Who in his father's time had several times been in charge of the districts of Budāon, and afterwards had received the canopy and staff of authority, and while holding the country of Lahore was his heir-apparent, succeeded to the throne by consent of the authorities in the aforesaid year,97a and Malik Tāju-d-Dīn his secretary97b wrote this congratulatory ode in honour of his accession—
All hail to the everlasting kingdom,
Above all to the king, in his heyday of youth,
Yamīnu-d-Daulat Ruknu-d-Dīn
Whose door became like the Rukn-i-Yamānī97c from its auspiciousness.
When he ascended the throne, he opened the doors of the treasury, and gave full scope to his taste for rioting and wantonness and indolence and sloth, and used to spend his precious hours in the company of prostitutes and vagabonds.
When thy heart inclines towards the wine shop
Except the tavern keeper97d and the musician who will praise thee.
And his mother Turkān Khātūn,98 who was a Turkish slave girl, having gained absolute power, used to vex the other concubines of the Sulṭān against whom her envious heart burned, in various ways, and put to death Quṭbu-d-Dīn the eldest son of the Sulṭān by another concubine. The treasury became empty, and 70. Malik Ghiyāṯu-d-Dīn Muḥammad Shāh the younger brother of the Sulṭān, who was ruler of Oudh, refusing to acknowledge his authority revolted against him, and Malik ‘Izzu-d-Dīn 98a and Kabīr Khān Sulṭānī governor of Multān, and Malīk Saifu-d-Dīn feudatory of Hānsī, entering into correspondence with one another raised the standard of opposition. Sulṭān Ruknu-d-Dīn Fīroz Shāh had arrived in the neighbourhood of Manṣūrpūr and Tarāyan with the intention of quelling this disturbance, and before this occurrence Niẓāmu-l-Mulk Junaidī the Wazīr and Agent of the territory of Hindustān, fearing the Sulṭān had fled to Kīlūgharī98b and had gone in the direction of Kol and joined hands with Malik ‘Izzu-d-Dīn Muḥammad Sālārī; and other trusty Amīrs who had remained in the army having fled from the vicinity of Manṣūrpūr went to Dehlī and having sworn98c fealty to Raẓẓīyah Khātūn who was the eldest daughter of Sulṭān Shamsu-d-Dīn, and his heir apparent according to her father's will, and a woman endowed with excellent qualities, brave, generous, and intelligent, raised her to the throne and imprisoned Turkān Khātūn. When the Sulṭān having returned from the army, arrived at Kīlūkharī, the troops of Sulṭān Raẓẓīyah went out to meet him, and having seized him without fighting imprisoned him, and he died in prison.98d The duration of his reign was six months and a fraction.
Do not set thy heart upon the world, for it is a stranger
Like the singer who is every day in a new house.
Among the poets of that age [and the master of that time]99 of Ruknu-d-Dīn was Shihāb Muhamra Badāoni99a as Mīr Khusrū99b on him be mercy says in one of his opening odes
In Budāon Muhamra rises intoxicated from sleep
If there comes forth from this melody the sound of the birds of Dehlī
And Maliku-l-Kalām Fakhru-l-Mulk ‘Amīd Tūlakī99c mentions him as a master99d and since the speech of the modern (poets) after the appearance of the cavalcade of the Prince of poets has become like the stars at the time of the raising of the banner of 71. the glorious sun, and like the seven poems99e at the time of the descent of the inspired revelation upon the best of men, and the Lord of the world on him be peace, remains concealed as by a curtain—men speak and write less concerning them, nay more they do not even possess them—accordingly in harmony with the saying, The first comer has the best of it, I have thought it incumbent upon me to include a few odes from that eminent author as a benediction and blessing, in this composition of mine, and to leave a memorial for his friends, and to establish my own connection with the master, and to display upon the däis of evidence the excellencies of that doughty knight of the arena of eloquence, and more especially to fulfil the demands of fellow-citizenship. The master poet Shihāb100 Muhamra [Badāonī] then says as follows:—
I am Alif in the table of existence and of no value as a sign.100a
My existence depends upon the duration of the existence of
others, my own existence is transitory.
I stand at the end of the row100b in the hope of obtaining a
better position, having rested from all movement with the
attributes of insignificance.
I have not the attributes of Alif for Alif has no crookedness.100c
All my writing has become crooked on the page of desire.
There is the song of the nightingale, the rose is happy; while
I am careless like the lily.100d
Like Alif I have no tongue, what have I to do with ten tongues?101
Since I can seize it101a while thus at rest, Why should I pursue?
Since I cannot see openly how can I follow a hidden path?
By stratagem, I can recognize no distinction between earth and heaven, although I am like the heaven in my whirling, and like the earth stationary.
I am not like water in freshness, nor like fire in sublimity, nor like the wind in sweetness, nor like the earth in heaviness.
72. I am not made out of these four elements.102 I am composed of the effluvia of the kennel. The refuse of the sewer water has boasted of piety.102a
My wisdom, as though incarnate, seems to have taken to praise my faults; my avarice,102b huge as a mountain, has girded its loins for taking presents.
I am become fixed in the way of avarice, not a sign of truth remains in me. The oppression of my vices has overwhelmed the mercies of the Sacred Book.
My greediness has so deceived me that the five sensual appetites have taken away from my heart with disgrace the blessings of the readings102c of the ‘ashars.
My inner nature as well as my body is devoid of meditation and recollection. My eye like my ear is inclined to the singing women and their songs.
I desire brilliant speeches to fall from my tongue which is like a well-tempered sword. My pen has made me bent like a sickle102d in the pursuit of my daily bread.
My speech has failed me because its glory was in the relation of this story. Yes! all this loss of honour was owing to inordinate desire for bread.
I am that mean one, less than the least, who am not worth a groat,102e if you think me worth a barleycorn, you will not buy me for nothing.
Oh Shihāb it is strange that you in this road of kingly affairs are neither the Amīr of the Eight Squares103 nor the Knight of the Seven Places.103a
You are not an angel, nor are you a devil, from what workshop are you? You are not a sojourner nor yet a traveller, from what court are you?
Your heart and intellect are careless of the tortures of the grave, you have dressed yourself in Gūrkhānī silk.103b
You have become utterly regardless from lust, owing to desire 73. for license, from urgent desire, by means of false accusation you have planted the foot of success.
Sorrow for the tulip-cheeked beloved has shut fast the door of your wisdom. The vein of your eye has shed blood from desire for the cup of red wine.
You are corrupt like the wind, you stand paralysed like the earth. You are a pearl of transitory existence, a shell empty-mouthed.
With breath like the burning lightning you are the enchanter of bad and good: with heart like a flint, you are the whetstone of dry and moist.
Naturally with desire you revolve like the sky in its figure-designing, from your youth hasting with greed, you are like a child in weakness.
You carry the sorrow of the seven (heavens) and the four (elements) in your heart, and every moment from pride you are put to a hundred thousand devices in the performance of one genuflection.
You are as coarse as the earth, and yet your speech is always of the moon in the heavens; you will not reach103c the dignity of a king from the station of a doorkeeper.
You yourself owing to frivolity have not attained even for a moment, freeing yourself from the imperfections of the world, to the religious duties at stated times.
From the advice of the holy men may you be informed at least once, that in these two worlds at any rate104 you are famous for creating dissensions.
Perversity springs from your heart as pride springs from foolishness. Evil arises from your body as rashness does from youth.
You are the moisture of the gullet of hypocrisy, the blast of the forge of tyranny, you are the flower of the garden of inordinate desire, and the mud which befouls the reservoir of the soul.
74. When present you melt the soul, perchance you spring from the heat of Tamūz;104a in your ode you scatter snow104b
perchance you are of the breath of autumn.
You like a child seek throughout your life after vain images;
from your fancifulness the sorrows of time have made you
old in your youth.
Poetry is but a desire, and its metre is like the mirage which
is void of water. This breath of life is grief to me, but its
savour is better than the water of life.
When your desire becomes collected that fancy becomes enjoyment, when your breathing is harmonious, it becomes a
scatterer of pearls.
How long this desire of the imagination? make one breath
pearl-scattering in praise of that man whose equal wisdom
has not seen even from the beginning.
The King of the throne of “Kun”105 is Muḥammad who
pitched the tent of dignity by the side of the door of the
Protector (God) from the house of Ummahānī.105a
He was a mortal of angelic beauty, a sky with the lowliness
of earth. Like the sky he was pure in body, like the
Angels he was pure in soul.
He was a pearl whose place was in the treasury of God, and
he was a moon whose brightness shone forth from the sky
of eternity.
He was such a pearl that nothing of more value than his
nature was ever produced by the medium of the elements
from the sea of heaven.
He was such a moon that in every early morning the face of
the star of Yaman became black as coal105b from shame at his
cornelian-like lips.
So sweet tongued a prophet that the salvation of his disciples
comes by faith in his words,105c from the eloquence of his
utterances.
So eloquent in pearl-like speech that the beauty of his utterance 75.
makes the heart's blood like the hidden wealth of the mine,
a royal treasure.
The brightness of the eastern sun is shamed by the beauty of
his face, and the stature of the cypress of the garden is
bowed before the perfect uprightness of his form.
By his accountantship he has adopted the way of absolute
monarchy; and by his eloquence he has opened the door of
auspicious government.
The attraction of secret desire, by revelation has drawn him
from the expanse of the natural world to the ocean of
spiritual existence.
By the good tidings of his friend, his heart became intoxicated
with the hope of a meeting. The son of Abū Qahāfah106 has
drunk from the cup of his friendship.
His speeches have founded a fortress106a for the decrees of God.106b
‘Umar by his justice became the builder of it, by right
government.
One, third in order,106c has placed the footstep in this way,
whose path to the enjoyment of this world was not obstruct-
ed by pride.
His fourth pillar was ‘Alī106d who at the time of battle made
the face of the sun pale from the glitter of his sword.
Oh, King! I entreat you by your friends deliver me during
the whole of my life106e by your aid from the calamity of
foolish friends.
He who demanded from me106f this Qaṣīda, may his life like my
Qaṣīda be ornamented with the jewels of meaning ——.
The following Qaṣīda also he wrote, imposing upon himself the necessity of introducing the words “hair” and “ant,” in a declaration of the unity of God and in praise of the Prophet, may the peace of God be upon him.
Although with my tongue, I split hairs at the time of dis- 76.
course, still in the praise of God, by reason of amazement, I
am dumb as the ant.
107 And in the pursuit of the fairy-faced ones with chainlike
locks, through desire often have I bound fast, like the ant,
my life to my waist with my heart.
And for the sake of the ant-eyed and sugar-lipped ones, in my
fancy I have bored the hair of speech a hundred ways by
way of trial.
That I might have a store like the ant,107a in his praise I have
cleft the hair into halves, and have not received one jot
from any one in recognition.
Henceforth, like the ant, I will gird my loins at the door of
the Incomparable one, and from the root of each hair,107b with
a hundred tongues will I proclaim his gracious aid.
How can I open my lips, I that am voiceless as an ant and a
fish. Nay rather will I make each hair a tongue to scatter
pearls.
With this ant-like writing and these sugar-like words,107c by
means of poetical arrangement I will split the hair in the
declaration of the unity of God the discerner of secrets.
That God to whose workmanship each several hair bears
witness, and all that exists, ant and fish and snake, wild
beasts and birds, men and genii.107d
He who alone is self-existent, and is not within the bounds of
computation, from whose wisdom107e in both worlds nothing
is hidden, neither the track of the ant nor the point of the
hair.
If, though as a single hair, His favour is shed upon the egg
of an ant, from it there will issue in a single moment a
hundred Jamshīds, each one like a hundred Jamshīds.
If, though as a single hair, he lets fall his wrath upon an
elephant, the elephant will experience that which the
cub of the raging lion suffers from the ant.108
77. The intellect herein cannot understand, even by a hair's breadth,
the reason why the offspring of the powerful lion should
become the prey of the powerless ant.
In his decree there is not the space of a hair's point open to
criticism, even though he should give the kingdom of a
Solomon to an ant without recompense.108a
By his decree, the shape of the ant and the lion are
similar, and by his art the colour of hair and bone are
opposites.
By his grace it is that every hair has knowledge of him, and
from his equity it comes to pass that there is a108b guardian
over every ant, that 108c dust in the palm is endowed with
chemical properties, and water in the sea becomes converted
into pearl;108d that the ant appears to the eye as a dragon,
and a hair of the limbs as a spear.108e
Oh Thou by whose power hair and blood and bone take shape,
Oh Thou109 who art surety for the daily supply of food to
bird and ant and snake and fish.
In the body of every ant there is an exact account of thy
equity, on the point of each hair there is a boundless praise
of thy bounty.
The eye of thy mercy provides109a sustenance for every ant and
locust. The hand of thy favour tints the hair of all both
old and young.
The pen of thy skill shews109b that of which a manifest sign
is shewn on the body of every ant, and appears on the end
of every hair.
The mole on the cheek of the brides appear like spots on a
mirror.
The hair on the face of kings appears like ants upon the
Arghawān.109c
By thy order it is that the stomachless ant is hungry in
the way.
By this bounty it is that the motionless hair upon the body
is satisfied.
78. 110 He who did not turn away110a his head from your door even by
a hairs' breadth, the ant, although tongueless, began to
praise him like the lizard.110b
When he like the ant became sleepless and fasting in devotion
to you then without doubt with the sword of the finger he
split the moon into two parts like a hair.110c
He was a sign like the true dawn, hair-splitting in his speech.
His followers were as successful as ants in opposing the
scorpions of religion.
The silvery body ef the seven heavens, would become (black)
like ants, when he cast aside the covering from his dark
locks.
He lived like ants upon the earth in the midst of poverty,
For this reason the heaven appeared in his eyes as inferior in
value to an eyelash.
In that place where the angels would have always cast their
wings like ants,
If he had placed his foot even one hair's breadth beyond his
abode.
111 In intercession from the lightness of his spirit he split a hair,
So that, for the sake of an ant, intercession was not heavy to
him even by the weight of a hair.
If for the sake of an ant one fell into error, he would make
his excuse.
He remained without bounty if he was not thankful in the
least.
On that night when he caught the least glimpse of that
illuminated dwelling
Wings111a grew upon him like the ant in his desire for the
infinite.
Having cast his eye upon the fat morsel of the world which
perishes like a hair, he closed the avenues of his appetite
against this turquoise-hued table,111b like the ant.
For the ants of religion he carried away so much provision
that there remained on the point of each hair an evidence
of that bounty112 for ever and ever.
79. Oh thou Creator, I have made every hair a tongue, but yet
like an ant I complain in my heart of my voicelessness
to sing thy praise.
If thou hadst illumined the eye of the ant like the thread
of hair, without the permission112a of thy mercy this caravan
would not have passed.
I am like an ant in water, or like a hair in the fire, because
this sugar-scattering mind of mine is not fit for this relation.112b
I have the foot of effort in the stirrup of devotion to you
like the ant; as long as one single hair remains of me112c
I will not desist from this endeavour.
How can my burden be in the least degree lightened apart
from thy consent? How can I gird my loins like the ant
through avarice,112d in the service of this one or that?
Although like the ant I have been crushed by the (iron)
hand of desire
Yet I never contemplated the slightest idea of profit or loss
apart from thee.
Since this is from thee I am happy, although my heart is
distraught and pained; my heart is like the eye of the ant
and my112e condition is like the hair of the heart-ravishing
one.
If the ant brought the foot of a locust into the presence of
Solomon, Shihāb would have come headlong to thy door
with the feet of his soul about his head as hair.
The ant of thy generous table O Sāliḥ showed him (Shihāb)
that path of rectitude.
O Lord! grant him protection in crossing that hair like
bridge113 over the fire
On the point of each hair of his you have a hundred favours,
for this reason that the heart of an ant is not vexed by
him by so much as a hair's breadth in the world.
Oh Lord!113a keep a watch upon the enemy of the king's domi-
nions, for this is best, that he should be as a hair in the fire
and as an ant in the running water.
And he also wrote in praise of Sulṭān Ruknu-d-Dīn Fīroz 80. imposing upon himself the necessity of introducing four things113b as follows:—
Every moment this old wolf lion-hearted infant-eating113c
Does with me that which the elephant and rhinoceros do at
the time of contest.
The elephant-like sky wears away my body as does the
rhinoceros
The time like a lion takes away my patience like a wolf.
I have not the strength of the rhinoceros, and the sky is like
a fierce elephant towards me.
It displays the boldness of a lion like the old wolf of the time.
The elephant did not so treat the rhinoceros, nor did the wolf
so treat the sheep
As the lion-like heaven treated this being who is thin as
hair from oppression.
The Lion of the sky has the craft of the wolf and the strength
of the rhinoceros.
For this cause he heaps pain continually on my heart like the
load of an elephant.
A maddened elephant114 is this wolf-haired rhinoceros.
Even if mankind are like male lions still sooner or later he
effects their ruin.
The sky, the overthrower of the rhinoceros, the conqueror of
the lion, if, in play, like the wolf it brings against the life
of Rustum a strong move like “pīlband.”114a
The wolf of my patience casts off from him the waterproof
like a lion, if the elephant of this coerulean castle has
made me over to his charge like a rhinoceros.
The lion of the sky, like the elephant in colour, a wolf by a
nature, takes and tears to pieces the armour of my patience
like the hide of the rhinoceros.115
Last night when the lion of the sky became elephant coloured
in the hide of the rhinoceros, countless Josephs115a appear-
ed from the wolves of the heaven.
My life is in the hands of the lion, and under the foot of the
rhinoceros of pain, until from the elephant bodied sky the 81.
tail of the wolf115b became evident.
The claw of the lion and the horn of the rhinoceros, the tears
of the elephant and the hair of the wolf.
Although these four are of use in making the amulet115c of
heart's attachment.
Of what use are the special properties of the lion and rhino-
ceros and the wolf and the elephant, when that silvery
cheeked one demands from me gold more than the weight of
an elephant.
Since I do not possess the ferocity of the rhinoceros, the
heart of the lion, and the breath of the wolf, I will go to
meet my beloved with an elephant load of sorrow.
In the jaws of the lion and under the foot of the rhinoceros,
and of this old wolf, my beloved one keeps me as though
depicted upon the tear of the elephant on account of
love.
My beloved with the rhinoceros-hilted sword is trotting like
a wolf, I, like the elephant, am following him with a body
thin as thread.
Afterwards the wolf in rhinoceros-like armour, the elephant-
like heaven, the lion-hunter of the sky appeared like the
torch of the king.
The pillar of the world, the elephant-conquering king with
the lion-headed mace, by whose wolf-swift horse the
rhinoceros is fiercely attacked.
The eye of the wolf of the sky is of all colours from his lion-
like mace, the hump of the rhinoceros of the earth is trodden
into hollows by the foot of his elephant.
His elephantine club empties the forest of wolves, his wolf-
swift horse116 seizes the meadow from the lions.
His rhinoceros-like staff of office is in the heart of the wolf
of the sky, his club116a like a pillar has cleft asunder
the lions.
82. From the point of his javelin, and lion-headed mace, that
happens to the wolf and elephant which happened to
the life of Gurgsār from the sword of the brazen-bodied
one.116b
Oh thou from whose lion-headed mace, rhinoceros-destroyer
elephant-crusher, the tomb becomes narrow and dark for
Gurgīn116c like the pit of Bīzhan.116d
The reflection of thy elephant coloured117 sword if it falls
upon lion and wolf makes their eyes which are like the
jujubes117a of Gurgān to become like the pomegranate.
If the breeze of your lion-standard blows upon the dust of
the world the maddened rhinoceros will seek shelter from
the elephant, and the wolf from the sheep.
When thou brandishest117b thy elephantine mace, the lion
casts away its teeth, the wolf its claws, the rhinoceros its
gall bladder, and the snake its head-stone.117c
Rhinoceros-like in attack, wolf-like in gait, lion-like in
bravery, elephant-like in body is thy steed, Oh hero! hundreds of thousands like Rustam are thy slaves.
Oh King! in thy praise I have become more powerful than
wolf and rhinoceros, lion and elephant, by the order of the
Lord who rules the sky.
Thou art elephant-bodied, lion-conquering, thy mace if it so
wishes, can place the rhinoceros firmly on the head of the
sky like the tail of the wolf.118
That Wazír who to the punishment of the wolf of the sky
has given his heart, like the rhinoceros and the elephant
and the lion, instead of being confused.
Without the craft of the wolf, and the power of the rhino-
ceros, his determination strikes the head of the elephants
with the driving hook118a and brings sparks to the eyes of
the lions.
In thy kingdom, Oh King! from the strategy of thy caution the
lion has laid aside its oppression, the wolf its deceit, and
the rhinoceros its disorder through fear of thee.
Oh thou, whose order is like the decree of fate, thou from
whose dignity the Emperor like Fate overcomes the rhino-
ceros, the wolf, the lion and the elephant.
83. Skin, and horn, and hair, and tear, of wolf, rhinoceros, lion and
elephant will be of use in the way of life, and heart, and
nature, and speech.
For your armour and shoes, when did the wolf-natured sky
select tears and skin from the elephant and lion and
rhinoceros?
For that purpose again and again,119 this old wolf from the
elephant and lion and the rhinoceros, brings as an offering
its hide and skin and teeth as a present of rare value.
The she-wolf drives away the he-lion119a as a good omen,
If in hunting it comes in sight of your rhinoceros-conquering
elephant.
Elephant-bestower, I desire a desert place in Badāon,
Even though these regions are the abodes of the wolf and
rhinoceros and the lion.
