Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 13.34

English (machine translation) 13.34

Language
English

13.34.1

On the ninth of Jumādā al-Ūlā the Sultan set out with the purpose of going to the land of al-Maʿbar and fighting the man who had risen up there. I had settled with my creditors and resolved to travel, and had given nine months' wages to the palanquin-bearers, the carpet-spreaders, the kaywāniyya and the dawādawiyya, who have been mentioned before. Then the order came that I should stay behind, along with a number of people. The chamberlain took our signatures to that effect so that it would serve him as proof — that is their custom, for fear that the amount might be denied. He ordered for me six thousand dinars in dirhams, and ordered ten thousand for the son of the qāḍī of Miṣr, and likewise for every one of the aʿizza (honoured ones) who stayed; but the local people were given nothing. The Sultan ordered me to take charge of the mausoleum of Sultan Quṭb al-Dīn, who has been mentioned before. The Sultan revered his tomb very greatly, because he had been in his service; I saw him, when he came to his grave, take his sandal, kiss it and place it on his head.

13.34.2

It is their custom to place the dead man's sandal by his grave on a cushion. When he reached the grave he made obeisance to it as he used to make obeisance in his lifetime. He honoured his widow, called her "sister" and placed her among his own women; afterwards he married her to the son of the qāḍī of Miṣr, and favoured him on her account, and he used to go to visit her every Friday.

13.34.3

When the Sultan set out, he sent for us to take leave. The son of the qāḍī of Miṣr stood up and said, "I will not take leave of Khwand ʿĀlam nor part from him," and that turned out well for him; the Sultan said to him, "Go and prepare for the journey!" I came forward after him to take leave; I wished to stay, and its outcome was not praiseworthy! He said, "Do you have any need?"

13.34.4

I brought out a slip of paper with six requests on it. He said to me, "Speak with your tongue!" I said to him, "Khwand ʿĀlam appointed me to the judgeship, and I have not yet sat for it, and what I want of the judgeship is only its dignity." He ordered me to sit for judging and the two deputies to sit with me. Then he said to me, "Go on." I said, "And the mausoleum of Sultan Quṭb al-Dīn, what shall I do about it?

13.34.5

For I have appointed four hundred and sixty persons to it, and the revenue of its endowments does not suffice for their salaries and their food."

13.34.6

He said to the vizier, "Panjāh hazār," which means fifty thousand; then he said, "You must have a hundred [thousand] of grain," meaning: give him a hundred thousand maunds of produce, that is wheat and rice, to spend this year until the mausoleum's harvest comes in — the maund being twenty Maghribi raṭls. Then he said to me, "And what else?" I said, "My companions were imprisoned on account of the villages you gave me, for which I received others in exchange; the officials of the dīwān demanded what I had received from them, or else production of an order of Khwand ʿĀlam that this be remitted from me." He said, "How much did you receive from them?" I said, "Five thousand dinars." He said, "It is a gift to you." I said to him, "And my house, which you ordered for me, is in need of building." He said to the vizier, "ʿImārat kunīd," meaning: rebuild it. Then he said to me, "Dīgar namānd?" — meaning, "Is there anything left for you to say?" — and I said to him, "No." He said to me, "Waṣiyyat-i dīgar hast," meaning, "I advise you not to take on debt, lest you be pressed and find no one to bring news of you to me. Spend according to what I have given you. God Most High has said: 'Do not keep your hand chained to your neck, nor stretch it out to its full extent,' and 'Eat and drink, but do not be extravagant,' and 'those who, when they spend, are neither extravagant nor niggardly, but keep between the two.'" I wanted to kiss his foot, but he prevented me and held my head with his hand; so I kissed it and withdrew.

13.34.7

I returned to the capital and occupied myself with building my house, and spent four thousand dinars on it, of which I was given six hundred dinars from the dīwān and added the rest myself; and I built a mosque opposite it. I occupied myself with organising the mausoleum of Sultan Quṭb al-Dīn. The Sultan had ordered that a dome be built over it rising a hundred cubits into the air, twenty cubits more than the height of the dome built over Qāzān, king of Iraq, and ordered that thirty villages be bought as an endowment for it; he placed it in my hands on condition that I should have a tenth of its revenue, according to custom.

Translations (1)

Linked texts (1)