The Nāṣirī Generations 244.1
Tabakat-i-Nasiri 244.1
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244.1.1
They have related that there was a monarch at the acme of felicity and the zenith of dominion. He had a son of extreme beauty and sagacity, merit and innocence. That monarch commanded, so that wherever wise, intelligent, learned, and accomplished persons were [to be found], they got them together for the purpose of instructing that son ; and one of those accomplished men, who was superior to the others, and excelled the rest in a variety of wisdom, knowledge, and learning, and various arts and sciences, was selected by the monarch, and placed in charge of the education of that light of his eyes, his son. The king commanded, saying : It is necessary that this son of mine should acquire instruction in, and information respecting, the theory of the truths of religion, and thorough knowledge of the difficulties of power, the subtile distinctions of knowledge, the treasuring up of information, the conditions of government, the institutions of prosperity, the ways of fostering subjects, and the laws respecting the dispensation of justice, and that he should be acquainted with the contingencies and complications of them all.”
244.1.2
That learned man placed the face of acceptance to the ground of service, and occupied himself in his task. When the prescribed period of the youth’s education terminated, and the seeds of instruction came up, and the honorary robe of erudition became fitted to the person, and that son, the one fruit of the king’s tree, became embellished in all accomplishments, they made known to the monarch the matter of his son’s perfect acquirements. He commanded, saying: “It is necessary that the preceptor should be present in the audience-hall of sovereignty to-morrow at morning dawn ; and let the prince also be brought thither, in order that the divers pearls of learning, which he has acquired, he may string upon the thread of demonstration, so that gentle and simple — high and low — may become enlightened and cognizant of the perfect knowledge, the elegance of attainments, the realities of capacity, and performances of penetration of my son.”
244.1.3
On this command being issued, the preceptor solicited three days’ delay from the monarch ; and, on his request being granted, the preceptor, early in the morning of the [next] day, mounted, and brought forth the young prince from the city for the purpose of taking a ramble. After they had passed beyond the habitations, the preceptor made the prince dismount, and constrained him to walk on in front of his [the preceptor's] horse, and obliged him to run along several leagues to keep up with his horse's cantering, in such wise that the delicate person of the prince became excessively afflicted from the fatigue of walking and running. So he brought him back to the city again. The second day, the preceptor entered the school-room, and commanded the prince, saying: Get up, and remain standing and, in this way, he kept him standing during the whole day, in such wise that the prince's tender body was sorely pained. When the third day came, the preceptor entered the school-room, and directed that the place should be cleared, tied the hands and feet of the king's son together, and inflicted upon him more than a hundred blows with a cane; and, from the severity of the flogging, all the limbs of the young prince's body, from the number of blows, became wounded. He left him thus bound, repeated the invocation before flight and disappeared.
244.1.4
A number of servants, on becoming aware of the circumstance, liberated the king's son from his bonds, and sought for the preceptor, but could not find him. They made a representation to the king, and he directed them to bring his son before him; and, upon every science wherein they questioned him, they found him so proficient that "there is no exceeding perfection" fitly described his proficiency. The king remarked, saying: “The preceptor, in teaching and instructing, and making his pupil perfect, has, by the grace of Almighty God, not neglected the least thing. It would be well to know the cause of these cuts and hurts, and what was the reason of his flight." He commanded, so that they used their utmost endeavours in seeking the preceptor; and, after a considerable time, and at a distant period, they again found him, and brought him into the monarch's presence. He showed the preceptor great reverence and honour, and inquired of him the motive of the severe flogging, and compelling the young prince to run on foot on the first day, making him stand all the second day, the reason of leaving him bound, and the cause of his own disappearance, on the third. The preceptor, bowing the head of service to the ground of representation, replied : "May the king’s felicity continue!
244.1.5
It will be manifest to the sublime mind, that it behoveth the possessor of dominion to understand the condition of those persons who are objects of commendation and approval, and likewise the state of those individuals who are the objects of indignation and reprehension, so that whatever he may command in such circumstances may be fitting; and, in no manner whatsoever, either in pleasure or displeasure, may he deviate from the bounds of moderation. Your slave was desirous of making the prince acquainted with the condition of the oppressed, the captive, and of the numbers who have to run before [his] horse, of the people who may have to remain standing [before him], and of the state of those persons who may have become deserving of condign punishment, or of being made public examples of, so that, when exercising his royal wrath, he may conceive what measure of distress and pain their hearts and bodies suffer, and that, when he should have endured somewhat of such severities, whatsoever he may direct as regards punishment, running, or standing, he may do so in proportion to their powers of endurance and strength. The reason, moreover of my flight and disappearance was apprehension, since the noble person and delicate frame of the prince had sustained affliction, lest parental affection should have induced the king, in requital of such act on the part of his humble servant, to have censured him, whereby all his pains and labours would have been thrown away.”
