Muntakhab al-tawarikh 30: The Lament of Mir Hasan.
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 30
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Contents
The Lament of Mir Hasan.
30.1.1
It is an old story that the tyrannous sphere, though it may for a time knit the knot of complaisance, and make a covenant of mutual sincerity, turns from its promise, and that discordant time, although it professes to shew acquiescence, and makes specious promises of fidelity, fails to perform them. The wanton-eyed heaven, the pupil of whose manliness is sullied by the defect of the mote of meanness, at first, like a drunken man, gives some bounty in a case where there has been no favour received to demand it, but in the end, like the children, takes the gift back again without any treacherous conduct having been committed. The habits and customs of the oppressive times are cast in the same mould, whether by experience or by hearsay, we see or hear that whomsoever it perceives coming to perfection like the moon, it desires to darken the face of his fulness with the blot of defect, and whomsoever it finds rising like a cloud him it strives to tear to pieces, and to scatter his substance to the extreme boundaries of the horizon. As in this orchard of amazement and garden of regrets, no rose blooms without a thorn so no heart escapes the thorn of sorrow. Alas! for the newly sprung verdure which has become yellow, withered in the bloom of its beauty by the autumn of calamity. Alas! for the many fresh-springing trees which have been laid low in the dust of the ground by the fierce blast of Death.
30.1.2
Consider the winds of Autumn, how chill they are and cold, The cowardly blows they have dealt alike at the young and old. One of the examples of this allegory is the death of the late Emperor Qā'ān-i-Mulk Ghāzī, *may God make manifest his demonstrations and weigh down the scale with his excellencies,* on Friday the last day of the month of Zī-l-Hijjah in the year 683 A.H., when the moon, like kindness in the heart of infidels, could nowhere be seen, the Sun with the company of the army of Islam came forth to smite with the sword, and the great Prince who was the Sun of the heaven of the kingdom, with the light of holy war shining on his noble brow, and the unchangeable determination of "jihad" firmly planted in his illustrious mind, placed his auspicious foot in the stirrup. By night they submitted to his judgment which solved all difficulties, that Itimar with the whole of his army had advanced into the plain at a distance of three farsangs. When morning broke, he commenced to march intending to leave that place, and at a distance of one farsang coming face to face with those accursed ones, elected to draw up their forces in a place on the outskirts of Bagh-i-Sabz on the banks of the river of Lahor.
30.1.3
Accordingly he very strongly fortified a large village which was close to the river, and made such dispositions that when the infidels came against it, both rivers should be in the rear of his army, so that neither could any man of his own army turn in flight nor could any injury be inflicted upon his array by that troublesome horde and in very truth that choice of position was the acme of caution and the very height of skill in that world-conquering Khan, but since when Fate is adverse the thread of all plans becomes tangled, and the orderly row of enterprises becomes disordered, He who falls in with evil fortune by the way, His affairs fall out just as his enemies desire. His Fortune like a mad man loses the right way, His senses, like the nightblind, fall into the well. By chance that day the Moon and the Sun, which may be compared to kings, were suspended in the sign of the Fish, and Mars, whose blood-red aspect is entirely due to the blood of the princes of the people, had drawn out from the quiver of that sign the arrow of disappointment and the dart of disobedience against that Orion (white) girdled Khan, who was like Leo coming forth from a watery sign; the house of fear and calamity and the proofs of sedition and signs of harm thus became evidently manifest, while the hint and indication of the proverb "The place of Fate truly becomes strait" became written on the consecutive pages (of his history).
30.1.4
In short, at midday just as the courier of the heaven reached the country of noon, and the day of that world-conquering Emperor was approaching its decline, suddenly a band made its appearance from the direction of those infidels. The Khan-i Ghazi at that same moment mounted his horse and issued an order in obedience to which all the cavalry and the body servants and retinue and retainers, in accordance with the mandate 'Kill the infidels all of them', drew up in a line a hundred times stronger than the rampart of Sikandar. After ordering the right wing and dressing the left wing, he himself of noble qualities, stood in the centre like the moon and the host of the stars, ready for the jihad, while the Tatar infidels, let confusion and dismay come upon them, crossed the river of Euhor, and confronted the ranks of the Muslims.
