This remarkable writer, the founder of Ḥaidarābād, and probably the first literary poet in the language, was the fourth king of the Qutb Shāhī dynasty which ruled in Golkuṇḍa, one of the five states into which the Deccan was divided after the break up of the Bahmanī kingdom. In the last number of the Bulletin I gave reasons for believing that he was an earlier writer than Vajhī, who in 1609 wrote the masnavī known as Qutb Mushtarī, in which he related a story having this very monarch for hero. Only five years after Qulī Qutb Shāh's death his works were collected by his nephew and successor. They have never been published, but the beautiful original MS. compiled under the orders of his nephew in 1616 is still in Ḥaidarābād. It consists of 1,800 pages and has perhaps 100,000 lines.

Though he lived so long ago his name is one of the greatest in Urdu. He shows wonderful human interest, for he writes of everyday matters, Hindu and Muḥammadan festivals, the customs of the country, life in his palace, the celebration of his birthday, and of natural objects such as fruit, vegetables, and flowers. The only poets who can be compared with him are Saudā, and Nazir, both of whom he excels in description of nature, while in his sympathetic account of Hindu life he is superior to all other Muḥammadan poets.