As long as the lion and the elephant are co-partners in awe,
and the wolf and the rhinoceros are alike in writing119b so
long may your wolf-crafty enemy, Oh rhinoceros-destroyer
and elephant-like in strength,119c be humbled in the dust
before the lion of your portico.
May your enemies bereft of life become like the lions and
elephants and wolves and rhinoceros at the end of the
stony line in the public baths.119d
Came to the throne in the year 634 H. (1236 A.D.), and followed the path of equity and the principles of justice; set in order the affairs which had remained in confusion, and set before her the pur- 84. suit of beneficence, (which is as great a fault in women as stinginess is in men) as the object of her ambition, and made Niẓāmu-l-Mulk Jundī (Junaidī) Chief Wazīr.120 Antagonism and strife shewed itself among the Amīrs, and Sulṭān Raẓẓīyah formed an excellent plan, and threw these disloyal Amīrs into confusion so that they fled in all directions, and she having selected certain of them for punishment put them to death,120a and Niẓāmu-l-Mulk retired to Sir Mūr120b and took up his abode in the secret place of death, and Khwāja Muhaẕẕab the Deputy succeeded him in office. The kingdom of Raẓẓīyah gained considerable power, she despatched an army to relieve Rantanbhūr,120c which, after the death of Sulṭān Shamsu-d-Dīn, the Hindūs had invested continuously, and liberated the Muslims from their captivity, and Jamālu-d-Dīn Yāqūt, the Abyssinian, who was Master of the Horse, became her confidant and trusted adviser, to such a point that Sulṭān Raẓẓīyah whenever she rode horse or elephant used to rest upon his arm or shoulder.120d He became an object of envy to the Amīrs, and the Sulṭān Raẓẓīyah came out from the curtain of chastity120e and wearing the garments of men, regardless of propriety, used to wear a tunic and kullāh120f when seated on the throne to rule the kingdom. And in the year 637 H. (1239 A.D.) Malik ‘Izzu-d-Dīn Iyāz, Governor of Lahore, displayed hostility. Sulṭān Raẓẓīyah proceeded against him and having reduced him to obedience added Multān also to his jāegīr,120g and in the same year she brought up an army against Tabarhindah, and on the way the Turkī Amīrs witnessing her immodest behaviour, rebelled, and seized both Sulṭān Raẓẓīyah and Jamālu-d-Dīn Yāqūt the Abyssinian, who had risen to be the Chief Amīr,121 and confined them in the fortress of Tabarhindah.121a
Seek not fidelity to its promise from the indolent world. 85.
For this old woman is the bride of a thousand lovers.
121b There is no sign of faithfulness to promise in the smile of
the rose.
Lament, Oh heart-reft nightingale, for here is cause for complaint.
Next succeeded to the throne, and came to Delhī. At this time Malik Ikhtiyāru-d-Dīn Altūnīyah121d the ruler of Tabarhindah having espoused the Sulṭān Raẓẓīyah, and having gained over certain of the Amīrs and a body of the Jats121e and Khūkhars, and all the landholders, brought an army towards Delhī. Sulṭān Mu‘izzu-d-Dīn Bahrām Shāh, sent the Malik121f Balban the younger (who eventually became Sulṭān Ghīyāṯu-d-Dīn) with a vast army to oppose Raẓẓīyah, and a battle ensued in which the forces of Raẓẓīyah were defeated. She then went to Tabarhindah, and a second time collected her forces and rallied her scattered troops, and arrived in the neighbourhood of the village of Katīhal121g with the intention of conquering Delhī, and again being defeated at the hands of the Malik Balban the younger, took to flight and both she and Altūnīyah fell into the hands of the Kawārs122 and were put to death by order of Sulṭān Bahrām Shāh.
This event took place in the year 637 H. (1239 A.D.),122a and the duration of the reign of Raẓẓīyah was three years six months and six days.
A head which the neck carries loftily
That same head later finds a rope round its neck.
When the sovereign power was firmly established in the hands of Sulṭān Bahrām Shāh, Malik Ikhtiyāru-d-Dīn Ītkīn who was 86. formerly Hājib and was married to a sister of the Sulṭán, and had got all the affairs of the kingdom into his own hands by the assistance of Niẓāmu-l-Mulk Muhaẕẕabu-d-Dīn, being accustomed always to keep a large elephant tied up at his door, like a king, was murdered in the year 638 H. together with Muhaẕẕabu-d-Dīn Wazīr, by certain Fidāīs,122b by the orders of the Sulṭān, and in this year the Sulṭān dealt with a party composed of Amīrs and chief men, and leading nobles, and grandees, and judges who used to hold secret meetings to discuss a change of monarchy and the appointment of a new king. Some of them he put to death, and some, as for example Badru-d-Dīn Sangar Amīr Ḥājib123 he sent to Badāon where they died in prison. Among them was Qāẓī Jalālu-d-Dīn Kāshānī, whom they removed from his military command and appointed Qāẓī of Badāon, and Qāẓī Shamsu-d-Dīn the Qāẓī of Mārhira123a they threw under the feet of an elephant in the same way.
And in the year 639 H. the troops of the Mughūl Changīz Khān came and invested the city of Lahore, and Malik Qarāqash the Governor of Lahore fled one day at midnight and came to Dehlī, where the Sulṭān pledged the Amīrs anew to fealty, and having summoned a conference sent Niẓāmu-l-Mulk123b Wazīr, who at heart was not friendly to the Sulṭān, to oppose the Mughūl force in the Panjāb. He, with craft and hypocrisy wrote a letter to the Sulṭān and made many complaints of the Amīrs who were with him, and begged the Sulṭān to come. The Sulṭān, however, not thinking it advisable to go in person, wrote a despatch to him in apparent sincerity, saying, “those recalcitrant Amīrs shall meet their punishment in due time, you should treat them with civility123c till then.” He shewed that despatch in original to the Amīrs and brought them over to his side, and the Sulṭān Mu‘izzu-d-Dīn Bahrām 87. Shāh sent Ḥaẓrat Shaikhu-l-Islām Khwāja-i-Khwājagān Quṭbu-d-Dīn Bakhtyār Ūshī,123d may God sanctify him, to the Amīrs to put matters straight and to quell the disturbance, but without success; the Shaikhu-l-Islām returned and came to Dehlī, and just at this juncture Niẓāmu-l-Mulk and the Amīrs also arrived and besieged the Sulṭān in Dehlī,124 and taking him captive imprisoned him, and after a few days despatched him to the next world124a and set up another king in his place.
The times of old have had this habit
To take from this man and give to that.
The duration of his reign was two years and one month and fifteen days.
Having been released from prison by the consent of his uncles Sulṭān Nāṣiru-d-Dīn Maḥmūd and Sulṭān Jalālu-d-Dīn, the sons of Sulṭān Shamsu-d-Dīn Iyaltimish, became king at the end of the year already mentioned (639 H.), after that ‘Izzu-d-Dīn Balban124b (the elder) had occupied the throne for one day and had issued a proclamation. None of the Maliks or Amīrs had been satisfied with this arrangement and reverted to Sulṭān ‘Alāu-d-Dīn, and appointed Malik Quṭbu-d-Dīn Ḥasan as Deputy, and Malik Muhaẕẕabu-d-Dīn Niẓāmu-l-Mulk Wazīr of the kingdom, and in the year 640 H. the Amīrs of Sulṭān ‘Alāu-d-Dīn Mas‘ūd put to death Niẓāmu-l-Mulk the Wazīr.
One should not desire brief kingship like that of the rose
For a torrent speedily breaks down a bridge.
The Wazīrship was conferred upon Ṣadru-l-Mūlk Najmu-d-Dīn Abū Bakr, and Malik Ghiyāṯu-d-Dīn Balban the younger who had at first been called Ulugh Khān and afterwards attained the dignity of Sulṭān,124c became Amīr Ḥājib and in succession to him 88. the governorship of Nāgor and Sind and Ājmīr was conferred permanently upon Malik ‘Izzu-d-Dīn Balban, the elder, Budāon was conferred upon Malik Tāju-d-Dīn; and in this year ‘Izz-ud-Dīn Tughā Khān who had advanced from Karrah125 to the neighbourhood of Lakhnautī sent Sharfu-l-Mulk Asha‘rī to the Sulṭān ‘Alāu-d-Dīn with a written despatch, the Sulṭān then sent a red canopy and a special robe of honour in charge of the Governor of Ondh125a for ‘Izzu-d-Dīn Tughā Khān who was in Lakhnautī, and having brought both his uncles aforementioned out of confinement, assigned the district of Qanauj to Malik Jalālu-d-Dīn, and Bahrāij to Malik Nāṣiru-d-Dīn Maḥmūd, who acquitted themselves in those districts to his satisfaction. And in the year 642 H, the Mughūl forces125b arrived in the district of Lakhnautī, the assumption is that the Mughūls must have come by way of Tibat and Khiṭā, and Sulṭān ‘Alāu-d-Dīn sent Tīmūr Khān Qarā Beg125c to the assistance of Tughā Khān and the Mughūls were defeated. Hostility arose between Tughā Khān and Malik Qīrān,125d Tughā Khān came to Dehlī, and Lakhnautī remained in the hands of Tīmūr Khān.125e
In this year the Mughūl army126 arrived in the vicinity of Uchh and assaulted it, and the Sulṭān proceeding by forced marches with all possible speed, reached the banks of the river Biāh, and the Mughūls raising the siege of Uchh took to flight; the Sulṭān on reaching Delhī took to arresting and putting to death to such an extent that the Amīrs and nobles turned against him, and agreed to summon Malik Nāṣiru-d-Dīn Maḥmūd ibn Shamsu-d-Dīn from Bahrāij, and upon his arrival at Delhī in the year 644 H, they threw Sulṭān ‘Alāu-d-Dīn Mas‘ūd into prison and he speedily126a exchanged that confinement for the prison house of eternity.
This is the way of the changeable world.
In kindness it gives and it robs you in wrath.
89. The duration of his reign was four years and one month.
Succeeded to the sovereignty in the year 644 H, (1246 A.D.) and the Wazīrship was conferred upon Ghiyāṯu-d-Dīn Balban the younger, who was in reality great, and was the slave and son-in-law of the father of Nāṣiru-d-dīn.126b
At the time of his accession great largesse was given, and the poets recited many congratulatory odes from some of which the following verses are taken—
That great Lord who is a Ḥātim in generosity and a Rustum
in energy.
Nāṣir-i-Dunya wa-Dīn Maḥmūd ibn Iyaltimish.
That great world conqueror, the roof of whose palace is the
heaven.
In the height of his dignity this lower sphere is his vesture.
How can we measure the glory the Sikka acquires from his
auspicious titles.127
Or how compute the exultation of the Khuṭbah at the mention
of his happy name.
The records of his equity and his laudable qualities are evident from the book called Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī127a which was composed in his honour.
The Sulṭān entrusted all the affairs of the kingdom to Ghiyāṯu-d-Dīn Balban and in giving him the title of Ulugh Khān said, “I deliver into thy hands the reins of absolute authority, beware lest thou commit thyself to any evil action,127b for tomorrow thou wilt be at a loss in the presence of Almighty God and thou wilt bring shame upon me and upon thyself.” The Sulṭān himself would generally retire into his chamber and occupy himself in devotion, and reading the Qur'ān and in repeating the sacred names of God may He be glorified and exalted; and it is currently reported that on the occasion of a public audience he used to clothe himself from head to foot in regal apparel, while in private he used to wear an old ragged garment; and they also say that he used to 90. devote his time to the copy of the Qur'ān which he was writing,127c further that he used to write it himself in private so that no one might recognize his handwriting and buy it for more than its fair value, and he used to sell (these) in the Bāzār. They relate also several other strange stories about him, which resemble the narratives regarding the rightly directed Khalifs — among them I have seen it written in a book that one day his wife was complaining of not having a servant, and she said “Whenever I bake bread for you my hands get burned and blistered.” He wept and replied, “The world is passing away, bear your toil for these few days for God Almighty on the morrow of resurrection (we trust in Him and believe in Him) as a reward for this labour, will surely give you a Ḥūrī to wait upon you, as it is, I cannot possibly buy a slave girl for you from the public funds. His wife too, agreed to this.
The world is but a dream in the eyes of the vigilant,
A wise man does not set his heart upon a dream.
And the Sulṭān in the month of Rajab in the year of his accession, took an army towards Multān128 and in Zūl Qa‘dah having crossed the river of Lahore (Rāvī) and having appointed Ulugh Khān as leader of the forces,128a sent him towards the Jūd hills128b and the country round Nandanah, and he himself halted on the banks of the river Indus. Ulugh Khān having punished that part of the country brought it into subjection, and having given a lesson to the Khūkhars129 and other contumacious tribes, joined the Sulṭān and returned to Dehlī, and in the year 645 H., having taken Mīwāt129a turned his attention to the country of the Doāb, and the same year having sent Ulugh Khān from the confines of Karrah to oppose and overthrow the rebels of that district, arrived at Dehlī with great spoil.
And in the year 646 A.H., he proceeded against Rantanbhūr, and having punished the seditious tribes of those districts he returned, 91. and in the year 647 H., he married the daughter of Ulugh Khān.
Then in the year 648 H., he took an army towards Multān, and after some days Malik ‘Izzu-d-Dīn Balban-i-Buzurg, the Governor of Nāgor, withdrew his foot from the circle of allegiance and rebelled,129b but when the Sulṭān proceeded thither, he begged for pardon and joined the Court.
And in the year 649 H. he marched in the direction of Gwāliār and Chandērī and Mālwa, and Jāhir Dev129c the Rāi of that country with five thousand cavalry and 200,000 infantry came out to meet him and gave battle to the Sulṭān in great force, but was defeated and the fort of Narwar130 was taken. And in this year Sher Khān Governor of Multān, and Malik ‘Izzu-d-Dīn Balban who had left Nāgōr with reinforcements for him reduced the fortress of Uchh, and Sher Khān remained in the fortress, while Malik ‘Izzu-d-Dīn Balban came to pay his respects to the king, and received from him as a jāegīr the districts of Budāon and was given the title of Kashlū Khān.
And in the year 650 H. (1252 A.D.) he left Dehlī intending to proceed to Lahore, and from there he went to Multān and Uchh, and in this expedition Kashlū Khān accompanied the Sulṭān as far as the river Biāh.
And in the year 651 H. marching from Dehlī, he detailed forces to act against Tabarhindah and Uchh and Multān of which Sher Khān had lost control, and of which the Sindhīs held possession; and having regained possession of them, handed them over to the charge of Arsalān Khān and returned. And in the year 652 H. having assembled an army on the confines of the country at the foot of the hills130a of Bijnor, and having crossed the Ganges by the ford of Mīāpūr131 and hugging the skirt of the mountain, reached the banks of the river Rahab,131a and having taken much booty and made many prisoners, giving themselves up to rapine and making prisoners,131b invaded the country of 92. Kaṭihar131c going to Badāon and from thence to Oudh, and hastened to the capital. And after some time news arrived that certain of the Amīrs, namely Ulugh Khān-i-A‘zam, and Arsalān Khān and others, in concert with Malik Jalālu-d-Dīn, the brother of the Sulṭān, had commenced hostilities in the vicinity of Tabar-hindah. The Sulṭān thereupon marched from Dehlī, and in the neighbourhood of Tabarhindah and Kuhrām and Kaithal,131d by the intervention of a party of Amīrs, the Amīrs agreed to peace, and with many protestations and oaths suing for pardon came into submission to the Sulṭān; and the Sulṭān conferred upon Malik Jalālu-d-Dīn the Governorship of Lahore, and proceeded to the capital. And in the year 653 H. the feelings of the Sulṭān underwent a change with respect to his mother Malika-i-Jahān. He gave Qutlugh Khān, to whom Malika-i-Jahān was married, a jāegīr in Oudh,131e and a short time after turning against him also131f sent him to Bahrāij. He took fright at this and came to the hill country of Sir Mūr, and Malik ‘Izzu-d-Dīn Kashlū Khān and certain other Amīrs made common cause with him and laid the foundation of revolt; the Sulṭān accordingly detailed Ulugh Khān Balban with a large army132 to oppose them, and when the two forces had arrived within a short distance of each other the Shaikhu-l-Islām Saiyyid Quṭbu-d-Dīn and Qāẓī Shamsu-d-Dīn of Bharāij and another party of men incited Qutlugh Khān to come into Dehlī, and inspired him with a desire to possess that country;132a the inhabitants of Dehlī joined in this instigation. Ulugh Khān represented this at the Sulṭān's court, and the Sulṭān issued an order for every individual of that party to go separately to his own place, and Qutlugh Khān and Malik ‘Izzu-d-Dīn Kashlū Khān after this defeat, traversed the distance of a hundred krohs132b in two days and came from Sāmāna to Dehlī, but did not find the party 93. which had been the cause of their being summoned. Qutlugh Khān and Kashlū Khān also were separated, and Ulugh Khān following them arrived in the Sulṭān's presence.132c And in the year 655 H. the Sulṭān issued an order for the expulsion of certain nobles and grandees from the city of Dehlī, and at the end of this year the Mughūls arrived on the boundaries of Uchh and Multān; Kashlū Khān Balban made common cause with them and the Sulṭān came up in hot haste against them. The Mughūls were not able to stand against him and turned back towards Khurāsān. The Sulṭān also raised the banner of return towards the capital and having bestowed a robe of honour upon Malik Jalālu-d-Dīn Jānī marched towards Lakhnautī.132d And in the year 656 H. (1258 A.D.) ambassadors came to the Sulṭān from Turkistān, and he sent them back loaded with presents, and in this year Ḥaẓrat Makhdūm Ganjshakar,132e may God magnify his power and exalt his memory,133 left the lodging house of separation and disappointment for the home of nearness and fulfilment.
And in the year 657 H. elephants and great treasure and jewels and cloths without number, arrived from Lakhnautī as presents, and in Rajab of this year Malik ‘Izzu-d-Dīn Kashlū Khān Balban earning relief from the turmoil of this transitory world, hastened to the next world, and in this year Ghauṯu-l-‘Ālam Ḥaẓrat Shaikh Bahāu-d-Dīn Zakariyāī133a the Multānī, may God sanctify him, raised the tent of133b close union with God Almighty, and a celebrated poet wrote this couplet to record the date:
By the arrow of the love of God one was wounded (zakhmī)
the other perished (khūn).133c
94. And in the year 658 H. Sulṭān Nāṣiru-d-Dīn Mahmūd, chastised the country of Mīwāt134 and the rest of that district, and when he was fully established as Malik in the year 664 H. he fell sick and closed his eyes on the world of dreams and fancies, and went to the eternal kingdom.134a He left no heir; the duration of his reign was nineteen years, three months and a few days. His tomb is well known in Dehlī, and every year crowds flock to visit it.
Verse.Come and cast one thoughtful look upon this dust.
For it is the dust of the resting-place of trusted kings.
And of the number of those who sounded the drum of poetry and attained the rank of Maliku-l-Kalām (Lord of Eloquence) during Nāṣiru-d-Dīn's reign, one was Shamsu-d-Dīn Dabīr134b whose manifest excellencies and perfection are beyond description and need no narration and praise, and Mīr Khusrū,134c may God sanctify him, who tested the genuineness of his own poems by the touchstone of their acceptability to that other (Shamsu-d-Dīn) used to boast of them, and in the preface to the Ghurratu-l-Kamāl and at the end of the Hasht Bihisht greatly embellished his words in the mention of the praiseworthy qualities and in spreading abroad the excellencies of (that friend of his). And Sulṭān Ghiyāṯu-d-Dīn Balban having at the end of his reign appointed him Secretary for the countries of Bangāla and Kāmrūd had left him in the service of his elder son Nāṣiru-d-Dīn135 Bughrā Khān, and these few couplets are from an ode of his.
Oh thou135a of whom this work of my heart is unworthy
though my ignorance; thou gavest me last night a false
promise of entertainment.
All night I kept my eyes awake and135b I did not know that
that was longing of that kind which you know to be vain.
I keep my heart135c exercised thinking of thy face, and wondering why thy colour is so ripe and thy forehead like virgin
silver.
95. I am overcome with idleness though it urges me on to strenuous endeavour—but there is a loose bond between me and
distraction.
Do not make me prepared with (the fire of) thy love136 since I
am thy guest, because it is a great virtue to offer sacrifice of
unprepared flesh.
We said “no Muslim will eat raw flesh,” but look! thy grief
has devoured me raw. Is this your religious devotion.
136a You call me “raw,” if I cut open my own breast, I will
shew you that the heart which thou considerest raw, is ready.
So amazed am I at thy beauty and the glory of the king that
my imperfect work remains raw from my amazement.
Since the king is a second Khusrū, my work will never remain unfinished, by reason of the kingdom of the second
Khusrū—
Conqueror of the world136b and of religion, he in view of
whose sovereignty the desire of Emperors for the Kingdom
of Suleimān was vain.
The king Maḥmūd Shāh, that Sulṭān from whose father's
glory the cauldron of one single136c desire, by reason of his
empire, is not left unfilled.
If the Sun of his benevolence shines in the direction of the
garden no fruit issues from the branches of the garden
unripe.136d
What resource has the Sky if it does not support the burden
of thy dignity—how can you expect a raw baggage animal
to bear a heavy load!
Thy enemy deserves this that you should sew him in a raw hide136e
for on the body of an inexperienced man of what use is
it for you to fit a raw-hide.137
Thy enemy bathes in blood,137a instead of the collar of his 96.
garment the prisoner places on his neck every moment a
raw-hide.
Every deed of thine is like137b perfected gold, and those who
wish thee evil are imperfect in their work from frivolity
and the assurance of shame.
