The Memoirs of Bābur 911.9.1

911.9.1

Yūsuf the wonderful (_badī_)[1152] was another. He was from the Farghāna country; his odes are said not to be bad. Āhī was another, a good ode-writer, latterly in Ibn-i-ḥusain Mīrzā's service, and _ṣāḥib-i-dīwān_.[1153] Muḥammad _Ṣāliḥ_ was another.[1154] His odes are tasty but better-flavoured than correct. There is Turkī verse of his also, not badly written. He went to Shaibāq Khān later on and found complete favour. He wrote a Turkī poem (_mas̤nawī_), named from Shaibāq Khān, in the _raml masaddas majnūn_ measure, that is to say the metre of the _Subḥat_.[1155] It is feeble and flat; Muḥammad _Ṣāliḥ_'s reader soon ceases to believe in him.[1156] Here is one of his good couplets:— A fat man (Taṃbal) has gained the land of Farghāna, Making Farghāna the house of the fat-man (Taṃbal-khāna). Farghāna is known also as Taṃbal-khāna.[1157] I do not know whether the above couplet is found in the _mas̤nawī_ mentioned. Muḥammad _Ṣāliḥ_ was a very wicked, tyrannical and heartless person.[1158] Maulānā Shāh Ḥusain _Kāmī_[1159] was another. There are not-bad verses of his; he wrote odes, and also seems to have put a _dīwān_ together.