Muntakhab al-tawarikh 279: LXVI. Sarfi.
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 279
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LXVI. Sarfi.
279.1
He comes from a village called Kokūwāl in the Panjāb. His father belongs to the Majis, a large and well known tribe, and he used to say that his mother was a Sayyid by race. Although he is not of noble blood he has a disposition sufficiently noble, and leads a well regulated life. He studied under his father, Maulānā Yaḥyā, who wrote an ode with this opening couplet:— I have bound my letter to thee with a white thread to signify That in my separation from thee no blood remains in the veins of my soul.”
“Deprived of thy face my existence is a sea of pain and grief, My ribs are the waves of that sea.”
“She comes to slay me, with the sword of cruelty in her hand. Whatever men relate of injustice is committed by that cruel one. In the abundance of its hopefulness the heart believes that a messenger comes from Shirin To the unfortunate Farhad even though it be Parviz himself that comes.”
“Wherefore, O tear, dost thou traverse my eye When I bid farewell to my dear? Where wert thou then, that thou now obscurest my sight? O Zephyr, my beloved has entirely filled the mould of my desire, I am thy devoted servant, but thou wanderest overmuch in her street.”
The following few couplets are from an ode of question and answer by him:—
“I said, ‘O heart, what is the cause of this change in the condition of the world?’ My heart replied, ‘Silence, the brain of heaven is thrown into confusion.’
279.2
That not all the verses that poets write pass as current coin Just as nobody’s wine is all clear. Shiri, praise not the base, For praise befits the noble. * * * * Shiri's ghazals and masnavis are mere rubbish, And this is intended neither for praise nor for blame, But the fame of his odes and epigrams Has reached the uttermost parts of the earth.”
The few verses quoted below are the production of his brilliant wit:—
“My heart is so enamoured of the beauty of Salma That it wanders abroad with her heart in search of consolation. The remembrance of another by that heart in which thou dwellest Is equivalent to the worship of ‘Uzza in the Ka'bah. The beloved has so entirely surrounded herself with an array of coquetry, That even desire found no way of access to her in that dense crowd.”
“Bid the caravan move faster, that Egypt May no longer send back to us the cries of Zulaikha grieving for our absence.”
The following two couplets are from an ode which he wrote on the utility of the elephant: —
“How sweetly pass those nights in which, praying incessantly for the safety of the King’s elephant, I read the chapter ‘night’ by the margin of the river Biyah ; On the fair ones of Kukuwal with the gait of an elephant and the eyes of gazelles I think every moment, and heave sighs from my bosom.”
The following is the opening couplet of an ode in which he enumerates six things as being necessary.
279.3
“O thou who holdest the world in the grasp of thy wisdom by the force of thy sword and thy arrow, Crowned monarch of the throne and of fate, Who conquerest the world by means of thy elephants and thy horses, Thy crown and thy throne, thy sword and thy arrow are the sun, the moon, the lightning, and the meteor, A hundred writers would be unable to reckon the number of thy elephants and horses.”
As his divan is exceedingly well known I refrain from quoting any more of his verses.
At the time when he was employed on the translation of the Mahabharata he said, “These prolix fables resemble the dreams of a man in a fever.”
I said, ‘From the well of hope the water of desire is not to be had.’
It replied ‘The well-rope of hope was not sufficiently long.’
I said, ‘If there is any rest anywhere, tell me where it may be found?’
It replied, ‘In sleep, they say, the sleep of death.’
I said, ‘Can anyone spend his life in joy?’
It said ‘This is mere speech, which never comes to pass.’
I said ‘Why is the brow of the beloved one furrowed with a frown?’
It said, ‘It is ill to contend with one ill-disposed.’
I said, ‘The mirror of wisdom is covered with rust.’
It said, ‘Where is the burnisher, generosity, that it may once more receive a polish?’
I said, ‘The eloquent are the ornament of the assembly.’
It said, ‘Thou canst not say these things to the wealthy.’
I said, ‘Alas for these men, who are far from the truth!’
279.4
It said, ‘Let justice be done on this deceitful race, which follows injustice.’
I said, ‘I have a detailed complaint to make against my fate.’
It said, ‘To the King thou must relate it succinctly.’
I said, ‘To Akbar, who resembles Jamshid in glory and Sulaiman in wisdom?’
It said, ‘Yes, the King of high destiny who in dignity resembles the sun.’
I said, ‘That personality which is second only to the prophet in honour?’
It said, ‘Yes, to that creature of God who surpasses all in beneficence.’
I said, ‘By race and descent the crown and the throne are justly his.’
It said, ‘His favour and liberality are the protection of his kingdom and his people.’
“When will the deliciousness of love’s grief be forgotten? I have sprinkled that salt on the marrow of my bones.”