Thy enemy is that naked demon137c who has a skin made of
the whole of the Earth, and that too, if you take it off him
is a raw-hide.
If thou dost not spread thy table every day twice before the
people, they will perforce eat raw grain, since the hand of
despair from lack of bread has no other resource.
If thy enemy becomes ruined137d what fear is there? although
he advances in a futile attack, like the lion of the flag he
is helpless though impotence.137e
Of what avail137f is the sorcery of Fara‘ūn since the dragon
of your standard will swallow the fictitious serpent.
Oh Khusrū! Shamsu-d-dīn137g is thy secretary, strong and
well proved in speech—he is not like the worthless Scribes
an inexperienced scribbler.
He himself is experienced137h and his verse is like purified
gold—his words are not like the best sayings of Khāqānī
still in the rough.
The sky has prepared a perfect kingdom137i for thee—Oh Lord
in thy favour grant that his perfect work may never revert
to imperfection.
And the King of Kings and of Speech Amīr Fakhru-d-Dīn ‘Amīd Lūmakī138 writes in a Qaṣīda of which this is the opening couplet.
When my loved one takes138a the lute, and binds the plectrum
on her fingernail
Her nail strikes Nāhīd138b with a hundred wounds in the heart
through envy.
97. Through envy of her harp fever seizes upon Nāhīd at that
instant.
Her nail becomes altogether blue from the effect of that
fever.138c
Consider the henna on her nails to be like blood, which at the
time of the springing of the strings from the harp dry
as a reed, has spurted forth and made the nail moist.
If in play my nail has scratched your lip, do not be vexed138d at
that,
Because now and then they dip the nail into sugar by way of
tasting it.
Keep the point of your nail as sharp as a glance my love, for
the harp has no confidence in the fingers save for the sharpness of their nails.
Bring me consolation by the tenderness of thy kindness,138e
because compared with thy face, the bride of the moon
has brought blood to its nails through envy.
Give me wine red as the blood of a hare at the remembrance
of the assembly of the king, for his wrath has forced off
the claws from the paws of the male lions.
Shāhanshāh Nāṣir-i-Dunyā wa-Dīn Maḥmūd, by whose equity
the partridge with its beak has torn off the claws of the
swift-flying139 hawk.
By the fate-like oppression of his enemy he has fallen in
danger of ruin,139a just as one's nail is in danger in the hands
of an unskilled barber.139b
His head is in danger of severance139c by the sword of the daring,
like the nail at the time of paring, in accordance with the
Ḥadīṯ.139d
From the dread of the falcon of his equity it behoves that
they should take to flight140 when the eagle with lancet-like
talons casts his feathers and talons (through fear).
Such a quarry do they see,140a that from their absence of claws
and their distress, their claw demands as a loan from the
small-clawed partridge its claws.
98. For this reason that in the presence of his power, the sky
scratches his head for envy, and each month, because of that
power, displays the body of the140b moon in the shape of a
nail paring (crescent).
Compared with the perfumed dust raised by his charger the
dust-like grains of the musk-bag have become valueless as
the dust which is found under every nail.
You would say his arrow is a finger from the hand of victory
because it appears as though his nail were like a willow-
leaf-bladed soul-destroying spear.
A finger which if he so wills it, like an Indian spear embeds
its nail in the mind of iron and the heart of separation.140c
The sword of his wrath has imprinted such a scar on the
cheek of his enemy as remains on the cheek of the mother
from the anger140d of the infant.
Grudging the life of his evil-disposed enemies, lo! the boars
of Fate have sharpened their tusks, and the lions of Destiny
their claws.
Power of the world! when the point of thy sword scratches
the hearts, it has carried away from the paws of the oppression of the dog-natured sky its claws.140e
How can thy enemy be at all like thee, how can he approach
thy dagger, whereas when he brandishes his dagger it becomes at that moment140f like a finger nail.
If his pride so misleads him that he finds fault with you, the
tip of his finger becomes as dust in his hand and his nail
as nothing.141
The edge of thy sword protects the face of the world,141a if
there had not been the nail as a shield behind the back of
the finger tip it had not been well.
If the envier of the nail of thy bravery bears a grudge
against thee, perchance poor fellow it is because he does
not know that the nail is poisonous.
I have brought in the word nail (nākhun) as radīf141b in this 99.
poem which is like a charm. Verily it is as useful in
magic, as the hair of the head or the tip of the nail.141c
Oh king, do not desert me, so long as the spiteful heaven
strikes every moment one nail upon another by way of
producing the notes of my fate.
Inasmuch as the mention arose of ‘Amīd, who was controller of all the states of Hindustān, it is essential to reproduce some thing from poems of his which are rarely met with:
Arise ‘Amīd, if thy heart is not cold and dead
Leave thy love-poems, and speak the praise of the Lord of
the world.
Praise the Court of Heaven, for he has raised on high many
an azure dome without the irksome aid of tools;
He has appointed two kings (the Sun and Moon) to travel
over this blue dome, and has allotted to them the planets
as attendant cavaliers on all sides.
The tiring woman of his skill has displayed a hundred
beauteous stars at nightfall from behind the curtain of
nine folds.142
He has ordained for the lady of the world, in Night and Day
two able handmaids with the titles of Rūmī and Hindū
(i.e., fair and dark).
Without any shop-keeper in the small shop of the sky, he has
suspended in one corner a pair of scales with two pans.142a
His skill has caused the crimson anemone142b to grow upon the
summit of the mountains, his bounty has caused the Sūrī7
and Rāhū7 to blossom in the garden.
At one time with the point of the compasses of his bounty
he has limned the form of the mouth: at another with the
pen of his favour he has delineated the two eyebrows.
The face of day by his bounty has become a blaze of whiteness 100.
The locks of the night by his skill have become a marvel of
blackness.
The kings of the earth143 with submission and humility, in
search of honour have rubbed their faces in the dust of
his threshold.
Every month has its moon upon the plain of the sky, at one
time curved like the chaugān,143a at another round like the ball.
So just is he, that at the time of dispensing justice he has
never injured any one even an hair's breadth by oppression.
That one who sought his food in the heart's blood of grapes
he made on the morrow black with disgrace like the cheek
of the plum.143b
The partridge with its (weak) claws could attack a hundred
hawks if so many heads of ants give such power to the
partridge.
The morning breeze bestowed out of his all-encompassing
bounty upon Chīn and Khaṭā143c the perfume of the bag of
the musk deer.
Hear from me oh friend, since you have heard the declaration
of unity, a piece of advice to hearing which both your ear
and mine are attentive.
Beware of giving an ear to the sound of the strings of the harp.
Beware of turning your attention to the flagon fashioned of
earth (wine flask)
Those who in this way live on good terms with their lovers,
such as you, do not say, Where is one of that company?
Do you yourself behold every morning, for the dove on the
garden bough by its song of Kū Kū144 bears witness to this
beneficent one.
101. Cast thine eye upon the ground that thou mayest see poured
out there many a friend of kind aspect, and many a sweet-
natured loved one
Do thou ‘Amīd again lay hold of the thread of confession of
unity
And hang it upon the rosary of thy prayers as it were pearls.
Oh Sovereign Lord! world-possessing Deity who art ever-
living
Yet without (the intervention of the vivifying) spirit,144a and
eloquent without a (material) tongue.
By thy order three daughters have come forth from the soul145
Without the pangs of childbirth, and without the intermediary
influence of a husband.
Compared with thy ancient order what is Kisrā145a and what
is Qaiṣar
In face of thy decree what is the Khāqān and what is Halākū?
Without thy command no ant can draw a single breath
of its own will,
Without thy knowledge no sleeper turns from one side to the
other.
Although I like a harp am hump backed and head downwards,146
Yet in the assembly of thy hope I play the air of Yā Huwa.146a
On that day when out of awe of thee all the assembly of the
prophets own their allegiance on bended knee,
Oh Lord do thou of thy clemency bestow upon me, wretched
man that I am, forgiveness, for I am defiled with disobedience and engulfed in it on all sides.
His also is the following in praise of the prophet may the peace and blessing of God be upon him146b
I fashion now a garment of song the embroidery of whose
sleeve, flows gracefully from the146c adornment of the soul
as the ornament of its divine Creator
102. I choose the path of thy forming by the ornament of straight-
forward praise,
Because the two worlds are an indication146d of the embroidery
of its sleeve;
Rose of the garden of the prophetic office, than whose spikenard146e
the morning breeze has never borne from Chīn to Māchīn147
a rarer odour from the fragrant musk.
Head of the created beings of the world, by whose glorious
advent, the heaven has brought forth a pearl of great
price from the shell as an offering.
The heaven has placed its two standards firmly planted in the
seventh of its citadels, throughout the length and breadth
of the world in the five stated times of prayer147a
His onyx-like147b eye has not cast one glance upon the signet of
Solomon148 because there is the stamp of his seal upon everything from the moon above to the fish below.148a
Fate and Destiny are his guardians, Eternity and Hope his
helpers,
Earth148b and the time are his advocates, angels and heaven
pledged to him.
His lip is honey and his cheek a rose, what an advantage to
both worlds,
His gulangabīn148c (confection of rose and honey) relieves the
tremor of disobedience,
The mouth of the shell is full of the pearls of his pearl-like
words,
The belt of the horizon is bejewelled with his widespread
faith,
The prosperity of the body of the faithful is in his left hand,
and the good fortune of the face of those who follow the
path of his religion is in his right hand.
The pages of the seven heavens are but an atom of his being,
The two worlds, compared with the stream of his might, are
but a sweat drop from his forehead,
The tongue of a green lizard148d is one of the marks of his seal,
The web of the spider was a curtain which concealed his
relation,148e
In the moon-bedecked heaven, one glance of his cleft the 103.
heart of the moon the beloved of the sky into two halves as
though it were a piece of cloth.149
Both beasts of prey and birds have girded the loins of faithfulness to him.
Both young babes and old men have opened their lips in his
praise.
The rose and the thorn of fragrant flowers are the fruits of
his love and kindness.
The (sweet) sugar and the (bitter) colocynth are both reminders of his love andwrath.
The garden, in submission149a to his creative power, like the
violet has scratched its cheek (with vexation), Look!
there is a blue mark upon its jasmine cheek.
His body is composed of spirit of divine sanctity, which is the
purification of149b the spirit of the human. One cannot reach
to his essential constitution, for his composition is of light.
When Barāq the lightning-fleet came under his stirrup he
leapt towards thehighest heavens so that the curved crescent moon was like the hinder part of his saddle.
When his courser trod the face of the plain of the earth he
placed his foot in such a way that the heaven became like
the earth to him.
One step of his reached to the extremity of the earth from the
house of Ummahānī,150 the second step reached to the Sidra150a
from the earth like the angels.
The orb of the sun, the untamed steed, was led along in his
cavalcade.
The moon having stamped a brand upon its quarter with
its horseshoe shaped crescent.
Consider the goodness of his nature in that for our sakes in
the next world, he has long pleaded the cause of his followers with a heart full of pity.
Wisdom, by his favour, is drawn out from the well of superstition by the rope of the cord of Chastity150b which was his
104. mighty title
Asad Ullah leaving his lair, with his polished spear has torn
out the heart of the envious cur-hearted ones like the
tongue of a dog.
A band150c like the ants of the ground travelling fast150d along a
path slender as a hair.
Shining like the lightning from the brilliancy of the torch
of his religion.150e
A band (of men lost) like a hair which has fallen into leaven150f
by reason of his wrath fell into the fire from the bridge,
with their waists bound like the ant in their hostility.
On the surface of the board of his sincerity who can raise his
head in deceit151 since not even the heaven survives the
throw of his two dice.151a
Seven pillars are established by his four friends, for the
seven heavens which are firmly fastened to the pole.
Of these four stars151b there are two conjunctions both of which
are fortunate. The Moon and Jupiter151c are in conjunction,
each one with its own partner.
In the two ears of the four elements how happy is my earring.
From the two earrings151d sprang eight Paradises with the
two lights which give sight to the eyes.
‘Amīd has devoted his powers in all directions to sing his
praises, if perchance the good and bad of his words may
gain some currency.
How can I boast of my descent, here, when I from my heart
supplicate the intercessor of the day of judgment whose
religion God approves.
From the embroidery of my eulogy, what legality151e is evident,
in my magic? It is like wine whose pure brilliancy is
enhanced by the crystal cup.151f
From the sugarcandy of his sayings the lips of the parrots
105. are imbued with sugar as though from the tray of eloquence they have eaten the crumbs of his wisdom.
What person am I, what parrot am I, I that sing these verses? When I sing his praise it is like the buzzing of a fly. May the breath of the parrots of my soul not fail for a single moment from the singing his praise and proclaiming his triumph.
Oh thou from awe of whose order the heaven is bowed in
submission, the proclamation of thy might is this, Thou
standest alone thou hast no companion.
Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, thy dominion is the
dominion of uprightness.
Thy empire is no changeable empire. Thy rule is not a
divided rule.
The rays of the brightness of thy holiness are the portrayers
of the sun and moon. The recluse of thy kingdom is in
the highest altitude of Simāk reaching even to Samak.152a
At one time thou givest to the partridge of the day wings
and feathers of fiery hue, at another in the liquid cage of
the heavens thou makest the moon-tailed pigeon of the
night152b as an angel.152c
Thou hast broken the cup of the moon at the head and foot
of each month.152d Thou hast bound thine all-encompassing
contemplation around the star Parak.152e
Thy power is the gardener, the four quarters of the earth
are his tilth. Thou hast cast around that as the shelter of
an eyelid, the bounty of the seven oceans.153
From the midst of the oven of the east, thy order bringeth
forth the loaf of gold of the west after the silvery loaf.153a
In the garden full of thy skilled works, the hand of the tiring
woman of the morning-breeze rubs on the rouge of adornment like the beauties153b do over the patches. 106.153c
The rose with the mark of the mole on its cheek, displayed
its buds. Like the cheek of the beauty the moon displays
its face from the heavens.153d
On the extremity of the plain of spring, issuing from the door
of thy creation, the tulip sits with a shield, the willow
stands with its arrow.
The jasmine and the rose proclaim thy skill with lip and
cheek.
Thy care preserves the sugar of the confection with salt.153e
Except thy eternal existence how can any caravan arrive at
secondary existence.153f
In the eye of truth there is kuḥl153g (of ornament), in the eye
of infidelity and doubt there is the probe (of destruction).
Whoever has the inscription on his ring in accordance with
thy way154 verily is saved, but whoever has on his forehead
the brand of opposition to thee verily he is lost.
In the glory of thy approbation why should any one take to
craft? Why should the saw of Nūh ibn Lamak154a cut down
every tree?
The parrot of my life at the remembrance of thee has remained safe from the snare of grief,154b just as in the ocean
of Jupiter the Fish is safe from the net.154c
Like an Ethiopian and a Greek, the day has taken away from
thy threshold a gold embroidered mantle, the night has
despoiled thee of a dress distinguished by a plumed154d
cap.
One draught of thy kindness is equal to the display of several
rows (of cups).
A morsel of thy favour is for the accountants154e several laks.
107. As long as thou drawest him as by the end of the cord, no
one turns away his face from the door. It were better that
the neck of the heaven should be in the noose of the Milky-
way.
Thy wrath drives out the pride of tyrants154f from their heads,
by means of the point of the sting of a mosquito154g not by
the advanced guard of an army.
If the drops of the bounty of thy nearness distil upon the
palate of my heart say to the clouds of supplication “Do
not rain” and say to the tear of hope “Do not fall.”
I am fulfilled with thy bounty like a pearl in the cloudy
weather.155
Not like the wine flask which comes forth from the assembly
after yielding the benefit of its fulness.155a
I have attained the dignity of eloquence from thy consent.
By thy help it is that this joyful sound155b has been placed in
my hand by destiny.
How long shall I utter cries of grief round the carpets of
Emperors, because at thy door there is a sustenance-
gaining world free from vexation.155c
Wine which gives you a headache is better cast on the ground.
A carpet if it be of silk155d is more fit to be burnt than thorns.
Oh Lord, with that rose of benevolence from the exhalations
of whose excellence the olfactory sense of the angels
is refreshed while the musk of Chīn remains dry as a
husk,
Let me refresh the olfactories of my soul every moment,
until I am on the brink of the grave; that my dust may
be like a rose garden far removed from the pricking of
thistles.
The possession of sincerity, and true equity, the root of
modesty, and the secret156 of truth, the house of religion
is founded on all of these both by bond and deed.
On the heaven of his prophecy, for the travellers along the
high road of the sacred law, each of these four pillars156a is a
sign of the injunction Go on thy way and be pure.156b
108. May every breath of my life be praise and glory, until the
breath of the morning, that each breath may then be a
worthy present for the soul.
Think that the pupils of my two eyes are four in affection,
(i.e., four Khalifs).
Otherwise thou wilt fail to gain Paradise, and art ready for
the door of hell.
What good will apostasy do you when ‘Alī is independent
of you? How can gold shew its perfect purity if the
touchstone does not shew the shine of it?
What blame is it to the body of the lute if during the tune156c
either its silken string breaks, or its bridge slips down.
Go, and open the letter of the Prophet in all sincerity, that
it may efface from your mind the suspicion as regards
“Faddak.”156d
And he who like the ill-omened owl157 boasts of being a Khārijī157a
compared to the confidant of the cave158 is like the night-flying
bat158a in comparison with the standard of the day (the Sun).
Put aside your desire of rebellion, say not a word save in
respect, how can a dog contend with a tawny lion.158b
What power have you to decide between the companions of
the Prophet, you who from foolishness like a blind man,
seek the softness of ermine from the stoat.158c
It were better that the skirt of the time was freed by skilful
management, from the impurity of those abomination-
working sects before that this sound reaches their ears
What brought you into hell?158d
Oh Lord! although for a long time my heart has been afflict-
ed by the darlings of Chigil, and held fast by the rosy-
cheeks of Yamak158e
Yet in the beginning of the nūn and dāl of my age (54) 109.
after the year khā and nūn and hā (655 H.),159 thanks
be to God that the bird of my ambition has burst the
bonds of this net and gone free.
I have washed my hands of the one, and have freed my foot
from the other, springing out of both snares like the clay
pellets from a pea-shooter.159a
At thy footstool henceforth my constant cry is “I repent,”
my supplication is to thee, my secret thoughts and open
dealings are with thee.
Thou shewest me mercy at that time when by the intoxication of the wineskin of death both my chin and jaws are
cold and shrunken.159b
When my breath is bound upon the balista of my body like
a missile, then the stone of the balista160 of death strikes my
body breaking it as though it were an earthen jar.160a
Grant me a place at the banquet of thy pardoning mercy,
At that time when the Angel of Death says to me “Take
and eat,”160b
Shewing his helplessness Amīd thy slave offers these verses
in praise of thy excellence to the best of his power.
Accept these few brief words from this vile cur,160c
For this mangy cur is a partner of your journey.
Thy praise is written on my heart, afterwards comes the praise
of the Prophet. May every word besides these be erased
from my heart.AN EULOGISTIC QAṢĪDA.Oh thou upon whose jasmine-like face are the countless toils
of the violet-hued locks.
By whose ruby lips the brilliant pearls are imprisoned.
Thy locks are an armourer who every moment brings forth
Fragrant chains to fetter thy lily-like face.
110. Thy lily face is better confined by the links of thy spikenard-
hued locks.
Bid the morning breeze as it breathes not to remove the
chains (of thy hair) from thy rosy (cheeks).
Thy mouth is like a delicate bud which bursts into smiles;
Loosen the folds of that bud even if with the point of a
thorn.
Thy rose-petalled cheeks are adorned by the bonds of thy
dark and fragrant locks.
Save on thy rose who has ever seen so becoming a
bond?
Perchance thou didst say, thy face is like the rose and tulip
to look upon, the fragrant down on thy cheek is like the
edging of a bed of tulips.
Thy cheek was not fit for this, why does it bear its chain,
like me who bear my chain in the time of the reign of this
monarch.
The world conquering king Naṣīru-l-Haqq (ally of the truth),
he who places upon the hands and feet of meanuess a
thousand fetters by his generosity.
Wālā Muḥammad Balban, who entangles rebels in the time
of war, in the noose of his wrath.161
Oh king of the age, by whose auspicious fortune the treasurer
of Fate has undone the fastenings of the shell of the mine
of prosperity.
Beneath the saddle of the confusion of thy enemy on the day
of fighting, each girth of thy saddle becomes sixty-four161a
thongs to bind him.
He is like the opium, provoking quarrels and suspicion,
If his opium remains enclosed within the poppy
head. 111.161b
When the aromatic odour of thy good qualities removed the
bond from the wrinkled mouth of the musk bag of Tātār,
ambergris gained a fresh odour161c from its fragrant breeze,
and the rose bud too was loosed from its prison by the
newly arrived spring.
The heaven every moment casts the fetter of intoxication on
those who are drunk with the cup of thy favour, by the
obstruction of their brain.162
Thy kingdom is a rivulet flowing from the spring of satisfied
desire; safety, enjoyment and pleasure are the banks of
this stream.
In such a way open the road of equity for the ends of victory,
That by thy justice no fetters may exist in the world save
the locks of lovers' hair.
You see one who has assisted injustice in his soul in whose
path
Destiny places countless162a obstacles.
Like Naushīrwān when thou knockest at the door of justice,
Thou keepest not the chains firmly fastened on bad and
good.
In thy reign, it behoves that no one in his lifetime should
see any fetter, save on the foot of the cypress and the
finger-bearing leaf of the Chinār.162b
The knot of the dragon's tail and the dragon's head162c is a
fetter on the sky, come and relieve the distressed heaven
from its bondage.