30.1.5
Thereupon these wild loving desert born savages, placing the feathers of the owl upon their ill-omened heads, while the Ghazis of Islam, kings of Turkestan and Khilj and notables of Hindustan, and all the soldiery made the battlefield a place of prayer—as the Holy Apostle, may the blessings and peace of God be upon him, declared that the holy war was closely allied to prayer, saying 'we return from the lesser holy war to the greater holy war', reciting the takbir, raised their hands in prayer, and in the first attack they put to the sword a considerable number of ablebodied men of the Mughal cavalry, and the lances of the Maliks of the Court this day, for the tongue of my point by reason of constant fighting and slaying is blunted, and I have no power left of opposing the enemy with thrusts, I fear lest I should leap up and should commit some untoward act. The arrow too was saying, Thou, the knot of whose bow-string opens the knot of the Jauzhar, do not advance to meet this danger.
30.1.6
I myself in rushing forth to destruction cast dust upon my head, lest the close-eyed beauty of the heaven who sits on the fifth roof near the door of the eighth mansion, sitting in ambush, out of temerity and spite, should discharge against you the shaft of error from the bow of fraud and malice; the lasso was saying, to-day the tin end of planning should not be let go from the hand of deliberation, for I am contorted with anxiety at this precipitate conflict and ill-considered battle; wait a while, for Islam and the Muslims are like the tent-ropes connected with the tent of your favours. Oh God! in dealing with this people, do not so long delay putting the halter round their necks. I have willingly put my neck in the noose for thy sake. Thou art my lassoer, who takest me with the noose of thy locks.
30.1.7
In short, that mighty king, the defender of the faith, the uprooter of infidelity, from mid-day till eventide attacked that impious crowd with the whole main body of his army, cheerfully and willingly, while the shouts of the victors in the fight, and the clamour of those eager for the fray deafened the ears of the world and of the sky, and tongues of fire which leapt from the heads of the the sun of the life of that king whose son setting sank into the west of extinction, and the heaven, after the habit of mourners, dyed its raiment blue, while falling tears began to course down both its cheeks Saturn, by way of fulfilling the requirements of fidelity and the demands of mourning, turned its robe to black and bewailed the people of Hindustan because of his death Jupiter, in pity for that dust besoiled body and blood-stained mantle rent his garments and cast his turban in the dust And Mars, may the hand of his power be tightly closed as the eye of the beauties, and the face of his sustenance be dark as the locks of Ethiopians, sore wounded by compassion for that calamity, with a rankling thorn which brought forth his heart’s blood, was trembling like the Fish before the Sun, and like the Ram in the hands of the slaughterer, while the Sun, for shame that it had not striven to avert this calamity and prevent this disaster, came not forth, but sank below the earth, and Venus when she saw what violence the heavenly bodies were undergoing at the hands of Time, played her tambour more vehemently, changed the tune of the drum, and commenced music in a fresh measure, and because of the death of that slave cherishing king, others in place of uttering musical strains began to weep, and Mercury who in forage and conquests in accord with the scribe, used to write many records of victory, in that tyranny was blackening his face with the contents of his inkhorn, and was clothing himself in a garment of paper made of the sheets of his own records, while the new moon in the shape of a crescent on the horizon, with bowed stature, in that day of judgment which had visited the earth, was striking its head on the wall and performing all the customary mourning duties Thou placest thy cheek in the dust, alas, I wish not this for thee;
30.1.8
Moon of my days, I do not wish thee to pass beneath the Earth. If thou goest out to the chase (i.e. diest) thy dust is my life : My life ! is the solitude of thy dust pleasing to thee ? I do not wish it for thee.
