He was one of the offspring of Mīrzā Jahān Shāh. In wisdom, generosity, sincerity, goodness of disposition, submissiveness, and humility he surpassed all. In early life he was in the service of the emperor Bābar, and in middle age he obtained advancement in the service of emperor Humāyūn, and received the honourable title of Khān-i-Khānān, and his present Majesty added Bābā-am* to his titles. He was a great friend to religious, was subject to fits of religious ecstasy, and was a benevolent man. The second conquest of Hindūstān,* and the building up of the empire were due to his strenuous efforts, his valour, and his wise policy. Learned men came from all parts of the world to visit him and departed happy in the possession of gifts bestowed by his hand, as open as ocean itself, and his high court, lofty as the sky, was the resort of the lords of learning and all perfect qualities. His existence was, indeed, an honour to the age in which he lived. At last vile hypocrites poisoned the mind of His Majesty against him, until his affairs fell at length into the condition of which a brief description has been given in the chronicle of the reign.* He has composed a divān in Persian and Turkī which is in every hand, as his verses are on every tongue. This quatrain is his:—
“The masters of self-effacement are both high and low,
It is they who are ever drunken with draughts from the cup
of immortality.
Whatever there may be in the plane of non-existence,
Know for certain that it is they alone who truly exist.”“Oh! Thou whose street is the Ka‘bah* of our happiness,
191 Whose Face is the point towards which we turn in prayer!
Blest will be the time when thou graciously drawest us to
Thyself,
Freeing us from the bonds of ceremonialism and conven-
tionality!”
He wrote an ode in praise of his holiness ‘Ali, the commander of the faithful (may God be gracious unto his countenance!) of which the following are the opening couplets:—
“Though a king be so great that his crown towers over the
nine heavens,
If he be not the slave of ‘Alī let dust be cast upon his head.
Hope not for love for the king of men from one who knows
not his own father,
Cujus matris ignominiam discooperiut alienus.”
The following is the commencement of a qaṣīdah which he wrote on the astrolabe:—
“What globe is this whose axis rests on the centre (of the
universe),
This full moon across whose midst the meteors dart?
Though it vaunts itself the equal of both sun and moon
It gladly enrolls itself among the emperor's slaves.
The sun's resplendent orb looms not so largely in our eyes
As the crescents which surmount the banners of the world-
famed king of kings—
Both sky and earth are ever subject to his authority,
Like the seal of a ring on the hand of a monarch as power-
ful as Jamshīd.
This globe brings with it a golden tray full of ashrafīs
To scatter before the feet of great kings,
The feet of the emperor of exalted dignity, Humāyūn, 192
before whom, in order to obtain honour,
The sky itself places the head of humility on the threshold
of the Court.”
They relate that the emperor Humāyūn was one night in conversation with Bairam Khān, who was overcome by drowsiness. His Majesty reprovingly said, “Ha, Bairam Khān! It is to you that I am speaking.” He replied, “Yes, sire, I am attentive, but since I have heard that in the service of kings a watch should be kept over the eyes, and among darvīshes a watch should be kept over the heart, and among learned men a watch should be kept over the tongue. I was just pondering over which I should keep a watch, for Your Majesty is a King, a darvish, and a learned man.” His late Majesty was much pleased with this seemly reply, and expressed his approval of it.
Bairam Khān obtained the blessing of martyrdom* at Paṭṭan in Gujarāt in the year H. 968 (A.D. 1561) and his bones were, in accordance with his will, taken to Mashhad.