Muntakhab al-tawarikh 16: Sultan Bahram Shah ibn Mas‘ud ibn Ibrahim
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 16
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Sultan Bahram Shah ibn Mas‘ud ibn Ibrahim
16.1
Succeeded to the throne, Hakim Sanai was his panegyrist. Kalilah Damnah and many other books were composed in his reign and on the day of his accession Sayyid Hasan Ghaznavi declaimed an ode of which this is the opening couplet. A shout went forth from the seven heavens, saying “Bahram Shah is Lord of the world.” And this ode he wrote in his honour, and despatched it from the sacred city of Mekka. Should it ever be that I again behold the face of the king I will apply, as a thank-offering, the dust of his feet to both my eyes Bahram Shah for whom may the lives of emperors be the ransom May it be that their lives are even worthy of the king The planets of the sky fall like meteors, if they but place a foot outside the boundary of fidelity to the king Another Bahram Shah from desire of whose sweet honied name The young tree of the kingdom hereafter brings forth parrots, (poets)
16.2
And the Hadiqatu l Haqiqat of Shaikh Sanai is written in honour of Bahram Shah, it was written during his imprisonment, the reason of which imprisonment was Ghaznavide fanaticism with regard to Sunni doctrine, when this book having reached the capital of Baghdad received the imprimatur of the chief men and nobles, it attested the reality of his faith, and they wrote a memorandum which led to his being released A short time subsequently he departed this life It is said that when they accused the worthy Shaikh Sanai of heresy after he composed the Hadiqat, he wrote the following letter to the Sultan Bahram Shah In the name of God the merciful, the compassionate
16.3
Praise be to God the Lord of the worlds, and blessings upon the best of His created beings, Muhammad his family and companions all of them To proceed, it is said, in certain traditionary sayings, that two things tend to prolong life, and to cause rain to fall and trees to grow, one of these is to assist the oppressed—the other to repress the tyrannical An argument which they have advanced in support of this is that the prophet, may the peace and blessing of God be upon him, declared that the heavens are established by righteousness (equity) Equity is like the bird which, wherever it casts its shadow, secures an amplitude of treadeth, and the place where it builds its nest becomes the centre of chivalry, and rain falls from the heaven, while tyranny and oppression is as a bird which, wherever it flies, leads to famine and life and modesty are lost from among mankind.
16.4
And God, may He be glorified and exalted, preserves the Emperor of Islam, and the just king Bahram Shah ibn Mas'ud Shah ibn Ibrahim Shah ibn Mas'ud Shah ibn Mahmud Shah, from iniquity and oppression, and although the whole world should combine to write and describe the stock and supply of grateful acknowledgment of this slave's heart, they would have no power to express it, and the tree which the king of the kingdom planted for the discovery of the secrets of the unseen, even Gabriel and Michael were precluded from having any share therein : it is certain that in all circumstances the just man is happy and the tyrant is miserable, and the worst of all oppression is this that a small party should read a subject and not understand it, but become arrogant with regard to it and loosen the tongue of censure against the learned.
16.5
Hence it is that our prophet, may the peace and blessing of God be upon him, said, 'Pity three people, a rich man who has become poor, the great man of a tribe who is disgraced, and a wise man among fools.' A book which is written in the language of the learned in the knowledge of God, demands an acute and discriminating mind such as that of Bayazid and Shibli to the men of wisdom who read that book and appreciate that which is written in it, but who have not the slightest trace of religious knowledge, it must be from spite and ignorance that they find fault with the book, and this is a proof of their blindness of heart that they call the Al i-Marwan contemptible, and carry their eulogy of the elect family, may the peace and blessing of God be upon it, beyond bounds while they exalt the commander of the faithful ‘Ali, may God be merciful to him, above the other companions, may God be graciously pleased with them, and they do not see that he has been placed below Siddiq and Faruq and Zu-’l Nurain on the ground of descent and rightful succession, and there is a true story related of the Lord of the Created beings Muhammad Mustafa, the peace and blessing of God be upon him, with reference to the vices of the Al i-Marwan and the virtues of the Al i Muhammad Mustafa, may the peace and blessing of God be upon him.
16.6
If it is a lie, and most people believe it to be so, reason tells us that it is true, and the word of the true God is this, “Oh God, adorn the world with those learned men who fear thee or who reverence thy people, and do not make me to suffer at the hands of those who are wanderers from the path of thy love, for thy mercy's sake.” and for thy bounty and beneficence oh Thou most merciful,” and this verse is from the Hadiqat. If the earth is a fit place for any court It is for the court of Bahram Shah that it is fitted.
16.7
Then Sultan Bahram Shah brought up several armies against Hindustan and conquered the cities which his forefathers had not taken, and leaving one of his Amirs of high rank in Hindustan returned to Ghaznin. That Amir revolted, and fought a severe battle with the Sultan in the vicinity of Multan, and a bitter conflict ensued; in the end the Sultan’s enemy fell a prisoner into his hands and was put to death, and a second time the country of Hindustan came into his possession, and ‘Alau-d-Din Hasan ibn Husain Suri who is one of the kings of Ghor revolted against him and proceeded to Ghaznin. Bahram Shah fled and ‘Alau-d-Din left his brother Saifu-d-Din Suri in Ghaznin. Bahram Shah returned and retook Ghaznin, and having seated Saifu-d-Din upon a cow, and having exposed him to public ridicule, killed him in the worst possible way. ‘Alau-d-Din upon hearing this news was most distressed and made for Ghaznin with a huge army—before his arrival however Bahram Shah had reached the other world and his son was on the throne in his stead. ‘Alau-d-Din by way of avenging his brother carried several loads of the earth of Ghaznin to Ghor and set rivers of blood flowing, he is accordingly famous in his own country. Bahram Shah left this world in the year 547 H. (1152 A.D.) the period of his reign was thirty two years. Mas‘ud S‘ad Salman wrote the following hexastich in praise of Bahram Shah.
16.8
Bahram Shah became the world conquering king. He became the Sun of the Age, and the shadow of the glory of God. His canopy which was auspicious became the glory of the huma. God be He exalted and glorified became his guide That polished dagger became of increasing authority The face of his enemy became black like his canopy. As long as the emperor of the world in his and for the second time returned to Lahore, where he died in the year 555 H., after a reign of eight years. In his time many great poets flourished and wrote odes in praise of him. The following poem is of the kind called Tarji'-band and was written by one of them in his honour. * * * The revered Emperor Khusrau Shah who with ease Conquers with sword and mace from Hindūstān to Khorasan.
16.9
It must be stated that in the historical works by Qazi Baizawi and others it has been written that when 'Alau-d-Din plundered Ghaznah and put many of the inhabitants to death, he left there Ghiyasu-d-Din Abul-fath Muhammad and Shihabu-d-Din Abul Muzaffar who were his nephews. They then with great craft put Khusrau Shah at his ease with regard to themselves and took up their abode in his city. Khusrau Shah was imprisoned in the year 555 H., and died in the same year, and the days of the Ghaznevide family came to an end. After a time Ghiyasu-d-Din died, and the whole kingdom remained in the possession of Shihabu-d-Din, but since Khwaja Nizamu-d-Din Ahmad deceased, has written in the Tārīkh-i-Nizāmī copying from the Rauzatu-s-Safā that Khusrau Malik ibn Khusrau Shah was the last of the kings of the Ghaznevide dynasty, I have followed him — God knows the truth.