mir dawlatshah samarqandi

Mir Dawlatshah Samarqandi

Tadhkirat al-sh.u lara

Mir Dawlatshah Samarqandi was the son of Amir Ala'uddawla Bakhtishah Isfarayini, oneof Shahrukh's courtiers, and nephew of the powerful Amir Firozshah. Unlike his fore-bears, who "passed their time as aristocrats in ostentatiousness and opulence," MirDawlatshah, who was of a dervish bent and had some poetic talent, "sought seclusion andcontented himself with a life of spiritual poverty and rustication to acquire learning andperfection."! At the age of fifty he began his Tadhkirat al-shu'ara (Memorial of poets),anecdotes about and short biographies of 150 Persian poets, ancient and modern, which hecompleted in 892/1487. The judgment of Mir Ali-Sher Nawa'i, to whom the work wasdedicated, was that "anyone who reads it will realize the merit and talent of the compiler."

Although the book deals primarily with poets, since poets generally were inextricablybound to royal patrons, it contains valuable anecdotal information on many pre- Timurid,Timurid and Turcoman rulers. The synopses of rulers' careers and anecdotes illustrative oftheir characters included by Dawlatshah are translated and given here.

SULTANUWAYS JALAYIR2

[po288] It is said that one night KhwajaSalman [Sawaji] was drinking in SultanUways's assembly. As he departed, thesultan ordered a servant to light the wayfor him with a candle in a golden candle-stick. The next morning the servant askedfor the candlestick, and Khwaja Salmansent this verse to the sultan:

The candle burned out last night, and today,if the king asks for his candlestick, I shall

bum in misery.

When the sultan heard this line, helaughed and said, "To get a candlestick

I,Ali-Sher Nawa'i, Majalis al-nafayis, p. 108.2Usually known as Shaykh-Uways (1336-74),

son and successor of Shaykh-Hasan Jalayir.

*out of a greedy poet's house is a difficulttask," and gave him the candlestick. Thatis how rulers rewarded poets in bygonetimes ....

Dilshad Khatun was the noblest andmost beautiful lady of her time. She wasthe wife of Amir Shaykh-Hasan Noyan.'to whom the rule of Baghdad and Azer-baijan fell after Sultan Abu-Sa'id Khan.4He was only nominally the ruler, for allaffairs of state were run by Dilshad Kha-tun, a lady as magnificent as the Queen ofSheba. Of her splendor Khwaja Salmansays: [295]

3Shaykh-Hasan the Great, founder of the Jala-yirid dynasty, died in 1356.

4The I1khan Abu-Sa'id, ruled 1317-35.

11

12 DAWLATSHAH

A thousand times a day the mighty splendorof her veil shatters the spires of Sanjar's

crown.

Sultan Uways was a refined and artisticruler, handsome, generous and quite ca-pable in various arts. He drew pictures inthe Wasiti style at which painters wereastonished. Khwaja Abdul-Hayy, themost outstanding exponent of the art inhis day, was his protege and pupil. SultanUways's specialty was the science ofmusic and modes. He was also so hand-some that on the days he went out to ride,most of the inhabitants of Baghdad ranout into the streets to see him, struckdumb by his beauty. In ecstasy they re-cited this verse:

The aroma of Joseph's coat was lost to theworld: finally it emerged from your collar.

After his reputation for beauty and learn-ing spread throughout the world, andfrom Rayy to Rum was subjugated to hiscommand, the scribe of fate penned therescript of his deposition and the cheatingopponent death played false with him. Inthe full bloom of youth he went from thistransitory prison to the eternal gardens.As he lay dying he composed these lines,.reducing friends' hearts to tears of griefand turning strangers' eyes into rivers:

One day I went from the capital of the soulto the province of the body: I was a stranger

here for a few days. Then I went home.I was a rich man's slave. I ran away frommy master. Finally I went before him inshame, holding a sword and my shroud.Though I am deprived of this world, 0

companions of mine, may you live happilyin this abode after I am gone. [296]

Justly hearts of stone tum to bloody tearsat the hardheartedness of this dustheap,and tears roll from the clouds' eyes overthe celestial spheres' tyranny. The bud'schemise is rent in mourning for rosycheeked ones, and the rose's ruby crownis cast to the dust in grief. Khwaja Sal-

man wept bitterly at the foot of SultanUways's bier and recited this elegy:

Alas, suddenly the rose of the garden offortune withered during the days of youth.

Alas, he was a cavalier who hunted nothingbut hearts on the steed of success.

This occurred in the year 775 [A.D.1374].

Among the great poets who flourishedin Sultan Uways's time and who werecontemporaries of Khwaja Salman wereUbayd Zakani, Nasir Bukhari, KhwajuMir Kirmani, and Mawlana MuzaffarHarawi.

*SULTAN AHMAD JALAYIR

It is told that Sultan Ahmad, the king ofBaghdad, was a great admirer of KhwajaHafiz, but no matter how often he invitedhim, and no matter how much favor andpatronage he showed him, Hafiz had nodesire to leave Fars for Baghdad andcontented himself with a patch of his na-tive soil rather than taste the honey offoreign cities. He sent this g hazal inpraise of Sultan Ahmad to Baghdad:

I praise (ahmadu) God for the royal justiceof Ahmad son of Shaykh-Uways son of

Hasan Ilkhani. 5Khan son of khan, king of kings of imperiallineage, whom it is fitting to call the soul of

the world.If the moon rises against you, an Ahmadi

miracle and divine favor will cut it in half.6Lineage, excellence and affection: all pertainto you. Away with the evil eye, for you are

both soul and beloved. [341]The bud of pleasure has not bloomed for me

among the roses of Fars. Praise be to theTigris of Baghdad and fragrant wine.

5It should be Ilkani, not Ilkhani. See CHI, VI,5.

6The line is full of puns: Ahmadi refersobliquely to Sultan-Ahmad but principally to theprophet Muhammad (the Ahmad), whose miracleof splitting the moon in two by pointing is re-ferred to.

TADHKIRAT AL-SHU' ARA 13

Shake loose your Turkish locks, for in yourascendant are royal fortune and Genghis

Khan's position.

Khwaja Hafiz himself told many humor-ous stories, and many anecdotes are toldabout him. It would seem incumbent toinclude something of Khwaja Hafiz'shumor in this volume:

It is related that when Sultan Sahib-QiranAmir Timur Kuragan subjugated Fars in the year795 [1393] and put Shah Mansur to death,Khwaja Hafiz was still alive. Someone was sentto summon him. When he arrived [Timur] said,"By the gleaming sword I have subjugated mostof the inhabited quarter of the globe. Ihave dev-astated thousands of towns and provinces in or-der to make prosperous Samarqand and Bukhara,my homeland and capital. And you, you littlepipsqueak, would sell our Samarqand andBukhara for one 'Shirazi Turk's Hindu mole'when you say, 'If that Shirazi Turk would butsteal our heart, for the Hindu mole I'd give Sa-marqand and Bukhara.' "

Khwaja Hafiz kissed the ground in servitudeand said, "Sultan of the world, it is just suchextravagance that has reduced me to this state."

The Sahib-Qiran was pleased by this humor-ous reply and, far from punishing him, rewardedand showed him favor,"

Sultan Ahmad was the son of SultanUways Jalayir, after whom he acceded tothe caliphal throne in Baghdad, havingseized the kingdom from his brother Sul-tan Husayn. He also controlled Azer-baijan and possessed splendor beyonddescription. His rule extended to the bor-ders of Rum. He was a talented ruler, apatron of the arts and of a poetic dis-position. He composed good poetry inArabic and Persian [342] and was pro-ficient in many crafts such as painting,illumination, bowmaking, arrowmaking,inlay (khatambandi), etc., and wrote theSix Pens.f This verse is by him:

7 The story is entirely apocryphal. Thegenerally accepted date of Hafiz's death is792/1390 (Rypka, HIL. 264).

8The Six Pens (shish qalam), the six classicstyles of Arabic calligraphy.

The more Isee you the more Idesire you: inmy desire for your countenance evening

becomes a morning of felicity.

In the science of music and modes hewas a master, and several books in thisscience were composed by him. KhwajaAbdul-Qadir was in his retinue and, it issaid, was his pupil. Even today manycompositions of his are current amongentertainers and singers. However, de-spite such accomplishments, he was amurderous and untrustworthy man. Heate opium, and from time to time his mindsuffered derangement; for no fault what-soever he humiliated noble people. On theslightest pretext he reduced people to ex-tremities, so it is no wonder that his sub-jects and army despised him and hisamirs and commanders continually wroteletters to the Sahib-Qiran Timur Ktiraganuntil, in the year 791 [1389], he led hisarmy to Baghdad to exterminate SultanAhmad. Before [Timur] reached thereSultan Ahmad composed this poem andsent it to him:

Why should we humbly submit to thecruelty of fate? Why should we worry over

every insignificant thing?Let us leave ocean and mountain and passby. Let us put land and sea beneath our

wing, like the phcenix,Either let us place our foot on the neck ofthe celestial sphere in triumph, or let us

bravely endeavor to be highminded.

When [Timur] realized the contents ofthis poem, he was grieved and said, "Iwish I could compose poetry so that Imight compose a decisive reply. Perhapsone of my sons or grandsons [343] cananswer Sultan Ahmad." He wrote to Mi-ranshah, or, as is also said, Khalil-SultanBahadur, [who] sent the following re-sponse to Sultan Ahmad:

Submit humbly to fate and do not tumaway. A great thing cannot be considered

insignificant

14 DAWLATSHAH

Why do you head for Mount Qaf like thephoenix? Be small like the wren and shed

your wings and feathers.Put from your mind impossible thoughts

lest a hundred thousand heads roll onaccount of your own head.

