And the opening [of another threnody]* is as follows:
My heart sit silent in sorrow for no trace of joy remains,
Grief, do thou take away the world, for no joy is left
therein.
In the following ode too he refers to the same disastrous occurrence:
Behold this calamity* which has be fallen this year on the
frontier of Multan,
The right wing of the believers has been defeated* by the
infidel ranks.
How can I explain that day of resurrection, from the
agony of which the Angel of Death would have craved
respite.
How can I describe the way in which the Ghāzīs, attacked
the front of the Khaibarīs, like the Lion of repeated
attacks.
But what help has anyone against the decree of fate which
was ordained by and issued from the Almighty.
152. What was the condition of the battle field? it was one
load of dead bodies,
So much blood was spilled and the load was lying
upon it.*
The blood of martyrs, poured out like a libation, was
mingled with the earth,
The necks of prisoners bound together with ropes in rows,
like rose chains,
The heads strangled in the tight noose of the saddle-
cords,*
The necks caught in the toils of the head-ropes.
Although my head escaped that game of strangulation,
Still my neck did not escape that noose of torture.
I was taken captive, and for fear lest they should shed my
blood
My blood dried up, not a single drop remained in my weak
and emaciated body.
I was poured out like water running without beginning
and without end, and like bubbles thousands of blisters
appeared on my feet from much travelling.
The skin was separated from my feet by the blisters,
Like to the seams of a slipper burst open.
My heart, because of affliction, was as hard as the hilt of a
sword
From weakness my body was become wood like the handle
of a club.*
Not a breath remained in my wind-pipe by reason of thirst,
My belly was like a drum from the duration of my hunger.*
My body was stripped naked like a tree in autumn,
And like a rose torn into a thousand shreds by the thorns.
For sorrow the pupil of my eyes poured forth drops
Like the (scattered pearls) of a necklace broken from the
neck of a bride.
A Qurūna* driving me on in front followed along the way 153.
seated on a horse, like a leopard on a hill range
Fœtor ab isto ore teterrimus axillæ odori similis,
Capilli oris ejus pubi similes usque ad mentum delapsi.*
If I lagged behind a step or two through fatigue
He would draw at one time his falchion* at another his
javelin.*
I kept heaving deep sighs and saying to myself
Alas! I shall never be able to escape from this calamity!
A thousand thanks to God Almighty who liberated me
With my heart free from arrow wounds and my body
unhurt by the sword.
When he desired to make my body a brick for the grave,
Water and clay built up for me anew my palace of years.
But what good to me was my escape from that rope
If snapped like the bond between the Muhājir and Anṣār*
All those lives were poured out in the dust like roses
By the fierce blast of misfortune, this is Autumn not Spring.
The world full of roses and the assembly emptied of those
who can smell their perfume,
How should not my heart turn to blood like the rose bud
at this treatment!*
Not one of my friends of last year remains to me this year,
It is evident that “this year” also will become “last year.”
Do thou also like me, oh cloud of the newly born spring
Now wash thy hands of water, and rain teardrops of blood.
154. Give me a cup, that from the depths of my regret
I may empty it of wine, and fill it with bitter tears.
Now that the date is 684 (H.)
To me in my three and thirtieth year comes the good
tidings of the thirty-fourth.
Not thirty-four because if my years should be thirty
thousand, when one comes to the account of Annihilation
neither thirty counts for aught nor a thousand.
I am not a poet, even though I were a magician, still then
I shall become dust.
I am not a Khusrū, even were I a Kaikhusrū, still at that
time my kingdom would be but the grave.
