Muntakhab al-tawarikh 166: XLVIII. Maulānā Vais of Gwāliyār.

166

He was a learned man, argumentative and disputatious, and in his knowledge of first principles and deductions therefrom he had no equal in his time. The power of his memory was such that in the midst of an argument when there was any necessity for an appeal to any authority, he would seem to recite from memory whole pages and would say, “This is what is written in such and such a book, look it up and see,” and would thus confute his adversary, but afterwards, when the book was searched, no trace of the pretended quotation would be found. In this manner he one day confuted, in the imperial assembly, Maulana Iliyas the astrologer, who had been the tutor of the Emperor Muhammad Humayun, and had great skill and readiness in the preparation of astronomical tables, so that the Maulana, disgusted with his opposition, set out from Court, and travelling through the pargana of Mohan in the Sarkar of Lakhnau, which was his jagir, he gave up his military appointment in the imperial service, and proceeded in haste to Gujarat, and thence to Makkah the glorious, and thence went to the land of ’Iraq and Azarbaijan, and Ardabil, which was his well-loved native land, and there he died. The story of his dealings with Shah Isma‘il II is well known, and is briefly as follows: When Maulana Iliyas arrived at Ardabil he wrote a letter to Shah Isma‘il, who had been confined by Shah Tahmasp in the fortress of Qahqaha, saying, “From the aspects of the planets I have ascertained that in such a month you will obtain your freedom, and from the dungeon will attain to the highest rank, and will sit on the throne of the kingdom. Just as he had prophesied something was put into Shah Tahmasp’s cup after a short space of time, and the affairs of Iraq fell into great confusion, and the amirs and ministers of state summoned Shah Isma‘il from his prison, by way of Ardabil, with a view of setting him on the throne. Now the maulavi had said in his letter, “On your way from Qahqaha, when you reach Ardabil it is necessary that you pay me a visit so that certain agreements and settlements may be made between us in your presence, and certain rites of exorcism may be performed while we lie face to face.” It so happened that Shah Isma'il was in great haste and did not visit the maulavi's house, but after leaving Ardabil he turned back and went to the maulavi's house with the object of waiting upon him. The maulavi shut the door of his mansion and refused to grant him an interview. After waiting a long time the king was compelled to break the door and entering the maulavi's room by force, waited upon him; but the maulavi covered his face, and, turning round, sat facing the wall, and said, “The appointed hour passed, and you did not come; why should I now see your face?” Shah Isma'il turned away disappointed, and although he became king, the nobles of the realm, a year after he had ascended the throne, conspired to prompt his sister, Parijan Khanum to attempt his life. He became cognizant of the plot, but before he could do anything to baffle it Parijan Khanum suffocated him and left his room, closing the door behind her on his corpse.