Muntakhab al-tawarikh 267.2

267.2

Sultan had a disposition well attuned to poetry. When he saw the Khanzaman, who also used Sultan as a poetical name, and presented to him an ode in his praise, the Khanzaman sent him, as a reward for it, a thousand rupees and a robe of honour, together with a request that he would, for his sake, change his poetical name. He sent back the gift and said, “Sultan Muhammad is my name, which was given to me by my father. How can I give it up? Moreover, I wrote poetry under this name many years before you did, and obtained much fame by it.” The Khanzaman said, “If you do not give up the name I will throw you under the feet of an elephant,” and being enraged, he had an elephant brought to the spot. Sultan said “Ah, what good fortune is mine, that I shall attain martyrdom!” After the Khanzaman had threatened and intimidated him for a long time, Maulana ‘Ala-ud-din Lari, the Khanzaman’s tutor, suggested that an ode should be selected from the divan of the reverend Maulavi Jami, (may God hallow his tomb!) which was at hand, and that if Sultan could answer it extemporaneously he should be pardoned, but if not the Khanzaman should do with him as he had proposed. From the divan of the reverend master (may his tomb be hallowed!) this ode was selected:— The writing of God’s creation know the writing on thy heart, And know the invisible proofs of kingship on the heads of beardless boys. Sultan Muhammad recited an extemporary ode, the opening couplet of which is:—