30.2.1
May God, be He exalted and blessed, raise the purified and sanctified soul of that warrior prince to lofty heights and high dignities, and give him, from time to time, 'cups full of the brilliance of his beauty' and glory, and make all the kindness, and clemency, and affection, and care which he evinced towards this broken down worthless one, a means of increasing the dignity and wiping out the faults of that prince. Amen, Oh Lord of the worlds !
And Mir Khusru also on that day fell a prisoner into the hands of Lahori, a servant of the Mughul, and had to carry a nosebag and horsecloth upon his head. He recounts this circumstance in these words —
I who never even placed a rose upon my head, He placed a load on my head and said “It is a rose.”
And he composed in poetry and sent to Dehli two elegies written in tarkib-band which are found in the anthology known as Ghurratu-l-Kamāl, for a space of a month more or less, folk used to sing these tarkīb bands and used to chant them as threnodies over their dead from house to house.
The following is one of them:—
30.2.2
Is this the Resurrection day, or is it a calamity from heaven which has come to light? Is this a disaster, or has the day of Judgment appeared upon the earth? That breach which has appeared this year in Hindustan has given entrance to the flood of sedition below the foundation of the world. The assembly of his friends has been scattered like the petals of the rose before the wind. Autumn, the leaf-scatterer, has, one would say, appeared in the garden. Every eyelash, in the absence of friends, has become a spear-point to the eye, and each point of the spear has brought blood spouting forth to a spear's length. The heart writhes in agony since Time has broken the thread of companionship. When the string is broken the pearls are scattered far and wide. Such a flood of tears has been shed by the people on all sides that five fresh rivers have appeared around Multān. I wished to bring my heart's fire upon the tongue in the form of words, When lo! a hundred tongues of fire appeared within my mouth.
I am full of grief, empty of all desires, and tears are pouring forth from both my eyes; even the eye is weeping on account of the picture of grief which is its appearance.
Weeping has taken the bloom off my cheek, and alienated me, by means of it, that has left my cheek: and the boar has rejoiced in filth.
The planets are all convened in my eyes; therefore it portends a storm, since in a watery constellation a conjunction of planets is.
30.2.3
I only wish for that prime collection (of friends), and how can this be!
It is essentially impossible—how can this Banātu-n-Na’sh become the Pleiades? (How can mourning become joy).
With what omen did the king lead his army from Multān and draw the infidel-slaying sword in order to slay the infidels.
When they brought him tidings of the enemy, with that strength which he possessed, ruthlessly he displayed his wrath and unfurled his standards.
That army which was then present sought for no second army, For this reason that Rustum must not be indebted to an armed host.
One assault took him from Multan to Lahore, saying In my reign can any one rebel against me?
Am I not such a lion, that my sword which is like fire and water Has by its slaying turned every year of theirs to dust and ashes?
Such torrents of blood often have I set flowing over the earth, That the vulture flies over the surface of blood like a duck over the water.
In this year to such an extent do I stain the earth with their blood, That the evening twilight reddens with the reflection of the earth
He was bent upon this enterprise and did not know that the Destiny of heaven had drawn the line of fate across the writing of the page of intention
His eyes were smitten by the stars; if I have the power I must heat a needle, and like a shooting star thrust it into the eye of the seven planets.
The first day of the month became Muharram for him, not for him only but for all people.
30.2.4
Since at the end of Zûl Hijjah he drove his dagger into the neck of his enemies.
That the day of ‘Ashura might arrive he entered the ranks of holy war like Husain; the dust of his steed served as collyrium for the eye of the brilliant moon.
What an hour was that when the infidel reached the van of the army!
One upon another his squadrons passed over the river and came upon them unawares.
Thou didst see the king’s steed, casting the cloud of dust to the sky.
The wind-footed courier charging the infidels worthless as dust.
He raised a turmoil among the stars by the shouts of his army.
He produced an earthquake in the world by the rushing of his cavalry,
From the roll of the drums, the neighing of the horses, and the shouts of their riders, he caused a quaking of the plain and desert and mountain.
