Sulān Sikandar used to associate frequently with poets and ^323. was himself also a man of taste, and would occasionally compose verses after the ancient Hindustānī* models, under the pseudonym of Gulrukh, accordingly he felt great pleasure in the companion­ship of Shaikh Jamāl.* The following verses are the product of the genius of the Sulān, and are written with the utmost regard to poetical form.

Ode.*

That cypress whose robe is the jasmine, whose body the rose,
Is a spirit incarnate whose garment the body provides.
What profits the Khatanī musk? all the kingdoms of Chīn
Are conquered, and bound in the chains of her clustering curls.
 
In the eye of her eyelashes' needle the thread of my soul
I'll fasten and swiftly repair every rent in her robe.
Could Gulrukh essay to discover the charms of her teeth,
He would say they are water-white pearls of the ocean of
speech.*

One of the poets of the reign of Sulān Sikandar was the Brahman [Dūnkar*] who, they say,* in spite of being an infidel, used to give instruction in books of science.* The following mala, (opening couplet) was spoken [and is a most auspicious mala‘*] by him in the metre of Mas‘ūd Beg,

Had not thy glance been the dagger, my heart had not bled
to-day;
Had not thy look been the serpent* I never had lost my way.

Also among the great and learned men of the time of Sulān Sikandar were Shaikh ‘Abdu-llāh Tulumbī* in Dihlī, and Shaikh ‘Azīzu-llah Tulumbī* in Sambhal, both of whom came to Hindustān at the time of the ruin of Multān, and introduced the systematic study of the intellectual sciences into that country. Before their time, with the exception of the Sharḥ-i-Shamsīyah, and the Sharḥ-i-Ṣaḥāīf* there were no books current in Hin- ^324. dustān which treated of logic and metaphysics. I heard also from my masters,* that more than forty expert and profoundly learned men have arisen from among the disciples of Shaikh ‘Abdu-llāh, for example, Mīyān Lādan, Jamāl Khān of Dihlī, Mīyān Shaikh of Gwāliār,* Mīrān Saiyyiḍ Jalāl of Badāon, and others. They say also that Sulān Sikandar, during the instruc­tion of the aforesaid Shaikh ‘Abdu-llāh, used to come* and seat himself quietly in a corner unseen by the rest, fearing lest he should interrupt the lesson of the other students, and when the lesson was ended they used to exchange the customary salutation of Salām ‘alaikum* and mix freely with each other.

And Shaikh ‘Azīzu-llah of Tulumba, who was a man of great probity and rectitude, had such an abundant genius and marvellous power of recollection,* that no matter how difficult or minute the subject matter of a book which a student of intelligence might be reading, he would give his lesson in it without previous­ly reading it; and that time after time when they came up for examination, and propounded the most inscrutable problems, the learned Shaikh would explain them on the instant while giving his lesson.

One of his pupils was* Mīyān Ḥātim Sanbalī, who is com­monly said to have read the Commentary on the Miftāḥ* more than thirty times in the course of his life, and the Muawwal* more than forty times, from the first letter of the Bism'illāh to the last of the word Tammat.*

Another is Shaikhu-l-Hadīyah Jaunpūrī, the author of many worthy compositions and excellent books, who wrote a commen­tary extending over several volumes upon the Hedāyah-i-Fiqh,* while there is no need of mentioning his commentary on the Kāfīyah:* in addition to these he wrote notes upon the Tafsīr-i-Madārik* and other works, which are read up to the present day.* Sulān Sikandar also collected together learned men* from all parts of the country to instruct him,* placing on one side Shaikh ‘Abd-u-llah, and Shaikh ‘Azīzu-llah, and on the other Shaikhu-l-Nadīyah and his son Shaikh* Bhakārī to discuss ^325. difficult points. Eventually it became clearly evident that the former pair of worthies were superior in oratory, while the two latter were the better writers. The death of Shaikh ‘Abdu-llah occurred in the year 922 H.; the following chronogram was in­vented to commemorate it: Ūlāika lahum ud-darajātu-l-ulā.*

And among the poets of the time of Sikandar, was the afore­said Shaikh Jamālī Kanbawī of Dihlī, to whom Sulān Sikandar was in the habit of submitting verses which he had written, for his opinion.

Speaking generally, he had many excellent points, he was a man who had travelled much, and had been honoured with the fellowship of our master the saintly Jāmī,* may God sanctify his resting place, and had gained many advantages from* him and won his approbation,* and was moreover in the habit of submit­ting * his poems to that revered master: The following verses are by him:

Verse.

I wear a garment woven of the dust of thy street
And* that too rent to the skirt with my tears.

Verse.*

Love's speech is swift, whole centuries of words,
Friend speaks to friend swift as the eye can close.

The following ode also,* which he translated and set to music in his native Hindī, is marvellously inspiring, and is well known.*

My heart's desire is fixed on thy abode
Oh thou that art long absent from my sight;
By day and night the thought of thee alone
My constant partner is, ask then thy thought
Should'st thou desire, to bring thee news of me.

He also wrote a Taẕkirah (Book of Memoirs) to recount the assemblies of some of the Shaikhs of Hindūstān, called the Sīyaru-l-‘Ārifīn (Biographies of the Saints) which is not entirely free from defects and discrepancies. It commences from the ^326. venerable Khwāja* Mu‘īnu-l-Ḥaqq wau-d-Dīn Ajmīrī, and finishes with his own spiritual guide Shaikh Samāu-d-Dīn* Kanbawī of Dihlī, in addition to which it contains other matter both* prose and poetry. His dīwān is made up of eight or nine thousand couplets.