Another was Yūsef Badīaī, who was from the country of Ferghāna, and composed very respectable kasīdehs.*
Āhī.Another was Āhī,* who wrote pretty good ghazels.* He latterly went and lived with Ibn Hussain Mirza. He composed a diwān.
Muham-Another was Muhammed Sālih.* He wrote sweet ghazels, but their correctness is not equal to their sweetness. He also composed verses in the Tūrki tongue, and good ones. He finally went to the Khan’s court, and was received with every kind of favour. He wrote a Tūrki masnevi, which he addressed to Sheibāni Khan, in the measure of ramal musaddas makhbūn,* which is that of the Sabhat* (of Jāmi). It is very dull and flat. One soon gets tired of reading Muhammed Sālih’s poems.* One good couplet of his is the following:
Tambal (lubber) has gained the land of Ferghāna;
He converts Ferghāna into a Tambal-Khāneh (lubberland).
The country of Ferghāna is also called Tambal-Khāneh. I am not quite certain, however, that this couplet is to be found in his masnevi. He was wicked, tyrannical, and unfeeling.
Shah Hus-Another was Shah Hussain Kāmi. His poems are very fair. He composed ghazels, and also wrote a diwān.
Hilāli.Another was Hilāli,* who is still alive. His ghazels are correct and elegant, but leave little impression behind. He also wrote a diwān, and a masnevi entitled Shah-va-derwīsh (the king and the derwīsh), in the khāfīf measure: although many verses in it are excellent, yet the general plan of this poem and its structure are exceptionable and vicious. Former poets who have treated of love stories have made a man the lover and a woman the mistress. Hilāli has made the derwīsh the lover, and the king the object of his passion. The upshot of the verses in which he describes the words and actions of the king is, that he makes the king a catamite and an abandoned creature. So that the moral example afforded by this masnevi of his is that of a young man, a king, acting the part of a prostitute and catamite, which surely is no commendable or decent thing. He had a most retentive memory, and remembered thirty or forty thousand couplets. It is said that his recollection of most of the verses of the different* khamsehs was of great service to him, in regard to prosody and rhyming.
Āhili.Another was Āhili,* who could neither write nor read.* His poems are excellent. He also composed a diwān.
Penmen.Although there were many beautiful penmen,* yet the person who excelled all others in the Nastālīk character was Sultan Ali Meshadi.* He copied many books for the Mirza and Ali Sher Beg. He every day copied thirty couplets for the Mirza, and twenty for Ali Sher Beg.
Painters.Of the painters or limners, the most eminent was Behzād. He was a very elegant painter, but did not draw young beardless faces well. He made the neck* too large. Bearded faces he painted extremely well.
Shah Mu-Another was Shah Muzaffer. He took likenesses very beautifully,* but he did not live long, and died when he was rising to eminence.
Musicians.Of the musicians, there was none performed on the kānūn* in a style to be compared with Khwājeh Abdallah Marwārīd, as has been observed. Another was Kūl Muhammed Ūdī (the lutanist). He also performed well on the guitar. He added three strings to it. No vocal or instrumental performer ever composed so many and such excellent overtures.*
SheikhiAnother was Sheikhi Nāyi (the flute-player). He also played well on the lute and guitar.* From the age of twelve or thirteen, he played well on the flute.* On one occasion he played an air beautifully before Badia-ez-zemān Mirza on the flute. Kūl Muhammed attempted, but was unable to play it on the guitar. He said, ‘The guitar is an imperfect instrument.’ Sheikhi immediately took the guitar out of Kūl Muhammed’s hand, and played the same air completely and delightfully upon it. They tell of Sheikhi, that he was so accomplished in music, that on hearing any air whatever, he said, ‘Such a tune of such a person resembles this.’* He did not compose much. They preserve two or three of his airs.*
Shah KuliAnother was Shah Kuli Ghicheki (the performer on the ghichek or guitar). He was a native of Irāk, who came into Khorasān, and rose to fame by his excellence as a composer.* He composed many tunes, preludes, and airs.*
HussainAnother was Hussain Ūdī (the lutanist), who played with great taste on the lute, and composed elegantly. He could play, using only one string of his lute at a time. He had the fault of giving himself many airs when desired to play. On one occasion Sheibāni Khan desired him to play. After giving much trouble he played very ill, and besides, did not bring his own instrument, but one that was good for nothing. Sheibāni Khan, on learning how matters stood, directed that, at that very party, he should receive a certain number of blows on the neck. This was one good deed that Sheibāni Khan did in his day; and indeed the affectation of such people deserves even more severe animadversion.
GhulāmGhulām Shādi was also a musical composer. He was the son of Shādi the singer. Though a performer, yet he did not play so as to deserve to be ranked with the performers who have been mentioned. He composed sweet airs, and some finished pieces;* there were few compositions of that day that could be compared to his. At last Sheibāni Khan sent him to Muhammed Amīn Khan Kara Khāni,* since which I have not heard of him.
Mīr Azū.Another was Mīr Azū. He was not a performer, but composed. Though his productions are few, yet they are exquisite of their kind.
Banāi.Banāi was likewise a composer. He left many excellent nakshes and sūts.*
PahlewānAnother peerless man was Pahlewān* Muhammed Busaīd. He was unequalled as a wrestler. He was a poet too, and likewise composed various musical sūts and nakshes. He composed one beautiful (air or) naksh in the chārgāh key.* He was an agreeable man in society. The degree of excellence which he reached in athletic exercises was quite wonderful.
Badīa-ez-When Sultan Hussain Mirza expired, Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza and Muzaffer Hussain Mirza were the only Mirzas at hand. As Muzaffer Hussain Mirza was his favourite son, and as Muhammed Berendūk Birlās, the Amir and minister in chief credit, was that prince’s atkeh (or tutor), and as, besides, his mother Khadījeh Begum had the most influence of all the Mirza’s wives, the greater part of the people who were about the Mirza gathered round Muzaffer Hussain Mirza, and looked up to him as his father’s successor. Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza being alarmed at this, intended not to go to head-quarters. Muzaffer Mirza and Muhammed Beg, however, having mounted and gone to wait upon him, removed all uneasiness from his mind, and prevailed upon the Mirza to accompany them thither. Sultan Hussain Mirza was conveyed in a royal style, and with all due pomp, to Heri, where they interred him in his own college. At this time Zūlnūn Beg was likewise on the spot. Muhammed Berendūk Beg, Zūlnūn Beg, and other Amirs, who had been with Sultan Hussain Mirza, and had accompanied the Mirzas, having now met and consulted together, finally resolved to place Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza, with Muzaffer Hussain Mirza, on the throne of Heri, as joint kings. At the court of Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza, Zūlnūn Beg was prime minister, and Muhammed Berendūk Beg held the same office in the court of Muzaffer Hussain Mirza. On the part of Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza, Sheikh Ali Taghāi was Dārogha of the city; as Yūsef Ali Gokultāsh was on the part of Muzaffer Mirza. This was a strange arrangement. A joint kingship was never before heard of. The well-known words of Sheikh Sādi in the Gulistān are very applicable to it: ‘Ten Derwishes can sleep on one rug; but the same climate of the earth cannot contain two kings.’*