That the sun and moon may become relieved of the affliction
of eclipse163 in the knot of the dragon's tail,163a like me who
am in the bond of distress.
Thou hast ordered that the learned should be imprisoned,
Beware that thou layest no bond upon the learned.
Woe is me! Honour them rather out of policy, and on the 112.
newly wedded bride of eulogy bind the princely pearl
taken from the casket of my heart.
Has ever any monarch placed a bond on literary men out of
love of empire and usurpation?
I, at all events, am a talking parrot, not a hunting falcon,
the hawk's jesses are not rightly placed on the legs of
parrots.
Why do you imprison me, as from my secret heart there is
an evident fastening (of grief) fixed upon the door of my
heart's fortress.
Loose my bonds, and by way of conquering the fortress, fix
the bond of thy heart upon the mercy of the threshold of
the Creator.
My heart was wounded by the tyranny and oppression of the
heaven, now the chain wounds my leg as well as my heart.
No one has seen half a dāng weight of gold in my possession,
And, even if he has, I would not willingly undergo imprisonment for the sake of it.164
Gold has no value in my sight, how can I pledge it like a
usurer so as to get twelve for every ten.
I have eloquence like pure gold, another man has gold itself,
Open your hand in bounty to me, and keep him imprisoned.
Do not keep me so long in suspense waiting for my release,
My imprisonment has turned my blood to water in this weary
waiting.
At least kill this hapless innocent with the sword of thy
wrath,
113. But do not imprison me, for imprisonment kills me164a with its
perpetual agony.
My name has become famous for eloquence from east to west,
Is it fitting to put fetters on the feet of such a famous poet?
Wisdom said to me long ago by way of advice,
Chain thyself at the threshold of the victorious king.
I was indulging in these hopes, when the king himself shewed
kindness and imprisoned this miserable one as though he
were a murderer.
You may be quite sure that imprisonment is not required
in that place in which the seal of the treasury was opened
by his generosity.
First thou didst fasten, then thou didst loosen,164b Oh! noble
bounty! I carry the fetters from thy door into the presence
of the Almighty as a memorial.
It was the sword of royalty [which loosened them] by the
mercy of the Most Bountiful; had that not been so the
imprisonment would have utterly ruined me.
Since165 you ‘Amīd girt the loins of loyalty in the service of
the throne, therefore by his care the days of your imprisonment were brought to a happy termination.
As long as the young and sprightly maidens to the distraction
of their lovers, have purposely bound their cheeks with the
chain of youthful bloom.
So long may the door of good fortune be closed in every
direction to your enemies,
And by the sword may the bars of both fortresses be opened.QAṢĪDA.My eye is the boundless ocean, the thought of my heart is a
bark,
In sorrow my bark sets forth on the floods as they flow from
my eyes.
Night and day I float in the flood of tears, how can my bark 114.
live in the midst of the raging billows of blood?
How can I expect to win my desire from the vile world?
How can I launch my bark on the surface of a gutter?
Although my bark in this ocean, now sails on and now lies at
rest, sailing with the seven sails,165a and resting on the four
anchors.165b
Of what use to me are those sails and those anchors,
If my bark is suddenly overwhelmed by the billows of
death?
In this age I sought fidelity from the tyrannical,
Who has ever seen a boat on the Jīhūn in the month of
Mehrgān166
In front of the claws of this crab166a and the revolution of the
nine heavens, loosen166b thy four anchors and then launch
thy bark.
The sea-monster of avarice of my soul turns back, otherwise166c
one might drag the boat to the shore by some contrivance.
With the exception of the philosophers how can anyone
guide the ship out of the whirlpool of this world to its final
haven of refuge.167
Do not set thy heart upon the ebony 167a -like world, because a
ship built of ebony is overwhelmed in the sea of this
worthless world.
Do not seek for safety when loaded with boastfulness
For an overloaded ship is speedily wrecked,
Seek security from sorrow at that time when you have been
wise enough to make, as I have, a ship from the planks of
the praise of thy lord.
The centre of kingship of land and sea Tāju-l-Haqq, who 115.
made a ship of safety for traversing the ocean (Qulzum)
of sorrow.
Sinjar167b who is like the sky in dignity, in fear of whom
sedition navigated its ship in the direction of the crossing
of the ocean of Qairawān.167c
From the breeze of his smile in the ocean, the ship produces
from every dry stick the branch of saffron.168
When his auspicious prow turns towards the ocean the ship
looks like a pearl emerging from the sea.
The heaven offers itself as his ladder when, arriving near the
shore, the ship stands in need of a ladder.
At that time when his ship floats over the crimson tide of the
blood of his brave enemies,
If we look, it appears as though his ship crosses over the dry
(sparkling) water of the points of daggers and spears.
Thy enemy saw his life like a snare (from which he must
escape) and the ship of his desire shattered to pieces by
thy bond-loosening arrow.168a
By the good fortune of thy arrival the ship sails along on
its breast, on the tops of the waves to the very highest
heavens.168b
Thy dagger lays open the breast of thy envious enemies just
as, by means of its keel, the ship opens the lips of the
waves and the mouth of the ocean,
At that time when, in pursuit of the punishment of thine
enemies, the morning breezes hasten their march and thy
ship goes with slackened rein.
116. From this lake Khusrū demanded a ship (ode),
Saying such and such a ship is fit for this wide ocean.
I obediently set it sailing over the face of that ocean,
Although that ship was not fitted for such a sea.
When the sea of my mind burst into waves in thy praise, I
made the word ◌ (kishtī) the radīf by way of trial.
If the ship had not been like a fish, tongueless in its essence
It would not have addressed me except as “Ocean of benevolence and mine of eloquence”
Among the profoundly learned is there anyone better than
‘Amīd who has launched his ship from the Nile of excellence
into this Clysma169 of eloquence.
Always, as long as in the shape of the crescent moon, with
each new month, the ship appears on the bosom of the
ocean of the sky,
May thy boat of wine, bright as the sun, and liquid as fire,
float upon the water of delight for ever and ever.
Happy art thou! at the sight of whose maddening glances
the stag is intoxicated.
The snood of whose musk-fragrant ringlets puts the stag to
shame.
The eye of the narcissus is embarrassed by thy glances.
The stag is harassed by envy of those muskladen locks.
Though the stag roamed round the garden a hundred times
he saw no bed of violets to equal the bloom on thy cheeks.
What magical power is there in that eye which, with one
glance,169a captivates hearts from within and hunts the stag 117.
from without.
From envy of the musk-coloured spot169b which stands like a
drop of dew upon thy rose-like cheek, the stag without
respite nurses a lacerated heart in his breast.
Needs must that with those two love fascinated eyes,
The stag should endeavour to protect himself from the snares
of thy locks.
When the story of thy fragrant tresses reached him,
The stag curtailed his narration of the bag of musk.
The stag suffered from the effects of the intoxication of thine
eyes,
And he got rid of his headache by drinking of the cup of the
assembly of the world-subduer.
The auspicious lion, protector of the crown of true religion,
Sinjar,
In whose estimation the fierce lion of the sky is but a stage.
The stag thought right to carry a fragrant ball of camphor170
taken from the dust of his threshold, to Khiṭā as a memorial.
Perhaps it was from the dust of his dignity which became170a the
ornament of the sun, that the stag obtained superiority
over the wild beasts by reason of his musk-bag.
Happy art thou star-arrowed one, whom the demon-hearted
fear and shun as170b the stag avoids the lion.
An enemy who falls into thy clutches does not escape;
Who has ever known the stag to escape from the claws of the
lion?
At that time the stag prided himself upon being fleeter than
118. thy charger, now in sooth the stag is ashamed of his slow-
footedness.
At the time of attack, how can the stag in spite of all his
efforts, reach the dust which is thrown up by thy char-
ger's hoofs?
Think it not strange if from the abundance of his bounty, the
lynx goes slowly on foot, and the stag swiftly like a horse
man.
Compared with the fragrance of thy goodness how can the
stag boast171 of the dried blood of his navel in Tātār.
By the aid of thy words which are like an antidote, I have
no fear, even though the stag shall become like to one
that feeds on snakes.171a
His food is the snake, but afterwards like the elk, besides the
antidote, the stag offers in every direction the bag of musk.
In the land in which thou art, by reason of thy great justice
the lynx sits sorrowful, and the stag stands to comfort him.
The day that thou pursuest him he shews only his right
shoulder when the stag rushes from the right to the left of
thy army.
In reliance upon thee if a stag were to cherish a young lion in
its bosom it would be no wonder.
What power have two hundred enemies against thy prowess?
What does the hunting leopard think of a head of a thousand
stags?
Thy enemy will be able to engage in conflict with thee.
At that time when the stag's horns are capable of fighting the
lion.
119. In the meadow of thy favour the stag has never seen his
quarters and sides as thin as his legs.
Conqueror of the world, I have bound “The stag”172 with
thirty-three couplets in thy praise by way of experiment
as though it were a camel.
It is fitting that the word “musk deer” should be repeated as
radīf a hundred times since thou hast sent me in thy
kindness a stag twice.
Formerly the stag thought of nothing but the musk-bag, now
he makes the glory of thy praise his constant occupation.
‘Amīd has opened the musk-bag of wisdom in singing thy
praises, like the musk-bag upon which the stag pridesitself.172a
Always, as long as men search for musk on the surface of the
ground, and no musk deer lays aside its power of producing musk,
May the perfection of thy justice reach such a height that
the stag may extract musk from the hunting leopard.
Mayest thou roam at large and enjoy thyself in the meadow
of fortune, just as the stag roams over the meadows in
spring time.
Fasting has made his form which was like the Nārwan172b
slender as a reed, and has made his face which was red as
the Arghawān172c pale like the saffron.
How can it be saffron for it has not made me smile.173
Fasting has made my cheek yellow like the Zarīr2 through
weeping, and my tears red as the Arghawān.
How can it be a tulip, for fasting makes his cheek like the 120.
Khīrī.173a
How can it be a cypress, when fasting makes it weak and
tremulous?173b
His form stately as the Nārwan is bowed like the reed,
Has any one ever seen fasting proceed from the Nārwan and
cypress of the garden?
Till his face, which was like a full-blown rose, drew back again
into the bud there was no certainty that the rose and the
garden had commenced their fast.
Till his full moon once more became a crescent moon174 who had
clearly seen fasting overtaking the sun and moon of the
heavens.
The shaft of grief is broken in my heart, for his stature has
been brought by fasting from the straight form of an arrow
to the shape of a bent bow.
It is two days since I have seen jar upon jar of sugar174a in
that very moment when fasting set its seal upon his lips.
I am in astonishment at her sugar-distilling lip which is like
the pistachio, for there is sugar in the jar on each side and
fasting in the middle.
Because of her love her mouth is less than an atom, nay
even less than the minutest atom, can any one imagine that
a minute particle such as this can endure fasting.
Look! how marvellous it is with what skill she imprisons
fasting between those particles of ruby which scatter
sweetness.
With a glance she drinks my heart's blood because she
thinks that by taking a draught of blood she will openly
break her fast.
121. This heart of mine is faint with longing for her lips.
In this desire that I may break my fast with the seeds of the
pomegranate.174b
Haply she has hung the amulet on her silvery mouse-like
neck, so that wisdom like a fasting cat has been compelled
to remain fasting.175
My tongue has become dry like that of one fasting in advising
her.
For thy form is like a fresh blown rose, fasting is the
autumn wind (which withers it).
Although thou openest thy lips like a bud which had been
closed by fasting, just as I broke my fast at the table of
the praise of my Lord;
The ocean of benevolence, champion of the truth, round the
table of whose bounty men and genii broke their fast;
Muḥammad whose vanguard is like destiny, the joints of whose
spear broke their fast with the blood of the enemies
(trickling down) from the point.
He, whose right hand is like that of Isfandiyār, has also, from
the liberality of his hand, caused the age175a to break its fast
on this side of the seven stages.
Before the generosity of his heart, the ocean and the mine,
have, in their utter poverty, considered fasting to be their
bounden duty.
Hail O King! in whose just reign the wolf, as though it were a
shepherd, has kept its fast to secure the safety of the flock.
Thou art like the two first fingers,175b a close companion of the
heavens, just as fasting goes hand-in-hand with prayer.
Thy existence is the twin brother of kingdom, just as fasting
is the twin brother of Zakāt, Ḥajj and ‘Umrah.175c
122. The breeze of thy good qualities like the fragrance of the
perfume of the breath of the faster,176 has carried fasting
as a special offering to the garden of Paradise.
Thou hast cast out the custom of tyranny from the kingdoms
under thy sway, inasmuch as thou hast relieved waste
countries of taxes, and excused the feeble from fasting.
The spirit of man is often broken by the vicissitudes of the
heavens176a just as his bodily fast is broken by bread.
In this time no one, from the time of Jamshīd till now, remembers fasting at the table of such a host as thou art.
At the smell of the table of thy bounty the guest has considered it incumbent upon him, whether in the feast or in
the fray, to fast from food of all kinds.
The bird of thy arrow has broken its fast, like the gnat of
Nimrūd on the brain of thy enemy in the cup of the skull
(the cup of vapours).
For the maintenance of thy kingdom, young and old have
fasted, both the old and the new creation.
The revolution of this six-storied world is full of the mention
of thy glory, just as fasting fills the seven members of the
body in this darkness.
On this earth, the worlds children (have fasted) with such
endurance that the spiritual beings will never be able to
break the fast.
I stood before thee with my loins girt in honest service, as
though fasting, because fasting is not one of my objects,
neither openly nor in secret.177
My manliness actuated by ambition bowed the knee to me 123.177a
and said,
Imagine that both your pen and your finger tips are fasting.
The claims of thy generosity caused me to break my fast177b
and consume my time, had it not been for that I would
have speedily imposed a fast upon my words.
Had not the praise of thee been the sustenance of my powers
of speech how could the point of my tongue have broken
its fast by breaking into poetry?
Like the parrot, my first morning food177c is the sugar of
gratitude to thee, not like the humā do I break my fast
upon bones.
Who is able to break his fast in this way at the time of
bringing in the “radīf” better than ‘Amīd, with the
draught of trial.
He has broken his fast with a feather from the wing of the
bird of praise, because at this time fasting is the best nest
for the bird of praise.
Always, as long as fasting brings as its reward from the
bounty and mercy of God, a hidden treasure worth a
hundred princely treasures,
Mayest thou be famed178 for generosity and kindness in this
world, for fasting points the way to the highest heaven.ANOTHER QAṢĪDA.I, who have made my dwelling in a corner like the Sīmurgh178a
I have made my nest beyond the axis of earthly sphere.
Why do I bear the shame of every bird in this ill-omened
land?178b
124. I have gone like the ‘Anqā178c and have made my resting
place in the mountains.
Until the bird of my ambition swoops down upon the harvest
of the lower world, I have made the harvest field of the
sky full of grain-like stars.
Why does the moon display the halo-harvest when it does
not shew a single grain to any one, whereas I with one single
grain of manliness have bound many a sheaf.
By the light of the knowledge of God, I have made the
newly wedded virgin bride of reality to shine in the
chamber of wisdom with the brilliancy of the day.
The course of the heavenly bodies in the columns of the
almanac of the Creation, I have proved one by one by
comparison with the astronomical tables179 of intellect.
In the bridle of four rings, that is the trappings of the four
elements, great is the training which I have given the
unruly steed of my passions.
I have made the parrot of my soul, whose cage is the form
of this uncouth body which is like a midden, every moment
to rival the nightingale of the verdant179a garden.
The parrot has left for the garden, the kite of lust which is
following it circling round and round my nature I have
detained within the midden of the body.
In many an art for which179b the scientists had no taste
I have made as great progress, hundred fold as they are, as
a man who follows but one art.
My intellect has served to light the lamp of the treasure of
science, I have made my skill the oil which supplies the
light to the wick.179c
The jewel of the secret of reality has been acquired in such 125.
a (perfect) way that I have made my mind the storehouse
of the treasury of secret knowledge.
Once by way of vaunting in the rose-garden of desire,
I displayed the brilliancy of my skill particoloured like the
peacock.
The falcon of the Divine indignation smote me with its
talons from its hiding-place, so that I took refuge in a
corner like the pigeon.
They would have shewn me the way (and have bidden me
walk) in this solitary windowless tower
Had not my ambition carried me far beyond the seven
windows (of the sky)
A tower, narrow, ay! at that time even narrower than my
heart, (so narrow that) you would say I am a cord and
have given myself a place in the eye of a needle.
It is the constellation of the Archer, and I am like the Sun,
and have by my cold sighs changed the bright spring of
the world into the bitter cold of winter.180
This was not all; the good tidings of my bad fortune brought
to me the blacksmith, to whom I said—Strike off my head
in return for the blood which is upon my head.
The splendour and comfort of the golden-throned sun is my
desert,
Whereas I am resting upon a (hard) iron (prison) seat.
The seven-headed dragon (The Sky) hides its head (in astonishment) to see that I have brought this two-headed serpent
(night and day) under my skirt.
They determine for me an imprisonment like that of Bīzhan
in the well of tyranny. I have not seen Manīzha180a nor
have I committed the crime of Bīzhan.
Patience has the strength of Rustum,181 as one may say,
I have entrusted the strength necessary for my release to the
arm of Rustum-like patience.
All of my companions are free to follow their occupations
while I am fast in prison,
God forbid I should be the only one of all mankind to have 126.
committed this fault.
The times are out of joint, if not how can the following of
the Ishrāqī philosophy181a which I followed so excellently
have thrown me into misfortune?
The shaft of the tyrannical heavens passed through and
through from the back, although I had armed my breast
with the cuirass of patience.
My body longs for food in the captivity of sorrow, and I have
prepared for its support my blood as its drink, and my heart
as its meat.
Once I was like the tulip in complaining, but then afterwards
I made myself like the lily ten-tongued (but silent.)181b
Like the violet I have let my head fall forward (in sorrow)
from dearth of benefactors, and though like the lily I have
ten tongues I am become dumb in thy praise.
I am suffering the punishment of my words, because in my
lying flattery I have made every beggar a king, and have
made the (worthless) Lādan182 into frankincense.
At one time I have proclaimed Suhā182a superior in brilliancy
to the moon,
At another I have scorned the river as being inferior to the
drippings of a sieve.182b
I have made friends with Avarice, like ‘Amīd from the lust
for blood, and for that reason I have made contentment my
enemy.
I have subjected my spirit, which is like a high mettled horse,
to the burthen of labour, because of the tyranny and
meanness of the heavens, see now what a jade he has
become.
127. I have made barren my truth-adorning heart and my jewel-
producing nature, without the help of Qiṭrān,182c not now
only but long ago.
This one poem183 of mine is worth a whole Dīvān and a
hundred caskets of jewels, nay more, every verse of it
have I made better than particoloured hair183a
Imprisonment has brought me to lamentation, and from the
delicacy of my speech you see the joy which I have given
in the very midst of my lamentation.
Oh Lord, give me my sustenance from the date-trce of thy
favour, I have made the bird of my heart to sing the
praises of thy Unity.
Present me with the robe of honour of thy protection, for
thy court is my original refuge, lo I have fled to my refuge.
Keep far from the darkness of infidelity,183b hypocrisy, hatred
and enmity, that heart which I have embellished with the
light of sincerity to Thee.
Keep thou the Sun of Divine knowledge shining within my
heart, for I have made my heart the mine of the jewels of
true belief.
Who had the title of Ulugh Khān, by the consent of the Maliks and Amīrs adorned the throne by his accession in the Qaṣr-i-Safed (the White Palace) in the year 664 H.184 He was one of the “Forty Slaves” of Sulṭān Shamsu-d-Dīn, each one of whom had attained to the dignity of Amīr. Inasmuch as the reins of government had been in his hands even in the days when he was merely Ulugh Khān, the affairs of the State very quickly came into his grasp. He would not allow people of low origin to have the slightest authority. It is said that a man named Fakhr, who had for years served as chief of the Bāzār, had recourse to one of 128. the Sulṭān's more intimate attendants, and offered a very large sum184a on the condition that if the Sulṭān Ghiyaṯu-d-Dīn Balban would speak with him once only, he would give him all this money and valuable property.184b When this request was represented to the Sulṭān he would not entertain it, and said ‘to converse with people of low and mean extraction will lower my prestige.’ He was altogether opposed to oppression, and, in the early days of his reign, punished certain of his Amīrs on account of some tyranny which they had practised upon their subjects, and having handed over one or two of them184c he permitted the complainants to exact retaliation, and after that these Amīrs had paid the blood money, for shame they could never come out of their houses as long as they lived, and at last they left the world.
Verse.Reputation arises from equity and justice;
Oppression and kingship are as the candle and the wind.
And all his praiseworthy qualities may be estimated from this, that he used never to omit the ceremony of purification, and on going into an assembly where one was preaching he used to display emotion, and weep much, while as regards his treatment of sedition and revolt he used to shew himself a merciless repressor.
He laid claim to the glory of an Emperor, because of this
That he adorned the world with wisdom and equity,
In days of retirement he would wear a blanket;
And he strove in prayer and supplication
His eyes fixed upon the ground, his heart boiling like a
cauldron;
A heart eloquent of speech, but a silent tongue;
Till his heart perceived with the eye of secret knowledge
All that was visible of these intricate matters.