244.1.6
This anecdote was applicable to the case of Ulugh Khan-i-A’zam in the amount of trouble that befell him in being brought back again to the capital among the Turks in order that, when he attained unto power, and became Lieutenant of the kingdom he might be cognizant of the condition of the broken and oppressed. May Almighty God cause justice and beneficence to be the associate of all his acts and proceedings ! We have returned to the subject of the narration of this history.
244.1.7
When the sovereignty devolved upon Sultan Raziyyat, Ulugh Khan-i-Azam was, as before, Khasah-dar, until good fortune came to his aid, and he became Amir-i-Shikar [Chief Huntsman]. The ball of fate was saying : “ a world will be the quarry of his power, and a universe the prey of his authority,” hence the first of his offices was that of the Chief Huntsmanship. When he had filled that office some time, and had done approved service, suddenly, the sun of the Raziyyat dynasty came to its setting, and the luminary of the Mu’izzi sovereignty arose, and the Ulugh Khani prosperity began to increase. As in the duties of Chief Huntsman he had filled that office well, and done approved service, he became Amir-i-Akhur, and the horses of state and of sovereignty came under the bridle of his possession. When Malik Badr-ud-Din, Sunkar, the Rumi, was made Amir-i-Hajib, he, having a parental affection towards Ulugh Khan-i-Azam, showed a sincere regard for his welfare, and raised Ulugh Khan-i-A'zam to a still higher degree. The fief of Riwan was entrusted to his charge ; and, when he proceeded to that part, he thoroughly chastized the independent [Hindu] tribes of the Koh-payah by the power of his valour, and reduced those tracts under his jurisdiction.
244.1.8
When the Mu’izzi sovereignty began to totter, and the Maliks, in concert together, appeared before the gate of the city [of Dihli], and the whole of the Amirs and Maliks conspired among themselves, Ulugh Khan-i-Azam—May his power be perpetuated!—who was feudatory of Riwan, in concert with other Maliks and Amirs, displayed so much sagacity in ascertaining the aims and intentions of the Maliks, that among the whole of them—Turk or Tajzik, not one attained to the hundredth part thereof; and the whole [of them] admitted his firmness, heroism, intrepidity, and enterprise to be greater than that of all the Maliks and Amirs of that period. On the city being taken, the fief of Hansi was made over to his charge, and, on that territory coming under his control, he turned his attention to its cultivation and improvement; and the people, from the effects of his justice and conspicuous liberality, became contented and prosperous.
244.1.9
Ulugh Khan's affairs became so flourishing, that the whole of the Maliks and Amirs began to be jealous at the freshness of his good fortune, and envy’s disquieting thorn began to prick their minds, but, as Almighty God had willed that he should be greater than the whole [of them], by how much the more the fire of their envy increased, by so much the more did the incense of his prosperity, within the censer of time, diffuse additional perfume: “They endeavour to extinguish the light of God with [the breath of] their mouths, but God rejects aught but the perfection of his light.”—May Almighty God prolong his office of power. and make this servant of the state, Minhaj-i-Saraj, who is the author of this Tabakat, feel due gratitude towards him, for his abundant benefactions combined with respect, for, should a thousand sections of paper be filled with closely written encomiums on his admirable qualities and inestimable virtues, it would be but as a drop in the vast ocean, and not even a single particle from out of the fragrance from the paradise-like flower garden [thereof] would have affected the smelling sense of hearer or reader; and, should a hundred thousand such-like effusions be composed, out of gratitude for the princely countenance of this great lord, at the foot-step of the exalted throne of the king of the sovereigns of the face of the earth — May God perpetuate his dominion and sovereignty!
244.1.10
— towards this servant, in the entrusting of offices, the bestowal of appointments, and abundant benefactions, together with honour and reverence, which he still continues to bestow, even yet, the debts of gratitude will be due to him, in return for those benefits, by this servant, by his children, and by his family. May the Almighty God long preserve his high majesty, the Sultan of the Sultans of the universe, Nasir-ud-Dunya wa ud-Din, Abu-l-Muzaffar-i-Mahmud Shah, in the pomp of power, decked in the jewels of submission, and adorned with the garment of the services of that Khakan-i-Mu’azzam, the Ulugh Khan-i-A’zam, to the utmost bounds of possibility in the revolution of time, for the sake of Muhammad and the whole of his posterity!