V. ĀTASHI OF QANDAHĀR.*

He came to Hindūstān with the Emperor Bābar, and was at first a vāqi‘ah-navīs.* Subsequently, in the service of his late Majesty also he held several high posts, and died in Lāhōr in the year H. 973 (A.D. 1565-66). Some of his verses are the follow­ing:—

“In thine absence my tears by degrees became a sea,
behold!
Come, sit in my eye as in a boat and make a voyage of the
sea!”

“Aye, have a dagger at thy waist, a sword in thy hand, a
frown on thy brow,
Thirst for blood and be cruel and still implacable.”

181 “What can one do with one who knows nought of those who
are faithful?
What can one do with one whose body shines as silver and
who still inclines to wrath?”

“The crescent moon shines in the gloaming on the eve of
‘Id,*
Setting us free to haste to seek a cup of rosy wine.”

At the time when his late Majesty recovered from his indis­position in the Fort of Victory, this poet composed the following quatrain:—

“A thousand thanks to God, that His Majesty the Emperor is
freed from the sorrow of sickness,
That he has arisen and seated himself once more on the
throne of his glory.
The news of his recovery was conveyed to me by the words,
‘Thanks be to God that His Majesty has recovered.’”