In this same year of his reign Tātār Khān the son of Arsalān Khān sent from Lakhnautī sixty-three elephants as a present; and in this year the Sulṭān proceeding to Patīalī185 and Kanpila, built the forts of Patīalī, Kanpila, Bhojpūr, and certain 129. other forts, and with five thousand cavalry crossed the Ganges on the pretext of making preparation for an expedition to the Jūd hills. In two days after leaving Dehli he arrived in the midst of the territory of Kāithar185a and put to death every male, even those of eight years of age, and bound the women, and inflicted such chastisement that up till the reign of Jalālu-d-Dīn the territory of Badāon and Amroha remained safe from the ravages of the Kāitharīs,185b and he threw open all the roads of Bihār and Jaun-pūr, and all the roads of the Eastern part of India which were closed, and made over the territory of Mīwāt, which lies in the Doāb, to strong handed governors, with orders to put to death the rebels, which they did, imprisoning some. Then he made an attack in the direction of the country at the foot of the Sintūr hills,186 and built a fort on those boundaries, and having called it Hiṣār-i-Nau (New Castle) proceeded to the Jūd hills, and brought an army186a towards Lāhor, and rebuilt the castle of Lāhor which had been laid waste by the Mughūls in the reign of Sulṭān Mu‘izzu-d-Dīn Bahrām Shāh. Here he became ill, and the news of his illness186b reached the confines of Lakhnautī, and Tughral, Nāib of Amīn Khān, who had been appointed to succeed Sher Khān in that district, laid the foundation of rebellion, and fought with his master Amīn Khān and came off victorious, and having imprisoned him gathered round himself the paraphernalia of royalty, and gave himself the title of Mu‘izzu-d-Dīn, and completely defeated some imperial troops which had been sent to oppose him. Sulṭān Ghiyāṯu-d-Dīn brought up an army against Tughral but he went towards Jājnagar and Tārkīla (Nārkīla)186c and Malik Ikhtiyāru-d-Dīn Beg Birlās186d was ordered to pursue him, the Rāī of Sunārgām named Dhanūj186e offering his services to the Sulṭān engaged to bring Tughral, and Malik Ikhtiyāru-d-Dīn proceeding by forced marches found Tughral, who had fled into a a jungle,186f walking about off his guard, and having put him to 130. death sent his head to the court. The Sulṭān conferred that kingdom with a canopy and baton of office on his younger son Bughrā Khān, Governor of Sāmāna, who eventually received the title of Sulṭān Nāṣiru-d-Dīn, and then left for the capital. Since, after the death of Sher Khān (who was uncle's son to the Sulṭān and one of the “Forty Slaves” of Sulṭān Shamsu-d-Dīn, and Governor of Lāhor and Dībālpur, and had read the Khuṭbah in Ghaznīn in the name of Sulṭān Nāṣiru-d-Dīn, the Mughūls during his governorship not daring to invade Hindustān) the road of communication had become opened187 to the Mughūls, accordingly Sulṭān Balban, to remedy this, despatched his elder son Sulṭān Muḥammad, who is known as the Khān-i-Shahīd, and Qāān-i-Mulk, (having first conferred upon him a canopy and baton of office, and the signs and insignia of royalty, and having made him his heir-apparent, and giving over Sind with its dependencies to his care) with full equipment towards Multān, and the country right up to Tattha and the seacoast was in his possession. Amīr Khusrū and Amīr Ḥasan of Dehlī remained in his service for five years in Multān, and were enrolled among his intimate companions. On two occasions he sent large sums of gold from Multān to Shīrāz and begged that Shaikh Sa‘dī,187a may God have mercy on him, would come to live with him. The Shaikh did not come, excusing himself on the score of old age, but commended Mīr Khusrū to the care of the Sulṭān, writing in excessively laudatory terms concerning him, and sent a collection of autograph poems. Sulṭān Muḥammad used to visit Multān every year to see Sulṭān Balban, and used to return distinguished with robes of honour and all possible rewards and distinctions, and on the last occasion on which they were able to meet, the Sulṭān instructed him in private with excellent counsels and pleasing discourses, which are mentioned in the books of the Histories of Dehlī, and having granted him permission to depart sent him to Multān; and in the same year Ītimar188 the Mughūl with thirty thousand horsemen having crossed the Rāvī by the ford of Lāhor caused great commotion in those districts, and the Governor of Lāhor sent a 131. petition to Khān-i-Shahīd188a telling him of what had occurred. He while in his assembly read 30,000 as 3,000 and, marching with a large force, by rapid and continuous marches arrived at the boundaries of Bāgh-i-Sabz,188b on the banks of the Lāhor river where he engaged the infidels and attained the dignity of martyrdom. This event took place in Zū-Hijjah of the year 683 H,188c and Mīr Ḥasan188d of Dehlī composed a prose lament, and sent it to Dehlī. It is copied here in its very words.
It is an old story that the tyrannous sphere, though it may for a time knit the knot of complaisance, and make a covenant of mutual sincerity, turns from its promise, and that discordant time, although it professes to shew acquiescence, and makes specious promises of fidelity, fails to perform them.
The wanton-eyed heaven, the pupil of whose manliness is sullied by the defect of the mote of meanness, at first, like a drunken man, gives some bounty in a case where there has been no favour received to demand it, but in the end, like the children, takes the gift back again without any treacherous conduct having been committed. The habits and customs of the oppressive times are cast in the same mould, whether by experience or by hearsay, we 132. see or hear that whomsoever it perceives coming to perfection like the moon, it desires to darken the face of his fulness with the blot of defect, and whomsoever it finds rising like a cloud him it strives to tear to pieces, and to scatter his substance to the extreme boundaries of the horizon. As in this orchard of amazement and garden of regrets, no rose blooms without a thorn so no heart escapes the thorn of sorrow. Alas! for the newly sprung verdure which has become yellow, withered in the bloom of its beauty by the autumn of calamity. Alas! for the many fresh-springing trees which have been laid low in the dust of the ground by the fierce blast of Death.
Consider the winds of Autumn, how chill they are and cold,
The cowardly blows they have dealt alike at the young and
old.
One of the examples of this allegory is the death of the late Emperor Qā‘ān-i-Mulk Ghāzī,189 may God make manifest his demonstrations and weigh down the scale with his excellencies, on Friday the last day of the month of Ẕū-l-Hijjah in the year 683 A.H., when the moon, like kindness in the heart of infidels, could nowhere be seen, the Sun with the company of the army of Islām came forth to smite with the sword, and the great Prince who was the Sun of the heaven of the kingdom, with the light of holy war shining on his noble brow, and the unchangeable determination of “jihād” firmly planted in his illustrious mind, placed his auspicious foot in the stirrup. By night they submitted to his judgment which solved all difficulties, that Ītimar with the whole of his army had advanced into the plain at a distance of three farsangs. When morning broke, he commenced to march intending to leave that place, and at a distance of one farsang coming face to face with those accursed ones,189a elected to draw up their forces in a place on the outskirts of Bāgh-i-Sarīr190 on the banks of the river of Lāhor. Accordingly 133. he very strongly fortified a large village which was close to the river, and made such dispositions that when the infidels came against it, both rivers190a should be in the rear of his army, so that neither could any man of his own army turn in flight nor could any injury be inflicted upon his army by that tronblesome horde190b and in very truth that choice of position was the acme of caution and the very height of skill in that world-conquering Khān, but since when Fate is adverse the thread of all plans becomes tangled, and the orderly row of enterprises becomes disordered,
He who falls in with evil fortune by the way,
His affairs fall out just as his enemies desire.
His Fortune like a mad man loses the right way,
His senses, like the nightblind, fall into the well.
By chance that day the Moon and the Sun, which may be compared to kings, were suspended in the sign of the Fish,190c and Mars, whose blood-red aspect is entirely due to the blood of the princes of the people, had drawn out from the quiver of that sign the arrow of disappointment and the dart of disobedience against that Orion190d (white) girdled Khān, who was like Leo coming forth from a watery sign; the house of fear and calamity and the proofs of sedition and signs of harm thus became evidently manifest, while the hint and indication of the proverb “In face of Fate wide becomes strait” became written on the consecutive pages (of his history). In short, at midday just as the courier of the heaven reached the country of noon, and the day of that world-conquering Emperor was approaching its decline, suddenly a band made its appearance from the direction of those infidels. The Khān-i-Ghāzī at that same moment mounted his horse and issued an order in obedience to which all the cavalry and the body servants and retinue and retainers, in accordance with the mandate ‘Kill the infidels all of them’,191 drew up in a line a hundred times stronger than the rampart of Sikandar.191a After ordering the right wing and dressing the left wing, he himself of noble qualities, stood in the centre like the moon and the host of the stars, ready for the jihād, while the Tātār infidels, let confusion and dismay come upon them, crossed the river of Lāhor, and confronted the ranks of the Muslims. Thereupon these wild- 134. loving desert-born savages, placing the feathers of the owl191b upon their illomened heads, while the Ghāzīs of Islām, kings of Turkestan and Khilj and notables of Hindustān, and all the soldiery made the battlefield a place of prayer—as the Holy Apostle, may the blessings and peace of God be upon him, declared that the holy war was closely allied to prayer, saying We return from the lesser holy war to the greater holy war,191c reciting the takbīr191d
raised their hands in prayer, and in the first attack they put to the sword a considerable number of ablebodied men of the Mughūl cavalry, and the lances of the Maliks of the Court so wounded the limbs of their enemies that above each of them the blood spurted up like a spear, while sixty selected Turks interweaving their arrows like closely-woven cloth, made it appear as though the weft (of existence) of the Tātārs was being torn to shreds.192
In the beginning of the fray the arrow of the king leapt forth
The Tātārs were all laid low.
As often as the great Lord, lion-hearted, wielding the sword,
with a blade as bright as his own faith, sallied forth to
attack from the midst of the ranks.
You would say that the sword was trembling in that battlefield at the excellencies of the monarch, and becoming in its entirety a tongue was saying to him, Up and make an end of these accursed ones, and entrust their discomfiture to thy servants, but do thou thyself refrain from personal action, for the sword is double faced, and the scimitar of Fate pitiless in its wounding—no one can tell what may happen to any one of us from the decree of the All powerful. I close my eyes against the fatal eye.192a
Go not, that I may bind thy dust upon mine eyes.
Act not, for I greatly fear the evil eye.
The heaven has never seen such a brilliant countenance,
I am as rue upon that fire to guard that eye.192b
As long as he strenuously performed the duties of fighting and 135. warfare, each of the weapons as it were entered into colloquy with him — the spear was saying, Oh King! refrain your hand from me this day, for the tongue of my point by reason of constant fighting and slaying is blunted, and I have no power left of opposing the enemy with thrusts, I fear lest I should leap up and should commit some untoward act. The arrow too was saying,
Thou, the knot of whose bowstring opens the knot of the
Jauzhar, do not advance to meet this danger.193
I myself in rushing forth to destruction cast dust upon my head, lest the close-eyed beauty of the heaven,193a who sits on the fifth roof near the door of the eighth mansion,193b sitting in ambush, out of temerity and spite, should discharge against you the shaft of crror from the bow of fraud and malice; the lasso was saying, to-day the thread of planning should not be let go from the hand of deliberation, for I am contorted with anxiety at this precipitate conflict and ill-considered battle; wait a while! for Islām and the Muslims are like the tent ropes connected with the tent of your favours. Oh God! in dealing with this people, do not so long delay putting the halter round their necks.
I have willingly put my neck in the noose for thy sake
Thou art my lassoer, who takest me with the noose of thy
locks.
In short, that mighty king, the defender of the faith, the uprooter of infidelity, from mid-day till eventide attacked that impious crowd with the whole main body of his army, cheerfully and willingly, while the shouts of the victors in the fight, and the clamour of those eager for the fray193c deafened the ears of the world and of the sky,193d and tongues of fire which leapt from the heads of the flashing spears, and tongues of the swords made not a single mistake in even in a letter in transmitting the message of destruction. In that uproar like the day of resurrection every one thought of this Āyat A day when a man will flee from his own 136. brother,194 the surface of the earth, like the eyes of old men who have lost their sons194a was full of blood, and the face of the sky like the head of sons who have killed their fathers, full of dust.
Alas! my father why dost thou submit to the steel of the fire-
like sword
Oh! dost thou wish to inflict the wound of orphanage on my
heart.
In the very midst of this weary conflict, and amid all this pain and anguish, suddenly an arrow shot by Fate struck the wing of that falcon of the field of foray, and the bird of his life took its flight from the cage of the body of that noble one to the gardens of the Compassionate and meadows of Riẓwān194b
Verily we are God's and verily to Him do we return.194c
At that same moment the backbone of the religion of Muḥam-mad, may the peace and blessing of God be upon him, broke like the heart of sorrowful orphans, and the rampart of the religion of Muḥammad fell in like the grave of poor people of low origin, and the assistance which the arm of the king alone could give slipped from our grasp, and the confidence which the army of the Muslims had possessed194d was lost. Exactly at the time of sunset, the sun of the life of that king whose sun was setting sank into the west of extinction, and the heaven, after the habit of mourners, dyed its raiment blue, while falling tears began to course down both its cheeks. Saturn, by way of fulfilling the requirements of fidelity and the demands of mourning, turned its robe to black and bewailed the people of Hindūstān because of his death. Jupiter, in pity for that dust besoiled body and bloodstained mantle rent his garments and cast his turban in the dust.
And Mars, may the hand of his power be tightly closed as the eye of the beauties, and the face of his sustenance be dark as the locks of Ethiopians, sore wounded by compassion for that calamity, with a rankling thorn195 which brought forth his heart's blood, was trembling like the Fish195a before the Sun, and like the Ram195b in the hands of the slaughterer, while the Sun, for shame that it had not striven to avert this calamity and prevent this disaster, came not forth, but sank below the earth, and Venus when she saw what violence the heavenly bodies were undergoing at the hands of Time, played her tambour more vehemently,195c changed 137. the tune of the drum, and commenced music in a fresh measure, and because of the death of that slave-cherishing king, others in place of uttering musical strains began to weep, and Mercury195d who in forage and conquests in accord with the scribe, used to write many records of victory, in that tyranny195e was blackening his face with the contents of his inkhorn, and was clothing himself in a garment of paper made of the sheets of his own records, while the new moon in the shape of a crescent on the horizon, with bowed stature, in that day of judgment which had visited the earth, was striking its head on the wall and performing all the customary mourning duties.
Thou placest thy cheek in the dust, alas, I wish not this
for thee
Moon of my days, I do not wish thee to pass beneath the
Earth.
If thou goest out to the chase (i.e. diest) thy dust is my life:
My life! is the solitude of thy dust pleasing to thee? I do
not wish it for thee.
May God, be He exalted and blessed, raise the purified and sanctified soul of that warrior prince to lofty heights and high dignities, and give him, from time to time, cups full of the brilliancy of his beauty and glory, and make all the kindness, and clemency, and affection, and care which he evinced towards this broken down worthless one, a means of increasing the dignity and wiping out the faults of that prince. Amen, Oh Lord of the worlds!
And Mīr Khusrū196 also on that day fell a prisoner into the hands of Lahorī, a servant of the Mughūl, and had to carry a nosebag and horsecloth upon his head. He recounts this circumstance in these words—
I who never even placed a rose upon my head,
He placed a load on my head and said “It is a rose.”196a
And he composed in poetry and sent to Dehlī two elegies written in tarkīb-band196b which are found in the anthology known as Ghurralu-l-Kamāl.197 For a space of a month more or less, folk used to sing those tarkīb-bands and used to chant them as threnodies over their dead from house to house.
The following is one of them:—
Is this the Resurrection day or is it a calamity from heaven 138.
which has come to light?
Is this a disaster or has the day of Judgment appeared
upon the earth?
That breach which has appeared this year in Hindustān
has given entrance to the flood of sedition below the
foundation of the world.
The assembly of his friends has been scattered like the
petals of the rose before the wind.
Autumn the leaf scatterer has, one would say, appeared in
the garden,197a
Every eyelash, in the absence of friends, has become a
spear-point to the eye, and each point of the spear has
brought blood spouting forth to a spear's length.
The heart writhes in agony since Time has broken the thread
of companionship;
When the string is broken, the pearls are scattered far and
wide.
Such a flood of tears has been shed by the people on all
sides that five fresh rivers have appeared around Multān.197b
I wished to bring my heart's fire upon the tongue in the
form of words,
When lo! a hundred tongues of fire appeared within my
mouth.
I dug deep in my breast, empty of all desire, and tears burst
forth from both my eyes; when the earth is hollowed out
then springs of water make their appearance.
Weeping has taken the bloom off my cheek, and disgraced
me, because by reason of it, the skin has left my cheek
and the bones have come in sight.
The planets are all conjoined in my eyes198 perchance it portends a storm, since in a watery constellation a conjunction of planets is seen.
I only wish for that same collection (of friends) and how
can this be!
139. It is essentially impossible—how can this Banātu-n-Na‘sh
become the Pleiades198a (How can mourning become joy).
With what omen198b did the king lead his army from Multān
and draw the infidel-slaying sword in order to slay the
infidels.
When they brought him tidings of the enemy, with that
strength which he possessed, ruthlessly he displayed his
wrath and unfurled his standards.
That army which was then present sought for no second
army,
For this reason that Rustum must not be indebted to an
armed host.199
One assault took him from Multān to Lāhor, saying
In my reign can any one rebel against me?
Am I not such a lion, that my sword which is like fire and
water
Has by its slaying turned every year of theirs to dust and
ashes?
Such torrents of blood often have I set flowing over the
earth,
That the vulture flies199a over the surface of blood like a
duck over the water.
In this year to such an extent do I stain the earth with
their blood,
That the evening twilight reddens with the reflection of
the earth.
He was bent upon this enterprise and did not know that
the Destiny of heaven had drawn the line of fate across
the writing of the page of intention.
His eyes were smitten by the stars; if I have the power
I must heat a needle, and like a shooting star thrust it
into the eye of the seven planets.
The first day of the month became Muḥarram199b for him, 140.
not for him only but for all people.
Since at the end of Zūl Hijjah he drove his dagger into
the neck of his enemies.
That the day of ‘Āshūra might arrive he entered the ranks
of holy war like Ḥusain; the dust of his steed served as
collyrium for the eye of the brilliant moon.
What an hour was that when the infidel reached the van of
the army!
One upon another his squadrons passed over the river and
came upon them unawares.200
Thou didst see the king's steed,200a casting the cloud of dust
to the sky.
The wind-footed courier charging the infidels worthless
as dust.
He raised a turmoil among the stars by the shouts of
his army.
He produced an earthquake in the world by the rushing
of his cavalry,
From the roll of the drums, the neighing of the horses, and
the shouts of their riders, he caused a quaking of the
plain and desert and mountain.
His horses were reeking (with sweat), with shoes as hot as
fire, so that the hoofs of each fiery-shod steed struck
sparks.200b
What awe was there! at one time drawing up for battle,
What terror was there! at another time raising the battle
cries.200c
141. From the flash of the sword in his hand he scattered heat
and oppressiveness around him.
While the very thought of his spear pricked the heart like
so many thorns.
The brave-hearted were attacking, bent on consuming their
enemies,
The faint-hearted were plotting intent upon flight.
[Whiles, the king the cherisher of brave men, in that
field of battle,
Was doing deeds of bravery and urging on the warriors].201
Striking manfully blow after blow upon the ribs of the
unmanly cowards,
And sending forth flames of fire from his well tempered
sword.
Raising aloft like Jamshīd the standard, to restrain the
demons,
Urging on his steed, like the sun, to capture kingdoms.
Bringing the sky into supplication from that affliction.
Making the sun perform the Tayammum201a with that dust.
[At that time when there was a distinction between brave
and coward,
Many a one there was whose lips were dry and his cheeks
pale].201b
The day was cast into darkness when they hurled202 one
upon the other,
The sun became pale when dagger was interweaved with
dagger.
The day was nearing its decline, seeing that the swords202a
were weaving a sky of rust over the sun of the army.
The rows of swords in both ranks resembled (the teeth of)
a comb,
The combatants are entangled one with the other like hair
with hair.202b
142. The Earth looked like a sheet of water when cuirass was
knit with cuirass, the plain resembled a rose garden
when shield was woven with shield.
The heaven flies away as though flying from an arrow,
The arrows flying above their heads are thick as the feathers
of a wing.
When half the force of the infidels had their heads swept
off by the sword
Those infidel heads202c which were matted together like the
locks of black hair.
Ruby-red drops of blood sprang like tears202d from the sword
So that the gold-woven standards were besprinkled with
the jewels.
Each single head was cleft in twain when the swords
blows met.
The cloven heads became as one again when head was
thrust against head.
The slain were lying on all sides of that verdant plain203
Like the figures which they weave on the green brocade.
Long had they been striving even from morning till even-
ing, face to face, and hair to hair, and hand to hand.203a
The king203b wished to spread the carpet of victory but to
what avail
Since the heavens had woven that carpet in another pattern.
203c [His auspicious sword did not cease from contest for
one moment.
From the declining day till night in that day of declining
fortune].
Oh Lord! was that blood which flowed over the face of the 143.
plain
Or was it a river urging its waves toward the lips of the
thirsty.
Just as water drops to the earth when you sift it203d in
a sieve
So the blood dript from the limbs of the weary warriors.
The mortally wounded lay in the death-agony writhing on
the ground, while from his throat blood burst in billows,
spouting in the air.
The arrows drove the bodies over the sea of blood like
boats,
Plying their oars madly and urging their course onwards.203e
The river bore those (the infidel enemies) to hell and the
stream bore these (the Muslims) to Paradise, although
the blood of infidel and Muslim was flowing side by side.
The chargers were plunging and the heads of the riders
falling.
The feet of the horses speeding and the heads of the riders
bowling along.
