Muntakhab al-tawarikh 25: SULTAN NASIRU-D-DIN MAHMUD IBN SHAMSU-D-DIN IYALTIMISH
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 25
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Contents
SULTAN NASIRU-D-DIN MAHMUD IBN SHAMSU-D-DIN IYALTIMISH
25.1.1
Succeeds to the sovereignty in the year 644 H. The Wazirship was conferred upon Ghiyasu-d-Din Balban the Ulugh Khan, who was in reality great, and was the slave and son-in-law of the father of Nasiru-d-din. At the time of his accession great largesse was given, and the poets recited many congratulatory odes from some of which the following verses are taken That great Lord who is a Hatim in generosity and a Rustum in energy, Nasir-i Dunya wa Din Mahmud ibn Iyaltimish. That great world-conqueror, the roof of whose palace is the heaven! In the height of his dignity this lower sphere is his vesture. How can we measure the glory the Sikka acquires from his auspicious titles? Or how compute the exultation of the Khutbah at the mention of his happy name? The records of his equity and his laudable qualities are evident from the book called Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, which was composed in his honour.
25.1.2
The Sultan entrusted all the affairs of the kingdom to Ghiyasu-d-Din Balban and in giving him the title of Ulugh Khan said, “I deliver into thy hands the reins of absolute authority, beware lest thou commit thyself to any evil action, for to-morrow thou wilt be at a loss in the presence of Almighty God and thou wilt bring shame upon me and upon thyself.” The Sultan himself would generally retire into his chamber and occupy himself in devotion, and reading the Qur’an and in repeating the sacred names of God, may He be glorified and exalted, and it is currently reported that on the occasion of a public audience he used to clothe himself from head to foot in regal apparel, while in private he used to wear an old ragged garment, and they also say that he used to so devote his time to the copy of the Qur’an which he was writing, the Khokhars, and other contumacious tribes, joined the Sultan and returned to Dehli, and in the year 645 H., having taken Siwat turned his attention to the country of the Doab, and the same year having sent Ulugh Khan from the confines of Kanoj to oppose and overthrow the rebels of that district, arrived at Dehli with great spoil.
25.1.3
And in the year 646 A.H., he proceeded against Rantanbhur, and having punished the seditious tribes of those districts he returned, and in the year 647 H., he married the daughter of Ulugh Khan. Then in the year 648 H., he took an army towards Multan, and after some days Malik ‘Izzu-d-Din Balban-i-Buzurg, the Governor of Nagor, withdrew his foot from the circle of allegiance and rebelled, but when the Sultan proceeded thither, he begged for pardon and joined the Court. And in the year 649 H. he marched in the direction of Gwaliar and Chanderi and Malwa, and Jahir Dev the Rai of that country with five thousand cavalry and 200,000 infantry came out to meet him and gave battle to the Sultan in great force, but was defeated and the fort of Narwar was taken. And in this year Sher Khan Governor of Multan, and Malik ‘Izzu-d-Din Balban who had left Nagor with reinforcements for him reduced the fortress of Uchh, and Sher Khan remained in the fortress, while Malik ‘Izzu-d-Din Balban came to pay his respects to the king, and received from him as a jaegir the districts of Budaon and was given the title of Kashlu Khan. And in the year 650 H. (1252 A.D.) he left Dehli intending to proceed to Lahore, and from there he went to Multan and Uchh, and in this expedition Kashlu Khan accompanied the Sultan as far as the river Biah. And in the year 651 H.
25.1.4
marching from Dehli, he detailed forces to act against Tabarhindah and Uchh and Multan of which Sher Khan had lost control, and of which the Sindhis held possession; and having regained possession of them, handed them over to the charge of Arsalan Khan and returned. And in the year 652 H. having assembled an army on the confines of the country at the foot of the hills of Bijnor, and having crossed the Ganges by the ford of Biyāpūr, and hugging the skirt of the mountain, reached the banks of the river Rahab, and having taken much booty and made many prisoners, giving themselves up to rapine and making prisoners, invaded the country of Kaithal, going to Badāon and from thence to Oudh, and hastened to the capital. And after some time news arrived that certain of the Amīrs, namely Ulugh-i A'zam, and Arsalān Khān and others, in concert with Malik Jalālu-d-Dīn, the brother of the Sultān, had commenced hostilities in the vicinity of Tabarhindah. The Sultān thereupon marched from Dehlī, and in the neighbourhood of Tabarhindah and Kuhrām and Kaithal, by the intervention of a party of Amīrs, the Amīrs agreed to peace, and with many protestations and oaths suing for pardon came into submission to the Sultān, and the Sultān conferred upon Malik Jalālu-d-Dīn the Governorship of Lāhor, and proceeded to the capital. And in the year 654 H. the feelings of the Sultān underwent a change with respect to his mother Malika-i Jahān.
