Mīr Findiriskī and the Jūg Bāsisht

This chapter turns to the Iranian Muslim philosopher, Mīr Findiriskī (d. 1641). Findiriskī enjoyed considerable renown in the neighboring Safavid Empire, earning a reputation, even among the Safavid emperors, as a leading expert in the Avicennan tradition of Islamic Peripatetic (mashshā’ī) philosophy. Apart from this success in his native Iranian homeland, however, Findiriskī also undertook several extended journeys into Mughal South Asia. There, he came to know of the Laghu-Yoga-Vāsiṣṭha and, ultimately, composed his own Persian commentary upon it, asserting numerous equivalences between central Hindu and Islamic philosophical notions therein. This chapter accordingly surveys Findiriskī’s various compositions in order to better interpret his Laghu-Yoga-Vāsiṣṭha commentary, concluding with an examination of his Persian commentary translated alongside the corresponding passages from the original Sanskrit text.