His full name was Abu Abdullah Jafar ibn Mohammad and was born in the village of Rudak (some where around Balkh) in Khorasan in the year 859. He is widely considered as the father of Dari poetry and was the first eminent poet to compose Dari poems in Arabic alphabet.

Rudaki wrote an enormous volume of 100,000 couplets of which less than 1000 have survived. The survival of these 1000 pieces is attributed to the fact that they were scattered among many anthologies and biographical works of others. His poems are simple in style and characterized by optimism and charm, though some of his poems written toward the end of his life reflect some degree of despair and depression. In the year 937 Rudaki left the service of the court of Samanid king, Nasr II, and probably that was the start of hardship for him. Toward the end of his life he lived in dire poverty.

He was also a very talented singer and instrumentalist. His most important contribution to Dari literature is his translation of Kalilah wa Dimnah from Arabic to Dari. Kalilah wa Dimnah is a collection of Indian origin fictional stories. The later retelling of these stories owe much to the lost translation of Rudaki which also ensured his fame in Dari literature.

Bibliography

"Rudaki." Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1995.