Every spurt of blood which spurted from the body struck
by an arrow
Leapt without restraint like a man who leaps to avoid an
arrow.204
The arrow of every man who from stoutness of heart had
an arm nerved for the fight, fitted accurately to the bow
flew straight to the heart of the enemy's army.
And he who from faint-heartedness has lost command of
his arms and legs, was running now to the water and
now to the plain.
The king, the commander of the army, was urging on the
charger of his fortune, and it galloped with him in drawing up his line, and planning the scheme of action.
144. The heavens turned Victory backwards seizing it by the
hair,
Although Victory was speeding towards us having left the
accursed (infidels).
204a [The infidels were expecting the coming of night, to take
to flight,
Suddenly the scale of the balance turned against us].
What a night was that! when the sun had fallen from the
sky!
And demons were hurling fire upon the earth, and the stars
had fallen.
When nothing of day remained for that sun of fortune.204b
Some little daylight remained when the sun (of royalty)
fell.
Although Ḥusain of the famous Kerbelā205 was in straits for
want of water.
He was the Muḥammad whose end came upon him in the
water.205a
The heart of mankind became (full of holes like) a fishing
net because, from the craft of the demon the royal signet
which was on the hand of Solomon fell into the water.205b
The infidels were wallowing in blood as the donkey wallows
in the gutter, the believers lay in the mud like jewels in
the mire.
One army was passing through the water of the flood of
disaster,
The other parched with thirst had fallen in with a mirage.
Each one of them was put down on the tablet of the earth
for this reason that their affairs had fallen into the
account of the day of reckoning.
The skull caps which were lying in the fresh crimson blood
looked like cocoanuts engraved and ornamented with
vermilion.206
145. The wounds of the heart were weeping tears of blood in
bidding farewell to the soul, and the bodies were lying
desolate owing to separation from life.
Alas! many were the living who were lying among the
dead overcome with terror, their bodies blood-stained and
their eyes sunk in (feigned) sleep.
Look at the deeds of this crafty old wolf (the sky) for lions
were as though bound in chains and elephants in fetters
at the hands of (infidel) dogs.
[This was not a battle, I veriḷy saw that that was the day
of resurrection. If these are the tokens of the resurrection, then I have seen it].206a
Look at the revolution of the heaven, for it brought about
such a change, that it made the centre of Islām to go
round and round (in perplexity) like the compasses.206b
Has one ever seen an atom carry off the water of the sun's
spring?
Has one ever seen a stone, which has rivalled the princely
pearl?
When the king entered the cave of the protection of God,
that man is a dog who did not wake the sleepers of the
cave207 with his lamentations.
That he entered the secret cave (of death) when fleeing
from his enemies, is no disgrace.
The elect of God (Muḥammad) fled towards the cave to
avoid the attack of his enemies.207a
And if a spark reached him from the arrow of his enemies
this too is right207b for the wrath of Nimrod at last com- 146.
mitted Abraham to the fire.207c
And if he went to the holy place (Paradise) do not be vexed
and count it as a shame to him207d for ‘Īsā through the
spite of the Nazarenes devoted his life on the cross.
And if the (infidel) dogs were crafty as foxes to him, say
this, that it is of a piece with the dog like behaviour
which was shewn to (‘Alī) the Ḥaidār-i-Karrār (lion of
repeated attacks).207e
And if the demons caused him to drown, then say this that
it is like when a demon drowned Rustum in the ocean.207f
Every year he used to devote his life and energy to fighting
the Mughūls,
At last he yielded up his precious life in this endeavour.
This is one of the tricks of fate which at one time sheds
blood and at another gives life;208 we are powerless, it is
useless to strive against the all-powerful tyrant (fate).
The mighty lion when stung by the ant roars aloud in
agony.
The infuriated elephant when pricked by a thorn shrieks
from pain.
[It was on Friday, the last day of Zūl Ḥijjah that this battle
took place
At the end of eighty-three and the beginning of eighty-
four].208a
The sun and moon wept over the face of that one of
auspicious features,
Day and night wept over the youth of that short-lived one.
Like his orders, tears from the eyes, flowed from east to
west
Behold the obedience of the servants208b who wept without
any master.
In his reign birds and fishes were so happy
147. That the fishes wept in the water and the birds in the air.
The heavens with its thousand eyes wept over the people
of the earth like vernal showers upon the grass.208c
The dew which falls every morning from heaven and waters
the earth, consider that as the tears of the stars who are
weeping in the highest heavens.
The people of Multān, men and women, weeping and tearing their hair, in every street, face to face and every
where.
No one could sleep at night for the noise of the wailing,
and the beating of the drums, for in every house the
mourners were weeping bitterly.
They were preparing to perform the waẓū in the water of
their eyes,
Hoping for pardon for that they wept at the time of prayer.
Their tongues were blistered like the feet of prisoners,
So sorely did they weep for the captives of calamity.
Their eyes poured forth blood upon the earth like the
throat of the slain,
So bitterly did each one weep for his own dead.209
And if by chance a captive returned from that bond of
calamity,
Every one seeing his face wept honest tears of sorrow.
[So great was the weeping that the waves of the tears
were greater than those of the Jīhūn.
This was my own condition, the state of the others how can
I describe!]209a
Shall I wring my hands, or shall I with my own teeth
make my arm livid,
Or shall I wear clothes of a darker blue than this blue 148.
heaven?209b
Every man of reputation, tattoos his arm with the needle,
But when I make my arm blue with my teeth, the name of
the king leaps forth on my arm.
Alas! that he by the tyranny of the blue sky, is sleeping
beneath the earth, while209c because of his sleeping there
the whole horizon has become blue (dark).
There was both the blackness of the Hindū and the whiteness of the Turk, whereas now both Turk and Hindū are
wearing blue (as mourning)
209d [It was as though the people were tearing the heavens
and dividing them among themselves,
To such an extent was the earth in all directions blue with
mourning garments.]
Now it has become customary to wear blue—so that henceforth it behoves the weavers of white cloth to dye their
thread blue in the shuttle.210
In every street210a of Cairo a river blue like the Nile was
flowing; to such an extent were blue garments being
washed in tears on all sides.
The dyers of blue cloth were as happy as if there was a
bridal in their houses, because so many brides had their
garments dyed blue in mourning for their husbands.210b
The lovely ones who were smiting their foreheads and
shedding tears of blood had their cheeks below their
eyes red (with blood) while above their eye-brows it was
blue.
The beauties have no need of blue (patches) and redness
(rouge) after this,
For the cheeks are torn till they are red (with blood) and
the face is smitten till it is blue (with bruises).
In such quantities do they tear their hair from their
delicate brows, one and all
That the root of every hair becomes blue from such rough
treatment.
149. [How long shall I tear out the hair of my head in this
lamentation and mourning!
Nay I will pluck this body of mine like a hair from the
head of my life].210c
Alas! that my heart has suddenly turned to blood on
account of (the loss of) my friends.
Alas! for that assembly who were a constant fresh joy to
their friends.
The eyes became flooded with water and blood on account
of their friends, so long as I saw my friends in the
midst of blood and water.
Such priceless blood of my friends has the earth swallowed
That it is my right to demand from the Earth the blood
money for my friends.
If it were possible for those who sleep in the dust to arise,
I would devote the remainder of my life to secure the
existence of my friends.
It were a pity that the eye should have its pupil always
with it, and yet that its friends should be out of sight.211
How can one bear to look at others instead of one's friends,
My friends are gone! How can I embrace a stranger!
How can I clothe any other person in the mantle of any
friends!
I will place their dust in my eyes (as a collyrium). How
can it be right that the dust of my friends' feet should
be so little valued.211a
In desire for my friends, even though they sever my head
(from my body),
Still the desire for my friends will never be severed from
my211b head.
Oh my King! whenever thou biddest me I will tear my
garment of life to the very edge in mourning for my
friends.
My life has been torn to shreds in a hundred places through 150.
grief, how can it be right that I should tear a shred into
shreds for the sake of my friends.211c
My friends have gone of whom are you talking,
Once for all bring your speech to an ending and breathe
a prayer for my friends.
[Always remember the departed, especially at the time
of prayer,
Because nothing shews you the way to mercy save the
guidance of prayer].212
O Lord may the illumination of the sun of mercy light
upon their souls,212a
May their souls shine like the sun from the bounty of thy
light.
In the day of battle the Great Khān was their leader,
May the same Khān be also their leader to the Garden of
Paradise.
If an angel flies thither in desire for him it becomes a fly,212b
May the wings of the peacock of Paradise drive away the
flies from them.
The bounty of mercy is the water of life in the gloom of
the grave,212c
Oh Lord, in the darkness of the tomb may they have the
water of life.
[When the faces become black from the sun of resurrection
May the wings of the angels cast protecting shade over
their heads].212d
When they give212e into their hands the record of their deeds
taken from the book of punishment,
May the record bear as its heading the words “A book for
the right hand.”212f
May the drops of blood which were shed from their throats
Become the most costly rubies of their crown of pardon.
For the thirsty ones213 whose souls departed for lack of
water,
May the cloud of mercy rain continuously upon their heads.
For the captives213a who were long subjected to hardships, 151.
Oh Lord! may the hope of speedy release make their way
light for them.
May the affliction which they suffered in imprisonment, be
to those who have escaped from prison (by death) the
cause of their eternal salvation,
And those who have survived and have returned from
that calamity,
May they experience the mercy of the Author of good,213b and
may the favour of the Sulṭān be theirs.
Since Muḥammad has departed may the event be happy for
the king. May his son Kaiqubād be most fortunate and
his son Kaikhusrū be blessed.
And the opening [of another threnody]213c is as follows:
My heart sit silent in sorrow for no trace of joy remains,
Grief, do thou take away the world, for no joy is left
therein.
In the following ode too he refers to the same disastrous occurrence:
Behold this calamity213d which has be fallen this year on the
frontier of Multan,
The right wing of the believers has been defeated213e by the
infidel ranks.
How can I explain that day of resurrection, from the
agony of which the Angel of Death would have craved
respite.
How can I describe the way in which the Ghāzīs, attacked
the front of the Khaibarīs, like the Lion of repeated
attacks.
But what help has anyone against the decree of fate which
was ordained by and issued from the Almighty.
152. What was the condition of the battle field? it was one
load of dead bodies,
So much blood was spilled and the load was lying
upon it.214
The blood of martyrs, poured out like a libation, was
mingled with the earth,
The necks of prisoners bound together with ropes in rows,
like rose chains,
The heads strangled in the tight noose of the saddle-
cords,214a
The necks caught in the toils of the head-ropes.
Although my head escaped that game of strangulation,
Still my neck did not escape that noose of torture.
I was taken captive, and for fear lest they should shed my
blood
My blood dried up, not a single drop remained in my weak
and emaciated body.
I was poured out like water running without beginning
and without end, and like bubbles thousands of blisters
appeared on my feet from much travelling.
The skin was separated from my feet by the blisters,
Like to the seams of a slipper burst open.
My heart, because of affliction, was as hard as the hilt of a
sword
From weakness my body was become wood like the handle
of a club.215
Not a breath remained in my wind-pipe by reason of thirst,
My belly was like a drum from the duration of my hunger.215a
My body was stripped naked like a tree in autumn,
And like a rose torn into a thousand shreds by the thorns.
For sorrow the pupil of my eyes poured forth drops
Like the (scattered pearls) of a necklace broken from the
neck of a bride.
A Qurūna215b driving me on in front followed along the way 153.
seated on a horse, like a leopard on a hill range
Fœtor ab isto ore teterrimus axillæ odori similis,
Capilli oris ejus pubi similes usque ad mentum delapsi.215c
If I lagged behind a step or two through fatigue
He would draw at one time his falchion215d at another his
javelin.215e
I kept heaving deep sighs and saying to myself
Alas! I shall never be able to escape from this calamity!
A thousand thanks to God Almighty who liberated me
With my heart free from arrow wounds and my body
unhurt by the sword.
When he desired to make my body a brick for the grave,
Water and clay built up for me anew my palace of years.
But what good to me was my escape from that rope
If snapped like the bond between the Muhājir and Anṣār215f
All those lives were poured out in the dust like roses
By the fierce blast of misfortune, this is Autumn not Spring.
The world full of roses and the assembly emptied of those
who can smell their perfume,
How should not my heart turn to blood like the rose bud
at this treatment!216
Not one of my friends of last year remains to me this year,
It is evident that “this year” also will become “last year.”
Do thou also like me, oh cloud of the newly born spring
Now wash thy hands of water, and rain teardrops of blood.
154. Give me a cup, that from the depths of my regret
I may empty it of wine, and fill it with bitter tears.
Now that the date is 684 (H.)
To me in my three and thirtieth year comes the good
tidings of the thirty-fourth.
Not thirty-four because if my years should be thirty
thousand, when one comes to the account of Annihilation
neither thirty counts for aught nor a thousand.
I am not a poet, even though I were a magician, still then
I shall become dust.
I am not a Khusrū, even were I a Kaikhusrū, still at that
time my kingdom would be but the grave.
And in the preface to the Ghurratu-l-Kamāl he writes some epitomised poems relating to this circumstance; the gist of the matter is that they brought Tughral to nothing, and the prince who used to pray with lamentation and tears at the footstool of the best of all helpers saying Make me of thy mercy a victorious Emperor rose to such power in the districts of Lakhnautī and Chatar La‘l that his head which touched the stars, reached to the starless expanse of the highest heaven, and Malik Shamsu-d-Dīn Dabīr, and Qāẓī Aṯīr desired to retain me by seizing my garments,217 but the separation from my friends seized me by the collar. I was obliged like Joseph to leave that prison pit and turn my steps to217a the metropolis, and under the shadow of the standard of the Shadow of God I remained in the city. In those very same months, the Khān-i-Buzurg Qāān Malik arrived from the conquest of Damrela,217b and a rumour came to us that my words had reached him,217c so that he made enquiries regarding the ripe fruit of my words; unripe fruit as it really was I laid it before him, and it was honoured with acceptance in his private hall of audience, and I was distinguished by a robe of honour and rewards, and I girded my loins in his service and wore the cap of companionship, and I gave for five years more to the Panjāb and Multān water from the sea of my comfortable circumstances, till suddenly, by the potent order of the wise ruler, the star of my glory came into opposition with the inauspicious Mars;217d 155. the time of its decline had arrived when the unlucky cavalcade of those born under the influence of Mars came in sight, and at evening time, the bright sun217e sank by the revolution of the heaven, a world of brave men struck by arrows had fallen, and the plain of the earth was full of broken cups, and Death itself was saying at that time “Where shall I place my cup and where shall I take my pitcher.” The sky fed upon dust and the sun swallowed a bowl of blood.
How can we describe that day of resurrection,
When even the Angel of Death sought protection from
the fray.
In that forge of calamity the rope of the infidels seized me also by the throat, but inasmuch as God Most High had lengthened the rope of my life, I obtained release, and by the high road I made for the abode of favours, and attained to the sight of the dome of Islām218 and at the feet of my mother became (as it were) an inhabitant of Paradise, while as for herself, as soon as her eyes fell upon me the fountain of her milk flowed from tenderness towards me.
Paradise always lies beneath the feet of a mother,
See two streams of milk flow therefrom, the sign of
Paradise.218a
And I spent some time pleasantly and quietly in seeing my beloved mother and other dear ones in the fort of Mūminpur, otherwise called Patiālī218b on the banks of the river Ganges.”
In short, when the news of this heart-rending disaster reached the ears of the Sulṭān, having observed the duties of mourning for some days, a great affliction fell upon him, so much so that he could never again gird his loins, but he used to occupy himself 156. in all matters, and sent a despatch addressed to Bughrā Khān who had acquired the title of Sulṭān Nāṣiru-d-Dīn,218c to Lakhnautī saying. Since so great a calamity has fallen upon your brother I desire that you should take his place as you are well able to do, that in looking in your face I may be able to forget the numerous sorrows which I suffer on his account. Nāṣiru-d-Dīn who219 had acquired permanent and independent control over that district (of Lakhnautī) put off for some time coming to Dihlī, and even after coming to Dihlī at the earnest solicitation of his father was not able to remain there, “the elephant bethought him of Hindustān”219a so that forgetting the demands of filial, paternal, and brotherly affection he became so restless from staying in that place that one day without his father's permission219b together with certain of his kinsfolk he went forth on pretence of hunting, and marching by rapid stages reached Lakhnautī and busied himself with his own affairs.
VERSE.Why should I not betake myself to my own country?
Why should I not be the dust of the sole of the foot of my
friend?
I cannot endure the sorrow of exile and absence from home,
I will go to my own country, and be my own monarch.
Accordingly Sulṭān Balban, who was very depressed and dejected at this occurrence, so that day by day his weakness gathered strength, as he lay on his bed of sickness, being moreover past eighty years of age, conferred upon the eldest son of the Martyred Khān who was called Kaikhusrū, the title of Khusrū Khān, and gave the affairs of Empire into his hands. Multān too was entrusted to him, and he made him the heir-apparent, and made a will to the effect that Kaiqubād the son of Bughrā Khān should be sent to his father in Lakhnautī. After he had relieved his mind of anxiety as to the succession of Kaikhusrū, and the other testamentary dispositions of the government having occupied him three days, he removed the baggage of existence from this world to 157. the next. This event took place in the year 686 H.220 He had reigned twenty-two years and some months.
Oh my heart! the world is no place of permanence and stay,
Keep thy hand from the world—for it has no stability.
Burton's pilgrimage to El Medina and Mecca, III, 162. Hughes Dict. of Islām, 548. See also Muir's Life of Mahomet, II. 36, note.
↩His death was probably due to violence, occurring as it did according to Minhāju-s-Siraj on the day of his seizure and imprisonment. See Raverty, p. 636, note 4.
↩◌In Madārān Shahāb-i-Mutmara rises intoxicated
If he hear the sound of the singing of the birds of Dehlī in this
melody.
Vide Majma‘u-l-Fuṣahā, Vol. I. page 304.
↩See Introduction to Ancient Arabian Poetry, by C. J. Lyall, pp. xxxii (Effect of al-Islām on the old Poetry) and xliv. (The Mu‘allaqät).
See also Nöldeke (Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Poesie der alten Arabe, pp. xvii and seq.
See also Arabian Poetry (Clouston) pp. xxxi and seq.
↩In its literal value also it is ◌ that is, it has no capability of being pronounced till it is compounded with some other sign such as ◌ hamza.
↩Pity it is that such a nightingale as I living in such a garden and having so sweet a tongue should be silent as the lily.
↩◌Were Hāfiẓ like the lily endowed with ten tongues
His lips in thy presence would remain sealed like the lips of the rosebud.
also
◌I sit alone utterly heedless of thy cypress-like form
Even though like the lily my body were cleft into tongues.
The lily ◌ Sūsan is of four varieties. The white variety is called Sūsan-i-āzād, see Burhān-i-qāti‘ s. v. ◌; according to the Baḥru-l-jawāḥir its properties are those of heat and dryness and it is useful in the headaches of fever.
The Makhzanu-l-adwīya states that the word Sūsan is an Arabicised form of the Syrian Sūsānī. The article may be consulted for further information regarding the varieties and properties of these lilies. The linear leaves of the lily are compared to tongues.
↩“The Wazīr having a straight move can be placed on all the squares which shows the great honour and advantage attached to rectitude of conduct.” Bland. On the Persian game of chess, J. R. A. S. XIII, p. 11.
↩See Tārīkh-i-Rāshīdī, Elias and Ross, p. 278, note.
↩The Burḥān-i-Qāṭi‘ states that a drink is made from the flowers which relieves the after effects of drinking, and the ashes of the burnt wood are used as a hair dye and hair restorer.
Vüllers-Lexicon Pers. Lat. states p. 81. Hac arbore designari videtur arbor Judae, i.e. Cercis siliquastrum (Linn.); cf. J. A. S. 1845, Dec. p. 457.
That the dye obtained from it is of blood colour appears from the lines in the poem (Mu‘allaqah) by Ibn Kulṯūm, where he writes ◌
As though both our garments and theirs had been dyed or besmeared with Arjuwān.
↩One day the Prophet was sitting alone when an Arab came who had caught a lizard and had it in his sleeve. He asked the people who that was sitting there, they answered God's prophet; he replied, addressing Muḥammad, “I swear by Lāt and ‘Uzzā that I consider you my greatest enemy and were I not under an oath to my tribe, I would certainly kill you.” The prophet said “Accept the true faith.” The Arab cast the lizard from his sleeve and said “I will never accept the faith till this lizard does.” Then the prophet spoke to the lizard saying, “Oh thou lizard.” The lizard answered him in choice Arabic saying “I am thy servant, Oh thou ornament of the Muslims.” The prophet asked “Whom dost thou worship?” He replied “That God who is in Heaven and Earth, whose kingdom is in the earth and his wonders in the sea, and his marvels in the deserts. Him I worship who knows what is in the womb, and has established his punishment in the fire.” The prophet asked “Who am I?” the lizard replied, “Thou art the prophet of the upholder of the world, and the seal of prophecy. He is rightly guided who believes in thee, and he is lost who denies thee.” The Arab said — “I require no more cogent proof than this; when I approached thee, I had no greater enmity to any one than to thyself, but now I hold thee dearer than my life, my father and my mother.” (Ḥaiātu-l-Qulūb by Āghā Muḥammad Bāqir Majlisī.)
↩See Hughes, Dict. of Islām, art Ṣirāṭ. See also Qur'ān I. 5.
