951. Her face with a veil of pearls is likened to the moon environed by stars.
952. i.e., either brought her many lovers or made them ardent.
953. “The moon”; i.e., “her face.” “A camphor veil”; i.e., “a white veil.”
954. “The fortnight’s moon”; i.e., “the full moon,” to which her face is likened.
“The seven things”; lit., “all the seven,” har haft, are the seven kinds of embellishment which were used by women.
They are:
Instead of the last some give, as the seventh, beauty spots (khāl) which were made with collyrium. Henna is used to dye the hands and feet; indigo to dye the eyebrows; talc is poured over the face to improve its lustre. Ghāliya, galia moschata, is a scent composed of musk, ambergris, camphor, and oil of ben-nuts, but it often means “perfume” generally.
955. The moon is ruler of the sign Cancer which is her “house”, but she is in “strength” or “exaltation” in the sign Taurus. This means that she takes in full force the character of that sign, which gives patience, endurance, determination, stubbornness, and strength of will. (See also Note 533.)
“The moon” in the other sense means “the girl”, and Taurus “the ox” which she carries.
956. Gāv bīn tā chigūna gauhar dāsht! The ostensible sense, “See how an ox had wisdom”! offers a rhetorical paradox, the ox being a type of stupidity, but the explanation is in the real sense, “See how an ox had lustre or honour (from being raised and carried by the girl who has been likened to the moon)”! Then since gāv (ox) means also “an ox-shaped drinking-vessel”, an attendant sense may be, “See how a drinking-vessel shaped like an ox had gems (i.e., was adorned with gems)”!
957. “The lion”; i.e., the king.
958. Lit., “from (this) gallery or terrace could carry to the bottom of the palace.”
959. Sāz kardan is used here apparently in an intransitive sense.
960. “In your scales”; i.e., “on yourself.”
961. “With invocation true to its conditions”; i.e., with an invocation which fulfilled the conditions attendant upon such an invocation as should be uttered in behalf of a king.
962. Lit., “and the wild ass is without practice.”
963. Lit., “I do not get a name, or fame, except for practice.”
964. Hindū amongst its meanings has that of “robber”, so that the sense is, he rushed impetuously towards her as a robber who makes an attack. Hindū means also “slave”, but that sense is hardly applicable here.
965. “The moon” in the first hemistich means the girl’s face; in the second, the king’s.
966. “That rose” means the girl; “narcissi,” her eyes; and “rose-water”, tears.
967. i.e., he caused all who were present to retire.
968. He means probably that his regret is greater than her suffering has been.
969. Lit., “you are in statu quo,” tu bar jāy-ī.
970. “Disturbance,” Fitna, the girl’s name, means “disturbance, a disturber, a fascinater”, so that the hemistich is susceptible of two senses. Fitna nishāndan, “to make ‘Disturbance’, i.e., the girl Fitna, sit down,” means also “to allay disturbance, to make things quiet”.
971. “Who set disturbance down”; lit., “making disturbance (Disturbance), fitna (Fitna), sit down.”
972. She means that in depreciating the king she did so at the risk of her life in his interest. See the following distichs.
973. Lit., “when he loosened the thumbstall.”
974. Excessive admiration of a thing is supposed to subject it to the influence of the evil eye.
975. Lit., “a fault, or cause of shame came to me.”
976. i.e., through Draco, the Dragon’s making the effects of my love appear like hate (to the king). Draco, from this, would appear to have generally a malefic influence, but Auger Ferrier, quoted in Note 905, attributes a good influence to the head of Draco. For the influence of the tail of Draco see Note 905.
977. Lit., “made his arm a shoulder-belt upon his neck.”
978. “The usual offerings”; lit., “sugar-pouring,” by which is meant a bridegroom’s bestowing gifts upon the bride.
It means also the distribution of confectionery at a betrothal. (Cf. the modern shīrīnī-khvarān.)
Other meanings are “speaking eloquently”, and “singing”.
979. The legendary Fish that supports the Ox on which the earth was supposed to rest. (See Note 1,060.)
980. Lit., “Yellow-eared ones (zard-gūshān) died in corners (dar gūsha-hā murdand).”
981. i.e., the black water or blackness of death.
982. i.e., his surname was Narsī (Narses), which is said to mean “he who reaches the truth”. Narsī was the name both of Bahrām’s vazīr, the person here spoken of, and also of Bahrām’s brother.
983. i.e., he had great foresight.
984. Lit., “the king had found his fineness one in a hundred”; i.e., one of alloy in a hundred of pure metal, or 99% of true metal. I suppose it is implied that there must be a trifling alloy in every one.
