“Since both Hind (India) and Jahán (world) are numerically identical, *
the right of the king to be called ‘King of the World’ [and not
merely ‘King of India’] is demonstrated.”

Shiblí discusses Kalím's merits very fully, and cites many of his verses to illustrate them. He includes amongst them especially novelty of topics (<text in Arabic script omitted>), original conceits (<text in Arabic script omitted>), and aptness of illustration (<text in Arabic script omitted>). In this last respect, illustrated by the following amongst other verses, Kalím resembles the more famous Ṣá'ib:

“Fate sets an ambuscade against our luck: the thief always pursues
the sleeper.” * <text in Arabic script omitted>

“The heart imagines that it has hidden the secret of love: the lantern
imagines that it has hidden the candle.”

“He who has been raised up from the dust by fortune, like the rider
of the hobby-horse, always goes on foot, although he is mounted.”

“My desolate state is not mended by my virtues, just like the ruin,
which does not prosper through its treasure.” * <text in Arabic script omitted>

“The mean man does not acquire nobility by proximity to the great:
The thread does not become precious through its connection with
the pearls.”

“What profits it that I, like the rosary, kissed the hands of all?
After all, no one loosed the knots of my affair.”

“Her converse with me is as the association of the wave and the
shore,
Ever with me, yet ever fleeing from me.”

“Where there is power, the hand and heart are not able [to use it]:
The oyster-shell opens its palm when there is no pearl therein.”

(This last verse is very similar to one by Ṣá'ib which runs:

“Flowers and fruit are never found together in one place: it is im-
possible that teeth and delicacies should exist simultaneously.”)

‘He who has reached [the goal] shuts his lips on ‘Why?’ and ‘Where-
fore?’
When the journey is finished the [camel-]bell becomes tongueless.”

“If thou art satisfied with thy portion, the more or less of the world
is the same:
When the thirsty man requires but one draught, the pitcher and the
ocean are alike.”

“We are without knowledge of the beginning and end of the world:
the first and last [pages] of this ancient book have fallen out.”

“He who becomes acquainted with the mysteries of the world soon
departs:
Whoever does his work brilliantly leaves the school.”

The following ode, cited by Shiblí, * is typical of Kalím, and with it we may conclude this brief notice:

“Old age hath come, and the exuberance of the youthful temperament
hath departed;
The weakness of the body can no longer support the heavy [wine-]
cup.
The way of the world is not worth seeing a second time:
Whoever passes from this dust-heap looks not back.
Through the triumph of thy beauty over the army of Spring
The blood of the roses hath risen a fathom above the top of the
Judas-tree.
Acquire such a disposition that thou canst get on with the whole
world,
Or such magnanimity that thou canst dispense with the world.
According to our creed the detachment of the 'Anqá is not com-
plete,
For, though it retains no sign, it continues to think of name. *
If one cannot travel the road without sight, then how
Canst thou forsake the world when thou hast closed thine eyes to it?
The ill repute of Life endureth no more than two days:
O Kalím, I will tell thee how these too passed:
One day was spent in attaching the heart to this and that,
And another day in detaching it from this and that.”

(11) Muḥammad Ṭáhir Waḥíd of Qazwín (d. 1120/ 1708-9) * was an industrious rather than a great poet: he is Ṭáhir Waḥíd of Qazwín (d. 1120/ 1708-9). said by Riḍá-qulí Khán * to have left a Díwán containing 90,000 verses, which, however, were for the most part “tasteless” (maláḥatí na-dásht), and of which only six are quoted as “the best of his poetry,” amongst them the following quatrain testifying to his Shí'a proclivities:

“Whosoever's nature is leavened with the love of 'Alî,
Though he be the constant frequenter of church or synagogue,
Even if, for example, they should bring him into Hell
They would bear him thence to Paradise ere his place there had
been heated.”

The main facts of Waḥíd's life are given by Rieu. * He was secretary to two successive Prime Ministers of Persia, Mírzá Taqiyyu'd-Dín Muḥammad and Khalífa Sulṭán. In 1055/1645-6 he was appointed court-historiographer to Sháh 'Abbás II, became a Minister in 1101/1689-90, retired eighteen years later into private life, and died about 1120/1708-9. Five manuscripts of his historical monograph are described by Rieu, one of which (Or. 2940) comes down to the twenty-second year of the reign, 1073-4/1663. The remark of the Átash-kada, that these poems were only praised on account of the author's rank, is probably justified. He was, according to Ethé, a friend of the poet Ṣá'ib.

(12) Shawkat * of Bukhárá (d. 1107/1695-6) is at the present day almost unknown in Persia. He is not even Shawkat of Bukhárá (d. 1107/ 1695-6). mentioned in the Majma'u'l-Fuṣaḥá and but briefly in the Riyáḍu'l-'Árifín, where only two of his verses are cited, together with the description of his eccentric demeanour given by his contemporary Shaykh Muḥammad 'Alí Láhijí, called Ḥazín, who saw him wandering about in mid-winter, bare-headed and bare-footed, with a piece of felt (namad-pára) over his shoulders and his head covered with snow, which he did not trouble to shake off. Shawkat only deserves mention because of the reputation which he enjoys in Turkey and the influence which he exerted over Turkish poetry, an influence which Gibb emphasizes in several places in his History of Ottoman Poetry.*

(13) Ṣá'ib of Tabríz * (d. 1088/1677-8) is considered by Shiblí * as the last great Persian poet, superior in originality Ṣá'ib of Tabríz (d. 1080/1670). to Qá'ání, the greatest and most famous of the moderns, whom he regards as a mere imitator of Farrukhí and Minúchihrí. Riḍá-qulí Khán, on the other hand, * says that Ṣá'ib has “a strange method in the poet's path, which is not now admired.” He is, in short, like 'Urfí, one of those poets who, while greatly esteemed in Turkey and India, are without honour in their own country. I have already expressed * my own personal opinion as to his high merits.

According to the Átash-kada, * Ṣá'ib, whose proper name was Mírzá Muḥammad 'Alí, was born in the village of 'Abbás-ábád near Iṣfahán, whither his father's family had been transferred from Tabríz by Sháh 'Abbás. Having completed his studies in Iṣfahán, he visited Dihlí and other cities of India at an early age, certainly before 1039/1629-30, and was patronized by Ẓafar Khán and other nobles. He had only spent two years there, however, when his father, though seventy years of age, followed him to India in order to induce him to return home, for which journey he sought permission from his patron Ẓafar Khán in the following verses: * <text in Arabic script omitted>