ALEXANDER, WHILE IN INDIA, SEES SOME MAIDENS BATHING AND DRINKING WINE
Shiraz school, between 1405 and 1429
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Click on the image to follow the suggested route.
'People say there exists a paradise of houris (1),
where the Kawthar flows (2), where there is sweet wine, honey and sugar;
oh! make haste to fill a cup with wine and put it in my hand,
for one joy now equals a thousand future pleasures!
Omar Khayyâm, The Rubaiyat (quatrain 169)
(1) Houris are the virgins of Paradise – celestial beings, the reward of the blessed.
(2) The Kawther is the river of Mohammed’s paradise; its water is supposed to be sweeter than honey and whiter than milk (see the Qu’ran’s chapter on the Kawther).
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