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In Memoriam
Dr. Yunus Jaffery, distinguished Persian scholar and teacher and a living legend of old Delhi, died on Monday, August 29 at the age of 86 after a short stay at Apollo Hospital, Delhi, surrounded by his nephew Faridun, his niece Simin and other family members. An authority on Delhi and Indo-Persian literature and author of influential text editions of Persian historians and poets who wrote during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (1628-58), Dr. Jaffery taught Persian at the Anglo-Arabic School of Zakir Husain College (previously Delhi College) until his retirement in 1995. His room, his hujra in the historical building of the madrasa of Ghaziuddin in which the Anglo-Arabic School is situated outside Ajmeri Gate became a place of pilgrimage for an international community of scholars, writers, students, and journalists who sought to study classical Persian, acquire knowledge on the history and culture of old Delhi and the Mughals, sought a rare publication in his library, or who just wanted to meet the famous Dr. Jaffery, who had been the guide of William Dalrymple to his "City of Djinns."
Dr. Jaffery was born on 27 September 1930 in his family house at Ganj Mir Khan near the Turkman Gate of old...