This enigma upon the name of Kibār* is also by him:
Verse.That face* is the Qur'ān, and that down on the cheek is the
sign* of tyranny and oppression;
The cheek of that heart-ravishing one has no endowment of
the mole of fidelity.*
The death of the aforesaid Maulānā took place in the year 966 H. and Mīr Amānī Kābulī wrote the following tārīkh* of the event.
Verse.Alas! the pity of it, that the discerner of subtilties Nādirī
has departed,
That rare poet* who did full justice to eloquence in the world;
I sought to express the date of his death by way of enigma,
Wisdom answered one has gone from among the masters of
speech.*
Another is Shaikh Abul Wāḥid* Fārighī, who was deeply imbued with the feelings of a darvesh and was* renowned for his sweet singing; the following is taken from his poems:
Verse.So great is the habitual oppression of that seeker after tyranny
That a morsel of mercy from him, seems a great beauty.
And in his impassioned style he says:
Verse.Praise be to God that I am freed from the love of an ill-
conditioned sot,
Who used to fall, as did his eyes, from drunkenness in every
road,
Who, like the cup, for the sake of a draught, was lip to lip
with every man,
Who like the flagon bent himself to every cup in every place.
The following is also by him. 476.
Verse.At that time when my heart was blest with thy companionship,
It did not seem that such a blessing could be expressed;
In short, the whole of my life's reckoning had passed in
separation from thee,
Who can count the joy of meeting! what a store of happiness
it was!
Strangers last night were near you, while Fārighī at an
immense distance was burning like rue* upon the fire of
disappointment.
This is also his:
Verse.Oh my intimate companions do not break the bond of union
In dispersion is distraction, do not break it and depart.
And again he writes:
Verse.When thou drawest out thine arrow from my breast leave its
point there,
Grant me my heart to yield my life in thy service manfully.
His death occurred in the year 940 H., and he was buried in
the monastery*
of Shaikh Zainu-d-Dīn*
at Agra, and in consequence
of the extremity of their unanimity and concord both
left the world in the same year. It is said that at the time when
these two eminent men went to Hindūstān, owing to their
excessive profligacy they possessed nothing but an old postīn*
between them. Shaikh Zainu-d-Dīn*
said to Shaikh Abūl-
Another is Jāhī Yatmān,* who was from Bukhārā, and having acquired a reputation on this account in Kābul, offered his services at the time when the late Emperor proceeded towards Hindustān* obtained great favours from Humāyūn, and rose to a confidential position, and at the time when Shāh Muḥammad Khān Sālū* was left in Kābul as revenue commissioner,* he treated * the Mulla just like the rest of the people, and caused him serious annoyance. The Mulla accordingly composed an elegant tarkīb band lampooning Sālū,* and inasmuch as the Emperor had the daughter of Shāh Muḥammad Sālū* in his service, he made an exception* in his favour alone, and erased the names of all the members of his family, male and female, consigning them to ignominy. Inasmuch as Humāyūn was also incensed against that ass* who had been the source of all this mischief, he had that lampoon read* in Sālū's presence by the Mulla in full assembly, and evinced the greatest delight and merriment, and made him give a large sum as a reward. By degrees that lampoon became more and more disgracefully scurrilous, accordingly I have restricted myself to citing one extract from it in this place, which is as follows:—
“I am the poet of Shāh Humāyūn and the dust of his thres- 478.
hold,
The retinue of my poetic worth casts the moon's brightness
into shade.
My poem is the Emperor, and my noble verses are his cavalry
and soldiery,
I experienced oppression from a fool,* without any fault or
crime of mine.
If a fragment of paper has become blackened by my ravings,
If my meditations turn towards* satirizing him,
The object is that that these idiotic asses
May have a regard for the honour and dignity of this class.
Alas, for that man who contends with the tribe of poets,
Whoever contends with me contends against calamity.”
The Emperor interfered at this verse saying, “Why do you not word it thus:
“Whoever contends with me contends with God”
The following verses are also by him:—
Verse.As long as we have existed we have been lovers and have
incurred ignominy,
Yet we have been constant to the true proportions of lovers.
This is also his:—
Verse.Ye, beauteous ones, are all devoid of love and faithfulness,
Ye treat your captives with tyranny and oppression,
Ye promised to be faithful, but have vowed falsely,
Say truly, why are ye all thus false?
Not in this city alone are we disgraced on your account.
479. Everywhere ye are the cause of our disgrace,
How often will ye ask what is your object in the world?
I say truly that ye are, ye are, ye are.
Jāhī cannot save his life from your hands
For ye are a calamity of the calamities sent by God.
The following is also by him:
Verse.Last night the moon of the ‘Īd appeared in the form of a
miṣqal*
Because from the vapours of fasting the mirror of the heart
was clouded.
Was this the new moon? or by reason of the leanness of
their bodies,
Did the bone of the rib of the thirsty-lipped fast-enduring
ones appear?
Or was it that they had fashioned a saddle* for the camel of
Lailī?
Or was it the bowed body of Majnūn who had become pale
and wan through grief?
The very heaven wishes to enrol itself among thy servants,
And for that reason has bent the bow in order to string it.*
Moreover thy messenger has bound on his bells,* and has
placed the feather of distinction on his head,
He is going from Rūm to bear tidings from Zanzibār.