His horses were reeking (with sweat), with shoes as hot as fire, so that the hoofs of each fiery-shod steed struck sparks.
What awe was there! at one time drawing up for battle.
What terror was there! at another time raising the battle cries.
141. From the flash of the sword in his hand he scattered heat and oppressiveness around him. the very thought his speech pierced their heart like so many thorns.
The brave-hearted were all-holding, bent on consuming their enemies,
The faint-hearted were plotting intent upon flight.
[Whiles, the king the cherisher of brave men, in that field of battle,
Was doing deeds of bravery and urging on the warriors].
30.2.5
Striking manfully blow after blow upon the ribs of the unmanly cowards,
And sending forth flames of fire from his well tempered sword.
Raising aloft like Jamshid the standard, to restrain the demons,
Riding on his steed, like the sun, to capture kingdoms.
Bringing the sky into supplication from that affliction.
Making the sun perform the Tayammum with that dust.
[At that time when there was a distinction between brave and coward,
Many a one there was whose lips were dry and his cheeks pale].
The day was cast into darkness when they hurled one upon the other, The sun became pale when dagger was interwoven with dagger. The day was nearing its decline, seeing that the swords were weaving a sky of rust over the sun of the day. The rows of swords in both ranks resembled (the teeth of) a comb, The combatants are entangled one with the other like hair with hair.
142. The Earth looked like a sheet of water when cuirass was knit with cuirass, the plain resembled a rose garden when shield was woven with shield. The heaven flies away as though flying from an arrow, The arrows flung above their heads are thick as the feathers of a wing. When half the force of the infidels had their heads swept off by the sword Those infidel heads which were matted together like the locks of black hair. Ruby-red drops of blood sprang like tears from the sword So that the gold-woven standards were besprinkled with the jewels. Each single Head was cleft in twain when the swords blows met.
30.2.6
The cloven-heads became as one again when head was thrust against head. The slain were lying on all sides of that verdant plain Like the figures which they weave on the green brocade. Long had they been striving even from morning till evening, face to face, and hair to hair, and hand to hand. The king wished to spread the carpet of victory but to what avail Since the heavens had woven that carpet in another pattern. His auspicious sword did not cease from contest for one moment. From the declining day till night in that day of declining fortune. Oh Lord ! was that blood which flowed over the face of the plain Or was it a river urging its waves toward the lips of the thirsty. Just as water drops to the earth when you sift it in a sieve So the blood dript from the limbs of the weary warriors. The mortally wounded lay in the death-agony writhing on the ground, while from his throat blood burst in billows, spouting in the air. The arrows drove the bodies over the sea of blood like boats, Plying their oars madly and urging their course onwards.
The river those (the infidel enemies) to hell and the lake these (the Muslims) to Paradise, although the blood of infidel and lover flowing side by side.
30.3.1
The chargers were plunging and the heads of the riders falling.
The feet of the horses speeding and the heads of the riders bowling along.
Every spurt of blood which spirted from the body struck by an arrow,
Leapt without restraint like a man who leaps to avoid an arrow.
The arrow of every man who from stoutness of heart had an arm nerved for the fight, fitted accurately to the bow flew straight to the heart of the enemy's army.
And he who from faint-heartedness has lost command of his arms and legs, was running now to the water and now to the plain.
The king, the commander of the army, was urging on the charger of his fortune, and it galloped with him in drawing up his line, and planning the scheme of action.
The heavens turned Victory backwards seizing it by the hair,
Although Victory was speeding towards us having left the accursed (infidels).
[The infidels were expecting the coming of night, to take to flight.
Suddenly the scale of the balance turned against us].
What a night was that! when the sun had fallen from the sky!
And demons were hurling fire upon the earth, and the stars had fallen.
When nothing of day remained for that sun of fortune.
Some little daylight remained when the sun (of royalty) fell.
Although Husain of the famous Kerbela was in straits for want of water.
He was the Muhammad whose end came upon him in the water.