↩There was one pawn known as the Piyāda-i-Aṣlī or original pawn, which had certain privileges attached to it. It was permitted once in the conrse of the game to remove to any square on the board where it might inflict the greatest injury on the adversary, as by attacking two pieces at once—“forking” them as chess players call it: under certain combinations this pawn was utilised to give mate. Thus in Auhadī's Life of Khwāja ‘Ali Shaṭranjī we find ◌
“When he moved his Rukh in the Board of imagination he gave the odds of two Knights and the Bishop to the kings of rhetoric: the strategist of imagination fell into the pawn's mate from the “Fīlband” of confusion.”
This (◌) was explained to me by a Muhammadan friend, a chess player, thus: suppose the white king at his own square, and a hostile pawn on his second square guarded by Black Bishop at Q. Kt. 4, the adversary brings his other Bishop to Q. R. 4 (ch) mate, white having other moves, but none which can prevent this final move of the Black Bishop.
The Baḥr-i ‘Ajam gives the following definition of ◌
Pílband is the name of a manœuvre in chess. “To give pílband” means to mate by giving check with the Bishop (Píl).
When in contest with elephants thou disengagest thy noose. Thou defeat-est the king of Qanauj with the “pílband” (Niẓāmī).
Ḥasan Dehlavī also says.
Alas! that the “pílband” of thy love cannot essily be overcome.
For an excellent paper on the Persian Game of Chess by Bland, from which some of the above information is extracted, see J. R. A. S., Vol. XIII, pp. 1-70.
↩See Shāh Nāma, Vol. II, pp. 771-797. (Turner Macan Edition).
↩The other is an animal product which is found in the hinder part of the head of certain vipers. It is not found in all vipers, in fact it is only rarely found in any of them; when it is taken from the muscles it is soft, but in contact with the air becomes stony hard. In size it is about the size of half a shell, (cowrie) oblong in shape, ashy-coloured. Certain stones are black and hard, striped with three white stripes, others are white and soft. Some are artificial. In order to distinguish the good and true from the false, place it upon the bite of a snake, it will stick to it if genuine. If milk is poured on it, the milk becomes clotted and changed in appearance; and it is said that when some of them are placed in milk the milk does not become coagulated: and when all the poison has been extracted by the stone it falls off, refusing to adhere any longer, and does not coagulate milk. Whilst it is extracting the poison its colour changes, and when it is thrown into milk it returns to its original condition.
Another test is, when you rub it upon black or blue woollen cloth the cloth becomes white, if rubbed very hard for a long time the cloth becomes black and all whiteness disappears.
Another test: When it is placed in a porcelain vessel in lemon juice, it begins to move in a circular fashion. This test is not peculiar to this stone, but most shells and snails too, shew the same phenomenon. (Makhzanu-l-Adwīya ).
The Baḥru-l-Jawāḥir says only ◌
Hajaru-l-Haiyyah. The stone Pādzahr (Bezoar stone,) some kinds are heavy and black, some are ashen-grey, and some have three stripes.
↩A jāegīr was land held in fief, generally bestowed as a reward for some service.
↩It seems probable that the Kawārān here spoken of were a tribe of Jāts otherwise known by the name of Gaṭwārās They are mentioned by Elliott, as holding villages in Gohana, in Sonīpat Bangar and in the Doāb on the opposite side of the Jumna (see Elliott, Races of the N. W. Provinces of India, Vol I. page 126).
↩Firishta says that the armies met on the 4th Rabi‘ul Awwal 637 A.H., and that Raẓẓīyah and Altūnīyah were put to death on the 25th of the same month. As Raẓẓīyah came to the throne in 634, 637 would seem to be the correct date but see Raverty, p. 648, note 2.
↩Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī gives the details of this circumstance and states that it was brought about by the machinations of a Darwesh who was jealous of Qāẓī Shamsu-d-Dīn and had sufficient influence over Bahrām Shāh to compass his enemy's death.
He calls the town Mihir. (Raverty 657 and note 4), MS. (A) has ◌ Marhiṛa.
↩See also page 92, note 2. This was another man Saiyyid Quṭbu-d-Dīn.
↩See Āīn-i-Akbarī (Jarrett) II. 298.
↩The original reading was ◌ Kuffār-i Jājnagar which by some strange perversion became ◌ thence to ◌ and so to our author's statement.
Jājnagar or Jājpūr on the Baitarānī river in Orissa, capital of the province under the Lion Dynasty, the Gajpati or Lords of Elephants (Āīn-i-Akbarī II. 219 n. 1.) (see Imp. Gaz. Vol. VII., and Stat. Acc. of Bengal, XVIII. 85-89).
The ◌ Infidel hordes of Jājnagar were of course Hindūs and not Mughūls, hence the assumption in the text to account for their presence before Lakhnautī is as unnecessary as it is absurd.
↩His reign extended to a period of four years, one month and one day (Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī).
↩Nāṣiru-d-Dīn Maḥmūd son of Shamsu-d-Dīn Iyaltimish was born at the Qaṣr Bāgh in Delhi in the year 626 H. (Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī).
It will be remembered that he was the second son of Iyaltimish to bear the name of Nāṣiru-d-Dīn, which was given him upon the death of his elder brother (see p. 94) in 626 A. H. (see Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī, Cal. Text p. 201, l. 18.)
He was a man of quiet and retiring disposition and spent most of his leisure in making manuscript copies of the Qur'ān. Thomas (Pathān Kings) thinks that this faculty “possibly had its influence on the execution and finish of the legends of his coinage, which display a remarkable advance on the earlier mintages in the fineness of the lines and the improved definition of the Persian characters” (p. 125).
↩As Sulṭānu-l-A‘ẓamu-l-Muaẓẓam, Nāsiru-d-Dunyā wau-d-Dīn, Abū-I-Mu-ẓaffar-i-Maḥmūd Shāh ibn-i Sulṭán Iyaltimish Yamín-i-Khalīfatu-llah Nāṣir-i-Amīri-l-Mūminīn.
The Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī of Minhāju-s-Sirāj was written in his court and dedicated to him: hence its name.
↩C' était un souverain pieux: il copiait des exemplaires du livre illustre (le Korán), les vendait, et se nourrissait avec le prix qu'il en retirait. Le Kâdhi Camâl eddīn m' a fait voir un Koran copié de sa main, artistement et élégam-ment ecrit.
↩Tieffenthaler (I. 105), places Nandanah or Nandanpour (forteresse en brique sur un montagne) between the Behāt and the Indus it must have lain somewhere near the line Jhelum to Peshāwar.
↩Tieffenthaler, Vol. I, p. 211, Mēvāt est un canton assez étendu, borné par les provinces de Dehlī et d'Adjmere et par les Districts de Djepour et de Dik. It extends “north and south from Badshāpur to Harsana, 47 miles, and east and west from Dik to Narnol, 57 miles.” Alwar is about the centre of it now.
Tieffenthaler goes on to say “Cette contrée est habitee par beaucoup de Mahométans qui etaiènt ci-devant gentils. Elle appartenait auparavant aux Afghans dans le tems qu'ils regnoient a Dehli. La Gouvernement passa ensuite aux Mogols. Maintenant le Djat (Jats) s'en est approprié la plus graude partie et une partie est tombée au pouvoir du Rājah de Djepour (Jaipūr) qui en a expulsé beaucoup d'habitans mahométans.
He speaks of the abundance of Nīm (Melia azadirachta) and Sissoo (Dalber-gia sissoo) trees, and praises the cattle and horses of the country.
He speaks of Narnol the capital city of the district, as having formerly been populous and flourishing. See also Rennell's Memoir (1788), p. 75.
↩In the text ◌ is a misprint for ◌ MS. (A).
Narwar. Tieff. I. 175 gives a sketch plan of the fortress of Narwar and a long description from which the following note is abridged.
A town of moderate size about 1/2 a mile long and ten in breadth, protected in his time (about 1780 A.D.) with stone walls, but formerly unprotected. Latitude 25° 30' N. Longitude taken from the Islands of the Blest 93° 24'. (Cf. Āīn-i-Akbarī [Jarrett] III. 60.) Houses well and substantially built with flat roofs.
It has four gates, and there was a Christian family of Armenian stock who had built a palace, and a chapel where a Jesuit father said mass. The fortress was built upon a mountain having two peaks or spurs running parallel North and South.
He considers it must have been impregnable in old times before the invention of gunpowder “pour le malheur du genre humain et la ruine des villes.”
A good supply of water is furnished by a large tank paved and flanked with stone. He also speaks of a magnetic iron ore from which they procure iron by smelting for export in various forms, and a flint of a whitish colour and marvellous hardness used for flint locks.
↩◌ which is intelligible and tallies with Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī. Where the reading ◌ in the text comes from, it is hard to say.
↩The ancient Krosa of Magadh was about 11/4 miles, the kos of the Gangetic provinces was rather more than 21/4 miles. The Akbarī kos was rather less than 13/4 miles and this is the standard referred to above.
↩His tomb is mentioned in the Āīn-i-Akbarī (I. 325) as being at Ajūdhan (Pāk Patan or Patan-i-Panjāb).
There is, as will be seen, considerable discrepancy in the dates, Badāonī gives 656 H. as the date of Farīdu-d-Dīn Ganj-i-shakar's death and 657 H. as that of the death of Bahāu-d-Dīn Zakarīyā, while according to Firishta the latter should be 666 H. and the former 668 H. The Āīn-i-Akbarī gives 668 H. as the date of the death of Farīdu-d-dīn Ganj-i-shakar and 665 H. as the date of the death of Bahāu-d-dīn Zakarīyā.
↩This account is abridged from Firishta. The account of the saint given by Beale differs from this but the source of the information given there is not stated. See also Āīn-i-Akbarī (Jarrett) III. 362 and note.
The tomb of Bahāu-d-Dīn Zakarīyā is in Multān.
↩Khān-i-Mu‘aẓẓam Ulugh Khān-i-A‘zam marched towards the hills of Dehlī to quell the insurrection of the robbers of Mīwāt who would be a terror to devils.
For a full account of the province of Mīwāt see Hunter, Imp. Gaz., Vol. IX. It includes the British districts of Muttra and Gurgāon, part of Ulwar and Bhartpur. See also page 129, note 2, of this Volume.
↩The date assigned for his birth seems unlikely as he would only have been thirteen when Nāṣiru-d-Dīn died. The Majma‘ul Fuṣahā gives no date for his birth but says his father came to Dehlī from Turkistān in the time of Changīz Khān's invasion, and obtained great distinction in the court of Sulṭān Maḥmūd ibn Tughlaq Shāh and was killed in a rebellion of the infidels, when his son Amīr Khusrū was appointed as his successor in his Amīrship, which he eventually gave up and acquired great skill and distinction as a poet. He died in 725 H. and was buried in the tomb of Shaikh Shakarganj (Farīdud-Dīn Ganjshakar see note 1, page 133).
He was the author the celebrated Qirānu-s-Sa‘dain the poem which was written to commemorate the meeting of Sulṭān Nāṣiru-d-Dīn with his son Sulṭān Kai Qubād on the banks of the Ghāgra, and of several other works (see Elliott, III. pp. 523 and seqq).
↩He married a daughter of Sulṭān Nāṣiru-d-Dīn Maḥmūd Shāh by whom he had a son and successor Kai-Qubād. (See Raverty, Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī 716 n.).
In Thomas, Pathan Kings of Dehlī there is given a copy of an inscription of Nāṣiru-d-Dīn Maḥmūd which was engraved over the doorway of the minaret at Aligarh bearing the date 10th Rajab A.H. 652, and the author mentions in rather too mild terms the wanton Vandalism which allowed a record of this kind to be destroyed in 1861.
Thomas advances the opinion that the original design for this inscription both in matter and form was the work of Nāṣiru-d-Dīn himself, (cf. Thomas op. cit 129-130).
↩Vide page 12, note 2. Muḥammad Qāsim, (Elliott and Dowson I, 209.)
↩There is also a Hindī proverb to the same effect, which runs:—
The barber's son will learn and the traveller's head will be cut.
↩“Paring the nails prevents the worst of all diseases (i. e., poverty) and increases the means of subsistence.” Also, ◌
‘He who pares his nails and trims his beard every Friday saying, “In the name of God and in accordance with the ordinance of the prophet of God,” every paring shall be counted to him as the manumission of a slave of the sons of Isma‘īl.’
Special rules are laid down for cutting the nails. They must be cut on Friday, and Muḥammad said, He who cuts his nails in alternate order will never be afflicted with blear eyes. It is also said in a Ḥadīṯ by Ḥamīd ibn ‘Abdu-r-Rahmān.
‘He who pares his nails on Friday is filled with health and sickness leaves him.” The preferable time for paring the nails is Thursday after the evening prayer. In the case of the right hand one should commence from the little finger, proceeding to the middle finger and thence to the thumb, thence to the ring finger and lastly to the forefinger. The order in the left hand is (1) Thumb (2) middle finger (3) little finger (4) forefinger (5) ring-finger.
↩↩1 ◌ Falaku-l-qamar (Moon).
2 ◌ Falaku-l-uṭārad (Mercury).
3 ◌ Falaku-z-Zuhra (Venus).
4 ◌ Falaku-sh-Shams (Sun).
5 ◌ Falaku-l-Mirrīkh (Mars).
6 ◌ Falaku-l-Mushtarī (Jupiter).
7 ◌ Falaku-z-Zuḥal (Saturn).
8 ◌ Falaku-ṯ-ṯawābit (Fixed stars).
9 ◌ Falaku-l-Aṭlas (The plain sky).
N B.—◌ Means an unstamped coin)See the Ghiyāṯu-l-Lughāt.
See also Āīn-i-Akbarī III. (Jarrett) 37, note 1.
See also Kashshāf Bib: Ind. Vol. II., p. 1134 and seqq.
◌◌ (Omar Khayyām).
You palace towering to the welkin blue
Where kings did bow them down and homage do
I saw a ring dove on its arches perched
And thus she made complaint Coo. Coo, Coo Coo (Whinfield).
The pious Muḥammadans in India say that the ringdove's note is ◌. Subḥān terī qudrat, Subḥān terī qudrat. Praise be to Thee for thy power.
↩◌ wa nafakhtu fīhi min rūḥī, “and breathed into it of my spirit;” and again in Qur'ān V. 116.
In kunto qultuhu faqad ‘alimtahu ta‘lamu mā fī nafsī.
“Had I said so verily thou wouldst have known it, thou knowest what is in my soul”
It is said in a tradition that God created Adam and put into him a ◌ nafs and a ◌ rūḥ.
It would seem as though the word ◌ nafs connotes the same idea as the word mind, using this word in the sense of the phenomena produced by the action of the ◌ rūḥ or vital principle upon matter: the highest form of matter, with which we are familiar, namely, the nerve structures of the human brain, admits of certain phenomena which in their totality we call mind: the existence of a higher form of matter capable of higher manifestation than those which come within our present experience is obviously possible. A force apart from matter may, for anything we know, exist in a way that we cannot figure to ourselves for want of some example. Such a force self-existent would be ◌ Rūḥ.
↩The first of these is again sub-divided into two, that which commands and that which forbids: thus they say ◌ fulānun yu‘āmiru nafsaihi. Such an one consults his two minds, i.e., weighs the pros and cons.
See Lane article ◌ and ◌, also Ghiyāṯu-l-lughāt, and Kashshāf art. ◌.
↩◌ A Turkish word meaning Emperor. The name given to the Emperor of China and potentates of Chinese Tartary. (See de Courteille Turk. Orient. Dict. ◌). Khāqān. Originally the title Qaān was given to the supreme sovereign of the Moguls, while the subordinate princes of the Chaghatai and other Chingizi lines were styled only Khān.
After a time the higher Qaān lost its peculiar distinctive dignity and was used by many besides the sovereign (see Tārīkh-i-Rashīdī (Elias and Ross), p. 30 n. 1).
◌ Halākū, descendant of Changiz Khān.
↩In the Baḥru-l-Jawāḥir it is stated that there are two kinds of Sumbul— Sumbul-i-Hindī, and Sumbul-i-Rūmī.
It is laxative and a tonic to the brain…useful in dropsy, in flatulence and as a hæmostatic in metrorrhagia.
The perfumed sumbul is the variety called Sumbul-i-Hindī while the Sumbul-i-Rūmī is also called Nardīn.
See also Ibnu-l-Baiṭār (Sontheimer), Vol. II., pp. 58 et seqq.
↩“Japhet is credited by Orientals with the paternity of Chīn who received the Celestial empire as his inheritance and begot Māchīn his first born.”
↩The six sides or divisions of the world are—
◌ ‘ālamu-l-ins, the world of mankind.
◌ ‘ālamu-l-jinn, the world of the jinn or genii.
◌ ‘ālamu-l-malāikah, the world of angels.
◌ ‘ālamu-l-ḥaiwān, the animal world.
◌ ‘ālamu-n-nabāt, the vegetable world.
◌ ‘ālamu-l-ma‘ādin, the mineral world.
The five stated times of prayer are known as—
◌ ẓuhr ◌ ‘aṣr ◌ maghrib ◌ ‘ashā and ◌ fajr.
The two standards ◌ ‘alam are the sun and moon, cf. Qur'ān, XXXVI., 38, 39.
↩This must be taken to refer to a saying of the prophet Muḥammad “The cornelian for me and the onyx for my enemies.” According to the Nukhbatu-d-dahr (p. 69), he said this “because the onyx causes its wearer to become ill-tempered, rash, precipitate, and litigious…There are several varieties of onyx…the best is that in which the markings are of equal breadth… The whiteness of the onyx increases as the moon waxes, and diminishes as it wanes. The onyx softens when boiled in oil, sparkling and emitting light… The people of China (◌) where the onyx is found, will not approach the mines on account of the unluckiness of the stone, so that only the poorest class will work there.
One property possessed by the onyx is that of curing scald-head in children: it also acts as a sialagogue causing them to dribble when it is hung round their necks.”
See also Lane Art. ◌ where it is stated that the wearing of an onyx in a signet induces anxiety, disquietude of mind, grief and terrifying dreams
↩See Lane Arabian Nights introduction n. 21 and Chap. i. n. 15. This stone was supposed to shew Solomon every thing he wished to know.
See D'Herbelot art. Solimān.
↩Ḥaiātu-l-Qulūb. See also Muir's Life of Mah. II. 257 note.
Compare the following lines by Ya‘qūbu-l-Manjanīqī, quoted by Ibn Khalliqān.
◌Oh thou who art so vain glorious! leave glory to him who is the lord of
might and of power
David's weaving would have been of no service on the night of the cave
The honour was all given to the spider.See Ibn Khalliqān (de Slane), Vol. IV., p. 375.
According to another account immediately after Muḥammad and Abu Bakr had entered the cave, an Acacia tree grew up at the entrance and a pair of pigeons had already nested in it, while a spider's web closed what remained of the entrance. D. Herbelot II. 231 art. (Hegrah).
↩Ḥaiātu-l-Qulūb. See also Muir's Life of Mah. II. 257 note.
Compare the following lines by Ya‘qūbu-l-Manjanīqī, quoted by Ibn Khalliqān.
◌Oh thou who art so vain glorious! leave glory to him who is the lord of
might and of power
David's weaving would have been of no service on the night of the cave
The honour was all given to the spider.See Ibn Khalliqān (de Slane), Vol. IV., p. 375.
According to another account immediately after Muḥammad and Abu Bakr had entered the cave, an Acacia tree grew up at the entrance and a pair of pigeons had already nested in it, while a spider's web closed what remained of the entrance. D. Herbelot II. 231 art. (Hegrah).
↩See also Hughes' Dict. of Islām. (Sidratu-l-Muntahā).
↩◌Is this poem a miracle, or is it lawful magic?
Has a heavenly messenger brought this message or was it Gabriel himself?
See Hughes' Dict. of Islām article Magic, also Lane sub voce ◌.
↩MS. (A) reads ◌.
↩Samak, the fish, which is below the Earth bearing on its back a cow which bears the earth on its horn. (Ghiyāṯu-l-Lughāt).
↩| ◌ Baḥr-í-Jurjān, | ◌ Baḥr-i-Ṭabarīya. |
| ◌ Baḥr-i-Nīṭas, | ◌ Daryā-i-Rūm. |
| ◌ Daryā-i-Maghrib, | ◌ Daryā-i-Chīn. |
| ◌ Baḥr-i-Khwārazm, |
In the Nāsikhu-t-tawārīkh of Lisānu-l-Mulk we find the following account of this incident:—
“The cause of the death of Nimrod was this, that after despairing of his ability to burn Abraham, in consequence of his protection by the Almighty, the idea of entering into conflict with the Most High entered his head, and he ordered Abraham to be brought before him; then turning towards him he said, Oh Abraham, bid your God to come with his army, and array himself against me in battle so that the one who conquers may have the upper hand. Tomorrow, that is Wednesday, we will arrange the battle field before this city, and test man with man.
Then having reviewed his army he came out from the city with a countless array, and drew up in line on the battle field.
The prophet Abraham came out alone and unaccompanied, in face of that vast host, and stood there. Suddenly, by the command of the Almighty, the face of heaven became darkened by a cloud of mosquitos, which are the most contemptible of all creatures, and they at once began to sting the army of Nīmrūd, and put them to flight, and most of those worthless ones died. Nīmrūd, on seeing this, in fear and shame turned his back upon the whirlpool of death, and fled into his fort Suddenly a single mosquito entering after him stung his lip, and reached his brain. For forty years the mosquito fed upon his brain, after which Nīmrūd died in abject misery.”
As the mosquito is known to be the intermediary host of certain parasites and may be the means of conveying infective disease, there may be a substratum of truth in this fable.
↩The term ◌ rāfiẓī is applied by Sunnī Muslims to any of the Shī‘ah sects. See Hughes. Dict. of Islām. Art. Rāfiẓī.