When Sultan Ahmad read this he realizedthat in relation to Timur's mountainousarmy his own was but a molehill, and thathe was nothing more than a gnat strug-gling against the hurricane of Timuridfortune. Acting upon the dictum, "To fleefrom him who cannotbe resisted is oneof the customs of the apostles," he badefarewell to Baghdad and went to Rum(Anatolia), and the kingdom of Baghdadfell into Timur's hands. He assignedKhwaja Mas'ud Sarbadar, a nephew ofKhwaja Ali Mu'ayyad, to the governor-ship of Baghdad and appointed KhwajaAli Tusi as head of fiscal affairs in Bagh-dad. [Timur] himself withdrew under afavorable ascendant, but after his with-drawal Sultan Ahmad received assistancefrom the Cesar of Rum and movedagainst Baghdad. Khwaja Mas"ud, hav-ing insufficient force to resist, left the cityto him. Taking advantage of Timur'spreoccupation with Toqtamish Khan, theruler of the Qipchaq Steppe, Sultan Ah-mad ruled another few years in Baghdad.He did battle and made truce several timesmore with Timur, the details of whichwill not fit into this volume.

In 8089 Sultan Ahmad was martyred byQara Yusufthe Turcoman, who had beenone of his father's herdsmen, and the titleof sultan fell away from the House ofJalayir as the Turcomans came to power.An account of the origin and history ofthe Turcomans will come later, God will-mg.

*9According to Fasihi (Mujmal, 202) he was

executed after the battle that took place on 18Rabi' u 813 (August 20. 1410). A chronogramby Khwaja Abdul-Qadir given by Fasihi also es-tablishes 813 as the year of his death.

SHAH MANSUR MUZAFFAR

In his book Jawahir al-asrar, ShaykhAdhari gives a qasida by Mawlana Sha-rafuddin Rami that includes all the rhe-torical devices and embellishments of po-etry. There is no necessity to copy it inthis volume. Mawlana Sharaf was theKing of Poets of Iraq during Shah Man-sur b. Muhammad's reign. He was fromTabriz, and his divan is not to be found inthis region [Khurasan], although it is wellknown in Iraq and Azerbaijan. All of hisqasidas and occasional pieces are solid,rhetorically ornate and written with talent.He composed a quatrain from which thename of his patron, Khwaja FakhruddinMuhammad al-Mastari, can be derived. Itis as follows:

The world is insignificant in the face of yourgenerosity. Pride (fakhr) and dignity of

religion (din) are among your titles.You are a mine of good qualities

(mahamid), and so splendid is its essencethat the dagger disappears from the diamond

(almas) of your mind.l0 [345]

Shah Mansur ruled over Fars and Iraqafter Shah Shuja'. He was a courageousand noble padishah. The Sahib-QiranAmir Timur Ktiragan led his army to Farsto attack him. Shah Mansur did not havethe power to resist and wanted to flee.The day he was passing through the gatesof Shiraz an old woman said to him froma rooftop, "You bastard Turk, you haveruled the kingdom for a long time, andnow you are abandoning the Muslims tothe hands of a foreign army. Where doyou think you're going?" Shah Mansurwas affected by the old woman's wordsand turned back. With twelve thousandmen he went out and did battle with AmirTimur. Several times he broke the Sahib-

lOPakhr and din of course give Fakhruddin.When the "dagger" (alif) is removed from ma-hamid. it becomes Muhammad. Almas is thebeginning of al-Mastarl; the final solution iselusive.


Qiran's center and flank, and he nearlydefeated the amir's army completely, butGod did not give him the victory. In hisZafarnama Mawlana Sharafuddin AliYazdi relates that four times ShahMansur brandished his sword over theSahib-Qiran, and Qumari Inaq and AdilAkhtachf had to hold their shields overhis head.

Later the heroes of the invincible armysurrounded Shah Mansur, and he per-ished in that battle. The Sahib-Qirangrieved over the loss of Shah Mansur andsaid, "I have fought forty battles and havecontended with champions and warriors,but never have I seen anyone to equalShah Mansur in bravery."

After Shah Mansur was killed the sul-tanate of the Muzaffar dynasty came to anend, and Fars and Persian Iraq passed tothe control of Amir Timur Kiiragan andhis noble sons. That was in the year 795[1393].

One is taken away, another is put in hisplace. The world does not remain without

someone to govern.

*AMIR TIMUR KORAGAN

As for the mighty Sahib-Qiran, sultanof sultans, axis of truth and religion,Amir Timur Kuragan:

A hundred centuries of time go by beforefortune hands the reins of rule to a lord of

the conjunction like you.

The learned and historians are agreed thatin the time of Islam, nay from Adam's erauntil this very moment, no lord of theconjunction of Solomonic power likeAmir Timur Kuragan has set foot fromthe abyss of nonexistence into the worldof being. The obstinate of the worldbowed their heads to his authority, andcrowned heads put the ring of servitudeto him in their ears. The standard of hisreign was raised like the sun over the re-

gions of the east, and in a short time hehad to the farthest reaches of the westunder the shadow of his protection.

Tell me who of the kings of the world hasgiven his horse fodder from Tiflis and water

from Oman! (360)

An account of his career would not fitinto the records of humanity. How thencan this memorial volume contain them?

His Highness was born and grew up inthe area of Kish.U He was the son ofAmir Taraghay, a great amir of the Barlas[tribe], than whom there are none morenoble or high-ranking among the Cha-ghatay nation. Amir Taraghay was thegrandson of Amir Qarachar N.oyan, wh.owas a cousin of the great arrnr GenghisKhan. With his son Chaghatay KhanGenghis Khan sent Amir QaracharNoyan to govern Transoxiana, Turkistanand dependencies. For a long time theautonomous rule of the Chaghatay nationwas in Qarachar Noyan's powerfulhands. He was the brother of Amir Ta-ghachar, who took Syria and Egypt in thetime of Hiilagtl Khan. Genealogists of theTurks say that Amir Timur Karagan' sline and Genghis Khan's line met in AlanQoa Khatun, who was married to one ofthe grandsons of Imam Ali Zaynul-Abidin, and from her sprang this noblefamily. 12

The felicitous birth of the Sahib-Qiranwas in the year 736 [1336] in the pleasantplains of Kish. From his youth the signsof greatness and splendor of rule wereapparent on his world-adorning brow.

11Also called Shahr-i Sabz, now in Uzbekis-tan.

12Both the marble slab covering Timur'sgrave and the nephrite cenotaph in the mau-soleum in the Gur-i Amir in Samarqand recordthe legend that Alan Qoa conceived "from alight" that was "one of the descendants of thePrince of the Faithful Ali b. Abi-Talib" withoutspecifying which descendant. Ali Zaynul-Abidin,the Fourth Imam of the Shia, died in 94n12-13.

16 DAWLATSHAH

Above his head a high star of brillianceshone.

Amir Taraghay always had the Sahib-Qiran manage his property ttahammul-ima'tish) during his youth, and he wasconstantly occupied with administeringthe yasa and assuming authority. Thingsthat common people do he never did, andpeople were amazed by his acumen, dis-crimination, perspicacity and intelligence.

They say that when Sultan Sahib-QiranAmir Timur Karagan was seven yearsold he once went with his father to stay inthe house of one of his relatives, a man ofgreat wealth and riches [361] upon whomfortune had smiled. He had seventyslaves, Turks and Hindus, and from thatit can be estimated what other wealth hepossessed. The host complained to theSahib-Qiran's father, saying, "God hasgiven me vast wealth, but I am unable tocontrol it all. My slaves do not respectme, and my sons are worthless. For thesereasons I fear that my property will di-minish."

The Sahib-Qiran interrupted and said,"Father, give your sons a share of yourproperty, and then do not interfere in theiraffairs and let them be. Put your Turkishslaves in charge of the Hindus to haveunder their command. Appoint one slaveas overseer to every ten 13 slaves, and se-cretly have the seven overseer slaves whoare together in charge of the seventy keepwatch on each other, and do not let themspeak to one another very much."

The man immediately said to AmirTaraghay, "By God, this child of yourswill be the emperor of the earth. One cansee in his words that this child is thesheer power of the Lord of the Universe."Then he had pen and ink brought andright there obtained a letter from theSahib-Qiran .to the effect that, when thephcenix of his fortune had the expanse ofthe horizons beneath its wing, neitherwould anyone tax him, his sons or his

13Text has "three," surely an error for "ten."

progeny or would he or his sons be takento task for their offenses. His clan are thetarkhans, and until this day they are tar-khans in Turkistan. Many such instancesof the Sahib-Qiran's perspicacity oc-curred in his youth.

In the year 771 [1369-70] His High-ness Sultan Sahib-Qiran sat successfullyenthroned in the Khanid capital and,having passed beyond taking tolls andtribute, had Amir Husayn b. Qazaghanput to death at the gates of Balkh.14 AmirHusayn had fled to the top of a tower. Abailiff who had lost a camel and gone upthe tower to look for it caught Amir Hu-sayn and took him straightaway to theSahib-Qiran.

A camel went to the top of a minaret andcried out, "I am hiding here. Don't give me

away!" [362]

In the year 797 [1395] with ninetythousand soldiers he attacked ToqtamishKhan in the Qipchaq Steppe and van-quished the khan. While pursuing himnorthwards he reached a place where, ac-cording to the sect of the great ImamAbu-Hanifa of Kufa, the nighttime prayeris incorrect because in that region the truedawn breaks while twilight still lingers. 15

Then he set out against Rum. He tooktribute from the Cesar of Rum and re-duced the Ildmm of Rum to wax.l" Syriahe darkened with the dust of his Turkishhorsemen, vilifying the House of Yazid

14Amir Husayn was actually a grandson ofQazaghan, who founded a line of Turco-Mongolprinces in Transoxiana.

