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Muntakhab al-tawarikh 55: Ode.

Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 55

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English

Ode.

55.1

That cypress whose robe is the jasmine, whose body the rose, Is a spirit incarnate whose garment the body provides. What profits the Khatani musk? all the kingdoms of Chin Are conquered, and bound in the chains of her clustering curls. In the eye of her eyelashes’ needle the thread of my soul I’ll fasten and swiftly repair every rent in her robe. Could Gulrukh essay to discover the charms of her teeth, He would say they are water-white pearls of the ocean of speech. One of the poets of the reign of Sultan Sikandar was the Brahman Dunkar who, they say, in spite of being an infidel, used to give instruction in books of science. The following matla‘ (opening couplet) was spoken [and is a most auspicious matla‘] by him in the metre of Mas‘ud Beg, Had not thy glance been the dagger, my heart had not bled to-day; Had not thy look been the serpent I never had lost my way. Also among the great and learned men of the time of Sultan Sikandar were Shaikh ‘Abdu-llah Tulumbi in Dihli, and Shaikh ‘Azizu-llah Tulumbi in Sambhal, both of whom came to Hindūstān at the time of the realm of Multān, and introduced the systematic study of the intellectual sciences into that country. Before their time, with the exception of the Sharḥ-i Shamsīyah, and the Sharḥ-i Ṣaḥā'if, there were no books current in Hindūstān which treated of logic and metaphysics.

55.2

I heard also from my masters, that more than forty expert and profoundly learned men have arisen from among the disciples of Shaikh ‘Abdu-llāh, for example, Miyān Lādan, Jamāl Khān of Dihlī, Miyān Shaikh of Gwāliyār, Mīrān Saiyyid Jalāl of Badāūn, and others. They say also that Sulṭān Sikandar, during the instruction of the aforesaid Shaikh ‘Abdu-llāh, used to come and seat himself quietly in a corner unseen by the rest, fearing lest he should interrupt the lesson of the other students, and when the lesson was ended they used to exchange the customary salutation of Salām ‘alaikum and mix freely with each other. And Shaikh ‘Azīzu-llāh of Ṭulambah, who was a man of great probity and rectitude, had such an abundant genius and marvellous power of recollection that no matter how difficult or minute the subject-matter of a book which a student of intelligence might be reading he would give his lesson in it without previously reading it; and that time after time when they came up for examination, and propounded the most inscrutable problems, the learned Shaikh would explain them on the instant while giving his lesson. One of his pupils was Miyan Hatim Sanbali, who is commonly said to have read the Commentary on the Miftah more than thirty times in the course of his life, and the Mutawwal more than forty times, from the first letter of the Bism'illah to the last of the word Tammat.

55.3

Another is Shaikhu-l-Hadiyah Jaunpuri, the author of many worthy compositions and excellent books, who wrote a commentary extending over several volumes upon the Hedayah-i-Fiqh, while there is no need of mentioning his commentary on the Kafiyah: in addition to these he wrote notes upon the Tafsir-ion Usūl and other works, which are read up to the present day. Sultan Sikandar also collected together learned men from all parts of the country to instruct him, placing on one side Shaikh ‘Abdu-llāh, and Shaikh ‘Azīzu-llāh, and on the other Shaikh Lādan and his son Shaikh Bhikārī to discuss difficult points. Eventually it became clearly evident that the former pair of worthies were superior in oratory, while the two latter were the better writers. The death of Shaikh ‘Abdu-llāh occurred in the year 922 H., the following chronogram was invented to commemorate it: *‘Ulā lahumi ’l-darajātu ’l-‘ulā.* And among the poets of the time of Sikandar, was the aforesaid Jamālī Sambhalī of Dihlī, to whom Sultān Sikandar was in the habit of submitting verses which he had written, for his opinion. Speaking generally, he had many excellent points; he was a man who had travelled much, and had been honoured with the fellowship of our master the saintly Jāmī, *may God sanctify his resting-place*, and had gained many advantages from him and won his approbation, and was moreover in the habit of submitting his poems to that revered master. The following verses are by him: Verse.

55.4

I wear a garment woven of the dust of thy street, And that too rent to the skirt with my tears. Verse. Love’s speech is swift, whole centuries of words, Friend speaks to friend swift as the eye can close. The following ode also, which he translated and set to music in his native Hindi, is marvellously inspiring, and is well known: My heart’s desire is fixed on thy abode Oh thou that art long absent from my sight ; By day and night the thought of thee alone My constant partner is, ask then thy thought Should’st thou desire, to bring thee news of me. He also wrote a Tazkirah (Book of Memoirs) to recount the assemblies of some of the Shaikhs of Hindustan, called the Siyaru-l-’Arifin (Biographies of the Saints) which is not entirely free from defects and discrepancies. It commences from the venerable Khwajah Mu‘inu-l-Haqq wau-d-Din Ajmiri, and finishes with his own spiritual guide Shaikh Samau-d-Din Kanbawi of Dihli, in addition to which it contains other matter both prose and poetry. His diwan is made up of eight or nine thousand couplets.

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