He is Mīr Ḥaidar of Kāshān, the composer of enigmas. His understanding is excellent and he has correct taste. He is un­rivalled in the art of composing enigmas and chronograms,—*

indeed, he does not even know that there are any arts but these two. One day Shaikh Faiẓī told him that the art of composing enigmas had gone out of fashion in Hindūstān and that the practice of it was considered unworthy. He replied, “I have toiled for years in my own country in the study of enigmas, and now that I have grown old in this pursuit, how can I give it up?” He came with Khẉāja Ḥabībullāh from Gujarāt to Lāhor and received a fixed allowance from the emperor's privy purse and from courtiers. He embarked in a ship and set sail for his native land, but, when he had passed Hurmuz and was nearing Kīj and Makrān,* his ship was wrecked and all that he had was lost, among the rest several parts of Shaikh Faiẓī's pointless commentary* on the Qur'ān, letters of introduction from learned men, and Faẓiī's dīvān, a copy of which he was sending abroad ²³³ in order to increase his reputation.

The following verses are by Rafī‘ī:—

“I have a tender heart, my sprightly love, what remedy
is there for me?
I am a lover with the nature of one beloved, what can
I do?”

“I was jealous of Rafī‘ī's coffin, for thou
Didst accompany it weeping more bitterly than the
mourners.”

A quatrain.

“The devotee sins not, for Thou art the Avenger,
We are steeped in sin, for Thou art the Pardoner;

He calls Thee the Avenger, and we the Pardoner,
O Lord! say which name Thou preferrest.”

And he has a quatrain which contains twenty-six chrono-grams. *