15Dawlatshah has confused the two campaignsagainst Toqtamtsh Khan. In the campaign of793/1391 Timur pursued Toqtamtsh far to thenorth; the final battle of the 797/1395 campaignwas fought in the northern Caucasus. See CllI,VI, 72f.; Yazdi, Zafarnama, 1,380. ,

16The Ildlnm (or Yildmm, "thunderbolt") ofRum was the sobriquet of the Ottoman SultanBayezid I, whom Timur defeated at the Battle ofAnkara in 804/1402.

TADHKIRAT AL-SHU'ARA 17

and destroying the grave of Mu'awiya.l?The Plenipotent of Egypt gave him trib-ute, and the Sharif of Mecca accepted topay homage. The infidels of Georgiawere deafened by the noise of his invin-cible army's drums, and Hindustanturned into a Turkistan with the encamp-ment of his triumphant forces. With In-dian prisoners and slaves Khurasan be-came a Hindustan, and from Delhi to theQipchaq Steppe and the farthest reachesof Khwarazm, and from the borders ofKashghar and Khotan to Syria, Egypt andthe Maghreb came into his grasp by theglittering sword. For thirty-six years heruled in most of the inhabited quarter ofthe globe by the spread of friends andconquest of enemies. He was kind to hissubjects and overthrew those he con-quered.

On the 18th of Sha'ban in the year 807[February 19, 1405] in the city ofUtrar inTurkistan, while leading his army toCathay, he heard the summons, "0 thousoul which art at rest, return unto thyLord, well pleased with thy reward, andwell pleasing unto God,"18 and the parrotof his great spirit, breaking the bonds ofits sensual cage, set out for the eternalcity. He was seventy-two years, onemonth and eighteen days old.

The palace of his rule had four stablepillars, i.e., the four princes who issuedfrom his loins, Jahangir Sultan, Umar-Shaykh Sultan, Miranshah Kuragan, andShahrukh Bahadur Ghazi. May the mag-nificent grandsons and progeny of theSahib-Qiran and of these four pillars ofgovernance rule the world until resur-rection, and may the shade of the heaven-scraping parasol of this padishah of Islamremain over the heads of this awesomeand magnificent dynasty forever, throughthe prophet and his glorious family. [363]

17Damascus was taken by Timur in 1401. TheHouse of Yazid and Mu'awiya are references tothe Umayyad caliphs (r. 661-750), whose capitalwas Damascus.

18Koran89:28.

Sultan Timor, a king like no other, in sevenhundred thirty-six came into existence.

In seven hundred seventy-one he emerged; ineight hundred and seven he bade the world

farewell.

Among the shaykhs of Sufi orders,ulema, learned men and poets who flou-rished in the time of Sultan Sahib-QiranAmir Timur Karagan were: Amir SayyidAli Hamadani, who died at an advancedold age and is buried in Khuttalan; theulema Amir Sayyid Sharif Jurjani andMawlana Sa'duddin al-Taftazani al-Na-sawi; and the poets Mawlana BisatiSamarqandi, Khwaja Ismatullah Bukhari,Mawlana Lutfullah Nishapuri, and Hay-dar Bari (may God have mercy uponthem).

*MIRANSHAH

As for Prince Miranshah Kiiragan, inthe days of the Sahib-Qiran Timur Kiira-gan's reign he was padishah of Khurasanfor seven years. Thereafter [Timur] gaveKhurasan to Shahrukh Sultan and Tabrizand Azerbaijan with its appendages toMiranshah Mirza. For several years heruled independently in Azerbaijan. Hewas a handsome prince with a talent forpoetry and mild mannered. Concerninghis looks and position the poets havecomposed the following:

People have said that you are a secondJoseph. Having seen you well, I [know that]

in truth you are more beautiful than that.

However, one day he fell from his horse,and his mind became disordered. Despitethe treatment the physicians gave him, itwas useless, and his mental disorder in-creased until it became melancholia andreached the level of insanity. [369] Hecontinually kept company with low-lifesand tormented his amirs and deputies, towhom he refused audience. He was sodisrespectful of grandees and nobles that

18 DAWLATSHAH

he removed Khwaja Rashid's body fromhis tomb in the Rashidiyya at Tabriz andhad the bones buried in the Jews' ceme-tery.l? He ordered his wife Khanzada,whom Amir Timur Karagan favoredhighly, to be bound, and he tortured andtormented her. Khanzada managed to es-cape from him and went to the Sahib-Qiran in Samarqand, where she showedhim her bloody shirt and told the fatherabout the son. The amir wept and spoketo no one for a week. He gathered hisarmy and set out for Azerbaijan, the rea-son for the dispatch of the anny beingthis very case. That occurred in Jumada I795 [March 1393].

Three excellent and virtuous men whowere Prince Miranshah's intimate com-panions, Mawlana Muhammad KakhkiQuhistani, who was extremely knowl-edgeable in astronomy and the esotericsciences, Mawlana Qutbuddin Nayi andAbdul-Mu'min Guyanda, all three ofwhom were learned men, [Timur] orderedexecuted because Prince Miranshah'smind had been deranged by associationwith them.2o Accordingly, the three wereordered hanged in Qazwin. At the time ofexecution Mawlana Muhammad Quhis-tani said to Ustad Qutb Nayi, "You heldprecedence in the king's assembly. Yougo first here too." Mawlana Qutb replied,"Y ou damned heretic, you have broughtthings to such a pass, and still you don'tleave off your witticisms!" At the time ofexecution Mawlana Muhammad recitedthe following verse:

19Rashiduddin Fazlullah (ca. 1247-1318),court physician, historian and sadr to the 11-khans, author of the voluminous world historyJami' al-tawarikh and builder of the Rab'-iRashidi (the Rashidiyya) in Tabriz.

20According to Fasihi more than three wereput to death:' Shamsuddin Muhammad KakhkiQuhistani, Qutbuddin Nayi (the flute player),Habib Udi (the lutanist), Ardashir Changi (theharpist), Abdul-Mu'min Guyanda (the singer)and Khwaja Yahya Narrad (the backgammonplayer) were all executed in 802/1399-1400(Mujmal. 143).

The end of the affair is far away, heretic.Whether you go or not, it is not in the

hands of free will.If, like Mansur, they carry you to the foot of

the gallows (pay-i dar), stand manly andfirm (pay dar), for the world does not last

forever (paydar).

His Majesty the Sahib-Qiran, afterhaving Prince Miranshah's companionsexecuted, did not see [the prince] for twomonths and transferred the rulers hip ofAzerbaijan to [Miranshah's] son PrinceAbu-Bakr. [370] He also entrusted careof the father to the son and conferred thetitle of sultan upon Prince Abu-Bakr,who looked after his father. The fatherwas nominally the ruler, but the affairs ofthe kingdom were absolutely in Abu-Bakr's hands. Miranshah Kuraganpassed some time in this manner, but inthe year 80921 he was killed by QaraYusuf the Turcoman.

Amirzada Abu-Bakr Bahadur was agood-natured prince, handsome, braveand high-minded. It is said that his swordweighed seven maunds. After Miranshahwas killed, he was defeated by the Tur-comans and fled to Kennan. He waskilled in 810 [1407-8] at the age oftwenty-two.V Miranshah ruled nineyears in Khurasan and eleven in Azer-baijan.

*SHAHRUKH

It is told that Sayyid [Ni'rnatullah WaH]was of a high spiritual degree, and pres-ents and gifts were constantly being senthim by rulers and worldly people, all of

21810 according to Mirkhwand (RS. VI, 559).Fasihi (Mujmal. 179) gives the date of the battlewith Qara Yusuf, 24 Dhu'I-Qa'da81O (April 21,1408). Khwandamir (HS, III, 570) gives 24Dhu'l-Qa'da 809 (May 2, 1407) as the date ofMiranshah's death.

22Khwandamir (H S, III, 571) gives 811.Fasihi (Mujmal, p. 185£.) records him as stillalive at the beginning of 811.


which he accepted and [374] then sent tothe deserving.

Once Shahrukh asked the sayyid, "Ihear that you partake of suspect mor-sels.23 What is the justification for that?"Sayyid Ni'matullah quoted this line in re-ply to the prince:

If the whole world is ground to mincemeat,how can a man of God eat other than what is

licit?

Shahrukh was not pleased by this an-swer, and in order to test [the sayyid],several days later he ordered his stewardto go and seize a lamb by force from anold woman, not to pay for it and to bringit and have it cooked. To carry out thisorder, the steward went outside the city,where he saw an old woman comingdown the road with a lamb over hershoulders. Immediately he cracked hisWhip, snatched the lamb from the oldwoman and took it to the kitchen to haveit prepared. The sultan invited the sayyid,who partook of that meal along with thesultan.

"You said that you could eat only licitfood, whereas I ordered this lamb takenunjustly from an old woman," said thesultan, telling the sayyid the whole story.

"Sultan of the world," said the sayyid,"order an investigation into this, for Godmust have a [hidden] purpose herein."

The sultan ordered the old womanbrought and asked her, "Where were youtaking this lamb? How did you get it?"

"I am an old widow woman," she re-lated, "and have a flock of sheep I inher-ited from my husband. I also have a sonwho took a few sheep a week ago tomarket in Sarakhs. I had received somedistressing news about him when I heardthat Sayyid Ni'matullah Wali had come toHerat from Kerman. I vowed that if myson came back to me in safety, I would

23Luqmahd-yi shubha-amez, i.e., food whoseorigin or manner of acquisition is suspect interms of the religious law.

take a lamb to the sayyid. That very daymy son arrived safely, and I was so hap-py I put a lamb over my shoulder and setout for town. Your steward took the lambfrom me unjustly, and no matter howmuch I pleaded, it was of no use."

