaborate miniatures by prominent painters of the Mughal atelier and is considered a significant example of Persianate literary and artistic tradition under imperial patronage.
The narrative commences with the story of Bahram and Dilaram.
Later, Bahram has seven differently-coloured domed pavilions built for him within his palace grounds, in which wait seven princesses from various parts of the world. Bahram Gur visits each on a different day of the week and each of them tells him a story:
The ', and indeed the whole of the , was a popular work in the centuries after Khusraw's death, not only in India, but in Iran and the Ottoman Empire, and as such was illustrated nearly as frequently as Nizami's ' from the early fifteenth century on.
An illustrated and illuminated manuscript of the poem was part of a Khamsah from 1609 CE produced in Safavid Iran. All texts are written in black nastaÿlëq script with chapter headings in red.
The poem was illustrated in a manuscript probably produced in Lahore in the late sixteenth CE which is associated with the patronage of Akbar ().
The manuscript was written in nasta'liq script by one of the greatest calligraphers of the Mughal atelier, Muhammad Husayn al-Kashmiri, honoured with the epithet Zarrin Qalam (golden pen). The manuscript has the names of a number of painters: Lal, Manuhar, Sanwalah, Farrukh, Aliquli, Dharamdas, Narsing, Jagannath, Miskina, Mukund, and Surdas Gujarati. The illuminators are Husayn Naqqash, Mansur Naqqash, Khvajah Jan Shirazi, and Lutf Allah Muzahhib