↩After the prophet's death Abu Bakr took it and Fāṭima demanded it of him, he replied: “Thy father said that we who are prophets do not leave hereditary legacies, all that I leave is for Moslims.
The Shī‘ahs say that Abu Bakr seized Faddak by force. The poet denies this assertion in the above verse.
↩Si in ulula bonum fuisset, eam venator non reliquisset. Freytag Meid. Prov. II. p. 572.
The story told by Mas‘ūdī about Bahrām points in the same direction. See Ibn Khaldūn (de Slane). Prolegomenes, I. 107.
In the Ḥaiātu-l-Ḥaiwān there is a story told of Al Mā'mūn who in the course of his peregrinations one day saw a young man writing something on the wall with a piece of charcoal. He ordered his servants to see what the man was writing and it was as follows:
◌
Oh palace ill-luck and curse are assembled in thee;
When will the owl make her nest in thy pillars?
Happy the day when the owl builds her nest in thee!
I shall be the first to announce thy downfall.
He explained this before Al Mā'mūn by saying that he was in great distress and hoped to benefit by the ruin of the palace.
↩See the article Khawārij in Hughes, Dict. of Islām.
The Khārijī heresy was that any man of no matter what nation or tribe may be appointed Khalīfah provided that he was a good man and was elected by the whole body of Moslims.
See for a fuller account of this sect. Sale's Qur'ān. Preliminary Discourse, p. 123 (Ed. of 1857) (Badger. Imāms and Seiyyids of Omān, Appendix, pp. 374, and seq.) (Osborn, Islām under the Arabs, p. 116). The last mentioned gives a full account of the origin of this heretical sect when ‘Alī and Mū‘āwia met at Siffīn from which the following is an extract “The valour of ‘Alī was brilliantly seconded by that of his favourite lieutenant Malika-l-Ashtar, the Marshal Ney of the Arabian Army. A tremendous charge by Malik at last forced a wing of the Syrian troops to give ground. Gradually the whole line was forced back, the retreat became a rout.”
However at this critical moment Amron ibn al-‘Ās knowing the fanatical character of ‘Alī's troops, ordered a number of Syrian soldiers to advance towards their line bearing copies of the Qur'ān fixed to the heads of their lances. “Let the blood of the Faithful cease to flow” they cried “let the Book of God decide between us.”
‘Alī's soldiers thereupon turned upon him headed by certain men whom Ash-Shahrastānī names, and insisted upon ‘Alī recalling Malik Al-Ashtar from fighting against the Moslims “or” said they “we will assuredly deal with you as we dealt with ‘Uṯmān” and insisted upon the matter in dispute between ‘Alī and Mu‘āwia being settled by arbitration.
↩◌ Unless ye help him, and God did help him when these who disbelieved drove him forth the second of two, when they twain were in the cave (of Jabal Ṯaur).
↩In gardens shall they ask each other about the sinners — what drove you into hell-fire?
↩Yāqūt says: A city lying beyond the river Sīhūn in Turkestān near Turrār. Thence sprang Abū Muḥammad ‘Abdur Rahmān ibn Yahīn ibn Yūnas Aljigilī the Khaṭīb of Samarqand in the days of Qadar Khān he died in Sha‘bān 516. H.
Yamak. Name of a city and country celebrated for the beauty of its people. Burhān-i-Qāti‘.
Yāqūt does not mention this.
↩It is also called ◌ Pufak.
cf. English pop-gun, traced by Skeat (Etym. Dict.) to the base Pu expressive of the act of blowing. Skt. bukk.
◌ puf kardan to blow out—to puff.
↩◌
A lamp which God has lighted.
He who attempts to blow it out burns his beard.
◌ (qutuq) is a Turkish word signifying any thing eaten as a relish.
◌ (gazak) is the Persian equivalent of ◌. (qutuq).
↩In small doses it is beneficial acting as a soporific, in large doses it kills.
No mention is made of its quarrel-provoking properties, and from the second-half of the couplet it would seem as though the quarrels are provoked by its cultivation rather than by the drug.
↩As ◌ is a much earlier letter than ◌ it is probable that originally at al events ◌ stood for an eclipse either of the sun or moon, the meaning being subsequently modified for convenience.
↩The name Rāhu by which the ascending node is designated is properly mythological and belongs to the monster in the heavens which, by the ancient Hindūs, as by more than one other people, was believed to occasion the eclipses of the sun and moon by attempting to devour them. Burgess, Sūrya Sidāhānta, p. 50.
Mythologically Rāhu is a Daitya who is supposed to seize the sun and moon and swallow them thus obscuring their rays and causing eclipses. Rāhu and Ketu are in astronomy the ascending and descending nodes. Rāhu is the cause of eclipses and is used to designate the eclipse itself. (Dowson Dict. of Hindu Mythology, p. 252.)
↩The text as it stands must be translated, If thou hadst girt … would have been brought &c.
It is evident from this Qaṣīda that ‘Amīd Lomakī was imprisoned, but I can find no reference to it in the account of him given in the Majma‘u-l-Fuṣaḥā .
↩This name was also given to a vein by section of which it was supposed that blood was withdrawn from the seven members first mentioned.
↩The four anchors may however be taken to be the four elements, earth, air, fire, and water.
↩Others again say that there was a king of the Persians named Mihr who was a great tyrant and was consigned to hell in the middle of this month, so that they called it Mihrgān in the meaning of death of a tyrannical king. (Burhān-i-Qāṭi‘).
According to others Mihr is the name of the sun, who is said to have for the first time appeared to the world on this day. This is indicated by the custom of the Kisrās of crowning themselves on this day with a crown on which was worked an image of the sun and of the wheel on which he rotates.—(Albirūnī).
See also Albirūnī (Chron. of Ancient Nations), p. 208 and seqq.
↩The Baḥru-l-Jawāḥir says that ebony “is a black wood which sinks when thrown into water,” hence the poet assumes a ship built of ebony would sink.
↩He was excessively liberal, and was supposed to be wealthier than any of the Persian kings. He was defeated and taken prisoner by the Ghuzz tribe in 548 A. H. (1153 A.D.) but eventually escaped and was at the time of his death in 555 A.H. on the point of recovering his throne. He was born according to Ibn Khalliqān in A. H. 479, in the environs of Sinjār. whence he received his name. One authority places his death in the year 552. He died at Merv. See Ibn Khalliqān (de Slane) I. 600.
See also D' Herbelot art Sangiar. Vol. III, p. 202, et seqq.
↩In Abul Feda (Annales), we find that Qairawān was founded in the year 50 II. (665-666 A.D.) and was completed five years later.
↩There was in ancient times a fork or arm of the sea of which the “Bitter Lakes” are remains. The canal of Trajan beginning at Babylon entered the Red Sea at Clysmon.
↩◌
Thou my life art when thou smilest
But my death when thou art angered.
Ah! thy cheek like summer roses
With the grains of musk be sprinkled!
‘Twixt thine eyelids reigns a Sulṭān,
Helpless, lo! I bow before him.
This comparison of the mole on a cheek to grains of musk is one of the commonest similes among Persian poets.
↩The following is abridged from the Ḥaiātu-l-Ḥaiwān. “The stag is fond of snakes which it eats wherever it can find them, commencing from the tail of the snake. Sometimes the stag gets bitten by the snake in which case its tears flow down, and fill two hollows beneath its eyes large enough to contain the finger, here they congeal and become solid like wax. This wax is used as an antidote against the poison of snakes and scorpions, and when given by the mouth is useful as a remedy for other poisons. The stag also eats crabs, and hunts for fish by walking along the margin of the lake or river, when the fish come out of curiosity to see it, this fact is made use of by fishermen who are wont to dress in the skin of the stag.
The horns of the stag, which are shed yearly, are of great service to mankind, more especially as a remedy for impotence, and to facilitate parturition. If a portion is burned and administered mixed with honey it acts as a vermifuge, and when used as a dentifrice removes discoloration of the teeth. Used for fumigation it drives away reptiles and other venomous animals. If a portion is hung round the neck, the wearer will not sleep so long as it remains there. A draught of the stag's blood dissolves stone in the bladder.”
↩It is a cardiac tonic removing palpitation, and faintness, relieves dysentery and globulent distension. A suppository of musk assists parturition.”
See also Ibn Baiṭār (Sontheimer) Vol. II. pp. 513 et seqq. for a full account of the statements of various authors regarding musk.
↩“The tree is very abundant in Iṣfahān and bears brilliantly red flowers which are edible, having a sweet taste which is communicated to wine. The wood is soft and when burnt yields a black ash which is used as a cosmatic The decoction of the root bark when drunk is a certain emetic” Sontheimer does not give the botanical name. See note 4 page 109.
↩◌ Zarīr. The Burhān-i-Qāṭi‘ says this is “a herb with which they dye clothes, it is called also asparag (◌) According to some however it is the leaf of Zard choba (turmeric) some other authors say it is a flower. It is also the name given to the bile, and also to jaundice. (Burhān-i-Qāṭi‘)
In Vüllers we find ◌ (Asparag) herba flava tingendo inserviens, alias ◌ (Zarīr) or ◌ (wars).
According to Ibn Baiṭār, (Sontheimer) ◌ wars is Memecylon tinctorium— N. O. Melastomaceæ, regarding which Drury in his Useful plants of India, page 291, says, “The leaves are used in dyeing affording a delicate yellow lake…they are also good for dyeing clothes red…by itself it gives an evanescent yellow.
↩◌ Khīrī-i-Khiṭā‘ī — is dark purple
◌ Khīrī-i-Mīrdīnī — is violet. It is also called ◌ Haft rang.
◌ Khīrī-i-Ṣaḥrā‘ĩ — is red and white; called also
◌ Khīrī-i-Khirāmī.
◌ Khīrī-i-Shīrāzī — is yellow; called also ◌ Guli hamesha bahār and in Arabic ◌ ‘Aṣfīr (Burhān-i-Qāṭi‘).
See also Vüllers.
According to Ibn Baiṭār (Sontheimer) this plant is the wall-flower Cheiran-thus Cheiri. N. O. Cruciferæ.
↩◌ tangshakar, means the lip of a mistress, and also a sugar jar of special form having a very narrow mouth.
The heart of the jar of sugar from the tightness of her honied lips, is more tightly bound than is the cincture of her waist.
↩◌A lip more alluring than the seed of the pomegranate
A tongue far sweeter than the whitest sugar.
A favourite simile with Persian poets.
↩“And speak to men kindly, and be steadfast in prayer and give alms.” The proportion to be given varies with the different kinds of property.
Ḥajj. The Pilgrimage to Mecca which is incumbent upon all Muslims who have the necessary means.
‘Umrah. The lesser pilgrimage, which may be performed at any time except during the 8th, 9th, and 10th days of Zūl Hijjah. See Hughes (Dict. of Islām.)
↩◌ khūlūf is defined as the smell of the breath of one who fasts.
A Ḥadīṯ says.
◌.The breath of one fasting is sweeter in the sight of God than sweet smelling savour.
See also Lane. Art. ◌. It became altered (for the worse).
The Qāmūs, says
↩◌.
◌.
All of these readings appear to be corrupt and the following reading seems reasonable, and has been adopted in the translation.
↩◌.
There is a long account of the ‘Anqā in the Haiyātu-l-Ḥaivān where it says on the authority of Qazwīnī that the ‘Anqā is the largest of all birds which can seize an elephant as easily as a kite snatches up a rat. It once lived among men, but caused them so much annoyance that by the prayers of a holy prophet it was banished to an nninhabited island in mid ocean beyond the Equator, full of enormous animals. When the ‘Anqā flies there is a sound like thunder and floods. It lives 2000 years, and pairs at the age of 500. It is said that the claws are made into large drinking cups. A description of the mode of capturing the ‘Anqā is also given but is too long to quote.
Among the proverbs of the Arabs one is ◌ which is said of any one of whose reformation there is no hope. “May the Anqā fly away with him.”
They also say ◌ Liberality, the Ghūl, and the Anqā are three names of things unattainable and non-existent.
To dream of the ‘Anqā is also said to ensure marrying a beautiful woman, or if already married, to ensure having a brave son.
↩In the ◌ by ◌ we find: Philosophers are of four kinds,—those who arrive at wisdom simply by meditation, those who arrive at it simply by purification of the mind by seclusion and retirement, those who arrive at it by combining these two. These last are called the Ishrāqī sect.
See Ḥājī Khalifāh ◌ See also de Slane, Proleg. Ibn Khal: III. 167.
↩It is the ◌ of Genesis xxxvii. 25 and xliii. 11, where it is translated in our version myrrh. The Greeks called it ◌. The true myrrh (Ar. ◌ murrun) is different.
The ◌ Ashhab is the white ambergris which was accounted the best.
↩The word ◌ is derived in Burhān-i-Qāṭi‘ from ◌ and ◌ i.e., mule-like, because mules have no offspring.
↩“A bait (poem) is called bait for the reason that bait means a house and they compare the bait of poetry (◌) with the bait of hair (◌) and he quotes the verses by Abū-l-Alā Ma‘rrā
↩◌
The brilliancy of beauty is shewn forth in two tents
The tent of poetry (sha‘r) and the tent of hair (shi‘r)
“A bait (poem) is called bait for the reason that bait means a house and they compare the bait of poetry (◌) with the bait of hair (◌) and he quotes the verses by Abū-l-Alā Ma‘rrā
↩◌
The brilliancy of beauty is shewn forth in two tents
The tent of poetry (sha‘r) and the tent of hair (shi‘r)
The Wahhābī writers define Shirk as of four kinds:
| ◌ | Shirku-l-‘ilm. | Ascribing knowledge to others than God. |
| ◌ | Shirku-t-taṣarruf. | Ascribing power to others than God. |
| ◌ | Shirku-l-'ibādah. | Offering worship to created things. |
| ◌ | Shirku-l-‘ādah. | The performance of ceremonies which imply reliance on others than God. |
Hughes. Dictionary of Islām, p. 579, Art. Shirk. 9. v.
See also Qur'ān, xxxv. 38 and xlvi. and 3, and various other places.
↩↩Patiālī. In Aliganj tahsil, 22 miles north of Etah, a ruined fort still
exists (Hunter Imp. Gaz.)
Kanpila. In Farakhabad district, celebrated in Mahābhārata—(Imp.
Gaz.)
Bhojpūr. The residence of the Ujjainiah Rajahs, west of Arrah and
north of Sasseram, a pargana in the Sirkār Rohtās Bihār.
“The Jājnagar here mentioned was evidently east of the Brahmaputra and corresponds to Tippera. The Sunārgānw, presently mentioned as on the road to Jājnagar, is described by Rennell as being once a large city and now a village on a branch of the Brahmaputra 13 miles S. E. of Dacca.”
It is marked in Rennell's Map given in Vol. III. of Tieffenthaler “Sonner-gong.” See Map N. 6. See J. A. S. B., 1874, p. 82.
↩MS. (A) has, correctly, ◌
↩For a full account of Sa‘dī see the preface to Platt's Gulistān. See also Ātashkada, p. 284.
↩narrow.
Other proverbs of this kind are the following:—
↩◌ When Fate comes, caution is useless.
◌ When Fate comes the eye is blind.
↩◌
Hence the proverb ◌
Had there been any good in the owl the hunter would not have passed it by. See also page 157, note 1. See also J. A. S. B. 1877, p. 81.
↩For an interesting account of charms against the evil eye see Lane's Modern Egyptians.
↩Possibly we should read ◌ mafsada. Jauzhar the head and tail of Draco, see Burhān-i-Qāṭī also ‘Āīn-i-Akbārī, II. (J.) p. 9, also Kashshāf, I. 202.
↩In MS. (B) the word ◌ is omitted.
↩The ◌ ṭanbūr is a kind of mandolin with chords of brass wire played with a plectrum. The word was originally ◌ from its being likened to the tail of a lamb. (Lane).
↩The poet, relates some of his experiences as a captive — “At the time that this learner of evil, the author, was a captive in the hands of the Mughūls—may such days never return!—travelling in a sandy desert, where the heat made my head boil like a canldron, I and the man who was with me on horseback arrived thirsty at a stream by the roadside. Although the naphtha of my life was heated I would not inflame it with oil by drinking a draught of water. Both my guard and his horse drank their fill and expired immediately.” Elliott, III, Appendix, p. 545.
↩The astrologers state that when a conjunction of all the planets shall take place in one of the watery constellations (Scorpio, Pisces, Aquarius) a deluge like that which destroyed the world in the time of Noah will occur again.
↩◌ Banātu-u-na‘sh, this name “The daughters of the bier” is given by the Arabs to the constellation Ursa Major. See Lane, s. v. ◌
The origin of the name “The daughters of the bier” is said by Sedillot in his Notes to the Prolégomenes des Tables Astronomiques d'Oloug Beg, to be that “the Arab Christians called the “Chariot” or the four stars composing the body of the Great Bear ◌ Feretrum Lazarī, and the three stars (the handle of the plough) of the tail Maria, Martha ac ancilla.” The Persians have a superstition that if two people are together and one of them points out this constellation to the other, one of the two will die within the year.
The allusion to the Pleiades is explained by the following verses of Ibnu-l-Amīd (see de Slane, Ibn Khall.: III. 263).
“I have seized on one of the opportunities which life offers to form with my companions a part of the band of the Pleiades, and, if you do not aid us to maintain our rank in that choir by sending us some wine, we shall be sad like the daughters of the hearse.”
The Pleiades is considered a fortunate asterism (cf.) Job. xxxviii. 13, “The sweet influences of Pleiades.”
↩The Martyr Prince was killed on the last day of Ẕūl Hijjah the morrow of which was the sacred month of Muḥarram.
The ‘Āshūrā (the tenth) is a voluntary fast day observed on the tenth of the month of Muḥarram. We read in the Mishkāt (VII.) Ibn Abbās said “I did not see his highness intend the fast of any day which he considered more noble than the ‘Āshūrā and the fast of Ramaẓān.” Again “the fast of the day ‘Āshūrā I am hopeful will cover the faults of the coming year.” (Matthews, Vol. I. p. 402).
“It is the only day of Muḥarram observed by the Sunnī Muslims, being the day on which, it is said, God created Adam and Eve, heaven and hell, the tablet of decree, the pen, life and death.” (Hughes, Dict. of Islām).
↩↩> ◌
> ◌
Consequently in the translation I have omitted the incorrectly repeated lines, and have given these in their place.
↩> ◌
MS. (B) has ◌ while the text has this as an alternative reading for ◌.
MS. (B) is the reading adopted for this line, reading however ◌ (text) and MS. (A) for ◌ MS. (B) in the second line.
↩↩> ◌
↩> ◌
This and the following are transposed in the text.
↩It refers to the circumstances already related under which the Khān-i-Shahīd, the Martyr prince met his death. Firishta relates that having defeated the enemy the “generals of Hindustān discarded all caution and pursued the fugitives while the Muḥammad, the Martyr Khān, who had not performed the mid-day prayer, went hastily with 500 of his army to the margin of a large tank which then was near, alighted and engaged in prayer when his party were suddenly attacked by one of the Mughūl Generals with 2,000 men who were in ambush” (Tārīkh-i-Firishta, I. 143. Bombay Edition.) The Prince after a gallant fight was killed by an arrow and most of his men killed. It was here Amīr Khusrū was taken prisoner but escaped.
↩Solomon's famous signet ring in which lay the secret of all his power was stolen from him by the jinn Aṣṭarjī who while Solomon was bathing, personated him and demanded the ring from his wife (Yamīnah) to whom he had entrusted it. Obtaining it from her he sat on the throne and ruled the kingdom, Solomon having been cast out as an imposter. Solomon enfered the service of some fishermen who used to give him two fish daily as his wages, one of which he ate but sold the other to feed the poor. In the meantime Āṣaf recognized that it was not Solomon who was ruling, and brought 40 holy men (◌) before the throne each bearing an open copy of the Taurāt (Book of the Law) which they read aloud; Aṣṭarjī the demon was not able to bear this, rushed up to the roof of the palace, cast the ring into the water and fled. Solomon happened to be fishing that day but being tired fell asleep on the bank of the river, a large snake came out of the water and taking the green bough of a tree in its mouth was fanning Solomon as he slept, when the fisherman's daughter passed by; she ran off to her father and begged him to marry her to Solomon. Eventually this was settled (though Solomon protested his inability to provide a dowry) and Solomon married the girl. The fish which had swallowed the ring fell into their net on the following day and was given to Solomon with two other fish, Solomon took them and sold two of them and gave the other to the fisherman's daughter to fry. She struck a knife into it and the ring fell out, the whole house becoming illuminated, she screamed and fainted, Solomon seized the ring and put it on, thus recovering his lost kingdom.
↩↩> ◌
↩Said they Burn him and help your gods if ye are going to do so
We said Oh fire! be thou cool and a safety for Abraham.
↩> ◌
> ◌
The order of the following couplets differs from that of the text as will be seen.
↩> ◌
◌ Dāl-i-du‘ā Dāl signifies the letter with which the word du‘ā begins, while Dāll also means “that which shews the way.”
↩↩> ◌
↩> ◌
The Muḥājirīn were the refugees from Mecca, and to avoid jealousy and strife between them and the Anṣār, each of the Anṣār was made to swear an oath of brotherhood with one of the Muḥājirīn. This bond was however broken shortly after the battle of Bedr. See Muir's Life of Mahomed, Vol. III. p. 26, also Palmer's translation of the Qur'ān, p. xxxiv. and Hughes Dict. of Islām s. v. Ansār.
↩And besides these are gardens twain … In each two gushing springs.
The proverb runs ◌ See Roebuck O. P. 484.
↩