Sultan Shahrukh, realizing that God[375] esoterically preserves his saintsfrom illicit and suspect things, apologizedto the sayyid and never thought of testinghim again ....

The sayyid died in 827,24 during Shah-rukh's reign, in the village of Mahan, adependency of Kerman. His hospice andkhanaqah are frequented by the great andby the poor, and it is a flourishing, muchvisited and pleasant holy site. [The say-yid's] age was more than seventy-fivewhen he responded to God's invitationand was elevated to the station of theblessed and pure.

As for the felicitous khaqan, the Shad-ow of God upon the earth Shahrukh Ba-hadur Karagan, he was a king crownedby divine success, propitious fortune andgreat good luck. He constantly practicedjustice and had complete compassion to-ward the elite and common alike. Thepeace and freedom from want that thepeasantry enjoyed during the days of hisreign have never been known in any otherepoch from the time of Adam until today.His conduct was praiseworthy and hefollowed the divine law, snatching theball of propriety from all other sultans.For fifty years his banner of world rulewaved, and he caused the realm of Islamto flourish. From the region of Khotanand Kashghar to the Qipchaq Steppe andthe realms of India, from Mazanderan toDarband and the realm of Georgia, andfrom Fars to Basra and Wasit were allunder his reign. It is said that in the firstcampaign to Azerbaijan there were30,000 cameldrivers [to haul the booty] inthe victorious Shahrukhid armies: one canjudge his other riches therefrom. His-

24Fasihi (Mujmal. 267) gives his death date as22 Rajab 834 (April S, 1431).

20 DAWLATSHAH

torians, especially Mawlana Fazil Jarda,have related that three hundred princes, allof whom were worthy to rule, were gath-ered at Shahrukh's court. [376] Of HisMajesty's mighty sons and grandsonsand great relatives it is certainly hoped,nay it is absolute certainty that this Chos-roes, [Sultan-Husayn] a Jamshid in for-tune, a Faridun in ambition, a Bahram indignity, who is heir to the deeds of thegreat of this fortunate house, may attain-nay, has attained-many times over thegood fortune of those past sovereigns.

Shahrukh Sultan, through perfect relig-ious observance, purity of innate natureand good moral character, reached thestation of sainthood and was aware ofthings unseen. Saintly miracles are relatedof him, one of which is as follows.

One morning at dawn in Rayy he wasbusy with his devotions when suddenlyhe cried out, saying, "Qara Yusuf theTurcoman died last night!" The date wasrecorded, and ten days later the news ofQara Yusuf's death arrived.

Another instance is as follows. Thishumble author's father was one of SultanShahrukh's confidential servants, and herelated the following:

By God's decree a dreadful year of droughtbefell Khurasan, especially the capital Herat. Itreached such proportions that from the beginningof winter until the middle of spring not a dropfell from the sky to the earth:

The sky was so miserly toward the earth thatneither crops nor groves wet their lips.

Ancient springs dried up; the only water leftwas the tears of orphans.

The Emperor of Islam and the great ones of thetime were perplexed by this calamity and, in-stead of rain, poured moisture from their eyes.One night I beseechingly raised my hands insupplication to the Court of the Almighty, say-ing, "Send us rain, 0 thou .who helpest those inneed!" At dawn the next morning I was still sit-ting awake when suddenly a drop of rain fellagainst the window of the house, followed bytorrents of rain. I bowed my head in thanks andthought, "0 Lord, is anyone in this court awaketo have witnessed the first drop of rain?" Ecstat-

ie, I set out at dawn for the Emperor of IslamShahrukh Bahadur. When I entered the king'spavilion, before I could bow my head and makeobeisance, he said, "A1a'uddawla, I was awakewhen the first drop of rain fell. Were you awakeor not?" I began to cry [377] and fell at theking's feet. He asked me the cause of my weak-ness, and I told him the story. He recited thishemistich:

Even from our hut there is a way to theking's court.

Without doubt a king who passes hisdays in justice and equity and in main-taining the Muhammadan law will findgrace in the sight of God. More than thiswill not fit into this memorial volume.

Shahrukh Bahadur Sultan was born onthe 14th of Rabi' 1779 [August 20, 1377]in Samarqand. He lived for 71 years. Forseven years during his father's lifetime heruled Khurasan, and for forty-three yearsafter Timur Karagan he reigned autono-mously over Iran and Turan and the landsof India and the Turks. In the month ofDhu'l-Hijja 850, late in the morning ofNawroz [March 13, 1447] he died inFasha Rud, a dependency of Rayy.

Shahrukh, that king as puissant as fate,refuge of Islam, he who wielded a lion's

claw in the jungle of kingship,Pitched his tent in paradise above in Dhu'l-Hijja and said, "Throughout the world THE

SWORD remains of us as a date.,,25

Five exalted princes were born of thathighness, all of whom were pearls from aroyal sea and manifestations of divinegrace: Mirza Ulughbeg Kuragan, Ibra-him-Sultan, Baysunghur Sultan, Soyur-ghatmish Bahadur, and Muhammad-JukiMirza. There were also two other jewelsfrom the royal mine, Yarudr and KhanOghlan,26 who went from the cradle tothe grave in infancy. These padishahs had

25Shamshir (sword) = 850.26Muhammad- Yarudi's name is garbled in the

text, and Khan Oghlan is given as Jan Oghlan(see Fasihi, Mujmal, 154; Mu'izz al-ansab, fol.137).


nearly twenty princes who were elegantcypresses in the meadow of leadership,nay souls for the body of the realm. Thesun would turn dark in envy of theirbeauty and the universal intellect wasincapable of comprehending their worth,but in a short time inauspicious fate at-tacked those meritorious sultans [378]and sentenced them to the prison of thegrave. Today nothing but a memory re-mains of those renowned, all-conqueringheroes. "Might is God's. Wherefore takeexample, 0 ye who have eyes."27

Where are the mighty kings Hushang,Jamshid and Isfandiyar?

All have dust and clay for pillows, andhappy is he who planted only seeds of

goodness.

It is related that at the end of his lifeShahrukh led his army to Iraq to attackhis grandson, Sultan-Muhammad son ofBaysunghur. When Sultan-Muhammadwas defeated, Shahrukh Sultan blamedthe sayyids, grandees and ulema of Isfa-han [for Sultan-Muhammad's rebellion]because they had salaamed Sultan-Muhammad. In Sawa he issued an orderfor the execution of Shah Ala'uddin, agreat Husaynid sayyid, Qazi Imam, andKhwaja Afzaluddin Turka, one of thegreat ulema of Isfahan, and at Gawhar-shad Begim' s instigation those great menwere unjustly and cruelly put to death.

It is said that twice the rope aroundKhwaja Afzal's neck snapped. He criedout, "Tell Shahrukh that this torment ofours will not last more than an instant, butdo not destroy the good name you haveacquired over more than fifty years." Nomatter how hard men of influence tried, itwas of no avail as Shahrukh refused toconsider an appeal. After eighty daysShahrukh Sultan died, and some say thatwhen those oppressed men despaired oftheir lives they cursed Shahrukh Sultanand Gawharshad Begim, saying, "0

27Koran 59:2.

Lord, as he deprives our children of hope,make his line extinct!" The gates of heav-en were open, and those innocent injuredmen's prayers were answered, for thatmighty padishah's line was ended and thesultanate reverted to its original locus.28(0 God, may the sultanate continue untilthe day of resurrection the rightful prop-erty of this heir.)

Although the Shahrukhid era and hisprogeny have passed, [379] the mightyoffspring of the great Timurid family re-main powerful in Iran and Turan.

What if one rose fades, when everything ismade verdant by you? Your countenance issufficient for us as a souvenir of the rose.

Among the shaykhs, great ulema andpoets who flourished during Shahrukh'stime were: Shamsuddin Muhammad al-Hafizi al-Bukhari known as Khwaja Par-sa, Khwaja Sayinuddin Turka Isfahani,Mawlana Fazil Husayn Khwarazmi,Mawlana Sharafuddin Ali Yazdi, and thepoets Shaykh Adhari, Baba Sawda'i,Mawlana Ali Shihab, Amir Shahi Sab-zawari, Mawlana Katibi Turshizi, andMawlana Nasimi. The works and divansof all these are known throughout the in-habited quarter of the globe.

However, there were four skilled menin the capital Herat who had no peersanywhere during their time: KhwajaAbdul-Qadir Maraghi in the science ofmodes and music, Yusuf Andigani inrecitation and singing, Ustad Qiwamud-din in geometry, design and architecture,and Mawlana Khalil the painter, who wasa second Mani.

*

28Dawlatshah wrote these words during thetime of Sultan-Husayn, a descendant of Umar-Shaykh; for that reason the Shahrukhid line isdenigrated.

22 DAWLATSHAH

BAYSUNGHUR

[Qasim al-Anwar], [385] whose originswere in Azerbaijan, was born in Surkhab,Tabriz, of which region he was amongthe great sayyids and sharifs. During hisyouth he was a disciple of Shaykh Sad-ruddin Ardabili and for a time was trained[in Sufism] by him. He underwent muchspiritual exercise in Sufism and spiritualpoverty and [386] was well trained.Thereafter he set out with the shaykh'spermission for Gilan, where he lived for atime training dervishes. When his famehad reached all comers of the earth, he setout for Khurasan and stayed for a whilein Nishapur. However, the Zahiri ulemaof Khurasan protested his presence, andhe went to the capital Herat. The peopleof Herat trusted him completely and gavehim their allegiance. He was a powerfullyattractive man, and every skeptic whocame before him departed a believer.When most of the nobles and princes ofHerat had become his disciples, self-in-terested people told the emperor of theage, Sultan Shahrukh, that it was notprudent to allow this sayyid to stay in thecity. As most of the youths had become-his disciples, there was a danger that cor-ruption might occur. The emperor orderedthe sayyid expelled, but no matter howmany times the amirs and ministers ofstate took the emperor's order to thesayyid, it was useless: Amir SayyidQasim would say, "For what crime doesShahrukh expel me from a Muslimrealm?"

