Taj al-maʾathir 1: Invasion of Hindustan.
Táju-l Ma-ásir (extracts) 1
- Language
- English
Invasion of Hindustan.
1.1
"In the year 587 H. (1191 A.D.), the Lord of the World, the Sultan of Sultans, Mu'izzu-d dunya wau-d din (Muhammad Ghori) in a happy moment, and under a fortunate star, departed from Ghazna, may God protect it from calamities! Had he not imparted movement to his hands and reins, The feet of his stirrups would have stopped the air in its course. If his horse be so wearied that it cannot carry him, His courage would urge him against his enemies. Having equipped and set in order the army of Islam, and unfurled the standards of victory and the flags of power, trusting in the aid of the Almighty, he proceeded towards Hindustan. His standards proclaim victory, Indeed, they are almost prepared to write the book of victory, His ensigns and black umbrella are full of adornment, How beautiful on the face of time are the curls and freckles of the state!
1.2
When the train of eternal prosperity, encompassed by splendour, arrived near Lohur, and when the air of that country became perfumed and crescented by the dust of the armies and the shoes of the horses, the great Sadr Kiwamu-l mulk Ruhu-d din Hamza, who was among the chiefs of the country and the renowned of the state, and had obtained distinction by the customs of embassage and the proprieties of missions, and his position in the service of the sublime Court [may God surround it with increased glory]! had met with approval, and in the beauty of his moral character and the excellence of his endowments, the above mentioned person, in whose merits all concurred, and from the flame of whose wisdom and the light of whose penetration abundant delight and perfect good fortune arose. Indeed all kinds of excellences united in his person, And he was singularly endowed in the practice of all virtues, He was such a Sadr that the substance of greatness found in him a soul, He was a sea in which the eyes of meaning found vision.
1.3
Such was the man who was sent on an embassy to Ajmir, in order that the Rai (Pithaura) of that country might see the right way without the intervention of the sword, and that he might incline from the track of opposition into the path of propriety, leaving his airy follies for the institute of the knowledge of God, and acknowledging the expediency of uttering the words of martyrdom and repeating the precepts of the law, and might abstain from infidelity and darkness, which entails the loss of this world and that to come, and might place in his ear the ring of slavery to the sublime Court, (may God exalt it!) which is the centre of justice and mercy, and the pivot of the Sultans of the world, and by these means and modes might cleanse the fords of a good life from the sins of impurity. When the ambassador arrived in the country of Ajmir, and in accordance with his orders brought forward the conditions of his mission, and in uttering his speech presented the usual inducements of fixing the mind, and adorned the selection of his words with the excellence of their significations, and strung well the pearls of exhortations and admonitions upon the thread of style.
1.4
They were such words that if the world were to hear them, On account of their beauty the people would incline to become ears. Your words are right and your meaning correct, Your opinion is the soul and your greatness the body. Your words are the product of the bough of rhetoric, And your clemency is the fruit of the seed of eloquence. In no respect did the words of threats, or promises become established in the heart of that man of dark understanding, nor did advantages or menaces addressed to the heart (and indeed he who menaces offers the alternative of advantages) have place in the hearing of that obstinate, for from his large army and grandeur the desire of something like the conquest of the world had raised a phantom in his imagination; and he remained neglectful of the subtle principle that armies do not profit when the time has passed, and he had placed on the shelf of forgetfulness the good maxim that "when fate comes the field of opportunity is narrowed" and had not read the divine order that "it is a duty imposed on me to give aid to the faithful;" and in the sight of his idolatry the commands of the law were the dreams of oppression, and the light of instruction showed the darkness of his perdition, and since in the sublime understanding of the sovereign which derived aid and support from the world of holiness, and the light of his wisdom exceeds and surmounts that splendour of the sun and moon.
1.5
If his light were to contend with the dawn, Even his night would exceed the brilliancy of the day. Gold would not be produced from earth by the power of the sun, Unless his wisdom had power over the sun. When these circumstances were represented, and the intelligence of the declarations of that God-forsaken reached the blessed hearing, which was filled with gladness, the signs of disturbance overspread his auspicious countenance.