Haft paykar - The Haft Paikar of Niẓāmī (Wilson)

580. Lit., “became a garden or grove with such (power of) giving repose to the heart.”

581. A reference to the old star-worship.

582. Iram. See Notes 90, 1,203, and 1,605.

583. The sign Aries is, as it were, an adorner of the world with the flowers of Spring when the sun enters it at the beginning of that season.

584. A metaphor implying that he was sure to find joy.

Venus, the minstrel of the sky, is mentioned appositely with Bahrām, which besides being a name of men means Mars.

585. The sun is in the fourth sky, and therefore “within”; the moon is in the first sky, and hence “without”.

586. By “the sun within” are meant the brilliant decorations inside of the palace; and by “the moon without”, the resplendent reflection cast by its domed roof.

587. Furāt, “sweet (water),” is also the name of the Euphrates,

“The Stream of Life.” (See Notes 274, 1,201, 1,562, and 1,698.)

588. “The Sidra-throne” is the heavenly lotus tree in which Gabriel is supposed to rest. Here the village is likened to it on account of its verdure.

589. Lit., “on that Kayānian roof.” The Kayānian was the second dynasty of Persian kings.

590. Shushtar, or Shūshtar, is the modern capital of the province of Khūzistān (Susiana), otherwise called ‘Arabistān on account of its numerous Arab inhabitants. Shushtar is on the River Kārūn, and between it and the town of Bihbahān is one of the most beautiful and fertile valleys of Persia. Hence the Author’s expression, “All the plain was (as) the expanse of Shūshtar.”

About 36 miles west of Shushtar are the ruins of Sūsa, the ancient capital, and the favourite winter residence of the Akhæmenian kings of Persia.

Its modern Arab name Sūs now generally prevails in the province, though the Persian name is Shūsh.

Tustar is said to be an older name of the modern Shushtar or Shūshtar. (See also Note 1,067.)

591. Kabg-i darī is explained by the Farhang-i Shu‘ūrī as a more elegant and beautiful species of partridge, i.e., presumably, than the kabg-i ghair-i darī. Some authorities, however, explain it as “the mountain partridge”. It is said to be larger than the other species mentioned.

592. Lit., “from this colour and scent.”

593. “Firm and forceful,” sakht-kūsh; lit., “striving, contending hard”; perhaps, “strenuous, energetic in worldly affairs.”

The reading sakht-gūsh, “deaf,” is not, I think, admissible here.

594. “Seven fortresses”; i.e., “the seven skies.”

The Author likens the words of the vazīr in their power to move to a crane fancied poetically by him to have served to raise and move the seven skies into their places.

595. This and the preceding distich occur only in I.O. MS. 1168. The present distich reads in 1168 as follows:

Dih, “village,” would mean “the spiritual world”, but it is possible that the correct reading may be either rah, “path,” i.e., here, “the spiritual path,” or dil, “heart.”

Adopting either of these words one would render,

“He sought the path (or his heart) and turned his heart from self, (and) understood his business in a trice.”

The heart, in Ṣūfī teaching, is when purified the place of manifestation of the glory and beauty of the Deity. He who finds the heart finds God. Cf. the term ṣāḥib-dil, “a master of heart, a Ṣūfī.”

596. Lit., “he packed up his effects from that office of (King) Solomon.” Solomon is a type of very powerful kings, and was said to have also control over the jinn or genii, including the fairies.

597. Munẕir, the son of Nu‘mān.

598. Dūd, “smoke,” means also “affliction”.

599. Lit., “he brought the dominion to its own proper arrangement, settlement, or stability”; i.e., he consolidated the government.

600. “Scattered pearls”; i.e., spoke with eloquence.

601. Lit., a scholastic Magian.

602. I.O. MS. 1168, only, reads,

603. i.e., lay open before him like caskets of jewels.

604. “Lines geometrical”; i.e., “geometrical figures, geometry.”

“The Mijastī”; i.e., Ptolemy’s work on astronomy , from the adjective of which the Arabs by prefixing al have formed the term Al-Mijastī, “the Almagest.”

605. Āb-gūn, “water-coloured,” means “blue”, and also “lustrous”. Cf. ābī, “watery, blue.”

606. i.e., he had studied the sky in full detail.

607. The “store-houses” are the “stars”—“far-seeing” as knowing future events.

608. i.e., by the guidance of the astrolabe and astronomical tables he would obtain a clear view of the mysteries of the heavens.

609. Lit., “the polo-stick=playing sky.” The polo-stick of the sky is its curve.

“To bear off the ball” means “to excel”, and the sense of the hemistich is that he exceeded the sky in rapidity.

610. i.e., by skill in arms and horsemanship.

611. “Dawn’s sword”; i.e., the white streak of the dawn. “Despaired”; lit., “threw away (its) shield,” “its shield” being presumably “the sun”.

612. Ja‘b, an Arabic verbal noun, means “throwing prostrate, knocking down”. Ja‘ba would therefore signify “one act of knocking down”. The ordinary meaning of ja‘ba is “quiver”, so that the apparent sense is, “he planted a quiver upon the mark.”

613. i.e., it turned into a stream of fiery sparks.

614. i.e., curls from the manes.

615. The “lock” is supposed to be a padlock with a ring, which is cut through by his sword.

616. i.e., presumably, would split a hair.

617. “From him”; i.e., as if he were the lion, and they boasted of being like him.

618. “Yaman’s star”; i.e., Canopus. (See Note 536.)

619. Adīm, “goats’ leather,” for which Yaman was famous, means also a “tract, a surface, an expanse”, so that it may be rendered “tracts, land, or regions”.

“(all) rawness took away”; i.e., “brightened.”

In connexion with the other sense of adīm, namely, “leather,” it should be explained that the rays of Canopus were supposed to have a brightening effect upon raw leather.

620. Nu‘mān, the son of Munẕir, and the grandson of the Nu‘mān to whom Bahrām was entrusted.

621. i.e., to give éclat to society.

622. Lit., “gave him the delight of riding.” This might mean “taught him riding”, if it had not previously been stated that he had acquired perfection in that art. (But see the next distich.)

623. All the I.O. MSS. and printed copies I have consulted read,

Murda-yī gūr būd dar nakhchīr murda-rā kai buvad zi-gūr guzīr.

“He was the dead one of the onager in the chase—how can the dead avoid the tomb?”

Seeing no sense in this, I have translated from the reading of the B. ed. of 1328, except in substituting mard for murda in the second hemistich:

Mard-i dah gūr būd dar nakhchīr mard-rā kai buvad zi-gūr guzīr.

The sense and rhetorical merit of the distich depend upon the two meanings of gūr, namely, “onager” and “tomb”.

624. i.e., the arrow was entombed in the eye of an onager, the first gūr meaning “onager”, and the second, “tomb.” (See the last Note.)

625. i.e., the fairy was hopeless of her beauty before its superior beauty and symmetry, and the hurricane was powerless to compete with it in swiftness: its occupation was gone.

626. i.e., surpassed the sun and moon in rapidity.

627. i.e., it was related to the sky in fleetness, and could afford to give the wind a stage’s start, lit., precedence.

628. Lit., “It’s tail had produced the writhings of a hundred snakes.”

In this hemistich the double meaning is fairly well represented. The sense is that the twistings of its tail surpassed the writhings of the snake, and so produced writhings in the snake, namely, those of envy.

In the second hemistich allusion is made to the strenuous galloping and hard trampling of the horse, which dug graves (gūr), as it were, for the onagers (gūr).

Another sense may be that its hoofs were so superior to those of the onager that they killed it with envy. (See Note 623.)

629. An expression of its swiftness, the onager being one of the fleetest of animals.

630. Lit., “from weariness of things.”

631. i.e., from its galloping all over the hunting-ground the latter became filled with designs made by its shoes.

632. The word gard has here apparently the senses of gardīdan, “revolving,” of ravāj, “passing current, currency, briskness of market,” and of raunaq, “glory, splendour,” the last two senses deriving from the first. It may also have, fourthly, the sense of ghubār, “dust.”

First, compared with the swiftness of the horse the sky did not (seem even to) revolve.

Secondly, on account of that swiftness the sky had no market.

Thirdly, compared with that swiftness it had no glory or splendour.

Fourthly, it did not see the dust raised by it (in its swift galloping), much less could the dust overtake it.

For the first three senses cf. dar gard būdan; silsila-yi fulān chīz ba-gard āmadan; and az gard uftādan. For the fourth, ba-gard rasīdan.

633. Az sar afgandan means “to throw down forcibly”. Az sar-u pusht afgandan would be a stronger expression of the same.

634. Lit., “the officership of the plain.”

635. I.O. MS. 402, and the B. ed. of 1328, have banda-ī-rā zi-band bi-g’shādī, “he would loosen a captive from (its) bonds.”

636. “King,” Gūrkhān; a title assumed (though not in that form) by Yelui Tashi, the founder of the Qārā-Khiṭāy dynasty in Chinese Turkistan. After the defeat of King Sanjar, the Seljūqide, in 1141 by the then Qārā-Khiṭāy ruler, the latter took possession of Transoxiana, which was held by the dynasty till their downfall in 1210. The title Gūrkhān, which is said on Muslim authority to mean Khān-i Khānān, “King of Kings,” is applied here to the dedicatee as a compliment. (See also supplementary Note at end of Commentary, and Note 2,002.)

637. “A place of tombs,” gūr-khāna (lit., “house of tombs”), means here “the world”.

Ants and snakes are supposed to abound in cemeteries.

638. “That land”; lit., “that country and the house-surroundings,” if diyār-u diman be the correct reading. Or since diyār is a plural of dār, “house,” and diman means “rubbish or débris lying about houses”,—one might say “surroundings”,— we may render, “the houses and their surroundings,” but the idea is “the land or country” generally.

The B. ed. of 1328 has, however, ān diyār-u zaman, “that country and time.”

639. i.e., who himself, Bahrām, surpassed the sky in swiftness and exaltitude, in contradistinction to Bahrām (Mars), who is not supposed to do so.

640. i.e., was enjoying the pleasure of the chase.

641. Lit., “the sky became completely one with the earth.”

642. “Like flowing water”; i.e., “swiftly.”

643. Panja is “the open hand; the hand of man, or the foot of beasts and birds viewed as an instrument of prehension”. That it also means “claws” is evident from the terms panja tīz kardan and panja zadan.

644. “From above”; i.e., from the onager’s back.

645. I take the reading of I.O. MS. 1168, and point as follows:

reading sfta as safta in the first hemistich, and as sufta in the second, and rendering suft in the first hemistich “shoulder”, and in the second “hole”.

646. Lit., “the story of the lion and onager became long.”

647. “The picture”; lit., “that embroidery.”

