Muntakhab al-tawarikh 208: II. Qasim-i-Kahi.

208

He was Miyan Kahi of Kabul. Although his verses are crude and his ideas all stolen from others, yet they are written in a connected style and in this respect Kahi had no equal. He was well versed in astronomy, rhetoric, and the mysticism of the Sufis, and wrote a treatise on music. In short he had no equal in his time in knowledge of the mysticism of the [Sufis], the art of composing enigmas, history, elocution, and various other arts. Although he had had the advantages of associating with the shaikhs of former days, among them that lord of his age Maulawi Jami (may his tomb be hallowed!) and others, yet all his life was spent in heresy and infidelity. But notwithstanding these ill qualities his liberality, generosity, open-handedness, and bounty were extreme and he was always surrounded by a crowd of qalandars, lewd fellows, and courtesans, and associated unrestrainedly with dogs. It would seem that such conduct is the invariable attribute of one bearing the title of Maliku-sh-Shu‘ara, as has been said in the verses—
Hearken to this advice from Saifi, That it may suffice thee all thy life; On good poetry and a handsome boy Pin thy faith, no matter whose they be!
I have no concern with his religion, but I reproduce the following selections from his verses:—
Couplets.
“Like thy shadow we are with thee, whithersoever thou goest, It may be that in time thou wilt shew us some kindness. O ancient of love, seek the company of one with Yusuf’s cheeks. Small wonder were it if so thou becamest young like Zulaikha. Kahi, thou art the nightingale which adorns the pleasaunce of Kabul, No crow or kite art thou that thou shouldst come to Hindustan.”
“Grief for thine absence has reduced my body to the likeness of a spider’s web, It is for this reason that the corner of a ruin is my dwelling.”
He set the two odes of which the opening couplets are given below to sweet music, so that they have become known throughout the world and are sung in all assemblies, enlivening alike the banquets of kings and the gatherings of mystics.