Muntakhab al-tawarikh 236: XXIV. MULLĀ NŪRU-D-DĪN MUHAMMAD-I-TARKHĀN.
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 236
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XXIV. MULLĀ NŪRU-D-DĪN MUHAMMAD-I-TARKHĀN.
236.1
He was called Safīdoni, and assumed the name of Nūrī as his nom-de-plume. Since he held the pargana of Safīdon in the sarkar of Sirhind as a jagir for some years, he was spoken of as though he had been a native of that place. He was distinguished for his attainments in geometry, the exact sciences, and astrology, and was one of the intimate companions of the late emperor, obtaining the title of Tarkhan in the course of his confidential association with him. He was unequalled in liberality, generosity, munificence and conviviality, for which qualities he was proverbial. He had poetic talent too, and composed a divan. One day on the polo-ground at Fathpur he was injured by an elephant, and was in great pain. While in this condition he continued to repeat, “Be my witnesses, all of you, that in my present uneasiness I repent of some of my former acts and am resolved to amend my ways.” However much he was pressed on the subject he would not say what those particular acts were of which he repented. I said, “The first thing of which you will have repented will surely be the writing of poetry.” I do not know whether he was pleased with my suggestion, or annoyed, but the others who were present were much pleased. In the days of his authority he dug a canal from the Jamna, fifty kuruh in length, in the direction of Karnal, and beyond that town. This was the cause of large additions to the cultivated area, and a great increase in the prosperity of the people.
236.2
As it was dug in the name of the prince Sultan Salim, it was called Shaikhunai, which word gives a chronogram for the date of its completion. Nai in Hindi means “a stream.” At length cruel fate brought utter ruin upon him so that he endured many hardships and privations. When His Majesty in A.H. 994 (A.D. 1586) departed for Atak he appointed Mulla Nuru-d-din to the trusteeship of the tomb of the late Emperor in the imperial city of Dihli, and there the Mulla died. The following verses are excerpts from his poems:— “Sad at heart am I sitting, far from those smiling lips, Like the rose bud am I sitting, with my head cast down to my collar.” “In his kindness and generosity The most just King conferred on Tarkhan the title Khan Of this Khan-ate he possesses the name alone. From this name, however full of dignity, what does he gain? Nay more, he makes this complaint of the tarkhan-ate also Before the king’s perfect wisdom, That besides the “khan” nothing but desert lands seems to remain to him, While with his tarkhan-ate moisture seems to disappear from them altogether.”
236.3
The Khan, when the Emperor was marching against Hakim Mirza in A.H. 989 (A.D. 1581), remained behind and returned from the Panjab to his own jagir, a line of conduct which excited suspicion against him, so that after the Emperor’s return from this expedition he was summoned to Fathpur, there to be called to account for his monetary transactions and his writings, to be reprimanded, and deprived of his title. In this manner, he was persecuted for some years. Those who are qualified to dis criminate attribute his ruin to the impropriety of which he was guilty in lampooning the officials in the imperial city of Dihli, wherein he was actuated solely by the enmity which he bore to Tatar Khan. The satire which he wrote he chose to attribute to Qasim-i-Kahi, publishing it as the work of that poet. The grounds upon which his satire was based will be best defined by quoting from the effusion. “Miyan Jamal Khan is the mufti of Dihli, But he never yet delivered one of his foolish judgments gratis; He is the Governor of the city under Tatar Khan, And has just such another little donkey’s face as his master’s. Shaikh Hasan the little decree-writer with his poisoned pen Spreads on all sides false news and slanderous whispers. At the very time of prayer he performs, in a perfunctory manner, his ceremonial ablutions When the reader has already ascended the pulpit, It is he, it is he, it is he that oppresses the city, A vain babbler, with his harlots”
236.4
The opening couplet of that effusion, which even to quote is scurrility, is as follows: “Alas, for Dihli and its holy shrines, Alas, for the ruin of its palaces!” This satire extends to nearly two hundred and fifty couplets. One of the learned men of that city, Shaikh Muhammad Kambu by name, wrote an answer to the whole of it in the following two couplets:— “Nūru-d-dīn is such a blockhead That it must have been in folly that his father begat the fool. The babbling dolt has been struck on the head with a mallet, There is no (need to) answer his foolish chatter.” Praise be to God! These verses are equal to that world-famed fragment of the lord Maulavī Nūru-d-dīn ‘Abdu-l-Raḥmān-i-Jāmī (may his tomb be hallowed!) the opening verses of which are given below:— “Alas for the Love of God, and its ecstasy, It has consumed my heart with its scorching heat. Mine eye never glanced towards aught but God. My lot is cast with God and with His revolutions!” The worthy Maulānā Nūru-d-dīn fancied himself a second Jāmī, both as a story-teller and as a stylist. But how can there be any comparison between the two? “If in your actions you resemble not the virtuous, of what use is it to resemble them in name? “One who bore the title of Masīḥ restored sight to him who was blind from his mother’s womb, but another Masīḥ had himself but one eye.”
236.5
It is to be hoped, however, that as he was not without natural goodness of disposition, he repented of his evil deeds, and that God in His gracious mercy allowed his tribulation and suffering in this world to be an expiation of his sins. May God forgive him! When the Maulānā, after being put down from his high place, came to Agra, I was walking in the public market one day, and met him. One of my friends, the genial and witty Miyān Kamālu-d-dīn Ḥasan of Shīrāz, who was one of the leading men in Agra, said to him, “Well, my lord Nawwāb, you have written something regarding the officials in Dihlī, and now why should you not bestow the same favour on the officials in Agra, who expect it of you!” I said, “Evidently he has seen nothing in the leading men of Agra which renders them worthy of this honour.” Miyan Kamalu-d-din laughed and said, “This is a false charge which you have brought against us.”