648. I read,

Kashtī means “a ship” and also “a wine-bowl of that shape”.

Rauẓa means “a garden” or “a grove”, but here, as in a previous passage, it apparently means “the palace”.

The preposition az before rauẓa seems to point to the action’s beginning.

649. i.e., prepared to kill them.

650. i.e., by her beauty.

651. “A musky line”; i.e., “a black line.” “Streak on streak”; lit., “spot upon spot.”

652. Lit., “from its fellow-runners.”

653. The first hemistich describes the russet verging upon yellow colour of the onager. The second speaks of the white or cream-coloured parts of the body. The face is perhaps the ruddiest part.

654. The Arabs made their arrows of reeds. The onager’s leg is peculiarly straight, with joints like those of the reed.

655. “A diamond dagger”; i.e., “a bright dagger.” The onager’s ears are very white and bright, particularly in summer.

656. The breast stands out free from the shoulder which is peculiarly flat.

657. I read katāra, “dagger,” with I.O. MS. 777.

The ear stands upright away from the neck.

658. I read for the second hemistich with the B. ed. of 1328:

Most of the I.O. MSS. and printed editions have,

By “the strap” is meant the dark line along the back.

“The saddle-pommel” is the ridge on the back near the neck.

The “two roads” are two white lines on each side of the central dark line.

Kūha, “pommel,” means also “hill”, so that, in a secondary sense, it is as if a hill were standing between two roads.

659. The secondary meaning of the first hemistich is,

“The deviation of its crupper (in colour) from the dark part of the skin.”

The meaning is that it gained by the contrast of colour, as the brightness of silver is enhanced when it is set against something dark. Kullun ga‘izzu min ḍiddi-h, “Everything is enhanced by its opposite.”

660. There is a suggestion of a secondary sense in pīh, “fat,” and khūn, “blood,” which both mean “pride”.

661. One species of marvel of Peru, the ṣaḥrā-yī or “wild”, is, says Vullers, alba et rubra. I have omitted in translation the distich which follows the present one, as it seems to me to have no sense. It does not occur in I.O. MS. 1168.

The least unintelligible reading is, I think, that of I.O. MS. 1491:

Rangi-y-az khūn bar-ū duvāl-andāz rāst chun Zangi-yī duvālak-bāz.

662. The tail is closely joined to the hind-quarters.

By the second hemistich the Author means probably that it was proud and contumacious. The onager is certainly a determined biter and kicker.

663. “The lion”; i.e., Bahrām.

664. Gūr in the first hemistich means “onager”, and in the second “grave”.

665. Gūrkhān. (See Note 636.)

Here, however, the term, which may bear the sense of wild-ass = King, is applied to Bahrām as an ardent hunter of the onager. (See also Note 2,002.)

666. Some I.O. MSS. and the B. ed. of 1328 have kas, “a person,” instead of bas, but the latter word seems to have here the sense of qaṭ‘ kun, i.e., “cut off, omit (the idea of).”

667. By “plain” is meant presumably the ordinary hunting-ground.

668. I read with I.O. MS. 402,

Most I.O. MSS. read,

ba-shikār-afganī basīch shuda, but I do not think we can have basīch shuda for basīch karda. It might possibly, however, be used in an impersonal way.

669. The “fire” is that which comes from the dragon’s mouth; the “smoke” is its long black body.

670. Azhdahā, “a dragon,” means also “a brave man”.

671. Lit., “I, and justice to the onager, and giving redress.”

672. “Two-headed shafts.” The word used is miqrāẓa, which means “an instrument like a pair of scissors”, and signifies here a double-headed arrow formed to cut as well as pierce. (See Note 1,885.) The Persians made their arrows of wood— commonly of the white poplar. The Arabs made theirs of reeds. (Cf. Note 654.)

673. Tūz or tūzh (archaic tōz or tōzh) is the bark of a tree used for covering saddles, bows, etc.

674. Lit., “when the plain became narrow to the dragon.”

675. Nāchakh seems to be used by Nizāmī in the sense of “a short javelin”. The dictionaries give also the senses of “battle-axe”, “halbert”, and “two-headed spear”. For the length of the nāchakh, cf. the distich:

“He gave him such a stroke of the twenty-two inch javelin that both (his) coat of mail and also (his) body were pierced.” The girih is “three finger-breadths”, so that nuh girih, “nine girih,” would be about twenty-two inches.

676. All the I.O. MSS. and printed copies I have consulted, except 1168, read hasht-musht. 1168 has hasht-pusht. The B. ed. of 1328 has hasht-bakhsh. The first means “eight-fisted”; the second “eight-backed”; the third “eight-giving”, or “eight-portioned”. Only the first two need, I think, be considered.

The literal sense of the first can be only “having eight handles”, or “having the length of eight fists”. “Having eight handles,” taken literally, would be a perfectly useless qualification, since a javelin could be brandished only by holding it in a particular part.

“Having the length of eight fists” is, however, quite probable, since “fist” is used as a measure of length.

The second epithet, shash-pahlū, “six-sided,” is also, I think, to be taken literally, since it is not improbable that the javelin was sometimes made sexagonal. If pusht be the correct reading, it cannot, I think, be taken literally, since the meaning, “blade (of a sword),” the only one applicable, though given by Vullers, is undoubtedly a misinterpretation, the word pusht in his illustrative quotation having the sense of “back (of a sword)”. Now a javelin has no back, and therefore pusht must be taken metaphorically. Hasht-pusht would therefore presumably mean “giving strenuous support”, one sense of pusht being “support”.

In this case the second epithet, shash-pahlū, would mean, I think, khailī pahlū-dār, i.e., “most beneficial or helpful,” one sense of pahlū being “benefit”, or “utility”.

677. All except I.O. MS. 1491 have sutūn-i dirakht, “the column of a tree,” i.e., “a column-like tree.”

678. i.e., it can soar above it.

679. Ahriman, the principle of evil, opposed to Hurmuzd (Hormuzd), the principle of good.

It also means “a fiend, a demon”.

680. I am reading, with I.O. MS. 1168, na-dīd qarār. Some editions have, bi-dīd qarār. If this be taken, the translation should be, “When the onager saw that the king was at rest”; i.e., that he was at liberty from all he had been doing.

681. Gūrkhān. (See Notes 636, 665, and 2,002.)

Gūr-khāna, lit., “a tomb-house,” means “a grave-yard, a tomb”, and also “a cavern”.

Dar khum kardan, “to put into a jar,” has the appearance of an idiom, but the dictionaries do not give it.

Dar fuqā‘ī kardan, “to put into a beer-jar or jug,” means “to try to delude”. (See C. E. Wilson’s Translation of Rūmī’s Masnavī, Book II.)

682. Ravān, “lawful, licit,” means primarily “moving”. It might here be also rendered “immediately”.

683. Ḥisāb-i kasī bā khvad kardan is not explained in the dictionaries, but the sense is obvious.

684. The ant is a type of lowliness and weakness, so that the second hemistich would express the king’s great power and courage, as the first does his clemency.

685. i.e., to the king of Persia.

686. Mushrif, an officer in a treasury who authenticates accounts and writings.

687. I read with the B. ed. of 1328, V-īnchunīn ganj-khānai ki gushād.

The nearest to this are I.O. MSS. 402 and 1168; 402 has,

Īnchunīn ganj-i ganj-khāna gushād.

1168 has,

V-īnchunīn ganj-u ganj-khāna gushād.

688. Ba-‘azīzī sitad ba-khvārī dād.

I.O. MS. 402, only, has,

Jumla bakhshīd-u dāda dād bi-dād, dāda being of course a mistake for dād-i.

689. Lit., “the king”; i.e., Bahrām. Bahrām has generally been called “king” in compliment, but I have rendered generally “prince” for the sake of clearness.

Besides this, the title shāh is often applied to a prince. (Cf. especially the Shāh-nāma.)

690. i.e., the room was so beautifully adorned with paintings that it was like a store-house of treasure.

691. It is evident from this and a former passage (see the distich before that to which Note 559 is appended) that kār-gāh is used in the sense of a work of art, or a place containing works of art, as well as in that of a place where work is done, i.e., a factory, office, or studio.

692. It is clear from this and a former distich (see that to which Note 540 is appended) that the word ‘amārī, “an elephant-litter,” is used in the sense of “room”, or “house”.

693. “India’s rājā”; i.e., the rājā of Qinnauj. Albīrūnī gives rābī as the special title of the rājās of Qinnauj, which was, according to Istakhrī, the geographer (about A.D. 950), the capital of India.

Albīrūnī (quoted by R. C. Dutt) says that in the 11th century “the whole of northern India was divided into small Rajput kingdoms and principalities which formed a strong confederation of Hindu nations. Rajyapala, king of Qinnauj, was the central ruler, and his vast dominions included Bengal in the east”.

As a matter of fact, however, Qinnauj was not in the First Clime, as defined by Jurjānī, the geographer (about A.D. 1460), but lay considerably to the north of it.

The Burhān-i Qāṭi‘ assigns India to the First Clime, in dependence upon Saturn.

Taking Jurjānī’s definitions of the Climes, the greater part of India would be situated within the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Climes, which extended from latitude 12° 45' to 20° 30' N., from 20° 30' to 27° 30' N., from 27° 30' to 33° 40' N., and from 33° 40' to 39° N. To the south of Jurjānī’s First Clime it reaches to latitude 8° 6' N.

694. By khāqān, in the Persian poets, is always to be understood khāqān-i Chīn, which means literally the emperor of China.

The Burhān-i Qāṭi‘ says the title is that of any king of China, Cathay, or Turkistan; and the Farhang-i Shu‘ūrī adds that by frequent usage it has become the designation of any king.

By khāqān or khāqān-i Chīn, however, the poets generally mean the predominant ruler of Turkistan, whom, rightly or wrongly, they apparently think to have had control also over Chinese Turkistan, from which, possibly, arises the confusion. The title, however, was also ascribed to the emperor of Mongolia. The ruler of China proper they generally designate by his distinctive title faghfūr. Here, however, by khāqān is possibly really meant the emperor of China, though in a later Section it means the ruler of the Hayāṭila, a nation of Turkish stock, who frequently made war against Persia, and at several times brought it under subjection. (See Notes 991, 995, and 1,892.)

At the same time it should be remembered that however great the power of the predominant ruler of Turkistan might at any period have been, the influence of the emperor of China, owing partly to a community of religion, was very considerable over that country. In fact, theoretically at least, he was supposed to be sovereign lord over all the Turkish peoples who inhabited the regions north of the Sea of Aral and the province Farghāna. For this reason the predominant ruler of Turkistan might have been supposed to have been merely a governor on behalf of the emperor of China. How great the influence of China was is apparent from the fact that in later times the Hayāṭila, when threatened by the Muslims, requested that their territory should be brought directly under the control of China as Chinese provinces.

China, including Mongolia, would come into all the Seven Climes as defined by Jurjānī, but the Burhān-i Qāṭi‘ assigns it together with Khaṭā to the Second Clime, in dependence upon Jupiter. (See Note 207.)

Khaṭā (Cathay) sometimes means North China, and sometimes Chinese Turkistan. It cannot therefore be properly assigned to the Second Clime.

It may be added in conclusion that when the fair ones of China are spoken of by the Persian poets those of Chinese Turkistan, or of Turkistan are nearly always meant, since most of the towns mentioned in connexion with them are, or were, in those countries.

695. China; i.e., most probably here, either Chinese Turkistan, or Turkistan.

Ṭarāz, an ancient town in Turkistan famous for the beauty of its inhabitants. It was probably in about latitude 42° 36' N., and longitude 71° 15' E. (See the Map to Yule’s Cathay, where it appears under the name Talas.)

696. Khvārazm (Chorasmia), the modern Khanate of Khiva. Khvārazm would come into Jurjānī’s Fifth Clime which, according to him, extended from latitude 39° to 43° 30' N.

697. Ṣaqlāb, generally translated Slavonia, would come into Jurjānī’s Sixth and Seventh or most northerly Climes, which, according to him, extended from latitude 43° 30' to 47° 15' N., and from 47° 15' to 50° 30' N.

Ṣādiq Iṣfahānī, the geographer (about A.D. 1635), in his Taḥqīqu ’l-I‘rāb says of the Ṣaqlāb territory:

“After Ṣaqlāb (the son of Japhet) is named the most northern region of the Seven Climes; and in that region such is the coldness of the air, that the people construct their dwelling-places underground.”

In this account the geographer is evidently including territory in European Russia considerably north of Jurjānī’s Seventh Clime.

By Ṣaqlāb are generally designated the regions of modern Russia in Europe inhabited by Slavonic nations, exclusively of the Russians, who in Nizāmī’s time inhabited only the western parts of Russia, and were considered Turanians by the Oriental writers.

Nizāmī, however, uses the term Rūs as an alternative of Ṣaqlāb, from which it must, I think, be inferred that his knowledge of geography was rather imperfect.

The word Turk used in the second hemistich means simply “a beauty”, and might be used of a person of any nation.

698. Lit., “a Turk of Greek dress with Chinese adornment”; Turk-i Chīnī-ṭarāz-i Rūmī-pūsh. Ṭarāz, however, means not only “adornment” but also “the border of a dress”, and this, I think, is its primary sense here. Rūmī, also, besides “Greek”, means “red”, so that we may have as a secondary sense that she had rosy cheeks bordered, as it were, with white— a red and white complexion.

In ṭarāz too there may be an allusion to Ṭarāz, the town in Turkistan famous for the beauty of its inhabitants.

Rūmī also means a particular kind of dress so that Rūmī-pūsh may mean simply “dressed in a Rūmī”.

699. Maghrib, Mauritania, designates generally north-western Africa from Tripoli to Morocco, and more particularly Morocco. It would come into Jurjānī’s Third Clime which, according to him, extended from latitude 27° 30' to 33° 40' N. That it extended farther north than 33° 40' is evident from the latitudes of some of the towns he himself includes in it, one of which, Kairwan, in Tunis, is in latitude 35° N.

The Burhān-i Qāṭi‘ does not include Maghrib among the Climes.

700. The Qaiṣar or Cæsar (of Rūm) is the ruler of the Eastern Empire. (See Note 546.)

Rūm, with Asia Minor, would be included in Jurjānī’s Fourth and Fifth Climes, which, according to him, extended from latitude 33° 40' to 39° N., and from 39° to 43° 30' N.

Although Constantinople comes within these limits, its latitude being 41° 1' N., Jurjānī includes it in the Sixth Clime.

The term Rūm has been also applied by Oriental geographers to Europe generally.

Istakhrī (about A.D. 950) says:

“The Franks, in general, we speak of as belonging to Rūm, because they have the same religion and king, though speaking various dialects.”

The king of whom Istakhrī speaks was the ruler of the Eastern Empire, whose capital, Constantinople, he took to be the chief place of Europe.

The Burhān-i Qāṭi‘ assigns Rūm to the Sixth Clime, in dependence upon Mercury.

701. Kisrá was the generic name of the Persian kings of the Sāsānian dynasty. It is said to be the Arabic form of the Persian Khusrau (Chosroës). The princess in question was of course not the daughter of the king then living, but was of the royal House.

Kai-Kā‘ūs was the second king of the second dynasty, the Kayānian.

Persia would come within Jurjānī’s Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Climes, for the definitions of which see Note 207.

The Burhān-i Qāṭi‘ in its enumeration of the Seven Climes does not mention Persia generally, but only ‘Irāq and Khurāsān, which it assigns to the Fourth Clime, in dependence upon the sun.

702. Bast in the first hemistich is used apparently in the sense of basta. Az yak dast, “all together”; but the expression means possibly “by one hand”.

703. The eyes were supposed to see by a light of their own.

704. A young man with an incipient moustache is called ṭūṭī-khaṭ, i.e., “with a moustache like a parrot’s feathers.” The comparison has possibly reference to the colour, since dark green is apparently confused with black, the word sabz meaning both. “Sugar” means the “lips”.

Hence the meaning is simply “He had an incipient moustache”.

705. Galia, i.e., galia moschata (see Note 146), being of dark colour is compared here with incipient whiskers and beard.

“His moon” means “his face”. The sense is that he had incipient whiskers and beard.

706. Dabīr means “a writer”, but the same word is sometimes used to describe either writing or painting. Cf., e.g., nigāshtan.

707. Lit., “hair by hair,” mūy ba-mūy.

708. i.e., he is both brave and strong, and also cunning.

709. “Diamond” in the first hemistich and “iron” in the second mean “sword”.

710. “His sight”; lit., “his place of sight,” nazar-gāh. The word means also “a hall of public audience”. The “light” means here also Bahrām; but see Note 703.

711. See Note 536.

712. Az sar-ī dānish-u kifāyat-i khvīsh. The translation seems a little strained, but it is rather unsatisfactory to refer “the knowledge and competence” to Munẕir when the object seems to be to compliment Bahrām. Besides this, kifāyat, in addition to its other senses, has that of “being one’s equal in position”.

713. i.e., he grew weary of it perforce, having reached his appointed time.

714. The city as opposed to the troops means the civilians.

715. “Valour”; lit., “sword.”

716. i.e., he had no claim to being near the direct line of descent, and was only a distant relative. This, of course, is a historical fact. See Canon Rawlinson’s Seventh Oriental Monarchy.

717. A belt, says the Bahār-i ‘Ajam, set with seven jewels in connexion with the seven planets, and peculiar to the Kayānian dynasty. The jewels, presumably, would be each one of the colour attributed to the sphere of the corresponding planet.

718. i.e., he substituted mourning for festive garments.

Nīl, “indigo, dark blue, black,” and sabz, “green, blue, black,” are both mourning colours.

Fīrūza, “turquoise,” the word used here, means light blue, but that colour was also used as mourning as is evident from this distich and from the termination of the story told in the Blue Dome. Red is a festive colour. Cf. jāma-yi ‘īd, “a red dress,” lit., “a festive garment.”

719. The sword is likened to a lion’s claws.

720. i.e., whatever natural advantages they have, they are all dependent upon, and look for my bounty.

721. i.e., if I do anything but try gently to convince them of their ill-conduct, leaving them then to their conscience, it will be a species of oppression.

722. An allusion to the poetry of Firdausī.

723. The “other bard” is Firdausī.

724. i.e., I am still inspired by the poetic spirit, but he has been withdrawn from it by death.

725. i.e., by appropriating his thought.

726. Lit., “the New Year’s breeze”; but the New Year in Persia begins on March the 21st, when the vernal breezes and showers bring out the blossoms and verdure which are all fresh and new, not old things patched up.

727. The Author is alluding here to the mode of treating a subject.

The first hemistich should refer more to the unity of the treasure than to that of the road, because the number of roads would not affect the position, which is the possession of the treasure, however reached.

728. i.e., of composing eloquent poetry.

729. Lit., “it is not my stipulation to repeat.”

730. i.e., I know how to treat the subject in a superior manner.

731. “Two workers”; lit., “two embroiderers, lace- or fringe-workers, ornamentists, or painters,” du muṭarriz. But the sense here is practically “two workers in fine diction”, or more particularly, “two historians,” i.e., historians of the achievements of kings, the earlier being Firdausī, and the later, Nizāmī.

732. Lit., “have made old coins new.”

733. i.e., Firdausī improved upon his predecessors, and Nizāmī improved upon Firdausī.

734. Lit., “silver in the assaying, or according to the standard.”

735. Lit., “The joiner of the set (of parts) of this high throne thus gives a part to the set.”

“The set.” The word is ‘aqd, which means in Persian “a cluster, series, row, or set (of things)” which go to form a whole. Cf. the line of Ḥāfiz:

ki bar nazm-ī tu afshānad falak ‘aqd-ī suraiyā-rā:

“that on thy verse the sky may pour the cluster of the pleiades.”

736. “He actively prepared”; lit., “he opened his wings, and bound his waist.”

All the editions I have consulted except I.O. MS. 1168 read, dar gushād, “opened the door (to hospitality),” but this does not contrast so well with bast miyān, “bound up (his) waist.”

1168 has bar gushād, which I have interpreted as par gushād. Bar gushād, with the sense of “opened his breast”, may, however, very probably be correct, and employed in the sense of bāzū gushād, “opened his arms,” which, pace the dictionaries, sometimes means “prepared for action”. (Cf. the Shāh-nāma.)

The Kayānian kings were those of the second Persian dynasty.

737. “Down to Aden in Yaman”: Az Yaman tā ‘Adan.

“In” is probably the sense here of az, which, as a preposition, generally means “from” or “of”, and occasionally “for”, or “in the way of”. (See also Note 1068.) Unless the Author by Yaman means its capital Ṣan‘ā, which is scarcely probable.

In any case the Author is mistaken, since the Munẕir-Nu‘mān dynasty, as before mentioned, did not rule over Yaman. (See Note 537.)

738. “Iron-strong”; lit., “iron-chewing,” an epithet usually applied to a spirited, powerful horse.

739. i.e., the perspiration of the troops from their exertions and rapid course was so copious that it reached the legendary Fish which was supposed to support the Ox on which the earth was imagined to rest; whilst the dust raised by them reached the moon.

Gard, “dust,” as applied to the moon, has also the sense of “beams”. (For the “Fish”, see also Notes 1,060 and 1,416.)

740. Lit., “the drummer had a plectrum (applied) to (his ears.”

741. The plain and mountain are likened to pots boiling up against the seven skies, which are likened by the Author to their covers or lids.

742. “The monarch of the world”; i.e., the usurper.

“A young dragon”; i.e., Bahrām.

743. “The heavens,” and “Canopus” mean Bahrām.

744. i.e., as an onager into the grave.

745. “Lay the dust”; i.e., calm disturbances.

746. i.e., to the court of the king whom they had elected.

747. “Expressed their views”; lit., “offered opinions.”

748. “They spurned (all) arrogance away”; i.e., they were influenced only by motives of prudence and expediency.

749. Lit., “Their deliberations ended in this (resolution).”

750. I.O. MS. 1491,

vā kard probably a mistake for vā-karda.

The B. ed. of 1328 has,

If these be correct, the sense would presumably be, “they wrote in a way calculated to produce a quick and satisfactory result”; or possibly, “they wrote with extreme foresight and care.”

But I.O. MS. 1168 reads,

which might give the sense, “they wrote in a natural, plain, and straightforward manner.” But the first might possibly signify, “they wrote without disguise,” (cf. pūst bāz kardan), and the second the opposite of this.

751. “The rightful king”; lit., “the new king.”

752. “The superscription.” Sar-i nāma means literally “the outside of the letter” where the superscription would be. Sar-nāma is “the superscription”.

Or possibly, sar-ī nāma means here simply “the superscription”, the iẓāfat being restored met. caus.

753. i.e., it had a cover of brocade-work, and was bright inside with words of wisdom.

754. “The picture-room of (His) good gifts”; i.e., the universe, the scene of His generosity.

755. i.e., the creating of the universe was a difficulty which He alone had power to overcome.

756. i.e., He has sealed the universe by the duty of the praise of Him.

757. Zamīn-u zamān, “the earth and time,” signify, according to Meninsky, “the universe,” but the separation of the two in the second hemistich prevents such a rendering. One might translate, “space and time.”

758. i.e., Bahrām.

759. “Ill-advised contention”; lit., “raw contention.”

The usurper means that he is not likely to suffer loss or damage from what he calls the raw or crude contention of an inexperienced person like Bahrām. (For Kisrá, see Note 701.)

760. i.e., I was always to be considered fortunate.

761. Lit., “But the Persians by force and shame aroused my zeal by their zealous kindness.”

762. i.e., only the person who is a foe to selfish desires can be a friend to the people of the world.

763. i.e., a world to be governed by unselfish care is not your world.

764. Lit., “with the headache of the world.”

765. Lit., “that the business, perchance, might have been my business”; i.e., that my business might have been simply attending to my own business, and not to that of others.

I.O. MS. 1168, and the B. ed. of 1328 read, without rhyme, in both hemistichs, kār, “occupation, business.”

Most of the I.O. editions have, in the first hemistich, yār, “friend.”

One might suggest kār in the first hemistich, and yār in the second, but this is not really necessary.

766. See Note 526.

767. i.e., it would be useless to seek to cultivate ground so barren and worthless.

768. “To strike cold iron” means to do something useless.

769. He means probably that he does not approve of the tone of the letter, but appreciates the good advice in it.

Or the sense may be that whilst he approves the good advice generally there are reasons why it does not fit his particular case.

Instead of pand-gūyanda-rā, “the speaker of advice,” we might read, pand-i gūyanda-rā, “the advice of the speaker.”

770. i.e., I would not condescend to seek possession even of the whole world.

771. “Throughout”; lit., “in vein and skin.”

772. Lit., “I am excusable for sin not committed.”

773. Lit., “after the dead”; i.e., after a person is dead. A well-known proverb.

774. The argument in this and the preceding distich seems to be that intelligence shows that the mischief of calumny arises from the readiness with which it is heard, and that when the hearer is essentially bad he exaggerates the calumny when reporting it. The moral is apparently that it is an evil thing to listen at all to calumny. I am taking the reading of I.O. MS. 402 and the I.O. B. ed. The B. ed. of 1328 varies a little from these, but has the same sense.

The other I.O. editions read,

Guftan-ash bad, shanīdan-ash bad-tar ast:

“His speaking is evil, his hearing is worse,” but the sense, I think, is not so good.

775. Lit., “is up to the time of action.”

776. This I take to be the most probable meaning of the rather enigmatical hemistich,

The only other sense I can see is,

“I will rejoice in what the (present) time may (now) offer,” but this, I think, is less satisfactory.

777. Ān kunam k’-az khudāy dāram sharm.

778. Gunāh, “offence, sin,” is used here in the sense of qi‘āb, “acts deserving punishment,” the opposite of savāb, “acts worthy of reward.”

779. Lit., “opinions were taken, given, or compared”; rāy-hā shud rāst.

780. The Zoroastrian mūbids or priests in earlier times formed an ecclesiastical council consulted by the king in religious questions. In later times they were also vazīrs or ministers, as we gather generally from Persian writers and also from the dictionaries. (See also Note 1,950.)

781. i.e., “you are really king.”

782. The name of Gushtāsp (Vistaspa, Hystaspes) is associated with Zoroaster in the Zend Avesta, and Western authorities generally make them contemporaneous. The difficulty is to find even approximately the date of Gushtāsp. According to Oriental accounts this king was the fifth of the second or Kayānian dynasty of Persia, but it is useless to seek his date from Oriental sources of information.

Professor Duncker concludes that Vistaspa and Zoroaster lived in about 1000 B.C., but from the evidence he puts forward one might be induced to agree with those authorities who make the date some hundreds of years earlier. Professor Jackson, of Columbia University, an eminent authority, thinks Zoroaster flourished during the Median supremacy and died about 583 B.C.

783. The Kais; i.e., the kings of the Kayānian dynasty.

784. Bahman, the grandson and successor of Gushtāsp. He is supposed to have been Artaxerxes Longimanus, Ardashīr-i Darāz-dast.

785. Dārā, i.e., Darius; presumably the opponent of Alexander.

786. Siyāmak was the son of Kayūmars the first king of the first or Pīshdādian dynasty of Persia.

787. Ardashīr, the grandson of Bābak, generally called Ardashīr-i Bābakān, was the first king of the Sāsānian dynasty of Persia.

788. Kayūmars, the first king of the first or Pīshdādian dynasty of Persia.

789. Lit., “which may suffer that covenant to be discharged.”

790. He means that they owed allegiance to him, and not to the usurper, and should therefore not have pledged themselves to the latter.

791. Jamshīd or Jam, the fourth king of the first or Pīsdādian dynasty of Persia. (See Note 1,377.)

792. Lit., “my dominion of inheritance is (both) the black and the white”; i.e., my inherited dominion is all things and all people; or, more particularly, Arabs and Persians.

793. i.e., he has given up his crown and throne; his spirit is in heaven, and his body is in the earth.

This simply adds to the assertion in the preceding distich— that the crown and throne are merely symbols—the assertion that they are also only transitory possessions. (Cf. the next distich.)

It is possible, however, to explain the second hemistich as meaning that he who is essentially a king is exalted to the sky and governs the whole earth; he has no need of the ordinary, visible insignia, the crown and throne. This, however, does not harmonize so well with the next distich, though it may do so with the succeeding one.

794. Afrīdūn, the sixth king of the first or Pīshdādian dynasty of Persia.

795. i.e., the mere symbols have not remained.

796. i.e., an insidious usurper has made puny efforts to hold me off.

797. i.e., Bahrām, a formidable opponent.

798. The terms “ant” and “gnat” are used in depreciation of the usurper.

799. i.e., the comparatively weak usurper can make himself prominent only until a formidable opponent like Bahrām appears.

“Trumpet”; lit., “white shell,” sapīd-muhra, a shell which was sounded as a trumpet.

800. i.e., so long as the usurper has only puny opponents he, not much more powerful himself, may think he is achieving great deeds.

801. This distich has practically the same sense as the preceding.

802. i.e., at the opening of Spring, which in Persia commences on the 21st of March. Bahrām likens himself to the light of the sun, and the usurper to a mere lamp.

803. “To eat one’s heart or liver” is “to suffer affliction.”

804. i.e., it is better to combat my enemies than to suffer such affliction.

805. Lit., “sacrifices a life,” fidā kunad jānī; but cf. the use of jān-fishānī, and jān-nisārī, which signify rather “making great sacrifices or endeavours in behalf of a person” than really sacrificing one’s life for him.

806. i.e., although I am really the king of Persia, the Arabs support me.

807. i.e., the Persians grasp and are supported by what belongs to me.

808. “The Kai”; i.e., the King descended from the Kayānian or second dynasty of Persia.

809. i.e., I have substantial value, whilst those others are vain and empty. By others he means pretenders and usurpers, including especially the then occupant of the throne.

810. The Author possibly means that a king should have sufficient authority in himself and in his descent to be able to raise an army. A mere retinue anyone might have; it is only a symbol of greatness like the throne and crown before mentioned.

“What dust” has also the sense, “what advantage.”

811. i.e., the legitimate chief alone should succeed.

812. i.e., I seek to do only what I have a right to do.

813. i.e., without infringing covenants.

814. Lit., “by which the compact that has been tied may be loosened.”

815. i.e., the envoys from the usurper.

816. “By race”; Gauhar, “race,” or “origin”, means also “essence, nature, intellect”.

“By name.” His name was Bahrām; he would be as king Bahrām V.

817. “To smear a sun or the sun with clay” means to try to hide virtues which are manifest.

818. “The lion”; i.e., Bahrām. “The wolf”; i.e., the usurper.

819. Tīgh-u jām, “sword and cup,” are, no doubt, equivalent to bazm-u razm, “feast and fight,” “court and camp.”

820. In contradistinction to Bahrām’s stipulation or condition as to the two lions.

821. i.e., it may turn out that Bahrām will not succeed, or that he will be killed.

822. Lit., “should not pass from a state of repose or settlement.”

823. i.e., should engage with the two lions in question.

824. The “chair of gold” is the “sun”. The “ivory throne” is “the white streak of the dawn”.

825. i.e., let them engage in the business in hand. One might translate, “fly at the target of battle”, since kār, “business,” means also “battle”, but this is not necessary, as “business”, the more ordinary equivalent of kār, gives good sense.

826. i.e., the grave of Bahrām Gūr.

827. The reading of I.O. MS. 1491, (with the substitution of zi-mīgh, “from the cloud,” for va-mīgh, “and the cloud,” which I should suggest), is as follows:

Ān ba-āvāz-i ṭasht rasta zi-mīgh; īn ba-ṭasht-ī tahī na-bud, ki ba-tīgh. I think, however, that (substituting ṭasht for takht), the reading of the I.O. B. ed., from which I translate, is preferable:

Mah ba-āvāz-i ṭasht rast az mīgh; na(h) ba ṭasht-ī tahī, baṭasht-u ba-tīgh:

“The moon escaped from the cloud with the noise of a basin; presenting not a simple basin (only), but a basin and a sword.”

The “moon” refers to the “crown”; the “basin”, as regards the “moon”, to its “disk”, and as regards the “crown” to the “circular main part of it”; the “sword”, as regards the “moon”, means the “rays”, and as regards the “crown” may possibly refer to the crescent within the mural crown worn by Bahrām, if we might suppose that the Author knew of its form. Otherwise we must conjecture that some conical or other rise in the centre is meant. Cf. the term, mīl-i tāj, a pointed ornament applied to a regal crown.

In the reading of I.O. MS. 1491 ān, “the latter,” refers to the “crown” as likened to a “moon”; in the second hemistich īn, “the former,” refers to the “crown” as mentioned in the first hemistich. The “basin” of the crown is the “crown without its crescent, or central conical rise”, the latter representing the “sword”, tīgh, which, as regards the “moon”, means the “rays”.

The “basin and sword” are the common emblems of execution, and the words are introduced here in allusion to the danger of the enterprise.

828. Lit., “Through terror no one went round those two great lions within the range.”

829. “First”; i.e., before his rival.

830. “The gold cup” is a symbol of the royal carousing.

831. i.e., the ground where he would lie dead would be his place, not the throne, of which he would have no need.

832. I.O. MSS. 777 and 1491, the I.O. B. ed., and the B. ed. of 1328 for band-i qabā have ‘aṭf-i qabā, “the end of the skirt of (his) tunic.”

833. “The foxes”; i.e., his rival.

834. In this and the following four distichs the horoscope of the king’s throne or sovereignty is described.

It should perhaps rather be taken as the horoscope of the nature of his rule.

For the same reason as that given in Note 533 it is impossible to calculate the aspects.

With regard to the ascendant and the positions of the planets in the signs we may, I think, gather the following:

The ascendant is Leo; hence the king’s rule would be attended by firmness and self-control, perseverance and ambition, faithfulness, nobility and generosity, and intuition in regard to spiritual matters. The sun in conjunction with Mercury would imply that in his rule he would display nobility, generosity, faithfulness, sincerity, ambition, pride, and will and ability to govern, combined with imagination, reason, sharpness, wit, and persuasive power. These two planets being in Cancer would be modified by reserve, sensitiveness, impressionableness, reflectiveness, sympathy, and kindness.

The moon being in “exaltation” in Taurus will give full effect to the influences of that sign, which are fearlessness, strength of will, constancy, and determination. The moon’s being in conjunction with Venus would imply that much of this energy would be directed towards love, the pursuit of pleasure, art, and all that refines. Venus being in her own house in Taurus will have considerable power to effect this.

Mars being in “exaltation” in Capricorn the natural tendency would be to boldness, impulsiveness, aggression, contention, sensuality, and lavishness; but Saturn being also in “exaltation” in Libra might be supposed to modify this, those subject to Saturn being cautious, reflective, constant, patient, chaste, and economical. The sign Capricorn gives ambition, persistency, steadiness, and political inclination.

Libra gives sensitiveness, compassion, yieldingness, prudence, thoughtfulness, justice, and generosity.

Jupiter is in his own “house” in Sagittarius. Those subject to his influence are noble and sincere, just and generous, courteous and compassionate, faithful and honourable. Sagittarius would confirm all this, and add activity, enterprise, and demonstrativeness. (See also Note 533.)

835. An allusion to the offerings of the rich.

836. “Pearls”; i.e., “eloquent words.” “Balas rubies”; i.e., “(his) lips.”

837. i.e., by imitation, or in retaliation.

838. i.e., I can only bless the dead, but I can give security and happiness to the living. See the next distich.

839. “Black and white,” i.e., “all things”; or “night and day”, i.e., “time.”

840. I have taken this heading from I.O. MS. 1491. Other editions differ.

841. A belt worn by the Kayānian kings set with seven jewels having reference to the seven planets. (See Note 717.)

842. The Chīnī would thus be white, and possibly of silk.

A Rūmī (from Rūm, the Eastern Empire) was a species of dress, but not a head-dress, and I have therefore rendered bar sar-ash by “over it”, and not “upon his head”, though one might suspect an antithesis in the use of the words tan, “body,” and sar, “head.”

Since Rūmī means also “red”, this may have been the colour of the upper garment.

Rūmī, however, may mean anything connected with Rūm, and therefore not impossibly a Rūmian or Byzantine crown.

Ṭarāz too, being the name of a town, is introduced rhetorically with Rūmī and the preceding Chīnī.

843. i.e., he excelled in beauty the handsome people of Rūm and Chinese Turkistan.

844. Lit., “he had conveyed the five turns (of music) above the sun.” An allusion to the old practice of playing music five times a day before the palace of a king, prince, or governor.

845. i.e., the justice distributed at his court or gate dissolved grief and trouble.

846. Lit., “to breaths.”

847. “The coining-dies took rest upon the coins”; i.e., presumably, “much money was coined,” an evidence of prosperity.

848. i.e., the people were undivided in their affection for the king; or, they had no desire different from the king’s desire.

849. i.e., entered upon a prosperous life and the observance of perfect integrity.

850. i.e., yielded implicit obedience to the king, whose rescripts were all in favour of justice and integrity.

851. “Correction.” Parvardan seems used here in the sense of tarbiyat.

852. “Earthy camp”; i.e., “the world.”

853. i.e., “the world.”

854. i.e., he was raised above the sky by the loftiness of his designs.

855. See the Note on the next distich.

856. i.e., he would give them lightly away. Cf. ba-sar-i tāziyāna giriftan, “to conquer or take at once by striking with the whip without using the sword.”

857. i.e., he was generous and prodigal.

858. i.e., they became self-indulgent and without any kind feeling for the needy.

859. “From stone and iron”; i.e., of a very meagre description, or with great difficulty.

860. “So fierce an onslaught made on food”; i.e., made the food-supply so short.

861. “Weight”; i.e., “esteem.”

“From its lightness”; i.e., from there being so light a weight of it.

I have slightly strained the meaning of ‘izzat by translating it “weight”, in order to retain something of the antithesis in the original.

Of course, sabuk-sangī, “lightness,” may have the ordinary sense of the quality for which bread is esteemed.

‘Izzat means also “rareness”, so that another sense is, “bread gained rareness from there being so light a weight of it.”

862. “The comptrollers of the town,” amīnān-i shahr. An amīn is the chief of any special department.

863. Barāt amongst its different meanings has that of “an order on the treasury”.

864. Khāna, “house, room,” means also “a division between two joints of a reed”, so that the sense is that the houses from Isfahan to Rai were nearly contiguous as are the divisions in the reed.

865. Lit., “if this statement is not clear to you.”

866. i.e., the original authority for the statement is responsible.

867. i.e., the more populous the country the greater its prosperity and riches. Quite a socialistic doctrine.

868. i.e., through his sharing the king’s bounty with others, or through his not coveting others’ wealth.

869. “The distress of seventy years,” the cause of which had been the misrule of his predecessors.

870. Before “every town” there is the word savād, which means the precincts or outskirts of a city, town, or village, and also the place itself; but it seems to be almost expletive here, or to mean simply the “extent or expanse” (of the town).

871. Each planet is supposed to rule alone for one thousand years, and then for a period of a thousand years with each one of the other six planets in turn, making a total of seven thousand years for the “cycle”, daur.

It is generally believed that the cycle from the time of Adam till the present time has been that of the moon. The Author probably means therefore by the cycle of Venus that part of the cycle in which Venus is associated in rule with the moon.

The fact that Venus, one of the two most auspicious planets, is the spiritual principle (see the next distich) of this newly commencing (part of the) cycle is apparently made to account for the opening of a new era of prosperity and happiness on the conclusion of the famine.

A “cycle”, daur, is said also to be a period of 360 solar years, but I think this does not concern the present inquiry.

Under the heading “The death of Yazdijard” the Author speaks of a “cycle” as of some indefinite period of time which may be signalized by certain occurrences. (See also Note 319.)

872. Amongst astrologers kadkhudā is the vital and spiritual principle, as kadbānū is the bodily or material principle.

873. “Gūr-hoofed” (onager-hoofed); i.e., swift.

“He dug up gūrs”; i.e., by his horse’s hard trampling he dug up “graves” (for the onagers). “Threw gūrs to the ground”; i.e., overthrew “onagers”.

874. “The Bow”; i.e., Sagittarius. Jupiter is the ruler of Sagittarius, that sign being his own “house”. It gives him great activity and enterprise. Sagittarius being a “fiery” sign, its nature is in harmony with that of Jupiter, who is electric, hot, and sanguine.

875. i.e., the king shot above and beyond Jupiter.

876. “Spot.” Maṭraḥ is “a place of throwing or shooting, a hunting-ground”, and also simply “a place, a spot”.

877. Tīr, here “the plain”, means commonly “an arrow”, hence a species of rhetorical hiccough is produced by the conjunction of the word with shast, “a thumbstall.”

I.O. MSS. 402 and 1491 read, baḥr khālī-u dasht pur mī-kard, “he emptied the sea and filled the plain.” As the arrows, or perhaps rather the bolts or balls (cf. muhra) are called “pearls” in the first hemistich, “sea” in the second hemistich would be the source of them, i.e., in this case “the bow-string”.

878. The Author fancifully conceives that the fire which the king’s weapon strikes out of any stone it may hit is a desirable acquisition for roasting the onagers he kills. (For kabāb, see Notes 568 and 1,340.)

879. Lit., “(who was) quick and active in keeping stirrup by stirrup with the king.”

880. Fitna means “sedition, disturbance”, and, applied to a woman, “seduction, fascination,” with the conjoined idea of “a causer of disturbance to people or among her lovers”.

881. Lit., “as the breeze (passing) over the corn-field.”

882. Pālūda. (See Note 1,634.)

883. Lit., “With all beauty.”

884. By nakhat, “breath,” is meant here also “voice”.

885. “Whatever she had killed”; i.e., by her beauty.

886. In the second hemistich rāh zadan means “to play according to the modes of music”, and also “to make an attack on the road as a highwayman”, so that the literal sense is, “the former struck the road, and the latter struck the game.”

887. Lit., “loosened the thumbstall.”

888. Lit., “used self-restraint in praise.”

889. Lit., “you do not bring my game into your eyes,” which means “you do not think it of any account”.

890. Lit., “from the nature which is habit” (i.e., to women, or, perhaps, to beautiful women).

891. Lit., “you must illumine (your) face.”

892. “Pin”; lit., “sew.”

893. “Like the wind”; i.e., which should give the bolt the velocity of the wind.

894. Lit., “Its brain came into ebullition at the pain of it.”

895. “Stumbled and fell headlong down.” This, I think, is the sense of ba-sar-u sum dar āmad, which does not occur in the dictionaries.

896. “Chinese girl”; i.e., girl of Chinese Turkistan.

897. Lit., “This reply came hard to the king.”

898. i.e., the reply gave him a hard stroke.

899. Lit., “he made his heart without kindness for that moon.”

900. i.e., they should not be precipitate, but wait until the proper time to do things.

901. The Persian dīv corresponds sometimes with the Arab “evil jinn” or genius, but often has the sense of “demon”, “assistant-devil to Satan”, or “Satan” himself. In fact, Satan and the demons are of the evil “jinn”.

902. “A cypress free”; i.e., the girl herself. (For the “free cypress”, see Note 1,246.)

903. I have written ‘Ummān on the supposition that the Author writes the name so met. caus. for ‘Umān, the country in the south-east of Arabia, not far from which are pearl-fisheries. The geographer Ṣādiq Iṣfahānī (about A.D. 1635) too gives the spelling ‘Ummān, not ‘Umān. Firdausī also spells it in the same way. Irrespective of this, however, there is, so far as I can ascertain, no such place as ‘Ummān, and the only ‘Ammān of which I find mention is that described in the Encyclopœdia of Islām as follows:

“‘Ammān, the old capital of the Ammonites, in the Old Testament Rabbat Benē ‘Ammōn or Rabba, later Rabbatamana, Amman, Ammana, or called by the Hellenistic name Philadelphia. This city, which at the time of the Romans was of great importance, was taken by Yazīdu ’bnu Abī Sufyān after the capture of Damascus (A.H. 14-A.D. 635). It became the capital of the fruitful region of al-Balqā’ with a trade in corn, sheep, and honey. . . . . The magnificent ruins date back to Roman times, with the exception of an Arab building on the castle hill (the castle of Jālūt with the tomb of Uriah).”

If this town be meant, it is probably taken, as towns often are, as representing the region, a fruitful one, but one cannot explain why the Author should select it in particular.

Both Ibn Khurdādbih (about A.D. 846), and Istakhrī (about A.D. 950) mention ‘Ammān as a town in Syria.

904. Lit., “do not carry (your) head (away) from occupation”; i.e., employ yourself in the house as a plausible reason for being in it.

905. As though the moon were in, or given to, Draco.

Auger Ferrier in his Jugements Astronomiques sur les Nativités (1592), says:

“La queue du Dragon: horrible mort, petit douaire, et nul bien appartenant à la signification de ceste maison.” The allusion has probably some connexion with the superstition that the moon when eclipsed is swallowed by the Dragon.

Cf., the expression, zindān-i naiyirain, “the prison of the two lights” (i.e., the sun and the moon), which is applied to Azhdahā, “the Dragon.”

In the other sense azhdahā, “the dragon,” means “sword”, and “the moon”, of course, “the girl.”

906. Lit., “a village.”

907. “To the apogee”; i.e., “to the apogee of the moon,” which means simply “to a lofty height”.

908. i.e., the palace was so lofty that the heavens were as waves around it.

909. “A terrace-belvedere,” rivāq-i manzar.

Rivāq amongst its various meanings has that of “a terrace, a gallery, an upper room”.

Manzar is “a place of seeing, a place in which to enjoy sights, a belvedere”. The two words are in apposition.

Cf. Ḥāfiz:

“The terrace-belvedere my eye’s your nest; be kind, descend, for the room is your room.”

On this distich Sūdī, the Turkish commentator, quoting authorities, says, “rivāq is an aivān, and a large chārdāq is an aivān; hence it is seen that rivāq is a large chārdāq.”

A chārdāq (from the Persian chār-ṭāq) is “a terrace on a housetop”.

The reading of the genitive between the two nouns is confirmed by Sūdī, who says, rivāq-y̌n manzar-a iẓāfet-ī bayānīye dir, “the genitive between rivāq and manzar is that of apposition.”

910. “An honoured place”; or, “a commanding place.”

911. i.e., the sun is in Taurus in Spring.

912. Kār-gar, “efficient,” means also “a pack-horse which goes well and bears its load briskly”.

913. Like paradise; lit., “like the garden of the Ḥūrīs.”

Kabābs. (See Notes 568 and 1,340.)

914. i.e., he will consent to exalt you (by becoming your guest).

915. Shīr, “milk,” means also “wine”, so that the sense of the hemistich may be that they will ply him assiduously with wine. The sense, however, may be simply “milk”; for see the distich to which Note 924 is appended.

916. “Fragrant wine,” rāḥ-i raiḥān; lit., “wine of sweet basil.” The adjective raiḥānī is generally used.

917. “Sweet drinks.” Nūsh means also anything sweet and of pleasant taste.

918. Or, “betook himself to the chase upon the plain.”

919. “Lofty”; lit., “of lofty aim,” buland-āhang.

920. “An estate”; lit., “a village.”

921. i.e., its charm is from its having been one of your delightful possessions bestowed by you on me.

I have adopted the reading of I.O. MSS. 777, and 1168, namely, luṭf-ash, “its charm.”

I.O. MS. 1491 reads bazm-ash, “its banquet,” which might almost be rendered “(the wine of) its banquet”.

922. “The Garden”; i.e., “the garden of paradise.”

923. i.e., it will be greatly exalted.

924. “Will perfume”; lit., “will give ‘abīr.” ‘Abīr is described by Redhouse as “a perfume and unguent made of saffron, musk, ambergris, and perfumed oils.”

925. Lit., “from the hunting-place.”

926. i.e., he had things put into good order.

927. i.e., he appeared in all his pomp and glory.

928. “Khatlian steed.” Khatlān (Kotlan) is a district and town in Badakhshān. It was famous for horses. Khatlī-khirām means literally “one moving like a horse of Khatlān”. The Arab form of the name is Khuttal.

929. The words rivāq and ṭāq, as used in connexion with this palace, mean the same part. Rivāq has reference to it as a species of gallery, terrace, or upper room, and ṭāq as a species of arched or domed balcony or verandah. The word manzar, previously used, has relation to the same upper room as a place from which to enjoy the view. (Cf. Note 909.)

930. i.e., it abased Khavarnaq by its loftiness, and made it seem to be flat on the ground.

931. i.e., its domed roof coincided with the dome of the sky.

932. Lit., “from the rose, his forehead.”

933. “Good”; lit., “wide, extensive.”

934. i.e., whose head is on a level with the sky.

The “lasso” is the sky itself.

935. Lit., “fold it up under your feet.”

936. Kausar, one of the supposed rivers of paradise. Ḥūrī, a virgin of paradise.

937. The reading of I.O. MS. 1168 is bar-ū “to her”. With this reading the sense of yak-dast will be yak-sān; i.e., “equal, indifferent.” (Cf. the Bahār-i ‘Ajam.)

The other editions, however, from which I have translated, have barad, which in this connexion must mean “she carries off”; i.e., “traverses.” In this case yak-dast would signify “evenly, without a break, sans désemparer”.

938. To bite the fingers is a sign of astonishment or of perturbation.

939. “The lion’s case”; i.e., what the king had said.

940. Lit., “had known the time.”

941. i.e., she had a languishing look in her narcissus-like eyes.

The “rose” means her “face”.

942. “Musk” signifies here artificial, black beauty spots or patches.

The “moon” means here “face”.

Bar taqvīm rāndan seems to be used in the sense of a causal of taqvīm kardan with the meaning, “to make rectify, to make improve, to make set off.”

943. ‘Itīb (archaic ‘itēb) is the imāla of ‘itāb, and is used apparently in the sense of amatory petulance and feigned reproach. (Cf. also the distich to which Note 1,821 is appended.)

944. “A rosy hue”; lit., “the colour of the Judas’ tree flower,” which means “her rosy cheeks”.

The “cypress” represents her “stature”; the “tulip” her “lips”.

The meaning is that she united beauty of complexion with grace and straightness of form, and the latter with redness of lips.

945. “Pearls” are here real pearls; the “cypress” is her “stature”; the “moon”, her “face”. “The pleiads’ cluster” represents here real pearls.

946. The “lovers’ apple” is “a divided chin”; “a ruby casket” is “the mouth”; “pearls” are “teeth”.

The lips are here supposed to be a little parted at the two front teeth.

947. “Crowned with ambergris”; i.e., “with black hair.”

948. I have included this distich as it is in all the editions I have consulted except I.O. MS. 402, but I think it is probably spurious. It seems spoilt by the word “throne” in the second hemistich. The distich refers apparently to the girl, though the word “king” is used.

The “ivory plates” mean presumably her “haunches”.

949. i.e., they united in war against her lovers.

950. “Her dates”; i.e., “her lips.”

Beauty spots (here, lit., “agate spots”), sometimes put upon the edge of the lips.

951. Her face with a veil of pearls is likened to the moon environed by stars.

952. i.e., either brought her many lovers or made them ardent.

953. “The moon”; i.e., “her face.” “A camphor veil”; i.e., “a white veil.”

954. “The fortnight’s moon”; i.e., “the full moon,” to which her face is likened.

“The seven things”; lit., “all the seven,” har haft, are the seven kinds of embellishment which were used by women.

They are:

Instead of the last some give, as the seventh, beauty spots (khāl) which were made with collyrium. Henna is used to dye the hands and feet; indigo to dye the eyebrows; talc is poured over the face to improve its lustre. Ghāliya, galia moschata, is a scent composed of musk, ambergris, camphor, and oil of ben-nuts, but it often means “perfume” generally.

955. The moon is ruler of the sign Cancer which is her “house”, but she is in “strength” or “exaltation” in the sign Taurus. This means that she takes in full force the character of that sign, which gives patience, endurance, determination, stubbornness, and strength of will. (See also Note 533.)

“The moon” in the other sense means “the girl”, and Taurus “the ox” which she carries.

956. Gāv bīn tā chigūna gauhar dāsht! The ostensible sense, “See how an ox had wisdom”! offers a rhetorical paradox, the ox being a type of stupidity, but the explanation is in the real sense, “See how an ox had lustre or honour (from being raised and carried by the girl who has been likened to the moon)”! Then since gāv (ox) means also “an ox-shaped drinking-vessel”, an attendant sense may be, “See how a drinking-vessel shaped like an ox had gems (i.e., was adorned with gems)”!

957. “The lion”; i.e., the king.

958. Lit., “from (this) gallery or terrace could carry to the bottom of the palace.”

959. Sāz kardan is used here apparently in an intransitive sense.

960. “In your scales”; i.e., “on yourself.”

961. “With invocation true to its conditions”; i.e., with an invocation which fulfilled the conditions attendant upon such an invocation as should be uttered in behalf of a king.

962. Lit., “and the wild ass is without practice.”

963. Lit., “I do not get a name, or fame, except for practice.”

964. Hindū amongst its meanings has that of “robber”, so that the sense is, he rushed impetuously towards her as a robber who makes an attack. Hindū means also “slave”, but that sense is hardly applicable here.

965. “The moon” in the first hemistich means the girl’s face; in the second, the king’s.

966. “That rose” means the girl; “narcissi,” her eyes; and “rose-water”, tears.

967. i.e., he caused all who were present to retire.

968. He means probably that his regret is greater than her suffering has been.

969. Lit., “you are in statu quo,” tu bar jāy-ī.

970. “Disturbance,” Fitna, the girl’s name, means “disturbance, a disturber, a fascinater”, so that the hemistich is susceptible of two senses. Fitna nishāndan, “to make ‘Disturbance’, i.e., the girl Fitna, sit down,” means also “to allay disturbance, to make things quiet”.

971. “Who set disturbance down”; lit., “making disturbance (Disturbance), fitna (Fitna), sit down.”

972. She means that in depreciating the king she did so at the risk of her life in his interest. See the following distichs.

973. Lit., “when he loosened the thumbstall.”

974. Excessive admiration of a thing is supposed to subject it to the influence of the evil eye.

975. Lit., “a fault, or cause of shame came to me.”

976. i.e., through Draco, the Dragon’s making the effects of my love appear like hate (to the king). Draco, from this, would appear to have generally a malefic influence, but Auger Ferrier, quoted in Note 905, attributes a good influence to the head of Draco. For the influence of the tail of Draco see Note 905.

977. Lit., “made his arm a shoulder-belt upon his neck.”

978. “The usual offerings”; lit., “sugar-pouring,” by which is meant a bridegroom’s bestowing gifts upon the bride.

It means also the distribution of confectionery at a betrothal. (Cf. the modern shīrīnī-khvarān.)

Other meanings are “speaking eloquently”, and “singing”.

979. The legendary Fish that supports the Ox on which the earth was supposed to rest. (See Note 1,060.)

980. Lit., “Yellow-eared ones (zard-gūshān) died in corners (dar gūsha-hā murdand).”

981. i.e., the black water or blackness of death.

982. i.e., his surname was Narsī (Narses), which is said to mean “he who reaches the truth”. Narsī was the name both of Bahrām’s vazīr, the person here spoken of, and also of Bahrām’s brother.

983. i.e., he had great foresight.

984. Lit., “the king had found his fineness one in a hundred”; i.e., one of alloy in a hundred of pure metal, or 99% of true metal. I suppose it is implied that there must be a trifling alloy in every one.

Or, if yakī ba-ṣad is for yakī dar ṣad, it would mean that he had found his fineness a hundred times one, i.e., a hundred parts of true metal in a hundred.

Or, the sense may be that in standard quality he was one in a hundred.

985. “Imposts,” bāj; i.e., the imposts due from merchants.

986. “Control or administration”; lit., “pen.”

987. Lit., “had made him (absolutely) influential in command in all Persia.”

988. “In the business of the town and army”; i.e., in civil and military administration. He was apparently both Home and War minister.

989. i.e., he kept practically in the same position, did nothing really useful to himself, but idled away his time, and like a mill threw away whatever he received.

990. i.e., other princes prepared to take advantage of the situation.

991. “The khān of khāns from China (then) set out.”

Though some Persian historians ascribe the invasion to the emperor of China, the invaders were really a people of Turkish stock called Hayāṭila. The Hayāṭila (the name is said to be the broken plural of Haiṭāl) were called by the Greeks Ephthalites, and by some Orientalists, (notably St. Martin), have been identified with the White Huns.

Canon Rawlinson says, however, that they were quite distinct from the Huns of Attila in physical characteristics, advancement, and pursuits, being fair of complexion, civilized, and agricultural, whilst the Huns of Attila were dark, uncivilized, and nomadic.

So far as I can gather from the Oriental geographers the country of the Hayāṭila was bounded on the north by the Qizil Qūm (Kizil Kum) desert and the Qārā Dāgh (Kara Tau) and Alexander Ranges; on the east, by Chinese Turkistan and the Hindu Kush; on the south, by the Kūh-i Bābā (Kuh-i Baba) Range. On the west, starting from the Kūh-i Hiṣār (Kuh-i Hissar) Range, the boundary extended in a north-westerly direction to Andkhūd (Andkhui), and then north to the Oxus in about longitude 64° 40' E., and from north of the Oxus, inclining a little to the north-west, to about longitude 64° 10' E., and along that line to its northern boundary. This would include nearly the whole of the north of modern Afghanistan down to latitude 35° N., probably the whole of the province of Farghāna, and the central Asian khanates except Khiva.

Ṣādiq Iṣfahānī includes in the Hayāṭila country: Ṭukhāristān, with Badakhshān:—Bāmiyān (Bamian), Shuburghān (Shibergan), Andkhūd (Andkhui), Ṭāliqān.—Balkh, Khatlān (Kotlan), Baqlān.

Riẓā Qulī Khān in his “Safārat-nāma-yi Khvārazm” includes the district and town of Usrūshana, which he places in Farghāna, and Schefer in a note to his translation says:

“Ousroushinèh, situé par 101° de longitude et 41° 30' de latitude, est un district considérable des pays des Hiathilèh qui s’étend entre le Sihoun et Samarqand, sur un espace que l´on estime être de vingt-six fersengs.”

In a sub-note upon Hiathilèh (Hayāṭila) Schefer says:

“Le pays des Hiathilèh est le nom sous lequel on désigne la contrée où se trouvent les villes de Boukhara, de Samarqand et de Khodjend, et qui d´après les Orientaux, aurait été peuplé par les descendants de Heïthel (Haiṭāl), fils d´Alim, fils de Sam, fils de Noé, qui s’y serait retiré après la dispersion des peuples, à la suite de la confusion des langues de Babel.”

I do not know what Schefer’s authority is for including Bukhārā and Samarqand in the Hayāṭila country. The early history of Bukhārā is very imperfectly known. I have, however, ventured, in reliance upon his statement, to include those cities and territories in my attempted definition of the limits of the Hayāṭila country. (See also Notes 694, 995, and 1,892.)

992. Lit., “at his stirrup.”

993. “A resurrection”; i.e., a great disturbance.

994. Lit., “in the concealed things of rolls of paper.”

995. Khāqān, a title which in Persian poetry, and sometimes in prose, is apparently attributed to the emperor of China, is properly the title of any Turkish or Mongol emperor. Here it should be referred to the ruler of the Hayāṭila. The word, says Redhouse, is said to be originally the Chinese word hu-hang. (See also Notes 694, 991, and 1,892.)

996. “We’re dust upon your road”; i.e., we are your humble slaves.

997. Lit., “removed his desire from the Persians.”

998. “It flashed throughout the world”; lit., “it became warm in the world.”

999. i.e., no ruling authority remains in the country.

1,000. i.e., the Turkish general.

1,001. The first hemistich is literally, “the king played with cups” (as a juggler); and the second, “he juggled with balls (used by jugglers), whilst the balls themselves were concealed.” I read with the B. ed. of 1328 muhra pinhān, and not with the I.O. editions muhr pinhān.

The latter, however, would mean, “whilst his signet-ring was concealed”; i.e., “whilst his authority was in abeyance.”

1,002. i.e., he did not at present practise open hostility, but deception. Dūd, “smoke,” means also “affliction”.

1,003. Lit., “he gave him the hare’s sleep,” khvāb-i khargūsh dād, i.e., the sleep of negligence.

“The hare’s sleep” means also sometimes “pretended negligence, sleeping with one eye open”.

1,004. Lit., “he directed (his) shaft or arrow,” tīr khvash kard. (Cf. ‘inan khvash kardan.)

1,005. i.e., drank up the founts of light, namely the moon and stars, as a snake would drink up founts of water. The meaning is simply that it was a pitch-dark night without moon or stars.

1,006. This and the next distich mean that the night was so dark that it was calculated to give rise to countless vain fears.

1,007. “The bright-hearted sky.” The bright heart of the sky is the moon, which on this night was under a black veil, as the gold in a jar may be under a covering or seal of pitch.

1,008. Ambergris; i.e., “blackness,” ambergris being dark in colour.

1,009. Bahrāmian; i.e., “martial, valorous,” Bahrām being the Persian name of Mars.

1,010. i.e., the arrow passed right through the mark in a moment.

1,011. i.e., his enemies could not use caution, so rapid and effectual were his arrows.

1,012. i.e., the arrow came and pierced and passed beyond the mark so rapidly that though the wound was seen the arrow was not, it having passed right through. On the other hand, where the arrow was visible there was no wound because the arrow had passed right through and gone beyond.

1,013. i.e., he made a mount of slain enemies on the plain, and wore down the mount to the level of the plain by the trampling of his horse.

1,014. “The falchion” is “the rays (of the sun)”.

“A bowl of blood” means “the round, blood-like disk of the sun”. The meaning of the distich is, “When the sun rose”; but there is also a sub-allusion to the sword and bowl used in executions.

1,015. I am reading zahra, “gall-bladder,” but one might read Zuhra, “Venus,” as a planet appearing in the early morning. (Cf. the last distich but one.)

1,016. Lit., “wagered its tongue.”

1,017. “Dragons”; i.e., “brave warriors.”

1,018. “As hairs”; i.e., as hairs naturally split at the ends.

1,019. Lit., “on his path”; i.e., where his path lay.

1,020. “Inclined to flight”; lit., “in the middle-place of flight,” dar miyāna-gāh-i gurīz. So I.O. MS. 1168.

Other I.O. MSS. read,

dar bahāna-gāh-i gurīz, “in the pretext-place of flight,” which, I think, would signify “finding reasons for flight”.

1,021. Lit., “when the king’s iron was in violent ebullition, or commotion.”

1,022. i.e., that we may throw the centre into confusion and rout it.

1,023. “Lions”; i.e., horses. “Dragons”; i.e., swords.

1,024. “The swarthy lions”; i.e., the brave warriors, possibly called “swarthy” as being Arabs.

1,025. “Those whose swords were soft”; i.e., their foes who did not use much energy.

1,026. i.e., they fled, raising the dust in their flight, as far as the Oxus.

1,027. Lit., “he made fresh over the world New Year’s festivities”; i.e., he made, as it were, a second New Year’s festival for the world.

1,028. Pahlavī, the older Persian spoken in Sāsānian times.

“With Persian tunes,” Pārsī-āhang; i.e., with tunes composed according to the Persian modes of music. So I.O. MS. 1168.

Other I.O. MSS. read,

Pārsī-farhang, “of Persian talent,” which has some support in the next distich but one.

With regard to Pahlavī, Hamza-yi Iṣfahānī in the Tanbīh says Pahlavī was one of the five dialects of Persia, which were Pahlavī, Darī, Pārsī, Ḥauzī, and Shīrāzī.

1,029. Lit., “One day with a blessed-fortuned ascendant Bahrām Gūr ascended his throne.”

There are two ascendants, one “the ascendant of birth”, ṭāli‘-i vilādat, the other “the ascendant of question”, ṭāli‘-i mas´ala, the latter being the sign of the zodiac which appears on the horizon when the astrologer is consulted upon some question, or which will appear at the time when it is proposed to carry out some design.

1,030. “Commander,” mīr (for amīr); i.e., mīr-lashkar.

1,031. “In times of injury”; i.e., at the times when injury should be inflicted on the foe in battle.

1,032. Īraj, the name of the youngest son of Farīdūn, the sixth king of the first or Pīshdādian dynasty of Persia. He was killed by Tūr, his half-brother, the second son of Farīdūn.

1,033. Ārash, the name of two persons, one a hero in the army of Minūchihr, the grandson of Farīdūn; the other the second son of Kai-Qubād the first of the second or Kayānian dynasty of Persian kings.

1,034. Gīv, the name of a Persian hero the son of Gūdarz and the son-in-law of Rustam (see the next Note). He lived in the time of Kai-Khusran, the third king of the second or Kayānian dynasty of Persia.

1,035. Rustam, prince of Sīstān (Seistan), and Zābulistān, the greatest of the Persian heroes, was the leader of the army of Kai-Kā’ūs the second king of the second or Kayānian dynasty of Persia. (See also Notes 212 and 2,078.)

1,036. Hizabr and Ẓirghām both mean “lion”, but as the distinction of name cannot be retained in English I have slightly paraphrased the hemistich.

1,037. As regards the “cloud”, the “wine” represents the “rain”, and the “sword” the “lightning”.

1,038. First hemistich, lit., “my hare’s sleep is concealed”; i.e., the fact that it is hare’s sleep is not apparent to people, but there is real vigilance under seeming negligence.

Second hemistich, lit., “it sees the enemy though it be asleep,” the “it” referring apparently to hare in the first hemistich.

1,039. i.e., the drunkenness is that of the elephant “in heat”, “mast” (lit., “drunken”).

“The laughter” is compared with the lion’s roaring.

1,040. See the last Note.

1,041. The Qaiṣar (the Cæsar); i.e., the ruler of the Eastern Empire.

1,042. This means possibly that he makes a kind of table of his enemy’s head.

1,043. i.e., I give into the possession of my friends. (Cf. dar āstīn kardan.)

Qārūn, the name of the son of Moses’s paternal uncle, the Korah of the Old Testament.

1,044. Kabābs. (See Notes 568 and 1,340.)

1,045. Ba-chunīn pai ghalaṭ ki afshurdam seems to be an ellipsis for ba-chunīn pai ki dar ghalaṭ afshurdam.

1,046. i.e., the possessions of that robber, the khāqān, Hindū having the sense here of robber.

1,047. i.e., we are the slaves of it.

1,048. Hama dar sar shudand-u sar na-shudand; i.e., all came to ruin, and did not become exalted.

1,049. “From white or black”; i.e., from any one in the world. It is possible to translate, “no one has witnessed, whether white or black,” but this does not accord so well with the first hemistich.

1,050. i.e., being only ordinary game they are marks for ordinary simple weapons.

1,051. Lit., “(who) can draw aside the neck of the rhinoceros.” (Cf. gardan kaj, or kham, kardan, “to bend the neck,” i.e., “to humble,” or “to humble oneself”.)

The use of the lasso is presumably implied.

1,052. A play upon the words chīn, “wrinkle,” and Chīn, “China.”

1,053. It is probable that Hindū has here the sense of Hindū-yi shab, “the Hindū night,” since Bahrām’s victory was gained by a night attack. It may, however, mean Hindī, “an Indian (sword).” (The I.O. B. ed. reads Hindī.)

Again, Hindū signifies also “slave”, “watchman”, which are also possible meanings here, the sense being presumably “a few slaves, or watchmen”.

1,054. Faghfūr, says Albīrūnī, was the special title of the emperor of China. It is a later Arabicized form of baghpūr; cf. the Akhæmenian Persian baga-putra, “the son of God.”

1,055. A very doubtful hemistich. I have translated from the I.O. B. ed.,

khūd dar tārak-ash du-lakht kunad. I.O. MSS. 777, 1168, and 1491 read,

chun dar-ī ṭāram-ash du-lakht kunad, “he splits it like the door of his round tent.”

The B. ed. of 1328 has,

chun dar-ī āsmān du-lakht kunad, “he splits it like the milky way in two.”

This, as seen from the following description of the milky way, is not an unreasonable reading:

“A dimly luminous zone encompassing the heavens as a great circle, which intersects the celestial equator at an angle of 63°, and has its northern pole in R.A. 12 h. 47 m., D. + 27°. It bifurcates in Cygnus, and the two galactic streams run side by side over an area of 120°, reuniting near the Southern Cross… It is interrupted by a wide gap in Argo, where it forms a fan-shaped expansion 20° across.” Besides these, other rifts and vacuities are described as abounding, one measuring 8° by 5°.

Dar-i āsmān might possibly however mean simply, “the door of the sky,” which is said to be opened sometimes by the angels, by which it is implied that the time has come when prayers are heard or granted. Such an interpretation, however, would seem rather far-fetched. The dar in dar-i āsmān, “the milky way,” is for dara, valley.

1,056. i.e., he gives an antidote to his friends against the poison of their enemies.

For the “snake-stone”, see Note 1,693.

1,057. i.e., wherever he rides he checks his enemies.

His bridle is likened to a dragon or serpent.

1,058. Cf. the expressions gul bar tārak zadan, and gul badastār zadan, “to fasten a rose upon the head, or turban.”

1,059. “To bore pearls” is “to speak eloquently”.

1,060. The Fish; i.e., the legendary Fish that supports the Ox on which the earth was imagined to rest; and hence, “the lowest place or depth.”

“The moon,” which is in the first sky, the sky immediately over the earth, is opposed, as the highest, to “the Fish”, the lowest. (See also Notes 739 and 1,416.)

1,061. “The relations”; lit., “the accounts.” i.e., What man should say whether the crown is rightly or wrongly on the king’s head?

1,062. “Protection”; lit., “shadow,” sāya. I.O. MS. 1168, only, has shuqqa, which might mean here “royal order”.

1,063. Lit., “you have power over our wet and dry.”

1,064. ‘Ummānian. (See Note 903.)

1,065. David is celebrated amongst Muslims as an armourer. (See the Qur’ān, xxi., 80, and xxxiv., 10.)

1,066. i.e., he was generous in a high degree.

Mount Ararat, called in Persian Jūdī, is the mountain on which Noah’s Ark was supposed to have rested.

1,067. Shushtar or Shūshtar, the modern capital of Khūzistān (Susiana). The town was famous for its dress-stuffs and brocades, but probably the reference is to the wealth derived from the fertility of the district in which it is situated.

Tustar is said to be an old name of the town. (See also Note 590.)

1,068. I have reversed the order of the two hemistichs for the sake of clearness. They read literally,

“He gave (him all this), so that his face lighted up like the moon; and he bestowed upon him in (or, out of) Yaman as far as Aden.” (See Note 737.)

Instead of the pronoun I have introduced Nu‘mān’s name into the translation for clearness. He was mentioned some distichs back as making a speech to Bahrām, but it may perhaps be remembered that before this Munẕir had been mentioned as king, and that no death has subsequently been spoken of. We must therefore assume inadvertence on the part of the Author or carelessness on that of the copyists.

1,069. “That master”; i.e., Simnār.

1,070. “The Seven Climes”; i.e., the whole inhabited world as known to Oriental geographers. (See Note 207.)

1,071. The term haft-jūsh, “the seven fusions,” is described by the Burhān-i Qāṭi‘ as a mixture of the seven metals, gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, tin, and antimony; and by the Bahār-i ‘Ajam as a bronze composed of all the metals. One would gather from the second hemistich, however, that the meaning here is the fusing of metals for the purpose of trying to make gold. If this be correct the sense of the distich would be that he could desist from trying to make the gold of happiness when he had the alchemy of the seven portraits to make it for him.

1,072. “A pearl”; i.e., the princess.

“Virtues.” A play upon the word gauhar, which means “pearl, jewel”, and also “nature, qualities, virtues”.

1,073. A dīnār was an ancient gold coin worth about ten shillings.

1,074. i.e., he created a disturbance by his demands and threats.

1,075. “Gold of Barbary”; i.e., pure gold.

1,076. “The Rāy”; i.e., the Rājā.

1,077. For an account of the Seven Climes, see Note 207.

1,078. “Exclusively”; lit., “out of (all) the world’s goods.”

The title Gūrkhān is probably a Persian corruption of the Mongol or Turkish title assumed by Yelui Tashi, the founder of the Qārā-Khiṭāy dynasty in Chinese Turkistan.

The word, according to Grigoryev, (quoted by Barthold in the Encyclopœdia of Islām), is most probably taken from the Mongolian Gürgen, (no doubt the Turkish Gürgyān), which latter Redhouse renders, “Allied to the royal house by marriage with a princess”; and Barbier de Meynard, “Titre de tout prince de la famille de Timour-lenk, qui épouse une princesse de la lignée de Djenguiz-Khan.”

The principal reason for equating Gūrkhān to Gürgen or Gürgyān, on which Barthold comments rather unfavourably, is, I think, the fact that Mīrkhvānd (History of the Khvārazm-Shāhs) ascribes the title Gūrkhān to the Qārā-Khiṭāyan kings ultimately conquered by Muḥammad the Khvārazm-Shāh, whilst at the same time we may gather from Redhouse and Barbier de Meynard’s Turkish Dictionaries that any prince who married a princess of the imperial house of Chingiz Khān had the title Gürgyān, a title which evidently descended, since Tīmūr (see Redhouse) was also called Gürgyān.

Without assuming that the founder of the Qārā-Khiṭāyan dynasty did marry into the house of Chingiz, we have as facts that the Persian historians entitle the king of that race Gūrkhān, that this form is impossible in Turkish, and that phonologically the Turkish “ü” would become in Persian “ū”, whilst “gy” would quite possibly become “kh”, especially when we consider that the Persian would naturally incline to the idea of a title, khān, “lord or prince,” in so exalted a title as Gürgyān.