30.3.2
The heart of mankind became (full of holes like) a fishing net because, from the craft of the demon the royal signet which was on the hand of Solomon fell into the water.
The infidels were wallowing in blood as the donkey wallows in the gutter, the believers lay in the mud like jewels in the mire.
One army was passing through the water of the flood of disaster,
The other parched with thirst had fallen in with a mirage.
Each one of them was put down on the tablet of the earth for this reason that their affairs had fallen into the account of the day of reckoning.
The skull caps which were lying in the fresh crimson blood looked like cocoanuts engraved and ornamented with vermilion.
The wounds of the heart were weeping tears of blood in bidding farewell to the soul, and the bodies were lying desolate owing to separation from life.
Alas ! many were the living who were lying among the dead overcome with fear, their bodies blood-stained and their eyes sunk in (feigned) sleep.
Look at the deeds of this crafty old wolf (the sky) for lions were as though bound in chains and elephants in fetters at the hands of (infidel) dogs.
[This was not a battle, I verily saw that that was the day of resurrection. If these are the tokens of the resurrection, then I have seen it].
Look at the revolution of the heaven, for it brought about such a change, that it made the centre of Islam to go round and round (in perplexity) like the compasses.
30.3.3
Has one ever seen an atom carry off the water of the sun's spring?
Has one ever seen a stone, which has rivalled the princely pearl?
When the king entered the cave of the protection of God, that man is a dog who did not wake the sleepers of the cave with his lamentations.
That he entered the secret cave (of death) when fleeing from his enemies, is no disgrace.
The elect of God (Muhammad) fled towards the cave to avoid the attack of his enemies.
And if a spark reached him from the arrow of his enemies this too is right, for the wrath of Nimrod at last committed Abraham to the fire.
And if he went to the holy place (Paradise) do not be vexed and count it as a shame to him for 'Isa through the spite of the Nazarenes devoted his life on the cross.
And if the (infidel) dogs were crafty as foxes to him, say this, that it is of a piece with the dog like behaviour which was shewn to ('Ali) the Haidar-i-Karrar (lion of repeated attacks).
And if the demons caused him to drown, then say this that it is like when a demon drowned Rustam in the ocean.
Every year he used to devote his life and energy to fighting the Mughals,
At last he yielded up his precious life in this endeavour.
This is one of the tricks of fate which at one time sheds blood and at another gives life; we are powerless, it is useless to strive against the all-powerful tyrant (fate).
The mighty lion when stung by the ant roars aloud in agony.
The infuriated elephant when pricked by a thorn shrieks from pain.
30.3.4
[It was on Friday, the last day of Zul Hijjah that this battle took place
At the end of eighty-three and the beginning of eighty-four].
The sun and moon wept over the face of that one of auspicious features,
Day and night wept over the youth of that short-lived one.
Like his orders, tears from the eyes, flowed from east to west
Behold the obedience of the servants who wept without any master.
In his reign birds and fishes were so happy
That the fishes wept in the water and the birds in the air.
The heavens with its thousand eyes wept over the people of the earth like vernal showers upon the grass.
The dew which falls every morning from heaven and waters the earth, consider that as the tears of the stars who are weeping in the highest heavens.
The people of Multan, men and women, weeping and tearing their hair, in every street, face to face and everywhere.
No one could sleep at night for the noise of the wailing, and the beating of the drums, for in every house the mourners were weeping bitterly.
30.3.5
They were preparing to perform the wazu in the water of their eyes, Hoping for pardon for that they wept at the time of prayer. Their tongues were blistered like the feet of prisoners, So sorely did they weep for the captives of calamity. Their eyes poured forth blood upon the earth like the throat of the slain, So bitterly did each one weep for his own dead. And if by chance a captive returned from that bond of calamity, Every one seeing his face wept honest tears of sorrow. [So great was the weeping that the waves of the tears were greater than those of the Jihun. This was my own condition, the state of the others how can I describe? Shall I wring my hands, or shall I with my own teeth make my arm livid, Or shall I wear clothes of a darker blue than this blue heaven? Every man of reputation tattoos his arm with the needle, But when I make my arm blue with my teeth, the name of the king leaps forth on my arm. Alas! that he by the tyranny of the blue sky, is sleeping beneath the earth, while because of his sleeping there the whole horizon has become blue (dark). There was both the blackness of the Hindu and the whiteness of the Turk, whereas now both Turk and Hindu are wearing blue (as mourning). [It was as though the people were tearing the heavens and dividing them among themselves, To such an extent [men are in all directions blue with mourning garments.]
