The Dual Versions of Sultan Walad’s Divan: A Textual Criticism

Abstract Sultan Bahaʾ al-Din Muhammad-i Walad (623–712 AH/1226–1312 CE), eldest son of Mawlana Jalal al-Din Muhammad-i Balkhi (Rumi), authored mystical poetry that significantly contributes to Persian literature and offers unique insights into the Mevlevi order’s development. Based on comprehensive textual criticism of Sultan Walad’s Divan (approximately 13,000 lines), this article reveals through manuscript analysis the existence of two distinct authentic versions. The discovery of a unique manuscript by Nizam al-Din Katib, Sultan Walad’s brother-in-law, containing both versions with authorial revisions, provides crucial evidence for understanding the poet’s creative process. This finding illuminates Sultan Walad’s methodology in refining his mystical poetry and offers rare insights into Persian mystical literature’s textual dynamics in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries.