"Leyli and Majnun," the most known rendition of this love story, was written by Nizami Ganjavi (1141–1209), who lived and died in Ganja, an old city in Azerbaijan where his shrine still exists today. He wrote in Persian, as was customary at the time. Although Nizami was from a relatively poor family, he managed to get a scholarship to study in India where he became friends with another poet named Maliuddin Muhammad Chingiz Khan (also called Mihr). When Mihr returned to his homeland of Iran, he took Nizami with him and helped him gain royal patronage so that he could write poems for the courts. Over the years, "Leyli and Majnun" has been translated into many languages, including English. It is considered one of the greatest examples of medieval Indian poetry. Here is how the story begins: Two young people, Leyli and Majnun, fall in love with each other but they cannot be together because Leyli is married to her cousin Shapur. One day, while out hunting, Majnun sees Leyli crying and knows immediately that she is unhappy with her husband. So he runs away from home to search for a place where he can live free from persecution. He ends up at the home of a nobleman named Zohal, whose daughter Leyli loves too.