25.1.5
He gave Qutlugh Khān, to whom Malika-i Jahān was married, a jāgīr in Oudh, and a short time after turning against him also, sent him to Bahrāīj. He took fright at this and came to the hill country of Sīr Mūr, and Malik 'Izzu-d-Dīn Kashlū Khān and certain other Amīrs made common cause with him and laid the foundation of revolt, the Sultān Accordingly detailed Ulugh Khan Balban with a large army to oppose them, and when the two forces had arrived within a short distance of each other the Shaikhu-l-Islam Saiyyid Qutbu-d-Din and Qazi Shamsu-d-Din of Bharaij and another party of men incited Qutlugh Khan to come into Dehli, and inspired him with a desire to possess that country; the inhabitants of Dehli joined in this instigation. Ulugh Khan represented this at the Sultan’s court, and the Sultan issued an order for every individual of that party to go separately to his own place, and Qutlugh Khan and Malik ‘Izzu-d-Din Kashlu Khan after this defeat, traversed the distance of a hundred krohs in two days and came from Samana to Dehli, but did not find the party which had been the cause of their being summoned. Qutlugh Khan and Kashlu Khan also were separated, and Ulugh Khan following them arrived in the Sultan’s presence. And in the year 655 H. the Sultan issued an order for the expulsion of certain nobles and grandees from the city of Dehli, and at the end of this year the Mughuls arrived on the boundaries of Uchh and Multan;
25.1.6
Kashlu Khan Balban made common cause with them and the Sultan came up in hot haste against them. The Mughuls were not able to stand against him and turned back towards Khurasan. The Sultan also raised the banner of return towards the capital and having bestowed a robe of honour upon Malik Jalalu-d-Din Jani marched towards Lakhnauti. And in the year 656 H. (1258 A.D.) ambassadors came to the Sultan from Turkistan, and he sent them back loaded with presents, and in this year Hazrat Makhdum Ganjshakar, may God magnify his power and exalt his memory, left the lodging house of separation and disappointment for the home of nearness and fulfilment. And in the year 657 H. elephants and great treasure and jewels and cloths without number, arrived from Lakhnauti as presents, and in Rajab of this year Malik ‘Izzu-d-Din Kashlu Khan Balban gaining relief from the turmoil of this transitory world, hastened to the next world, and in this year Ghausu-l-‘Alam Hazrat Shaikh Bahau-d-Din Zakariyai the Multani, may God sanctify him, raised the tent of close union with God Almighty, and a celebrated poet wrote this couplet to record the date: By the arrow of the love of God one was wounded (zakhmi) the other perished.
25.1.7
And in the year 658 H. Sultan Nasiru-d-Din Mahmud chastised the country of Miwat and the rest of that district, and when he was fully established as Malik in the year 664 H. he fell sick and closed his eyes on the world of dreams and fancies, and went to the eternal kingdom. He left no heir; the duration of his reign was nineteen years, three months and a few days. His tomb is well known in Dehli, and every year crowds flock to visit it. Verse. Come and cast one thoughtful look upon this dust, For it is the dust of the resting-place of trusted kings. And of the number of those who sounded the drum of poetry and attained the rank of Maliku-l-Kalam (Lord of Eloquence) during Nasiru-d-Din’s reign, one was Shamsu-d-Din Dabir whose manifest excellencies and perfection are beyond description and need no narration and praise, and Mir Khusru, may God sanctify him, who tested the genuineness of his own poems by the touchstone of their acceptability to that other (Shamsu-d-Din) used to boast of them, and in the preface to the Ghurratu-l-Kamal and at the end of the Hasht Bihisht greatly embellished his words in the mention of the praiseworthy qualities and in spreading abroad the excellencies of (that friend of his). And Sultan Ghiyasu-d-Din Balban having at the end of his reign appointed him Secretary for the countries of Bangala and Kamrud had left him in the service of his elder son Nasiru-d-Din Bughra Khan, and these few couplets are from an ode of his:
25.2.1
Oh thou of whom this work of my heart is unworthy though my ignorance, thou gavest me last night a false promise of entertainment.
All night I kept my eyes awake and I did not know that that was longing of that kind which you know to be vain.
I keep my heart exercised thinking of thy face, and wondering why thy colour is so ripe and thy forehead like virgin silver.
I am overcome with idleness though it urges me on to strenuous endeavour — but there is a loose bond between me and distraction.