In the end it was determined that thesayyid would have to be forcibly ejectedfrom the area, but no one had the courageto carry it out. Prince Baysunghur said, "Iwill set this sayyid on the road by meansof refinement and wit. There is no neces-sity for harshness." He rose and went tothe sayyid, with whom he had a pleasantconversation, during the course of whichthe matter of the sayyid's leaving wasbroached.

"Your father is the emperor of Mus-lims," the sayyid said. "For what reasondoes he expel me?"

"My lord," said Prince Baysunghur,"why do you not act upon your ownwords?"

"Which words?" he asked." 'Qasim, cut short your speech, arise

and go forth: cast sugar to the parrot, car-rion to the vulture,' " [quoted the prince].

Amir Sayyid Qasim applauded theprince and immediately had a pack animalbrought, the nobles [of Herat] helping,and set out for Balkh. For a time that re-gion was the recourse of elite and com-mon, but once again he returned to thecapital Herat, [387] where he stayed for aperiod of time .... [390]

The felicitous birth of Prince Baysun-ghur was in the year 802.29 He possessedboth beauty and perfection, good fortuneand propitious luck; in patronage of thearts and artistic ability he was renownedthroughout the world. During his timecalligraphy and poetry gained currency,and artisans and literati, hearing of hisreputation, entered his service from allregions and areas.

It is related that forty calligrapher-scribes were engaged in his kitabkhana,with Mawlana Ja'far Tabrizi at their head.[The prince] favored artists and lovedpoets. He strove to create opulence andrewarded his comrades and companionswith exquisite objects. After ChosroesParvez none of the sultans of the ageslived in such luxury and refinement asBaysunghur Sultan. He composed andunderstood poetry well in Turkish andPersian and wrote the Six Pens of callig-raphy. Here is a line by Mirza Bay-sunghur:

Baysunghur is a beggar in your lane: abeggar in the lane of beauties is a king.

29All other sources are agreed upon 799 as hisdate of birth. Fasihi (Mujmal, p. 140) gives 21Dhu'l-Hijja 799 (September 15, 1397).


It is related that during Baysunghur'stime Khwaja Yusuf Andigani [391] hadno equal in all the world in recitation andsinging. Khwaja Yusuf's Davidic voicepierced the heart, and his Chosroic mel-ody augmented the agony of passion.Sultan-Ibrahim b. Shahrukh in Shirazseveral times asked Baysunghur forKhwaja Yusuf, but he refused. Finally hesent 100,000 dinars in cash for PrinceBaysunghur to send him Khwaja Yusuf.In reply Sultan Baysunghur sent this line:

We do not sell our Joseph. You keep yourblack silver.

Among Ulughbeg Kuragan, Baysun-ghur Bahadur and Ibrahim-Sultan manywitticisms and much correspondencewere exchanged-more than could be putinto this volume. However, treacheroustime and cruel fate assassinated that suc-cessful prince in the full bloom of youth,and the wardens of fate and destiny hadno mercy on his youth. One night, havinghad too much wine, he was overtaken bythe heavy sleep of annihilation in re-sponse to the command of the Lord ofLords. The people of Herat supposed hisdeath was due to a stroke.

They say that death is a novel form of sleep:that heavy sleep seized us.

Half drunk, the prince crept into themastaba of the earth, to rise again with aheavy head on the mom of resurrectionalong with the throng suffering from thehangover of resurrection and to requestfrom the cupbearers the pure wine thatcures a hangover. The hope is certain thatthe Merciful Judge will forgive his sins,which can be washed away only by thedew of compassion. The dreadful deathof Baysunghur Sultan occurred in thecapital Herat in the Bagh-i Saped in the

year 837 [1433].30 He was thirty-fiveyears of age.

The poets who were in BaysunghurBahadur's retinue during the time ofShahrukh Sultan were: Baba Sawda'i,Mawlana Yusuf Amiri, Amir ShahiSabzawari, Mawlana Katibi Turshizi and[392] Amir Yamin uddin Nazlabadi. Bay-sunghur's properties and fiefs duringShahrukh's reign were six hundredKepeki tiimdn» in the provinces of As-tarabad, Jurjan, Dihistan, Tus, Abiward,Nasa, Khabushan, Simnan, Kashan inPersian Iraq, and Shabankara in Fars.UThe poets composed many elegies forBaysunghur, but Amir Shahi surpassedthem all with this quatrain:

At your funeral time itself wailed; tulipsspilled the blood of their eyes into their

laps.The rose rips the collar of its crimson cloak;

the dove puts black felt around its neck.

*[267] The literati have been unable to

collect [all] Amir Khusraw's poetry.t?since they have rightly contemplated thatthe sea cannot be contained in a vessel,and divine knowledge cannot fit into aword. Sultan Baysunghur Khan exertedmuch effort, and the poetry of AmirKhusraw he achieved in collectingamounted to 20,000 lines. Thereafter[another] two thousand lines of Khus-raw's ghazals that were not in the [Bay-sunghurid] divan were found somewhere.Realizing that to collect these poems wasan impossible task and an unrealizablehope, he abandoned the search. In one of

30The date of his death, 7 Jumada I 837(December 20, 1433), is given by Fasihi (Muj-mal. p. 272).

31Pasihi (Mujmal. p. 219) records the fiefsBaysunghur was given in 817/1415.

32Amir Khusraw of Delhi (1253-1325), au-thor of a divan, a Khamsa (quintet) in imitationof Nizami's Khamsa, and numerous versifiedhistories.

24 DAWLATSHAH

his essays Amir Khusraw says, "My po-etry is less than 500,000 and more than400,000 lines." His Khamsa is 18,000lines, while Shaykh Nizami of Ganja's is28,000. It is amazing that in some poetrythere is longwindedness and in othersthere is brevity; in either case, eleganceand eloquence are the goals.

Prince Baysunghur preferred Khus-raw's Khamsa to Nizami's, while his latehighness Ulughbeg Kiiragan did notagree and was a proponent of ShaykhNizami. Between these two learnedprinces there was on occasion heated de-bate over these [conflicting] claims, andthey compared the two Khamsas line byline. If there were such partisanship thesedays, the minds of critics, who are theass ayers of the market of literary excel-lence-long may they live-would havefound a method of preference and re-moved all doubt.

*Amir Shahi was born and grew up in

Sabzawar. His name was Aq Malik sonof Malik Jamaluddin Firozkohi, and hisancestors were grandees of the Sarba-

-dar,33 his mother being Khwaja AliMu'ayyad's sister. During ShahrukhKuragari's reign, when the Sarbadarswere on the wane, he went to PrinceBaysunghur, who patronized him and gotreleased some of his ancestral property[481] that had been sequestered by thestate during the Sarbadar interregnum.Amir Shahi was a close companion to theprince.

It is said that Malik Jamaluddin, AmirShahi's father, stabbed one of the Sar-badars to death on a hunting outing.v'One day Prince Baysunghur was on ahunt in the Kahdistan meadow in Herat. It.

33The Sarbadar dynasty ruled in Sabzawar,1337-79.

34According to Fasihi, in 799/1396-97 AmirShahi's father stabbed Amirzada Muhammad-Sultan in Damghan (Mujmal. p, 140).

happened that the prince and Amir Shahiwere left alone together, the other ridershaving charged off after the animals. Theprince turned to Amir Shahi and said,"Your father took just such an oppor-tunity to destroy his enemy and died in amanly way."

Amir Shahi said angrily, "It is written:'wa-/a taziru waziratun, '35 which is tosay that a son who does not engage in hisfather's labor cannot be counted amonghis father's friends." After this he es-chewed the service of sultans and took anoath never to serve them again so long ashe lived.

*[484] It is said that for a time Bay-

sunghur Sultan used the pen name Shahi,but seeing that that pen name had beenaccepted as Amir Aq Malik's and becomefamous from east to west, he abandonedit. What the destiner of pre-eternity haswritten cannot be changed. Some aregiven kingship in form, others in content.

*[178] Mawlana Shamsuddin Tabasi

was one of the most learned men inKhurasan. Although he was the cadi andson of the cadi of Tabas, he resided inHerat. Along with his great learning, heheld a high position as a poet and was aman of good character and mien.

Baysunghur ordered Mawlana Sham-suddin's divan to be copied by MawlanaShamsuddin the calligrapher, who wasknown among calligraphers as ShamsBaysunghuri. [The prince] said manytimes, "To have this type of poetry andthis sort of calligraphy, both of which areGod-given talents, by these two mennamed Shams is a rare coincidence."

*35Koran 53:38: "A burdened soul shall not

bear the burden of another."


KHALIL-SULTAN

Prince Khalilullah reigned in Samar-qand after the death of Amir Timur Kii-ragan, He was a handsome prince, ofgood character and of refined nature. Hethrew open the treasury that Amir TimurKtiragan had amassed throughout hisreign from the taxes on Iran and Turanand, like the April rain, nay like the minesof Badakhshan and the sea of Oman,scattered silver and pearls over soldiersand civilians. The learned received pa-tronage in his time and in describing theirsituation sang: [395]

In your time no one can distinguish theground from gold, so much has yourgenerous hand trod wealth under foot.

In the same vein Katibi says:

Dirhems from your hand cover the earth bythe trayful. Of your generosity there are

jewels covering the heavens by the shieldful.

