A Report on a Literary Gathering at the Dar al-Siyadah of the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza in 1020 AH and the Story of the Pen Name "Vāleh-e Heravi"

The pen name (Takhalloṣ) or artistic name of a poet in Persian literature is a tradition originating from the ode (qasida) form in Arabic poetry. Choosing a good and non-repetitive pen name has been a difficult task among poets, and our literary history is filled with narratives that refer to rivalry and even conflict among contemporary poets over pen names and their efforts to acquire a desirable one. One of the types of pen name selection in the history of Persian literature is choosing a pen name as a result of a decision by a literary assembly, various examples of which can be seen, especially during the Safavid and Qajar periods. In one of these literary assemblies in the first quarter of the 11th century AH, a rare and noteworthy event occurred at the Dar al-Siyadah of the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad, with the presence of renowned Iranian poets, which has not been mentioned in the sources on the Indian Style (Sabk-e Hendi) until now. In this literary gathering, following a poetic competition and by the order of the Chief Poet (Malek al-Sho'ara) Shani Takkalu and with the approval of the assembly members, the pen name Vālehi Qomi was taken away from that poet and bestowed upon Molla Darvish Hossein Heravi. This article, relying on the narrative of this story recorded in the manuscript of the Kolliyāt (Collected Works) of Darvish Hossein Vāleh Heravi preserved in the Salar Jung Museum Library in Hyderabad, India, examines this event, introduces the participants, the content of this gathering, and discusses it.