And in the preface to the Ghurratu-l-Kamāl he writes some epitomised poems relating to this circumstance; the gist of the matter is that they brought Tughral to nothing, and the prince who used to pray with lamentation and tears at the footstool of the best of all helpers saying Make me of thy mercy a victorious Emperor rose to such power in the districts of Lakhnautī and Chatar La‘l that his head which touched the stars, reached to the starless expanse of the highest heaven, and Malik Shamsu-d-Dīn Dabīr, and Qāẓī Aīr desired to retain me by seizing my garments,* but the separation from my friends seized me by the collar. I was obliged like Joseph to leave that prison pit and turn my steps to* the metropolis, and under the shadow of the standard of the Shadow of God I remained in the city. In those very same months, the Khān-i-Buzurg Qāān Malik arrived from the conquest of Damrela,* and a rumour came to us that my words had reached him,* so that he made enquiries regarding the ripe fruit of my words; unripe fruit as it really was I laid it before him, and it was honoured with acceptance in his private hall of audience, and I was distinguished by a robe of honour and rewards, and I girded my loins in his service and wore the cap of companionship, and I gave for five years more to the Panjāb and Multān water from the sea of my comfortable circumstances, till suddenly, by the potent order of the wise ruler, the star of my glory came into opposition with the inauspicious Mars;* 155. the time of its decline had arrived when the unlucky cavalcade of those born under the influence of Mars came in sight, and at evening time, the bright sun* sank by the revolution of the heaven, a world of brave men struck by arrows had fallen, and the plain of the earth was full of broken cups, and Death itself was saying at that time “Where shall I place my cup and where shall I take my pitcher.” The sky fed upon dust and the sun swallowed a bowl of blood.
How can we describe that day of resurrection,
When even the Angel of Death sought protection from
the fray.
In that forge of calamity the rope of the infidels seized me also by the throat, but inasmuch as God Most High had lengthened the rope of my life, I obtained release, and by the high road I made for the abode of favours, and attained to the sight of the dome of Islām* and at the feet of my mother became (as it were) an inhabitant of Paradise, while as for herself, as soon as her eyes fell upon me the fountain of her milk flowed from tenderness towards me.
Paradise always lies beneath the feet of a mother,
See two streams of milk flow therefrom, the sign of
Paradise.*
And I spent some time pleasantly and quietly in seeing my beloved mother and other dear ones in the fort of Mūminpur, otherwise called Patiālī* on the banks of the river Ganges.”
In short, when the news of this heart-rending disaster reached the ears of the Sulān, having observed the duties of mourning for some days, a great affliction fell upon him, so much so that he could never again gird his loins, but he used to occupy himself 156. in all matters, and sent a despatch addressed to Bughrā Khān who had acquired the title of Sulān Nāṣiru-d-Dīn,* to Lakhnautī saying. Since so great a calamity has fallen upon your brother I desire that you should take his place as you are well able to do, that in looking in your face I may be able to forget the numerous sorrows which I suffer on his account. Nāṣiru-d-Dīn who* had acquired permanent and independent control over that district (of Lakhnautī) put off for some time coming to Dihlī, and even after coming to Dihlī at the earnest solicitation of his father was not able to remain there, “the elephant bethought him of Hindustān”* so that forgetting the demands of filial, paternal, and brotherly affection he became so restless from staying in that place that one day without his father's permission* together with certain of his kinsfolk he went forth on pretence of hunting, and marching by rapid stages reached Lakhnautī and busied himself with his own affairs.
VERSE.Why should I not betake myself to my own country?
Why should I not be the dust of the sole of the foot of my
friend?
I cannot endure the sorrow of exile and absence from home,
I will go to my own country, and be my own monarch.
Accordingly Sulān Balban, who was very depressed and dejected at this occurrence, so that day by day his weakness gathered strength, as he lay on his bed of sickness, being moreover past eighty years of age, conferred upon the eldest son of the Martyred Khān who was called Kaikhusrū, the title of Khusrū Khān, and gave the affairs of Empire into his hands. Multān too was entrusted to him, and he made him the heir-apparent, and made a will to the effect that Kaiqubād the son of Bughrā Khān should be sent to his father in Lakhnautī. After he had relieved his mind of anxiety as to the succession of Kaikhusrū, and the other testamentary dispositions of the government having occupied him three days, he removed the baggage of existence from this world to 157. the next. This event took place in the year 686 H.* He had reigned twenty-two years and some months.
Oh my heart! the world is no place of permanence and stay,
Keep thy hand from the world—for it has no stability.