30.3.6
Now it has become customary to wear blue — so that hence-forth it behoves the weavers of white cloth to dye their thread blue in the spindle.
In every street of Cairo a river blue like the Nile was flowing; to such an extent were blue garments being washed in tears on all sides.
The dyers of blue cloth were as happy as if there was a bridal in their houses, because so many brides had their garments dyed blue in mourning for their husbands.
The lovely ones who were smiting their foreheads and shedding tears of blood had their cheeks below their eyes red (with blood) while above their eye-brows it was blue.
The beauties have no need of blue (patches) and redness (rouge) after this,
For the cheeks are torn till they are red (with blood) and the face is smitten till it is blue (with bruises).
In such quantities do they tear their hair from their delicate brows, one and all
That the root of every hair becomes blue from such rough treatment.
[How long shall I tear out the hair of my head in this lamentation and mourning!
Nay I will pluck this body of mine like a hair from the head of my life].
Alas! that my heart has suddenly turned to blood on account of (the loss of) my friends.
Alas! for that assembly who were a constant fresh joy to their friends.
The eyes became flooded with water and blood on account of their friends, so long as I saw my friends in the midst of blood and water.
30.4.1
Such priceless blood of my friends has the earth swallowed, that it is my right to demand from the Earth the blood-money for my friends. If it were possible for those who sleep in the dust to arise, I would devote the remainder of my life to secure the existence of my friends. It were a pity that the eye should have its pupil always with it, and yet that its friends should be out of sight! How can one bear to look at others instead of one's friends. My friends are gone; How can I embrace a stranger? How can I clothe any other person in the mantle of my friends? I will place their dust in my eyes (as a collyrium). How can it be right that the dust of my friends' feet should be so little valued? In desire for my friends, even though they sever my head (from my body), still the desire for my friends will never be severed from my head. Oh my King! whenever thou biddest me I will tear my garment of life to the very edge in mourning for my friends. My life has been torn to shreds in a hundred places through grief, how can it be right that I should tear a shred into shreds for the sake of my friends? My friends have gone; of whom are you talking? Once for all bring your speech to an ending and breathe a prayer for my friends. [Always remember the departed, especially at the time of prayer, Because nothing shows you the way to mercy save the guidance of prayer].