Do not make me prepared with (the fire of) thy love since I am thy guest, because it is a great virtue to offer sacrifice of unprepared flesh.
We said “no Muslim will eat raw flesh,” but look ! thy grief has devoured me raw. Is this your religious devotion.
You call me “raw,” if I cut open my own breast, I will shew you that the heart which thou considerest raw, is ready.
So amazed am I at thy beauty and the glory of the king that my imperfect work remains raw from my amazement.
Since the king is a second Khusru, my work will never remain unfinished, by reason of the kingdom of the second Khusru —
Conqueror of the world and of religion, he in view of whose sovereignty the desire of Emperors for the Kingdom of Suleiman was vain.
The king Mahmud Shah, that Sultan from whose father’s glory the cauldron of one single desire, by reason of his empire, is not left unfilled.
If the Sun of his benevolence shines in the direction of the garden no fruit issues from the branches of the garden unripe.
25.2.2
What resource has the Sky if it does not support the burden of thy dignity — how can you expect a raw baggage animal to bear a heavy load !
Thy enemy deserves this that you should sew him in a raw hide for on the body of an inexperienced man of what use is it for you to fit a raw hide?
Thy enemy bathes in blood, instead of the collar of his garment the prisoner places on his neck every moment a raw hide.
Every deed of thine is like perfected gold, and those who wish thee evil are imperfect in their work from frivolity and the assurance of shame.
Thy enemy is that naked demon who has a skin made of the whole of the Earth, and that too, if you take it off him is a raw hide.
If thou dost not spread thy table every day twice before the people, they will perforce eat raw grain, since the hand of despair from lack of bread has no other resource.
If thy enemy becomes ruined, what fear is there? although he advances in a futile attack, like the lion of the flag he is helpless through impotence.
Of what avail is the sorcery of Far'un since the dragon of your standard will swallow the fictitious serpent.
Oh Tomru! Shamsu'd din is thy secretary, strong and well proved in speech — he is not like the worthless Scribes an inexperienced scribbler.
He himself is experienced and his verse is like purified gold — his words are not like the best sayings of Khaqani still in the rough.
25.2.3
The sky has prepared a perfect kingdom for thee — Oh Lord till thy favour grant that his perfect work may never revert to imperfection.
And the King of Kings and of Speech Amir Fakhru-d-Din ‘Amid Lumaki writes in a Qasida of which this is the opening couplet.
When my loved one takes the lute, and binds the plectrum on her fingernail
Her nail strikes Zuhal with a hundred wounds in the heart through envy.
Through envy of her harp fever seizes upon Nahid at that instant.
Her nail becomes altogether blue from the effect of that fever.
Consider the henna on her nails to be like blood, which at the time of the springing of the strings from the harp dry as a reed, has spurted forth and made the nail moist.
If in play my nail has scratched your lip, do not be vexed at that,
Because now and then they dip the nail into sugar by way of tasting it.
Keep the point of your nail as sharp as a glance, my love, for the harp has no confidence in the fingers save for the sharpness of their nails.
Bring me consolation by the tenderness of thy kindness, because compared with thy face, the bride of the moon has brought blood to its nails through envy.
Give me wine red as the blood of a hare at the remembrance of the assembly of the king, for his wrath has forced off the claws from the paws of the male lions.
Shahanshah i'Dunya wa'Din Mahmud, by whose equity the partridge with its beak has torn off the claws of the swift-flying hawk.
25.2.4
the fate-like oppression of his enemy he has fallen in danger of ruin, just as one's nail is in danger in the hands of an unskilled barber.
His head is in danger of severance by the sword of the daring, like the nail at the time of paring, in accordance with the Hadis.
From the dread of the falcon of his equity it behoves that they should take to flight when the eagle with lancet-like talons casts his feathers and talons (through fear).
Such a quarry do they see, that from their absence of claws and their distress, their claw demands as a loan from the small-clawed partridge its claws.
For this reason that in the presence of his power, the sky scratches his head for envy, and each month, because of that power, displays the body of the moon in the shape of a nail paring (crescent).
Compared with the perfumed dust raised by his charger the dust-like grains of the musk-bag have become valueless as the dust which is found under every nail.
You would say his arrow is a finger from the hand of victory because it appears as though his nail were like a willow-leaf-bladed soul-destroying spear.
A finger which if he so wills it, like an Indian spear embeds its nail in the mind of iron and the heart of separation.
The sword of his wrath has imprinted such a scar on the cheek of his enemy as remains on the cheek of the mother from the anger of the infant.
25.2.5
Grudging the life of his evil-disposed enemies, lo! the boars of Fate have sharpened their tusks, and the lions of Destiny their claws.
