Maḥmūd of Ghanzi

Maḥmūd of Ghazni (r. 997–1030) was the greatest ruler of the Ghaznavid dynasty, controlling Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northwest India. He was the first to bear the title Sultan (authority), was a patron of the arts and of poetry, and commissioned Firdausī to write his famous Shāhnāma, the Persian national epic. But he became even more celebrated, by such poets as Jāmī and Sa˓dī, because of his love for Malik Ayāz, his young male slave. When the king asked him if he knew of a greater and more powerful king, he said yes, explaining that even though Maḥmūd was king, he was ruled by his heart, and that Ayāz was the king of his heart. Thus, the power of Maḥmūd's love made him a slave to his slave.

Jāmī's Haft aurang (Seven Thrones or Constellations of the Great Bear), was written from 1468 to 1485, and consists of seven poems in masnavī form (rhyming couplets); some are allegorical, others are didactic. In his discourse on beauty he tells the story of Maḥmūd and his love for Ayāz, who had many good points, but was not remarkably handsome. One night, under the influence of wine and Ayāz's beautiful curls, love and desire began to stir in him, and he feared that he might verge from the Path of Law and the Way of Chivalry. He then gave Ayāz his knife, ordering him to cut off half the length of his curls, which he did. His ready obedience provided a new rush of love, causing him to bestow upon Ayāz even more gold and jewels, after which Maḥmūd fell into a drunken sleep. In the morning, realizing what he had done, called for Ayāz and saw the clipped tresses. He was somewhat cheered by the poet Unsuri's quatrain.

Though shame it be a fair one's curls to shear,
Why rise in wrath or sit in sorrow here?
Rather rejoice, make merry, call for wine:
When clipped the cypress doth most trim appear.

In 1021 Maḥmūd gave Ayāz the throne of Lahore. Maḥmūd himself died at fifty-nine, had nine wives, and nearly fifty-six children with almost three dozen women.