Zaṭalīyāt-e-Jaʿfar or Dīwān-e-Jaʿfar was composed by Mīr Jaʿfar, ‘the Jester’, during
and after the reign of Aurangzeb ʿĀlamgīr (1658-1707 A. D.). Mīr Jaʿfar was born shortly
before the accession of ʿAlamgīr. He lost his father at an early age and was brought
up by his uncle Mīr Sarwar. On leaving school, Jaʿfar obtained Service under Kām Baḵẖsh,
the youngest son of ʿĀlamgīr, but it was Begum Zeb-un-Nisā, the daughter of Aurangzeb,
who gave Mīr Jaʿfar the soubri-quet of Zaṭalī, the Jester. Dīwān-e-Jaʿfar contains both prose and verse compositions, written partly in Persian
and partly in a style of Hindustānī peculiar to Zaṭalī, sometimes hardly intelligible.
He wrote letters, satires, eulogies, witticisms and humorous pieces, etc. In the present
work are to be found letters (foll, 48-62), satires on Mirzā Zūlfiqār Beg, Kotwāl
of Delhi (f. 67b), and on the latter’s daughter (f. 63), and an eulogy on Aurangzeb
(f. 84).
For life and works of Zaṭalī, see Garcin de Tassy (Litt. Hind.), vol. III, pp. 337-338;
Beale, p. 189; Qādrī (Dāstān), pp. 27-28. For other Mss. of Zaṭalīyāt, see Blumhardt Hindust. Mss. B. M., p. 25, no. 52; Blumhardt
Hindust. Mss. I. O. L., pp. 70-71, nos 133-136; Ṣiddīqī and Riẓvī, nos 344, 408, 409;
Katrak, p. 50, no. 204. Edition: Kullīyāt-e-Zaṭalī, litho. Bombay, 1853, 1867; Delhi, 1873.
