GÚOLAÚM SARVAR b. Mofti GÚola@m Moháammad LAÚHURI (b. Lahore, 1244/1828; d. near Medina, 24 D¨u'l-háejja 1307/14 August 1890), historian, hagiographer, and poet in Persian and Urdu. He belonged to the Mofti family of Lahore, who traced their lineage to Shaikh Baha@÷-al-Din Zakariya@ Molta@ni (d. 661/1262), the founder of the Sohravardi Sufi order in India and the spiritual mentor of Fakòr-al-Din ¿Era@qi (q.v.). The family had taken up residence in Lahore in the 15th century. The contemporary historian Kanhayya@ La@l Hendi (d. 1888) praises GÚola@m Sarvar and his family for their excellent virtues (Kanhayya@ La@l, pp. 76, 77, 79). GÚola@m Sarvar received his elementary education and early training in medicine from his father (d. 1276/1859) and then joined the teaching circle of Mawlawi GÚola@m-Alla@h La@huri for advanced studies (Ha@æemi, p. 101). His first employment was as the supervisor of Sarda@r Baghava@n Sing's property in Lahore. In 1882, he was hired as a secretary in the maintenance department (eda@ra-ye ta¿mira@t) of Punjab (Kanhayya@ La@l, p. 77; Ha@æemi, p. 101), but he quit his job a short while later. G. W. Leitner (1832-99), the registrar of the Punjab University in Lahore, offered him an honorary research fellowship at the university, but he declined. In 1884, Sir Sayyed Ahámad Khan (d. 1898) came to Lahore in order to raise funds for the establishment of Aligarh College. He offered GÚola@m Sarvar an assignment for the purpose, but he refused; in fact, he never liked to be involved in any literary or cultural event that was sponsored by the government. All his life he preferred to remain an independent, private scholar in order to concentrate solely on his own work (Ha@æemi, pp. 108-11). He died in 1307/1890 on his way to Medina after a pilgrimage to Mecca (Ha@æemi, p. 103). GÚola@m Sarvar was survived by four sons, all of whom wrote poetry in Persian and Urdu; the most famous among them was Mofti GÚola@m S®afdar (d. 1923), who collected his father's letters in a book called Enæa@-ye sáafdari (Lahore, 1287/1870; Ha@æemi, pp. 145-46). Kanhayya@ La@l Hendi, the author of Ta@rikò-e La@hur and Ta@rikò-e Panja@b, was a student of GÚola@m Sarvar and benefited from his guidance while conducting research for his own works. He is particularly indebted to GÚola@m Sarvar for the information found in his Ta@rikò-e La@hur on the mosques of Lahore (Kanhayya@ La@l, p. 459).

GÚola@m Sarvar is the author of twenty-one works in Persian, Urdu, and Punjabi, covering a variety of subjects. His major works include: 1) K¨azinat al-asáfia@÷ (comp. 1280-81/1863-64), a Persian dictionary of biographical notices of 1,065 saints, especially those of the subcontinent, divided into seven chapters (makòzan). It contains some errors, particularly concerning dates, and has to be used with caution (Z®ohur-al-Din Ahámad, V, p. 13). Nevertheless, it became very popular despite its shortcomings and was used by almost all authors of later biographical dictionaries (Mojaddedi, introd. to H®adiqat al-awlia@÷, p. 18). It was first published in two volumes in Lahore in 1284/1867-68. An Urdu translation by Mahámud ¿AÚlem Qorayæi and Eqba@l Ahámad Fa@ruqi came out in 1990 (3 vols., Lahore). 2) Ganjina-ye sarvari or Ganj-e ta@rikò, a collection of verse chronograms in Persian by the author on the birth of great men of Islam from the Prophet to the author's own lifetime (Lahore, 1285/1868). 3) Ta@rikò-e makòzan-e Panja@b, a detailed book in Urdu on the history, geography, and monuments of Punjab from the time of Ghaznavid rule to the late 19th century (Lahore, 1285/1868-9). 4) Baha@resta@n-e ta@rikò, better known as Golza@r-e æa@hi, a comprehensive Urdu history of the Indian, Muslim, and British rulers of India from the very beginning to the second half of the 19th century (Lucknow, 1290/1873; 2nd revised and enlarged ed., Lucknow, 1290/1873). 5) Zobdat al-log@a@t or Log@a@t-e sarvari, an Urdu dictionary of Arabic, Persian and Turkish terms (Lucknow, 1316/1898). 6) H®adiqat al-awlia@÷, an Urdu biographical dictionary of the lives of 244 male and female mystics of Punjab from the Ghaznavid period to the lifetime of the author. 7) Ja@me¿ al-log@a@t (comp. 1307-8/1890), a comprehensive Urdu dictionary of Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu vocabulary, idioms, and conversational phrases (2 vols., Lucknow, 1309/1892). 8) Madinat al-awlia@÷, a general biograpical dictionary of mystics, in fact an Urdu version of K¨azinat al-asáfia@÷ (2 vols., Lucknow).

Bibliography: Mofti Mahámud ¿AÚlem Ha@æemi, D¨ekr-e jamil, Lahore, 1968. Eqba@l Ahámad Fa@ruqi, Tadòkera-ye ¿olama@-ye ahl-e sonnat wa jama@¿at, Lahore, 1987, pp. 192-99. Kanhayya@ La@l Hendi, Ta@rikò-e La@hur, ed. Kalb-¿Ali Khan Fa@yeq, Lahore, 1977. Kesra@ Menha@s, "Mowarrekòin-e La@hur," Noquæ, no. 92, 1962, pp. 985-89. GÚola@m Sarvar La@huri, H®adiqat al-awlia@÷, ed. Moháammad Eqba@l Mojaddedi, Lahore, 1976. Akòtar Ra@hi, Tadòkera-ye ¿olama@-ye Panja@b I, Lahore, 1981, pp. 459-63. Storey, I, pp. 1043-44. Z®ohur-al-Din Ahámad, Pa@kesta@n min fa@rsi adab V, Lahore, 1990.

(Arif Naushahi)