[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [General histories](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general) › [Muntakhab al-tawārīkh](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh) › [Muntakhabu-t-tawarikh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig) › 249 # Muntakhab al-tawarikh 249: XXXVII. Ja‘far Beg. Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 249 - **Language:** English ### [249](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.249) He is well known as Asaf Khan the Qazvini, and is brother’s son to Mirza Ghiyas-ud-din ‘Ali ‘Asaf Khan, the late paymaster-in-chief. He is himself now one of the chief paymasters. bitter is his resentment at having received no honour in the days in which his uncle was influential at court, that he continues to show it, and to attack his uncle even now that he is dead. His poetic genius is greater than that of all his contemporaries, but is restricted by not being exercised, owing to his love of pleasure and ease and the great demands made upon his time by official business. He is also moderately fond of learning. Had he been a man of one occupation he would have enchanted the hearts of many of the poverty-stricken people of this time, which would probably have been worth to him forty tumans in cash. (Whenever he made any considerable sum of money by his poetry he would squander it.) The following few couplets are some of his : — “ My lives are cast to-day in the ways of injustice For wherever the beloved sets her footheads fall.” “ If, like the moth, I fly distractedly around thy candle, O obstinate one ! My presumptuous flight will at length land me in death.” “ The roses of all are despoiled by the autumn, But in my case both the rose-tree and the rose-garden are gone.” “ Thine affair, O Ja‘far ! is fallen into the fire, Two hundred songsters are here not worth one salamander.” “ At length the day of resurrection has come for the reckoning of my sin. O, tear up the record of the sins of the people.” “What plain was this and what hunter that always brought down the game? No quarry appeared in view, but received an arrow from him.” “I must write a letter concerning my grief to her who possesses my heart, The grief of my heart is great, I must write to my love concerning it.” “If Thou art pleased with Ja'far, with the faith which he holds and his heart, I am deputed by him to say that he freely gives Thee this faith and heart.” “Behold my magnanimity! A hundred leaves of the book of hope Have I torn into a hundred pieces and washed them with tears of blood!” “A rose has now bloomed in the garden afresh, For last night the nightingale slept not till the morning.” “Since the city was too small to contain the griefs of my heart The open plain was created for my heart.” “All thy complaints are over, as mine begin, For the whole of my complaint is that I do not hear the voice of thy complaint.” “Come into her heart, O pity, and let not my grief be in vain! For I am deeply afflicted while she is occupied with cruelty.” “Ja'far found the way to the street of his love, Now he will hardly rise to his feet again.” “She came and distracted me, and remained not for so long That I could make my heart acquainted with consolation.” - [Previous: 248](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.248) - [Next: 250](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.250) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.249](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.249) · Pramāṇa