Siyar al-mutaʾakhkhirin 42.22
A Translation of the Seir Mutaqherin (Haji Mustafa) 42.22
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42.22.1
King Abul-hassen, awakened by this general scream, both from within and without, got up, and guessing the subject of so much tumult, he used his endeavours to pacify those unfortunate ladies, asked their pardon for past offences, bid them farewell for ever, took an affectionate leave of them all, and was at some pains to disengage himself from their hands. At last he parted from so tender a scene, and without forgetting his high rank, or losing his wonted firmness of mind for a moment, he came out of the sanctuary, went to the Hall of Audience, and took up his seat on his royal mesned, as usual, waiting patiently for those uninvited guests which fate was sending him. But this happening to be the time customary for his principal meal, he sent orders for its being brought up immediately. He was yet speaking, when Roh-ollah-qhan, the Generalissimo, entered the hall, followed by Muhtar-qhan, and the other eminent Lords and Commanders mentioned above. The King of Haider-abad, without being moved by their multitude, let them draw near, and then gave them the salute of "Peace be to ye," but without carrying his hand to his head or forehead, or making any the least inclination or motion of the body, inconsistent with his Royal dignity.
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He spoke to the Generalissimo and to the others, with an elegance of language, and a flow of expression that astonished those illustrious personages, and he intermixed his discourses with such marks of benignity and attention, as well as grandeur and superiority, as charmed and over-awed them all. VERSES: "Wise man, said he in verses, do not raise a Buckler against an arrow shot by Fate. "When destiny leads the attack, it is immaterial whether thou be behind the wall of a fortress, or in an open plain. "Crouch to the ground, when merciless adversity directs its shaft against thee; "Crouch low, that it may pass over thee without doing thee harm." He continued discoursing in this manner until the dawn of the day, when the bacaol, or superintendent of the kitchen-office, announced that His Majesty was served. Abul-hassen turning to the Imperialists, asked their leave, and also invited them to partake of his repast. Some amongst them, who were of a rough intolerant temper, were for objecting to his having that liberty; but the Persian Moguls found no inconvenience at all in it, and Moqhtar-qhan in particular, with two or three more, accepted the invitation. Roh-ollah-qhan excused himself politely, but could not help expressing his amazement at a meal taken at such a time. "It is my customary time," said Abul-hassen. — Admitted, said Roh-ollah-qhan, I know it; but cannot understand how you find an inclination to eat at this very time.
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"General," said the King, "what you say is rational; but such is my confidence in that God that has created me, as He does kings and beggars promiscuously, that I am inclined to believe He never withdraws His wonted look of goodness totally from His creatures, and never deprives them intirely of such portion of subsistence as He has allotted them at first; and although my venerable parents have taken abundant care to bring me up with that delicacy and that grandeur, in which I chanced to be born, yet I remember still that it was in the designs of that same Providence that I should pass some part of my life in the garb of a Fakir and beggar, in the same manner that it was in its decrees that I should afterwards be put at once and in an hour's time, in possession of an Empire, without the secret springs of that revolution having been ever suspected either by me or by any others. Praises be to its goodness! that He has put it in my power to quit a crown without regret. There is no pleasure but which I have enjoyed to satiety; no wish but which I have seen filled to my heart's content. Corors have come to my hands and have been spent with ease; I have made presents by lacks at a time;
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and now that in punition of some improper actions of which I have been guilty in my days of dominion, Providence has thought proper to withdraw out of my hands the royal sceptre with which it had once entrusted me, I still acknowledge its goodness in this particular, that it has not transferred my crown to any but to a Mussulman Monarch, and that too only after I had enjoyed it as much time as was probably allotted to my life." After having said so much, he took his meal quietly, and then having arrayed himself in a magnificent dress, he sent for his favorite horse, and he mounted, surrounded by the Imperial Generals, who seemed only a part of the royal cortege that followed him in a long train. At the gate of the city, he found the Imperial Prince, Azem-shah, who had pitched a tent just to land in it, and to wait for his coming; and to him he presented the chaplet of pearls, which he then wore hanging at his neck, requesting him to accept it as his nezur. The Prince spoke to him with kindness, condoled with him on this reverse of fortune, and carried him to the Emperor. Such a sight softened even that covetous man's heart. He received him with demonstrations of honor and regard ; and after having kept him some days in camp, in which time he appointed him a suitable pension, and a proper quantity of apparel, provisions, and perfumes, to be presented him daily out of the Imperial wardrobe, he sent him to the Fortress of Doolat-abad, where he was to be confined.
42.22.5
After this interview, the Emperor sent Roh-ollah-qhan again in the fortress, with a number of accomptants and other penmen, to take an account of the dethroned King's effects, and of those of his Ministers. Roh-ollah-qhan, on taking possession of the palace, ordered Abdol-rezac, the Larian, to be brought before him. The man was in a swoon, but breathed freely. They took up the four corners of his bed, and laid it down in the Hall of Audience. At this moment Saf-shiken-qhan, thinking to ingratiate himself with the by-standers, exclaimed : "This is that impure Mahmed-rezac, the Larian. We must cut off his head, and send it to the Emperor ; and after that hang it up at the gate." Roh-ollah-qhan, on finding that these words had been heard with silence, observed, after some pause, that to cut off, without an express order, the head of a man half-dead, would not prove consonant to that sense of humanity which is inherent in all brave men. And this observation having been received with silence again, Roh-ollah-qhan took a pen, and wrote a note to the Emperor on the man's condition. The Emperor, who had always been an open admirer of his heroical prowess, and a secret approver of his unshaken fidelity, answered the note, by sending two Indian chirurgeons and two European ones, with orders to take the utmost care of him, and to report daily to the presence an account of his condition, and how far they had or had not any hopes of his recovery ;
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and on Roh-ollah-qhan's making his own report, the Monarch answered : "Had it been Abul-hassen's good fortune to have had such another servant, or at least another General, as faithful and as zealous as Abdol-rezac, the conquest of the place would have taken up a great deal more time, and possibly might have become impracticable." at last." The chirurgeons, being introduced a little after, reported: That the man had seventy wounds that required both suture and unguents, besides a number of small others. That one of his eyes was entirely disabled, and although the other did not seem to be materially injured, yet it appeared that it had suffered, and probably would remain without office. The Emperor, having heard the report attentively, dismissed the chirurgeons, recommending the man to their care, and promising them his favor on that condition. Thirteen days after, they came again and announced, that Abdol-rezac had opened his eye, and spoke some incoherent words; but that his wounds had assumed a favorable appearance, and that there were hopes of his recovering. The Emperor seemed pleased, and a few days after, he sent him a message in these words: "I have forgiven your conduct. Send your eldest son, Abdol-cadyr, to Court, with such of your other children as you shall think most deserving, that I may raise them to dignities, offices, and honors;
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and let them humble themselves in their father's name, and thank me for having forgiven your conduct, and for my being inclined to promote you to high commands, suitable to your rank." That valorous man, after hearing the message, answered: "I acknowledge His Majesty's goodness for all the kindnesses shewn me; but although this deformed soul of mine is not yet gone out of this mangled body, yet in the condition in which it now chances to be, it is not in the nature of things that life should hold out. Nevertheless, should He that can resuscitate the dead, think proper to exhibit a token of His plenitude of power by restoring life to this body, of what use shall it be then to His Majesty or to me, with both hands and legs disabled? But admitting that I ever shall be able to serve again, a man that owes this flesh and this blood to Abul-hassen's nursing and care, cannot consent to serve the Emperor Aoreng-zib."