تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 13.96
English (machine translation) 13.96
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13.96.1
His name is Ayrī Shakarwatī — with a over the hamza, the y unvowelled, i under the r, then y, a dotted sh with a, then k likewise, the r unvowelled, w with a, the dotted t with i, and y. He is a sultan powerful at sea. Once, when I was in al-Maʿbar, I saw a hundred of his ships, small and large, which had arrived there. In the harbour were eight ships of the sultan destined to sail to Yemen, and the sultan ordered preparations and gathered men to protect his vessels. When they despaired of seizing the opportunity against them, they said: 'We have only come to protect ships of ours that are also going to Yemen!' When I entered the presence of this infidel sultan he rose to me, seated me beside him and spoke to me most graciously, and said: 'Your companions may land in safety and be my guests until they sail, for between me and the sultan of al-Maʿbar there is friendship.' Then he ordered that I be lodged, and I stayed with him three days in great honour that increased every day. He understood the Persian language, and was delighted by what I told him about kings and countries.
13.96.2
One day I entered his presence when he had many gems before him, brought from the pearl fishery in his country, and his men were sorting the precious ones from the rest. He said to me: 'Have you seen the pearl fishery in the countries you have come from?' I said to him: 'Yes, I saw it at the island of Qays and the island of Kashm, which belongs to Ibn al-Sawāmilī'
13.96.3
He said: 'I have heard of it.' Then he took some pearls from it and said: 'Are there any like these on that island?' I said to him:
13.96.4
'I saw ones inferior to them,' and that pleased him! He said: 'They are yours,' and he said to me: 'Do not be shy; ask of me whatever you wish.' I said to him: 'Since reaching this island my only desire is to visit the noble Foot, the Foot of Adam, upon him be'
13.96.5
peace.' They call him Bābā, and they call Eve Māmā. He said: 'That is easy! We will send with you someone to take you there.' I said: 'That is what I want.' Then I said to him: 'And this ship in which I came may sail in safety to al-Maʿbar, and when I return you will send me in your ships.' He said: 'Yes.'
13.96.6
When I mentioned this to the owner of the ship, he said to me: 'I will not sail until you return, even if I stay a year on your account.' I told the sultan of this, and he said: 'He shall stay as my guest until you return.' He gave me a palanquin carried by his slaves on their shoulders, and sent with me four of the yogis whose custom is to travel every year to visit the Foot, three of the Brahmins, ten of his other companions, and fifteen men carrying provisions; as for water, there is plenty of it on that road.
13.96.7
That day we halted at a river which we crossed on a ferry made of bamboo canes; then we travelled on from there to Manār Mandalī — its spelling: with a after the m and the n, then an alif, an unvowelled r, an m with a, an unvowelled n, a d with a, an l with i, and a y — a fine town which is the last of the Sultan's territory. Its people gave us fine hospitality, their hospitality being buffalo calves which they hunt in a forest there and bring alive, and they brought rice, ghee, fish, chickens and milk.
13.96.8
In this town we saw no Muslim except one man from Khurāsān who had been left behind on account of his illness, and he travelled with us. We travelled on to the port of Salāwāt — its spelling: with a after the b (with one dot), an unvowelled n, a after the undotted d, an unvowelled r, a after the undotted s, the l and the w, then an alif and a t with two dots above — a small town. From there we travelled through rugged country with much water, where there are many elephants; but they do not harm pilgrims and foreigners, and this is through the blessing of Shaykh Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khafīf, may God have mercy on him, who was the first to open this road to the pilgrimage to the Foot. These infidels used to prevent Muslims from doing so and harm them, and would neither eat with them nor trade with them. But when there happened to Shaykh Abū ʿAbd Allāh what we related in the first journey — the elephants killing his companions, his escaping from among them, and the elephant carrying him on its back — from that time on the infidels came to honour the Muslims, to admit them into their houses and eat with them, and to trust them with their wives and children. To this day they venerate the said shaykh with the utmost veneration and call him 'the Great Shaykh'.
13.96.9
After that we reached the city of Kunakār — the spelling of its name: with u after the first k, a after the n and the second k, and ending in r — which is the capital of the chief sultan of that country. It is built between two mountains on a large inlet called the Inlet of Rubies, because rubies are found in it. Outside this city is the mosque of Shaykh ʿUthmān of Shīrāz, known as Shāwush (with two sh's with a w with u between them). The sultan of this city and its people visit him and honour him. He used to be the guide to the Foot, but when his hand and foot were cut off, his sons and servants became the guides. The reason for his mutilation was that he had slaughtered a cow! The law of the Hindu infidels is that whoever slaughters a cow is slaughtered in the same way, or is put into its hide and burnt. Since Shaykh ʿUthmān was held in honour among them, they cut off his hand and foot and gave him the revenues of certain markets.
Linked texts (1)
- تحفة النظار في غرائب الأمصار وعجائب الأسفار — Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, Arabic