In the end, the treasure that the Sahib-Qi-ran had amassed by the sword Sultan-Khalil gave away to the shield. For fouryears in Samarqand and Transoxiaria heruled. Finally Khudaydad Husayni, Khu-daydad Jata, Berdi Beg and other officersrebelled against him, the reason for whichwas as follows. He had fallen in lovewith and married Shad Malik Agha, oneof Amir Hajji Sayfuddin's concubines,and she interfered in the affairs of state.The officers refused to stand for it, and in811 [1409] they seized Prince Khalil andbound him in golden chains. They cut offShad Malik's ears and nose and sent theprince to be imprisoned in ShahrukhiyyaFortress, and the rebellious officersreigned autonomously in Samarqand.Prince Khalil-Sultan composed this qua-train in his prison:

Yesterday such soul-increasing union; todaysuch world-burning separation.

Alas that fate one day writes one thing inthe register of my life, another day another.

When the news of the ingrate officers'take-over and Prince Khalil's imprison-ment reached the hearing of [396] Shah-rukh Sultan, he gathered a huge army andset out from Herat for Samarqand. Whenthe Shahrukhid victory-bearing bannerscrossed the Oxus, the rebels lost heartand, abandoning Samarqand, fled towardTurkistan, pillaging the possessions ofthe people of Samarqand.

It is related that when Shahrukh Sultanregained Samarqand, he went into theTimurid treasury, which was kept in theKok Saray and citadel of Samarqand.Finding the treasury as empty as theminds of idiots and as void as the heartsof the ignorant, suddenly the Mirza'sstaff struck a minted dirhem. He picked itup, put it in his pocket and left the treas-ury, saying to his companions, "With thisdirhem we have our share of our father'slegacy."

It is said that Prince Khalil-Sultan com-posed this ghazal when he was impris-oned and sent it to his uncle Shahrukh:

o bestower of gifts, 0 grantor of desires, wecan bear no more of this separation.

III luck has become our neighbor and sungout, "Welcome!" Good fortune has departed,

saying, "Adieu!"May my life be sacrificed to the aroma of

the breeze that comes to us from ourbeloveds'region.

As sorrowful and happy ones pass from themonastery [of this world], do not sorrow

over tribulation or rejoice over good fortune.[397]

The brand of the world left Kaus Kay'sbreast; when was Kay-Qubad gleeful over

bad luck?If Khalil is imprisoned in the six directions

of separation, one day the spheres willrelease you.

God's decree has given me into the hands ofthe lowly: it is wrong to complain to people

of God's decree.

When Shahrukh Sultan read this com-position by Prince Khalil, he wept andmade it his sole ambition to reduce thoseingrates to beggary. Amir Shahmalik, oneof Shahrukh's great officers, intentionally

26 DAWLATSHAH

fomented disagreement among that group.He killed Khudaydad JtiUi and Khuday-dad Husayni, and himself went into exile.The kingdom of Transoxiana came underShahrukh's subjugation, and Sultan-Khalil, released from prison, was hon-ored to kiss the carpet of his uncle's goodfortune. Shahrukh Sultan, insofar as waspossible, had compassion upon the de-posed prince and took him with himself,crossed the Oxus and gave the rule ofSamarqand to his son "Prince Ulughbeg.He assigned Amir Shahmalik to [Ulugh-beg's] retinue to govern the region. Thatwas in the year 811 [1409]. Shahrukhthen took Sultan-Khalil to Herat, gavehim the governorship of Rayy, Qum,Hamadan and Dinawar up to Baghdadand sent him off with banners, kettle-drums and naqarakhana, and high-ranking officers accompanied him forseveral stages. Sultan-Khalil ruled as hisuncle's viceregent for two and a halfyears and died in Rayy on the 18th36 ofRajab 814 [November 5, 1411] at the ageof twenty-eight. As he lay dying he reci-ted this verse: [398]

In ignorance I said, "No one can draw ourbow." Death came and drew, and our

notions were all wrong.

Khwaja Ismat Bukhari was a high-born, worthy man of learning descendedfrom Ja'far ibn Abi-Talib. His forefatherswere great men of learning in Bukhara,and his father Khwaja Mas'ud was oneof the leading men of the city. KhwajaIsmat, despite his high lineage and posi-tion, was a notable poet in qasida, gha-zal, mathnawi and qit'a. During Sultan-Khalil's time Khwaja Ismat received greatpatronage and was highly respected bythe prince, to whom he was a constantcompanion and comrade. The enviousimagined that the khwaja had an eye forthe prince, but his heart was free of any

36The 16th according to Fasihi (Mujmal,207).

such thought. Sultan-Khalil was taughtpoetics by the khwaja, and when PrinceKhalil was deposed, Khwaja Ismat com-posed this g hazal in longing for theprince's court:

Would that you had ordered my executionby the sword of separation so that my

enemies might not have seen me abject onsuch a day.

Tell the gardener to plant me at the foot ofthe garden wall if I think of the cypress and

lily without remembering him.When will my cavalier again strut forth sothat I, like a madman, may cast myself in

his path, covered with dust and blood? [399]From the veins of both eyes I rain my

heart's blood, for in separation from himevery hair on my body is a bloody lancet.

Ismat, when will the monuments of Khalil'sera come again so that I may smash these

idols I wrongly worship?

... [400] The learned have admiredKhwaja Ismat's qasidas. He composedthis qasida on Sultan-Khalil's divan:

It is a shoreless sea that holds the world inits embrace-the diver of the universal

intellect can never comprehend its essence• (pearl).

The moon is a reflection of the rays from itsgilt lawh; the sun is a reflection of its

illuminated pages.The depiction of angelic, tulip-cheeked

beauties has locked the houris of paradise intheir palaces in shame.

Hot spins the sun on the lawh of thecelestial sphere in order to put a seal on the

pages of this register.It takes black from the night and golden ink

from the moon; the azure sphere makesleather for it from Taurus's hide.

From the succession of black and white andnight and dawn the Maker's craft hasproduced a binding for its two sides.

When the rulings are made, red is drawnfrom sunset's reflection using a silver

compass lent by Gemini's sphere.You would say Jupiter showed his

countenance in the dead of night when thegolden dots shone from around the lines.All who have seen it have scattered rubies[yaqut) from the pupils of their eyes (ibn-i

TADHKlRAT AL-SHU' ARA

muqla) over the raw silver of its amber-scented geometric lines}7

Every word is a pearl of the treasure trove ofmeani'1f: other than a moneychanger

(sayrafi),3 who could establish the price ofthis gem? [401]

Every charming line that was confirmed(muhaqqaq) in beauty is a commentary

(ta'liq) on its illuminated pages}9To acquire merit the intellect has memorized

every novel meaning that manifests itselftherein.

Every string of pearls versified forms anordered whole in the thread of the mastar.40

Salman borrows from the light of theqasidas; with the spirit-nourishing ,fihazals

Sa'di has come to life again.Khaqani has been inspired by the rhetoric of

the poetry; Anwari is eclipsed by thebrilliant (anwar) metaphor.42

Nizami's spirit is gladdened by themathnawis; Ibn-i Yamin praises it for the

singlets and occasional pieces.43Perplexed by the marginalia, the pen moves;

I am amazed at what images he has in hishead.

I said, "Let me enter in thought andcontemplation, let me learn the beauty of his

hidden meanings."As I stood astonished at what I saw, a voice

informed me of the master of this refinedpoetry, saying,

37Puns on the famous calligraphers Yaqut al-Musta'simi (died 1299) and Ibn Muqla (died940).

38 A pun on the calligrapher Abdullah al-Sayrafi (fl. 13 io-44).

39With puns on muhaqqaq and ta'liq, bothcalligraphic styles.

40 A mastar is a cardboard sheet strung withthread used by copyists to make horizontal writ-ing lines on the page.

41Salman Sawaji (ca. 1300-1376), Persianpoet renowned for his qasidas; Sa'di (ca. 1215-ca. 1290), one of the most famous poets of Per-sian, renowned especially for his ghazals.

42Khaqani (1121-1199), poet known for thebrilliance of his rhetorical devices; Anwari (ca.1125-ca. 1170), a poet known for particularlyabstruse panegyric.

43Nizami (1141-1209), the poet par excellenceof the metrical romance; Ibn-i Yamin (1286-1368), known for his single lines and qit'as("fragments").

27

"This is a treasury deposited by mightyones, a compilation of marvels by a poet

king."When Sultan-Khalil came to the throne, thefire of sedition was quenched by his blade

and dagger. [402]A Leo-attacking Jamshid, by the blow ofwhose mace the convex heaven is made

concave.The sphere was split apart by the arc in order

to achieve union with his circular dart.44o commander, to all who have seen yourexalted might the nine spheres appear as

insignificant as dust.All who have rolled the dice of opposition

to you have been imprisoned by grief on theplaying board of pain and calamity.

No enemy has found a way to escape yourdagger-unless death leads him to his fate.

If the sea holds up its ~alm (kaff) inindigence (beguhari),4 you enrich it

instantly from the cloud of generosity.Scented nostrils derive from you the scent ofthe musk sack of whose aroma time is glad.Be there dust upon the head of anyone whohas rubbed his forehead in service at your

threshold and then takes refuge with another!You place a crown of acceptability on the

head of every beggar, who then spurnsDarius and Casar's opulence.

The abundance of meanings comes from theeffulgence of praising you, otherwise whatwould be the use of repeated words? 1403JGiven a choice, any would elect to die but

still not abandon your service.For as long as God allows the seven climes

to acquire the sun's lightMay your essence remain at the zenith ofrule; may fortune smile and the throne of

felicity tower.

*ULUGHBEG

His late Highness Ulughbeg Ktiraganwas a learned, just, victorious and high-

44'Arc' (or 'bow,' qaws) is also Sagittarius;'dart' (or 'arrow,' sahm) is also the constellationSagitta.