Power of the world! when the point of thy sword scratches the hearts, it has carried away from the paws of the oppression of the dog-natured sky its claws.
How can thy enemy be at all like thee, how can he approach thy dagger, whereas when he brandishes his dagger it becomes at that moment like a finger nail.
If his pride so misleads him that he finds fault with you, the tip of his finger becomes as dust in his hand and his nail as nothing!
The edge of thy sword protects the face of the world, if there had not been the nail as a shield behind the back of the finger tip it had not been well.
If the envier of the nail of thy bravery bears a grudge against thee, perchance poor it is because he does not know that the nail is poisonous.
I have brought in the radif nail in this poem which is like a charm. Verily it is as useful in magic, as the hair of the head or the tip of the nail.
Oh king, do not desert me, so long as the spiteful heaven strikes every moment one nail upon another by way of producing the notes of my fate.
Inasmuch as the mention arose of ‘Amid, who was controller of all the states of Hindustan, it is essential to reproduce something from poems of his which are rarely met with.
Arise ‘Amid if thy heart is not cold and dead. Leave thy love poems, and speak the praise of the Lord of the world.
25.2.6
Praise the Court of Heaven, for he has raised on high many an azure dome without the irksome aid of tools.
He has appointed two kings (the Sun and Moon) to travel over this blue dome, and has allotted to them the planets as attendant cavaliers on all sides.
The tiring woman of his skill has displayed a hundred beauteous stars at nightfall from behind the curtain of nine folds.
He has ordained for the lady of the world, in Night and Day two able handmaids with the titles of Rumi and Hindu (i.e., fair and dark).
Without any shop-keeper in the small shop of the sky, he has suspended in one corner a pair of scales with two pans.
His skill has caused the crimson anemone to grow upon the summit of the mountains, his bounty has caused the Suri and Rahu to blossom in the garden.
25.3.1
At one time with the point of the compasses of his bounty he has limned the form of the mouth at another with the pen of his favour he has delineated the two eyebrows
The face of day by his bounty has become a blaze of whiteness
The locks of the night by his skill have become a marvel of blackness
The kings of the earth with submission and humility, in search of honour have rubbed their faces in the dust of his threshold
Every month has its moon upon the plain of the sky, at one time curved like the chaugan, at another round like the ball
So just is he, that at the time of dispensing justice he has never injured any one even an hair’s breadth by oppression
That one who sought his food in the heart’s blood of grapes he made on the morrow black with disgrace like the cheek of the plum
The partridge with its (weak) claws could attack a hundred hawks if so many heads of ants give such power to the partridge
The morning breeze bestowed out of his all-encompassing bounty upon Chin and Khata the perfume of the bag of the musk deer
Hear from me oh friend, since you have heard the declaration of unity, a piece of advice to hearing which both your ear and mine are attentive:
Beware of giving an ear to the sound of the strings of the harp
Beware of turning your attention to the flagon fashioned of earth (wine flask)
Those who in this way live on good terms with their lords, such as you, do not say, Where is one of that company?
25.3.2
Do you yourself behold every morning, for the dove on the garden bough by its song of Ku Ku bears witness to this beneficent one.
Cast thine eye upon the ground that thou mayest see poured out there many a friend of kind aspect, and many a sweet-natured loved one.
Do thou ‘Amid again lay hold of the thread of confession of unity
And hang it upon the rosary of thy prayers as it were pearls.
Oh Sovereign Lord! world-possessing Deity who art ever-living
Yet without (the intervention of the vivifying) spirit, and eloquent without a (material) tongue.
By thy order three daughters have come forth from the soul Without the pangs of childbirth, and without the intermediary influence of a husband.
Compared with thy ancient order what is Kisra and what is Qaiṣar?
In face of thy decree what is the Khāqān and what is Hulāku?
Without thy command no ant can draw a single breath of its own will,
Without thy knowledge no sleeper turns from one side to the other.
25.3.3
the action of the ruh or vital principle upon matter the highest form of matter, with which we are familiar, namely, the nerve structures of the human brain, admits of certain phenomena which in their totality we call mind: the existence of a higher form of matter capable of higher manifestation than those which come within our present experience is obviously possible. A force apart from matter may, for anything we know, exist in a way that we cannot figure to ourselves for want of some example. Such a force self-existent would be Rūh Although I like a harp am hump backed and head downwards, Yet in the assembly of thy hope I play the air of Ya Huwa. On that day when out of awe of thee all the assembly of the prophets own their allegiance on bended knee, Oh Lord do thou of thy clemency bestow upon me, wretched man that I am, forgiveness, for I am defiled with disobedience and engulfed in it on all sides.
