Zafarnama (Yazdi biography)

'Book of Victories') is a panegyric book written by Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi approximately two decades after the death of its main subject, Timur, the Turco-Mongol conqueror.

[1] The text was written using the notes taken by royal scribes and secretaries of Timur, suggesting that the history of the book was based on a careful and desired selection of facts.

Most of the poetry and texts in the beginning of Islamic Iran were panegyric, written at the demand of political and religious leaders as part of their attempt to establish their own legacy.

[2] However, the Zafarnama has a decent amount of hyperbolic language and panegyric sentiment, revealing that the current literary tastes of the next generation of writers prevailed over Timur's wishes.

[1] An example of proof of this statement is the use of Ghiyas al-Din Ali's story detailing Timur’s experience in India (the Ruz-Name-ye Ghazavat-e Hindustan) that is present in both versions of the Zafarnama that are decades apart.

By then, the original Zafarnama's author, Nizam al-Din Shami, had died so another scribe, Taj al-Salmani, finished the manuscript and put Timur's last few years onto paper.