30.4.2
O Lord may the illumination of the sun of mercy light upon their souls. May their souls shine like the sun from the beauty of thy light. In the day of battle the Great imam was their leader, May the same Imam be also their leader to the Garden of Paradise. If an angel flies thither in desire for him it becomes a fly, May the wings of the peacock of Paradise drive away the flies from them. The bounty of mercy is the water of life in the gloom of the grave, Oh Lord, in the darkness of the tomb may they have the water of life. [When the faces become black from the sun of resurrection May the wings of the angels cast protecting shade over their heads]. When they give into their hands the record of their deeds taken from the book of punishment, May the record bear as its heading the words “A book for the right hand. May the drops of blood which were shed from their throats Become the most costly rubies of their crown of pardon For the thirsty ones whose souls departed for lack of water, May the cloud of mercy rain continuously upon their heads For the captives who were long subjected to hardships, Oh Lord! may the hope of speedy release make their way light for them May the affliction which they suffered in imprisonment, be to those who have escaped from prison (by death) the cause of their eternal salvation, And those who have survived and have returned from that calamity, May they experience the mercy of the Author of good, and may the favour of the Sultan be theirs
30.4.3
Since Muhammad has departed may the event be happy for the king May his son Kaiqubád be most fortunate and his son Kaikhusru be blessed And the opening [of another threnody] is as follows: My heart sit silent in sorrow for no trace of joy remains, Grief, do thou take away the world, for no joy is left therein In the following ode too he refers to the same disastrous occurrence: Behold this calamity which has befallen this year on the frontier of Multan, The right wing of the believers has been defeated by the infidel ranks How can I explain that day of resurrection, from the agony of which the Angel of Death would have craved respite. How can I describe the way in which the Ghazis, attacked the front of the Shaibanis, like the Lion of repeated attacks. But what help has anyone against the decree of fate which was ordained by and issued from the Almighty. 2. What was the condition of the battle field ? it was one load of dead bodies, So much blood was spilled and the load was lying upon it. The blood of martyrs, poured out like a libation, was mingled with the earth, The necks of prisoners bound together with ropes in rows, like rose chains. The heads strangled in the tight noose of the saddle-cords, The necks caught in the toils of the head-ropes. Although my head escaped that game of strangulation, Still my neck did not escape that noose of torture. I was taken captive, and for fear lest they should shed my blood
30.4.4
My blood dried up, not a single drop remained in my weak and emaciated body. I was poured out like water running without beginning and without end, and like bubbles thousands of blisters appeared on my feet from much travelling. The skin was separated from my feet by the blisters. Like to the seams of a slipper burst open.
30.4.5
My heart, because of affliction, was as hard as the hilt of a sword From weakness my body was become wood like the handle of a club. Not a breath remained in my windpipe by reason of thirst, My belly was like a drum from the duration of my hunger: My body was stripped naked like a tree in autumn, And like a rose torn into a thousand shreds by the thorns. For sorrow the pupil of my eyes poured forth drops Like the (scattered pearls) of a necklace broken from the neck of a bride. A Qirnas driving me on in front followed along the way 153 seated on a horse, like a leopard on a hill range. Foetor ab isto ore teterrimus axillae odori similis, Capilli oris ejus pubi similes usque ad mentum delapsi. If I lagged behind a step or two through fatigue He would draw at one time his falchion at another his javelin. I kept heaving deep sighs and saying to myself: Alas! I shall never be able to escape from this calamity! A thousand thanks to God Almighty who liberated me With my heart free from arrow wounds and my body unhurt by the sword. When he desired to make my body a brick for the grave, Water and clay built up for me anew my palace of years. But what good to me was my escape from that rope If snapped like the bond between the Muhajir and Ansar?
30.4.6
All those lives were poured out in the dust like roses By the fierce blast of misfortune, this is Autumn not Spring. The world full of roses and the assembly emptied of those who can smell their perfume, How should not my heart turn to blood like the rose bud at this treatment! Not one of my friends of last year remains to me this year, It is evident that “this year” also will become “last year.” Be thou also like me, oh cloud of the newly born spring Now wash thy hands of water, and rain teardrops of blood. Give me a cup, that from the depths of my regret I may empty it of wine, and fill it with bitter tears. Now that the date is 684 (H.) To me in my three and thirtieth year comes the good tidings of the thirty-fourth. Not thirty-four because if my years should be thirty thousand, when one comes to the account of Annihilation neither thirty counts for aught nor a thousand. I am not a poet, even though I were a magician, still then I shall become dust. I am not a Khusru, even were I a Kaikhusru, still at that time my kingdom would be but the grave. And in the preface to the Ghurratu-l-Kamal he writes some epitomised poems relating to this circumstance;
30.4.7
the gist of the matter is that they brought Tughral to nothing, and the prince who used to pray with lamentation and tears at the footstool of the best of all helpers saying Make me of thy mercy a victorious Emperor rose to such power in the districts of Lakhnauti and Chatar La‘l that his head which touched the stars, reached to the starless expanse of the highest heaven, and Malik Shamsu-d Din Dabir, and Qazi Asir desired to retain me by seizing my garments, but the departure from my friends seized me by the collar. I was obliged like Joseph to leave that prison pit and turn my steps to the metropolis, and under the shadow of the standard of the Shadow of God I remained in the city. In those very same months, the Khan-i Buzurg Qaan Malik arrived from the conquest of Damrila, and a rumour came to us that my words had reached him, so that he made enquiries regarding the ripe fruit of my words, unripe fruit as it really was. I laid it before him, and it was honoured with acceptance in his private hall of audience, and I was distinguished by a robe of honour and rewards, and I girded my loins in his service and wore the cap of companionship, and I gave for five years more to the Punjab and Multan water from the sea of my comfortable circumstances, till suddenly, by the potent order of the wise ruler, the star of my glory came into opposition with the inauspicious Mars.
