Muntakhab al-tawarikh 246: XXXIV. Jamīlī of Kalpī.

246

He is the son of Shaikh Jalāl, Wāsil, who was the deputy of Shaikh Muhammad Ghaus, and took great delight in the ecstatic songs and dances of darvīshes. Jamīlī, though he has very little of the ecstatic piety of his father, is yet not without a love of learning and poetic taste, although he has written some ridiculous verses.
The following verses are extracted from his works: —
“Whenever I think on the rose of thy face, Like the broken-hearted nightingale I utter lamentations. If the joy of union with thee has never been my lot, I can, at least, indulge my heart with grief for the want of thee.”
“Since her ringlets have led me into love’s madness, My distracted heart is bound in the bonds of that madness.”
He has written an ode in praise of Qāsim ‘Alī Khān, the cornchandler, governor of Kālpī, in the course of which this couplet occurs: —
“To connect thee with the race of Khāns (nobles) Is most revolting and most unfit.”
This couplet also is attributed to him, but God knows whether correctly or not: —
“The mouse of my heart, which I nourished with blood drawn from my liver, Has been suddenly seized by the cat of love, Pierced by her teeth, and carried off.”
His elder brother, Shaikh Fazlī, was a wonderful Arabic scholar, and has written some fine poetry in Arabic. The following is the opening couplet of an ode which he wrote in answer to an ode by Mu'in ud din Tantaram —
O beautiful of face, my face, from days of old, has declined, My soul has descended to the pit and tears have followed like running water
One day he recited this couplet, and as both he and his respected brother have very sallow complexions I said, 'In this opening couplet you have evidently addressed your younger brother.' This quip was very well received. The opening couplet of the original ode, which was answered, is —
"O thou of easy circumstances, sure thou hast thrown my affairs into confusion Thou hast disturbed my heart by thine absence and it is in a decline owing to its palpitation."
And Shaikh Fazil has written on Faizi's commentary an essay in Arabic, in prose and verse, which furnishes sufficient proof of his great learning. At the present time both brothers have set out from Lahor for their native place. If, in the course of following the object which they have in view, which is a review of all the Imams of India, they do not slay one another utterly, it will be a wonder.