ALEXANDER, WHILE IN INDIA, SEES SOME MAIDENS BATHING AND DRINKING WINE
Shiraz school, between 1405 and 1429
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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'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 Khayyam, 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 water (see the Qu’ran’s chapter on the Kawther).
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