45Kaff means both 'palm of the hand' and'foam' (on the surface of the sea); beguhart is'indigence' but literally means 'pearllessness.'According to legend pearls are made from Aprilraindrops falling into oysters, which then sink tothe bottom of the sea and produce pearls.

28 DAWLATSHAH

minded king. He attained an exalted de-gree in astronomy and was quite adept atunderstanding poetry. During his reignscientists were given the greatest respect,and in his time the position of the learnedreached exalted heights. In geometry hepointed out the subtlest things, and incosmography he unlocked the secrets ofthe Almagest. The learned and wise areagreed that in the history of Islam-nayfrom the time of Alexander until thismoment-there has never reigned a kingso wise and learned as Ulughbeg Kura-gan. At the arithmetical sciences he wasperfectly adept. Along with the wise menof his age, such as Qazizada Rumi andMawlana Ghiyathuddin Jamshid [Kashi],he set down observations of the stars.When those two great ones died beforethe work was completed, the sultan sethis whole mind to the completion of thetask and finished the observations. Whathe produced [is known as] the Zij-i sul-tani,46 which he put out in his own name.Today that table is current among andcredited by scientists, and some prefer itto the Ilkhanid Zij-i Nasiri.47 [404]

In Samarqand he had built a superbmadrasa, more beautiful and ornate thanany other building. Today there are morethan a hundred students in residence inthat madrasa.

During his father Shahrukh Bahadur'sreign he ruled autonomously in Samar-qand and Transoxiana for forty years,maintaining praiseworthy principles ofgovernment and dispensation of justice. Itis said that during his reign e jarib of landwith an income of four kharwars wastaxed at 4/6/ulus, which would be 1/6 ofa silver dirhem.

46Entltled Zij-i jadid-i sultani, U1ughbeg'stables of the latitudes and longitudes of the fixedstar.s were e<1!lytranslated for use in Europe (aLatin translation was made by Hyde in 1665).

47The astronomical tables generally known asthe Zij-i Ilkhani compiled by Nasiruddin Tusi(1201-1274).

When justice rules over a king, a gazelle caneat its fill next to a ferocious lion.

It is told that Mirza Ulughbeg's mem-ory was prodigious. He recorded by dateevery animal he put into the field and ev-ery prey those animals caught. This in-formation he wrote in a ledger, on whatday it was, in which place and what preywas caught by which animals. When thebook was accidentally lost, the librarianssearched high and low but could not findit. Ulughbeg said to the fearful librarians,"Don't worry. I remember all the infor-mation from beginning to end." He askedfor- a book, and as he dictated the datesthe scribes wrote down the date and in-formation until the ledger was finished.By chance after a time the original ledgerwas found; the two were compared, and,with four or five exceptions, they foundno discrepancies.

Many such stories are related of theprince's keen mind, such as the followingby Shaykh Adhari:

In the year 800 [1397-98] in Qara Bagh, in thecompany of my .uncle, Amir Timur's storyteller,I was introduced to Prince Ulughbeg, who wasthen a child. For several years I played with theprince in the exuberance of youth and told himdelightful and entertaining stories. As is thecustom of children, he was very much at homewith me. Then, in 852 [1448], when the mon-arch conquered Khurasan and was encamped atIsfarayin-and by that time the dawn of whitehair had enflamed the night of youth [405]-1hastened to his service.

He saw me from afar in dervish garb, and afterthe customary greetings and polite preliminarieswere dispensed with he said, "Dervish, you looklike our old companion and playmate. Aren'tyou our storyteller's nephew?"

Amazed at the monarch's sharpness of mindand flawless memory, I said, "Yes, I am." Hetold stories of Qara Bagh and the Georgian cam-paign and the remarkable things that had hap-pened in that region. I responded to what I couldremember."

There are more such stories of the mon-arch's memory than could possibly fitinto this volume.

TADHKIRA TAL-SHU' ARA 29

After Shahrukh's death Prince Ulugh-beg Kuragan led his forces from Trans-oxiana to Khurasan seeking the kingdomhe had inherited. Prince Ala'uddawla re-sisted him, but in the vicinity of Tarnab, adependency of Badghis, a battle tookplace, and Ulughbeg Ktlragan won andsubjugated all of Khurasan. He had90,000 soldiers, and during that campaigna devastation of which traces can be seentoday was wrought upon Khurasan.

In Ramadan 852 [November 1448],when Ulughbeg was consolidating Khu-rasan, Abu'l-Khayr Khan laid siege toSamarqand.P Ulughbeg's soldiers, see-ing limitless booty, wanted to take all thebooty home and ran away in legions.Ulughbeg Kuragan saw no alternative towithdrawal. When he set out for Iraq andwas returning via the Ab-i Rawshanbridge, which is a dependency of Ju-wayn, Amir Yar-Ali, son of Sikandar b.Qara Yusuf [Qaraqoyunlu] who had beenimprisoned for years in the Tiratu For-tress near Herat, escaped, rebelled andseized Herat. This event too served toweaken Ulughbeg Kilragan. He gaveBalkh and its dependencies to his sonAbdul-Latif and himself crossed theOxus.

In return for the honors and favor hehad bestowed upon his younger sonAbdul-Latif, Abdul-Latif was seduced bythe devil to rebel against his father, andUlughbeg was forced to engage in com-bat with Abdul-Latif for three monthsalong the banks of the Oxus. During this,the Arghun folk, who are Turcomans ofTurkistan, raised Sultan Abu-Sa'id aspadishah and, breaking away fromUlughbeg's army, went to Samarqandand besieged the city. This was clear

48Abu'l-Khayr Khan (died 1468) of the Shay-banid Uzbeks, who by virtue of Mongol descentthrough Genghis Khan's grandson Shiban (whichwas changed to Shayban by analogy with theArab tribe Shayban) claimed the right to legiti-mate rule. Eventually the Uzbeks succeeded theTimurids in all of Transoxiana.

proof of Prince Ulughbeg's weakness.[406] Not knowing what to do, he set outfor Samarqand, but soon Abdul-Latifcrossed the Oxus headed for Samarqand.In Sha'ban 853 [September 1449], a bat-tle was fought in the vicinity of Samar-qand between father and son in whichAbdul-Latif was the victor. Ulughbegsought refuge in the Samarqand Fort, butMiranshah the Qorchi, who had been hisprotege, showed his ingratitude by re-fusing him entry into the fort. Perforce hefled to the borders of Turkistan, leavingAbdul-Latif to take the throne of Samar-qand.

Since his own appointees in Shahru-khiyya would not allow Ulughbeg to en-ter, he was about to take refuge withAbu'l-Khayr Khan when, thinking theremight still be some affection left betweenfather and son, he went to his knavishson in Samarqand. Appearing withoutwarning before his ruthless son in Ra-madan of that same year, at first he waswarmly received, but the devil took com-mand of the son and made him want tokill his father. On the banks of the SuchRiver outside Samarqand that just andlearned padishah was martyred. Someseven months later the Final Executionertook his revenge, and [Abdul-Latif] drankfrom the same goblet he had given. Sicsemper tyrannis.

A patricide is not worthy of kingship. Evenbe he worthy, he will not last six months.

In his book Hadayiq al-anwar the greatFakhruddin Razi tells that there was noone more noble in royal families thanSheree, who was Sheree son of Parvezson of Hurmuz son of Anushirvan son ofQubad son of Firoz son of Yazdigird sonof Bahram Gor. Bahram's lineage wentback to Ardashir Papakan, whose lineagewent back to Kay Qubad, whose lineagewent back to Faridun, and Faridun's lin-eage went back several generations toGayomarth, who Persian genealogists saywas the father of mankind. That great

30 DAWLATSHAH

prince [Sheree] did an ignoble deed [407]and killed his father. After six months hewent to hell of the plague. In the Abbasidcaliphal dynasty the most noble wasMustansir, who was Mustansir b. Muta-wakkil b. Mu'tasim b. Rashid b. Mahdib. Mansur b. Ali b. Abdullah b. Abbas.With many generations of caliphs behindhim, Abbas's noble lineage went back tothe Bani-Hashim, who were among themost high born of mankind. Mustansiralso killed his father and did not live sixmonths thereafter. Thus it is obvious thatone should not boast of noble lineage butrather of fear of God. Abdul-Latif's storyproves the same. He was Abdul-Latif b.Ulughbeg b. Shahrukh b. Timur Kura-gan, and Amir Timur's forefathers weregrandees and sultans. This infamousprince was reared in Shahrukh's favor,and Shahrukh loved him more than anyof his other children and grandchildren.Despite this honor, favor, noble lineageand descent, he too, like the other infa-mous two who have just been mentioned,gained ill repute for all time and reproachby all. This verse is appropriate to him:

If you realize how hideous evil is, you willdo nothing that is not good.

Ulughbeg lived for fifty-eight years. Heruled in Khurasan for eight months and inSamarqand for forty years during his fa-ther Shahrukh's time. The chronogramfor his death has been versified thus:

Ulughbeg, an ocean of knowledge andwisdom, defender of the prophet's faith,

Drank the cup of martyrdom from Abbas,and the date is ABBAS KILLED [him].49

[408] Another is as follows:

Sultan mighty as the spheres, happyUlughbeg, on the eighth of the month of

Ramadan was martyred.

49'Abbds kusht = 853.

On the night he was killed a tumult arose,and the date is RESURRECTION EVE.50

Among the learned, religious dignitariesand poets who flourished in Ulughbeg'stime were Mawlana Ala'uddin Shashi,Khwaja Hasan Attar, and the poetsKhwaja Ismatullah Bukhari and MawlanaKamaluddin Badakhshi.

