The genre originated in the Middle East and was disseminated by folk storytellers. It was assimilated by individual authors. Dastan plots are based both on folklore and classical literary subjects. Dastan was particularly popular in Urdu literature, typologically close to other narrative genres in Eastern literatures, such as Persian masnawi, Punjabi qissa, Sindhi waqayati bait, etc., and also reminiscent of the European novel. The oldest known Urdu dastans are "Dastan-i-Amir Hamza", recorded in the early seventeenth century, and the no longer extant"Bustan-i Khayal" ("The Garden of Imagination" or "The Garden of Khayal") by Mir Taqi Khayal (d. 1760). Most of the narrative dastans were recorded in the early nineteenth century, representing the inclusion of 'wandering' motifs borrowed from the folklore of the Middle East, central Asia and northern India. These include "Bagh-o Bahar" ("The Garden and Spring") by Mir Amman, "Mazhab-i-Ishq" ("The Religion of Love") by Nihalchand Lahori, "Araish-i-Mahfil" ("The Adornment of the Assembly") by Hyderbakhsh Hyderi, and "Gulzar-i-Chin" ("The Flower Bed of Chin") by Khalil Ali Khan Ashq.