Nasir Khusraw

Nasir Khusraw, the eleventh-century Persian philosopher, poet and Ismaili missionary who took refuge at Yumgan in the Badakhshan mountains, is the central culture-hero of Pamiri religion. Historically the founder of the Ismaili community of the region, in oral tradition he becomes a saint of cosmic stature, hailed as the Sun and the Eagle of Yumgan and the 'Proof of Khorasan'. Legends credit him with taming the high country as he carried the faith into it: opening springs, planting the sacred junipers that mark the mountain passes, and overcoming the powers that opposed him. His tomb and the many shrines and sacred places ascribed to him make him the axis of Pamiri devotion, a 'Ka'ba of wishes' to which the faithful turn for protection and aid.

Domains

• esoteric knowledge
• founding of the faith
• sacred landscape

Powers

• work wonders that tame the mountain land
• transmit the esoteric teaching to Badakhshan

Epithets

• Шид-и Юмгон — Sun of YumganDevotional titles recorded at the shrine of Nasir Khusraw; see Hunsberger (2000). (secondary)
• Уқоб-и Юмгон — Eagle of YumganDevotional titles at the Yumgan shrine; Hunsberger (2000). (secondary)
• Ҳуҷҷат — the Proof (of Khorasan)Daftary, F. (2007). The Ismailis: Their History and Doctrines, on his rank of Hujjat. (secondary)

Sources

• Nasir Khusraw, the eleventh-century Ismaili poet-missionary who settled at Yumgan, is revered as the founder-Pir of Pamiri Ismailism and a wonder-working saint of the Badakhshan landscape.: Hunsberger, A. (2000). Nasir Khusraw, the Ruby of Badakhshan. London: I.B. Tauris. (secondary); Daftary, F. (2007). The Ismailis: Their History and Doctrines, 2nd ed. (secondary)