Hasht Bihisht

Hasht Bihisht (Persian: هشت بهشت, lit. 'Eight Paradises') is a collection of speeches authored by Amir Khusraw around 1302. The poem is based on the Haft Paykar by Nizami, written around 1197, which in turn takes its outline from the earlier epic Shahnameh written by Firdausi around 1010. Like Nizami's Haft Paykar, Khusraw's Hasht Bihisht uses a legend about Bahram V Gur as its frame story and, in the style of One Thousand and One Nights, introduces folktales told by seven princesses. Most famously, Khusraw appears to be the first writer to have added The Three Princes of Serendip as characters and the story of the alleged camel theft and recovery.

The eight "paradises" in the poem link closely with the Islamic conception of Heaven with its eight gates and eight spaces, each one decorated with a special precious stone or material.^[1] Seven of the eight paradises are pavilions constructed for Bahram's "therapy" of storytelling. There is also a link to the architectural and garden plan of eight paradises.^[1]