Details regarding Azar Kayvan's life are scant and are mainly derived from the
hagiographical literature of the Abadi sect. This hagiography places Azar Kayvan, son of Azar Gashasb, and his ancestry back to
Sasan V then through
Sasan to the
Kayanian dynasty,
Keyumars, and finally to
Mahābād, the primordial figure who appeared at the very beginning of the great cycle of prophecy, according to the
Dasatir-i-Asmani, and who seems to be none other than
Adam. His mother was named
Shirin; her ancestry goes back to
Philosopher King Khosrow I. According to the
Dabestan-e Mazaheb, Azar Kayvan showed signs of his calling to the contemplative life as a young boy. Through dreams and visions he received the teaching of the ancient sages of
Iran, which allowed him to give extraordinary replies to questions which were asked of him at the
madrasa where he was a student, and which won him the nickname '''''' "master of the sciences". Internal references in the biography by his devotees allow us to determine that his residence was at Itakhr (about a hundred kilometers north of
Shiraz), where he spent the first thirty or forty years of his life in contemplation and where he assembled his first assembly of disciples. Around 1570, drawn by the religious revival which was taking place in India around the Emperor Akbar, he left with them to settle down in the town of
Patna in
Bihar, where he lived until he died at around eighty-five years of age. == Students and influence ==