His also is the following in praise of the prophet may the peace and blessing of God be upon him:
I fashion now a garment of song the embroidery of whose sleeve, flows gracefully from the adornment of the soul as the ornament of its divine Creator
102. I choose the path of thy forming by the ornament of straightforward praise, Because the two worlds are an indication of the embroidery of its sleeve; Rose of the garden of the prophetic office, than whose spikenard the morning breeze has never borne from Chin to Machin a rarer odour from the fragrant musk.
25.3.4
Head of the created beings of the world, by whose glorious advent, the heaven has brought forth a pearl of great price from the shell as an offering.
The heaven has placed its two standards firmly planted in the seventh of its citadels, throughout the length and breadth of the world in the five stated times of prayer.
His onyx-like eye has not cast one glance upon the signet of Solomon because there is the stamp of his seal upon every-thing from the moon above to the fish below,
Fate and Destiny are his guardians, Eternity and Hope his helpers,
Earth and the time are his advocates, angels and heaven pledged to him.
His lip is honey and his cheek a rose, what an advantage to both worlds.
His gulangabin (confection of rose and honey) relieves the tremor of disobedience,
The mouth of the shell is full of the pearls of his pearl-like words.
The belt of the horizon is bejewelled with his widespread faith,
The prosperity of the body of the faithful is in his left hand, and the good fortune of the face of those who follow the path of his religion is in his right hand.
The pages of the seven heavens are but an atom of his being,
The two worlds, compared with the stream of his might, are but a sweat drop from his forehead,
The tongue of a green lizard is one of the marks of his seal.
25.3.5
The web of the spider was a curtain which concealed his relation, In the moon-bedecked Heaven, one glance of his cleft the heart of the moon the beloved of the Sky into two halves as though it were a piece of cloth.
Both beasts of prey and birds have girded the loins of faithfulness to him.
Both young babes and old men have opened their lips in his praise.
The rose and the thorn of fragrant flowers are the fruits of his love and kindness.
The (sweet) sugar and the (bitter) colocynth are both reminders of his love and wrath.
The garden, in submission to his creative power, like the violet has scratched its cheek (with vexation). Look! there is a blue mark upon its jasmine cheek.
His body is composed of spirit of divine sanctity, which is the purification of the spirit of the human. One cannot reach to his essential constitution, for his composition is of light.
When Baraq the lightning-fleet came under his stirrup he leapt towards the highest heavens so that the curved crescent moon was like the hinder part of his saddle.
When his courser trod the face of the plain of the earth he placed his foot in such a way that the heaven became like the earth to him.
One step of his reached to the extremity of the earth from the house of Ummahani the second step reached to the Sidra from the earth like the angels.
The orb of the sun, the untamed steed, was led along in his cavalcade.
The moon having stamped a brand upon its quarter with its horseshoe shaped crescent.
25.3.6
Consider the goodness of his nature in that for our sakes in the next world, he has long pleaded the cause of his followers with a heart full of pity.
Wisdom, by his favour, is drawn out from the well of superstition by the rope of the cord of Chastity which was his mighty title
Asad Ullah leaving his lair, with his polished spear has torn out the heart of the envious cur-hearted ones like the tongue of a dog.
A band like the ants of the ground travelling fast along a path slender as a hair.
Shining like the lightning from the brilliancy of the torch of his religion.
A band (of men lost) like a hair which has fallen into leaven by reason of his wrath fell into the fire from the bridge, with their waists bound like the ant in their hostility.
On the surface of the board of his sincerity who can raise his head in deceit, since not even the heaven survives the throw of his two dice.
Seven pillars are established by his four friends, for the seven heavens which are firmly fastened to the pole.
Of these four stars there are two conjunctions both of which are fortunate. The Moon and Jupiter are in conjunction, each one with its own partner.
In the two ears of the four elements how happy is earring. From the two earrings sprang eight Paradises with the two lights which give sight to the eyes.
'Amid has devoted his powers in all directions to sing his praises, if perchance the good and bad of his words may gain some currency.
25.3.7
How can I boast of my descent, here, when I from my heart supplicate the intercessor of the day of judgment whose religion God approves.
From the embroidery of my eulogy, what legality is evident, in my magic? It is like wine whose pure brilliancy is enhanced by the crystal cup!
From the sugar candy of his sayings the lips of the parrots are imbued with sugar as though from the tray of eloquence they have eaten the crumbs of his wisdom. What person am I, what parrot am I, that sing these verses? When I sing his praise it is like the buzzing of a fly. May the breath of the parrots of my soul not fail for a single moment from the singing his praise and proclaiming his triumph.