30.4.8
As the time of its decline had arrived when the unlucky cavalcade of those born under the influence of Mars came in sight, and at evening time, the bright sun sank by the revolution of the heaven, a world of brave men struck by arrows had fallen, and the plain of the earth was full of broken cups, and Death itself was saying at that time “Where shall I place my cup and where shall I take my pitcher.” The sky fed upon dust and the sun swallowed a bowl of blood.
30.5
How can we describe that day of resurrection When even the Angel of Death sought protection from the fray.
In that forge of calamity the rope of the infidels sewed me also by the throat, but inasmuch as God Most High had lengthened the rope of my life, I obtained release, and by the high road I made for the abode of favours, and attained to the sight of the dome of Islam and at the feet of my mother became (as it were) an inhabitant of Paradise, while as for herself, as soon as her eyes fell upon me the fountain of her milk flowed from tenderness towards me.
Paradise always lies beneath the feet of a mother, See two streams of milk flow therefrom, the sign of Paradise.
And I spent some time pleasantly and quietly in seeing my beloved mother and other dear ones in the fort of Muminpur, otherwise called Patiali on the banks of the river Ganges.”
In short, when the news of this heart-rending disaster reached the ears of the Sultan, having observed the duties of mourning for some days, a great affliction fell upon him, so much so that he could never again gird his loins, but he used to occupy himself in all matters, and sent a despatch addressed to Bughra Khan who had acquired the title of Sultan Nasir-u-d-Din, to Lakhnauti saying, Since so great a calamity has fallen upon your brother I desire that you should take his place as you are well able to do, that in looking in your face I may be able to forget the numerous sorrows which I suffer on his account. Nasiru-d-Din who had acquired permanent and independent control over that district (of Lakhnauti) put off for some time coming to Dihli, and even after coming to Dihli at the earnest solicitation of his father was not able to remain there, “the elephant bethought him of Hindustan” so that forgetting the demands of filial, paternal, and brotherly affection he became so restless from staying in that place that one day without his father’s permission together with certain of his kinsfolk he went forth on pretence of hunting, and marching by rapid stages reached Lakhnauti and busied himself with his own affairs.
VERSE.
Why should I not betake myself to my own country? Why should I not be the dust of the sole of the foot of my friend? I cannot endure the sorrow of exile and absence from home, I will go to my own country, and be my own monarch.
Accordingly Sultan Balban, who was very depressed and dejected at this occurrence, so that day by day his weakness gathered strength, as he lay on his bed of sickness, being moreover past eighty years of age, conferred upon the eldest son of the Martyred Khan who was called Kaikhusru, the title of Khusru Khan, and gave the affairs of Empire into his hands. Multan too was entrusted to him, and he made him the heir-apparent, and made a will to the effect that Kaiqubad the son of Bughra Khan should be sent to his father in Lakhnauti. After he had relieved his mind of anxiety as to the succession of Kaikhusru, and the other testamentary dispositions of the government having occupied him three days, he removed the baggage of existence from this world to the next. This event took place in the year 686 H. He had reigned twenty-two years and some months.
Oh my heart! the world is no place of permanence and stay, Keep thy hand from the world—for it has no stability.