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تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 13.31

English (machine translation) 13.31

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English

13.31.1

When the Sultan went out hunting, I went out with him without delay. I had prepared what was needed and followed the arrangements of the people of Hind. I bought a sarācha, which is an afrāj (enclosure); setting one up there is permitted, and it is indispensable for people of rank. The Sultan's sarācha is distinguished by being red, while the others are white, decorated with blue. I also bought the ṣīwān, which is what shades the inside of the sarācha; it is raised on two large poles, and men carry it on their shoulders, who are called the kaywāniyya.

13.31.2

The custom there is that the traveller hires the kaywāniyya, whom we have mentioned; he hires someone to bring him grass for fodder for the animals, since they do not feed them straw; he hires the kahārs, who carry the kitchen utensils; he hires men to carry him in the dawla, which we have mentioned, and to carry it empty; he hires the farrāshes, who set up the sarācha, furnish it, and load the baggage onto the camels; and he hires the dawādawiyya, who walk before him and carry torches at night. I hired all of these that I needed and displayed vigour and zeal! I set out on the day the Sultan set out, while others stayed behind him two or three days.

13.31.3

After the afternoon prayer on the day of his departure, he mounted the elephant, his purpose being to look into the state of the people

13.31.4

and to learn who had hastened to set out and who had been slow! He sat outside the sarācha on a chair, and I came, greeted him, and stood in my place on the right. The great malik Qabūla, the sarjāmadār, sent to me

13.31.5

—he is the one who drives the flies away from him—and ordered me to sit, as a mark of favour to me; no one but me sat that day. Then the elephant was brought and a ladder set against it; he mounted, the parasol was raised above his head, his intimates rode with him, and he rode about for a while and then returned to the sarācha.

13.31.6

His custom when he rides out is that the amīrs ride in troops, each amīr with his troop, his banners, his drums, his trumpets and his ṣurnāys; they call this the marātib. No one rides in front of the Sultan except the chamberlains, the musicians, the drummers who carry small drums slung on them and those who play the ṣurnāys. On the Sultan's right are about fifteen men and on his left the same number, among them the chief qāḍīs, the vizier, some of the great amīrs and some of the aʿizza (honoured ones); I was among those on his right. Before him go the footmen and the guides, and behind him his banners, which are of gilded silk, and the drums on camels; behind these his mamlūks and the people of his household, and behind them the amīrs and all the people. No one knows where the halt will be; when the Sultan passes a place where he would like to halt, he orders a halt. No one's enclosure is pitched until his enclosure has been pitched; then those in charge of the halt come and assign each person to his quarters. Meanwhile the Sultan halts by a river or among trees, and there are set before him the meat of sheep, fattened chickens, cranes and other kinds of game. The sons of the kings come, each with a spit in his hand, light a fire and roast these. A small enclosure is brought and pitched for the Sultan, and the close companions with him sit outside it; the food is brought and he summons whomever he wishes to eat with him. On one of those days, while inside the enclosure, he asked who was outside it. Al-Sayyid Nāṣir al-Dīn Muṭahhar al-Awharī, one of his boon companions, said to him: "So-and-so the Maghribī is there, and he is troubled." He said: "Why?" He said: "Because of the debt he owes; his creditors are pressing for payment. Khwand ʿĀlam had ordered the vizier to give it to him, but he set out on his journey before that. Would our master order the creditors to wait until the vizier arrives, or order that they be paid?" Present at this was Malik Dawlat Shāh, whom the Sultan addressed as "uncle"; he said: "O Khwand ʿĀlam! Every day he speaks to me in Arabic and I do not know what he says. O my lord Nāṣir al-Dīn, what is it?" — wanting him to repeat those words. He said: "He is speaking about the debt he owes." The Sultan said: "When we enter the royal residence, you go, O ūmār" — meaning "O uncle" — "to the treasury and give him that money." Khudhāwandzāda was present and said: "O Khwand ʿĀlam, he spends a great deal; I saw him in our country at the court of Sultan Ṭarmashīrīn."

13.31.7

After this conversation the Sultan summoned me to the meal, and I had no knowledge of what had passed. When I came out, al-Sayyid Nāṣir al-Dīn said to me: "Thank Malik Dawlat Shāh," and Malik Dawlat Shāh said to me: "Thank Khudhāwandzāda!" On another of those days, when we were with the Sultan on the hunt, he rode through the camp and his way passed by my quarters. I was with him on the right wing and my companions were in the rearguard. I had a tent beside the enclosure, and my companions stood by it and greeted the Sultan. He sent ʿImād al-Mulk and Malik Dawlat Shāh to ask whose those tents and the enclosure were. They were told: "So-and-so's," and they informed him of it, and he smiled. The next day the order was issued that I, Nāṣir al-Dīn Muṭahhar al-Awharī, the son of the qāḍī of Miṣr and Malik Ṣabīḥ should return to the city; he bestowed robes of honour on us and we returned to the capital.

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