Or, if yakī ba-ṣad is for yakī dar ṣad, it would mean that he had found his fineness a hundred times one, i.e., a hundred parts of true metal in a hundred.
Or, the sense may be that in standard quality he was one in a hundred.
985. “Imposts,” bāj; i.e., the imposts due from merchants.
986. “Control or administration”; lit., “pen.”
987. Lit., “had made him (absolutely) influential in command in all Persia.”
988. “In the business of the town and army”; i.e., in civil and military administration. He was apparently both Home and War minister.
989. i.e., he kept practically in the same position, did nothing really useful to himself, but idled away his time, and like a mill threw away whatever he received.
990. i.e., other princes prepared to take advantage of the situation.
991. “The khān of khāns from China (then) set out.”
Though some Persian historians ascribe the invasion to the emperor of China, the invaders were really a people of Turkish stock called Hayāṭila. The Hayāṭila (the name is said to be the broken plural of Haiṭāl) were called by the Greeks Ephthalites, and by some Orientalists, (notably St. Martin), have been identified with the White Huns.
Canon Rawlinson says, however, that they were quite distinct from the Huns of Attila in physical characteristics, advancement, and pursuits, being fair of complexion, civilized, and agricultural, whilst the Huns of Attila were dark, uncivilized, and nomadic.
So far as I can gather from the Oriental geographers the country of the Hayāṭila was bounded on the north by the Qizil Qūm (Kizil Kum) desert and the Qārā Dāgh (Kara Tau) and Alexander Ranges; on the east, by Chinese Turkistan and the Hindu Kush; on the south, by the Kūh-i Bābā (Kuh-i Baba) Range. On the west, starting from the Kūh-i Hiṣār (Kuh-i Hissar) Range, the boundary extended in a north-westerly direction to Andkhūd (Andkhui), and then north to the Oxus in about longitude 64° 40' E., and from north of the Oxus, inclining a little to the north-west, to about longitude 64° 10' E., and along that line to its northern boundary. This would include nearly the whole of the north of modern Afghanistan down to latitude 35° N., probably the whole of the province of Farghāna, and the central Asian khanates except Khiva.
Ṣādiq Iṣfahānī includes in the Hayāṭila country: Ṭukhāristān, with Badakhshān:—Bāmiyān (Bamian), Shuburghān (Shibergan), Andkhūd (Andkhui), Ṭāliqān.—Balkh, Khatlān (Kotlan), Baqlān.
Riẓā Qulī Khān in his “Safārat-nāma-yi Khvārazm” includes the district and town of Usrūshana, which he places in Farghāna, and Schefer in a note to his translation says:
“Ousroushinèh, situé par 101° de longitude et 41° 30' de latitude, est un district considérable des pays des Hiathilèh qui s’étend entre le Sihoun et Samarqand, sur un espace que l´on estime être de vingt-six fersengs.”
In a sub-note upon Hiathilèh (Hayāṭila) Schefer says:
“Le pays des Hiathilèh est le nom sous lequel on désigne la contrée où se trouvent les villes de Boukhara, de Samarqand et de Khodjend, et qui d´après les Orientaux, aurait été peuplé par les descendants de Heïthel (Haiṭāl), fils d´Alim, fils de Sam, fils de Noé, qui s’y serait retiré après la dispersion des peuples, à la suite de la confusion des langues de Babel.”
I do not know what Schefer’s authority is for including Bukhārā and Samarqand in the Hayāṭila country. The early history of Bukhārā is very imperfectly known. I have, however, ventured, in reliance upon his statement, to include those cities and territories in my attempted definition of the limits of the Hayāṭila country. (See also Notes 694, 995, and 1,892.)
992. Lit., “at his stirrup.”
993. “A resurrection”; i.e., a great disturbance.
994. Lit., “in the concealed things of rolls of paper.”
995. Khāqān, a title which in Persian poetry, and sometimes in prose, is apparently attributed to the emperor of China, is properly the title of any Turkish or Mongol emperor. Here it should be referred to the ruler of the Hayāṭila. The word, says Redhouse, is said to be originally the Chinese word hu-hang. (See also Notes 694, 991, and 1,892.)
996. “We’re dust upon your road”; i.e., we are your humble slaves.
997. Lit., “removed his desire from the Persians.”
998. “It flashed throughout the world”; lit., “it became warm in the world.”
999. i.e., no ruling authority remains in the country.
1,000. i.e., the Turkish general.