*ISKANDAR B. UMAR-SHAYKH

Prince Iskandar, son of Umar-ShaykhBahadur b. Timur Kiiragan, snatched theball of precedence from his peers in no-bility of character, manliness and g~n-erosity. After the death of the Sahib-Qiran, he took possession of Fars andPersian Iraq. He was a convivial prince ofgood nature. He formed a well trainedarmy and took Fars from his brother Pir-Muhammad Mirza. In Ramadan 807[March 1405] he did battle at the Khar-dara Bridge with Qara Yusuf the Turco-man's generals Ma'sum and Bistam. Af-ter that he led his troops against hisbrother Rustam in Isfahan. He besiegedthe city, and Rustam Bahadur fled toAzerbaijan. Iskandar took Isfahan andexecuted Khwaja Ahmad Sa'Idji], thecadi ofIsfahan. On the 4th of Dhu'l-Hijja813 [December 31, 1410] the Iskandaridpower over Fars and Persian Iraq reachedits zenith.

He was always proud of his splendorand daring and boastfully recited heroicverses, even composing his own:

What importance can the Gog [and Magog]of worldly events have for me, who am like

Alexander's dam in splendor?

When Shahrukh heard reports that hisown brothers and family had been dis-possessed, that Iskandar was intent upontaking the capital, and that the roar of au-

50Shab-i qiydmat = 853; 8 Ramadan 853 =October 25, 1449.


tonomy was affecting the balance of hismind, in 81451 Shahrukh Bahadur Ktira-gan took his army to Persian Iraq to at-tack Prince Iskandar. Prince Rustarn tookrefuge with Shahrukh Sultan, and Iskan-dar Mirza was defeated in the environs ofIsfahan. In the end he was taken prisonerby Shahrukh and, through the machina-tions of Gawharshad Begim, ShahrukhSultan gave his approval for both theprince's eyes, which were the envy of theblack-eyed houris, [417] to be stripped ofthe garb of sight, like the eyes of thenarcissus. That occurred on Friday, 2Jumada I 817 [July 20, 1414].

Among the learned and poets duringSultan-Iskandar's time in Persian Iraqand Fars were Mawlana Mu'inuddinNatanzi, who was the most learned manof his age and wrote a history of Iskan-dar, and Mawlana Haydar, who wrotebeautiful poetry in Turkish and Persianand composed a Turkish imitation ofNizami's Makhzan al-asrar dedicated toPrince Iskandar.

*BA YQARA B. UMAR-SHAYKH

It is related that when Prince Bayqarawas ruling in Balkh, he ordered a prize offive hundred dinars for a eulogy Maw-lana Burunduq had composed for him,but the secretary wrote down two hun-dred dinars. Therefore Mawlana Burun-duq composed this poem and sent it to theprince:

Vanquisher of enemies, rewarder of friends,that conquering king who holds the world

Granted me besh yilz altun (500 goldpieces): the sultan's favor to his slave is

greatThree hundred disappeared, and now two

hundred appears on my chit.

51A mistake in the text; Shahrukh's campaignset out in Rajab 816 (October 1413; see Khwan-damir, HS, III, 588; Abdul-Razzaq, Matla', II,143).

Perhaps I misheard, or perhaps the secretarymade a mistake-

Or perhaps in Turkish besh yuz altun meanstwo hundred. [419]

When the magnanimous Prince BayqaraBahadur read this fragment, he laughedand applauded the mawlana, saying, "InTurkish besh yuz altun means a thousanddinars," and ordered a thousand dinars incash to be handed over to him at that veryassembly. During the same assembly themawlana composed this line:

One would say that the effulgence of theshah's mind is the Oman Sea; one would

say his jewel-raining hand is the Aprilcloud.

The exalted Sultan Umar-Shaykh Ba-hadur was the apple of Timur's eye, andnone of Timur's offspring received thefavor he did. At first he gave him therulership of Ferghana, which is calledAndigan, and he was so brave and daringthat he destroyed the foundations of theMughul khans and defeated Qamaruddin.The Mughuls submitted to him andceased raiding the borders, never drawingan easy breath for fear of him. He con-trolled that area for a time, but the Sahib-Qiran, perceiving greatness in him, ap-pointed him to Fars up to the borders ofBasra and Khuzistan. That exalted prince,who patronized his friends and defeatedhis enemies, was mortally wounded by anarrow during a battle for a fortress inKhuzistan when the army of Anatolia hadinvaded. The Sahib-Qiran was sorelygrieved by his loss and, reciting this qua-train to describe his state, wept bitterly:

You have been driven before me to the arenaof death, and a hundred wounds have been

inflicted upon my heart.I said, "You, who would have been my heirin any legal code, have departed and left me

your heir." [420]

Timur appointed the prince's sons tohis position, assigning to each of theprinces a governorship, as has been pre-

32 DAWLATSHAH

viously described regarding Prince Pir-Muhammad, Prince Iskandar and PrinceRustam.

Prince Bayqara Bahadur was uniqueamong the sons of Umar-Shaykh: hepossessed a beauty that Joseph neverdreamed of and a bravery of which Rus-tam never heard in his seven labors. Thefollowing lines describe that prince'sperfection:

You are a Rustam in battle, a Hatim atbanquet. The heavens give you reins and

goblets so that you can stir up an ocean [ofgenerosity] when it places a goblet beforeyou, and so that you can wreak vengeanceupon the sun when it puts the reins into

your hands.

After the death of his brothers, BayqaraMirza rebelled in Fars and, raising a val-iant army, was determined to rule auton-omously and to make conquest. He wastruly generous, manly and brave, and thelearned have reported that in the TimuridHouse there appeared no prince so hand-some, of such good conduct or so braveas Bayqara Bahadur. On the 2nd ofSha'ban 810,52 Shahrukh Sultan took hisarmy to Fars to repel [Bayqara], whowanted to do battle with his uncle; how-ever, his officers refused and turned awayfrom him. He went via the wildernesstowards Kuch and Makran. For a time hewandered in the wilderness until in thevicinity of Garmser and Ghur once againhe rebelled against Shahrukh, who wasconstantly wary of him. In 819 he camewillingly before his uncle, and ShahrukhSultan sent him to Transoxiana, where,with Shahrukh's consent and Ulughbeg'sconnivance, that excellent prince waspoisoned.

52CIlI (VI, 101) gives 817. According toFasihi (Mujmal, 222), Shahrukh set out fromHerat against Bayqara on the 17th of Jumada II818 (August 24, 1415), reaching Shiraz on the3rd of Ramadan (November 6), where Bayqarawas admitted for audience on the 5th of Ra-madan (November 8) and ordered to leave Per-sian Iraq for Garmser and Qandahar.

It is also said that it was not so and thatthe person who was sent to Samarqandwas not Prince Bayqara, who was killedin Shahrukh's camp. [421] It is reportedthat when Prince Bayqara was broughtbefore Shahrukh Sultan, he asked, "Areyou not Bayqara?" He denied it. A personwho masquerades as a sultan can bekilled, and feigned ignorance, which is anaffectation of poets and liars, was adoptedby that prince for the sake of prudence.That person was indeed Prince Bayqara,but [Shahrukh] employed this ruse lest hebe accused of killing his own nephew. 53

*UMAR B. MIRANSHAH

Prince Umar b. Miranshah Kuraganassumed the rule in Rayy and Firozkohafter the death of his father. He was aprince who was of good strategy andbrave. He subjugated Astarabad and Jur-jan. When he rebelled against his uncleShahrukh Sultan, he mustered an armyfrom Jurjan and Astarabad and set out todo battle with Shahrukh Bahadur. He wasdefeated in battle in the province of Jamin 809 [1407].54

It is related that as Sultan Umar wasgoing to fight Shahrukh, he went to visitShaykh Muhyiddin al-Ghazali al-Tusi inIslamiyya, Tus.

"Shaykh," he said, "I implore you tosay a Fatiha for me so that God will grantme victory over Shahrukh."

53Pasihi (Mujmal, 252) reports that in 826Bayqara was discovered in Badghis and wasbrought to the royal camp for questioning andthen executed. Khwandamir (HS, III, 596) saysthat he was sent to Samarqand in 820 and wasnever heard of again.

54Khwandamir (HS, III, 565): battle fought atBardawayh, Jam on 9 Dhu'J-Qa'da 809 (April17, 1407). Urnar was wounded in battle, died inHerat on the 25th and was buried at FakhruddinRazi's tomb in Herat. See also Abdul-Razzaq,Matla', II, 53.


"My prince," the shaykh answered,"this is something I will never do, forShahrukh is a just, God-fearing man, andyou are reckless and daring. Moreover,he is like a father to you. To ask for hisdefeat and your victory is counter to bothdervishdom and the divine law. I willnever do it."

Prince Umar was offended by theshaykh and looked upon him in anger,saying, "How do you see me, shaykh?"

"I see you," he said, "as a creature lessthan any in strength, more than any in ig-norance, equal to all in mortality and leastof all at resurrection."

The prince wanted to torment theshaykh but thought, "I have somethingmore important to do than to torment him.If God gives me victory then I will knowfor certain that the psychic power of der-vishes has no effect, since things willhave turned out in reverse. If I am de-feated, then why should I worry over thetruth he has spoken?" He rose and left theshaykh.

The shaykh's disciples and friends said,"Shaykh, if God gives victory to thisman, we [424] will not be able to remainin Khurasan."

"God's pleasure is more than Khura-san," he said. "It is more than eighteenthousand worlds. If we cannot stay inKhurasan, we can go to Iraq. However,one cannot escape from the snare ofhypocrisy and God's wrath."

What a happy time when dervishescould speak the truth to sultans in thisfashion and fear no reprisal-not like to-day, when the gates of advice and wordsof truth have been completely closed.

*IBRAHIM-SULTAN B. SHAHRUKH

In the days of Prince Ibrahim-Sultan b.Shahrukh Bahadur, Mawlana Sharafud-din Ali Yazdi was the foremost amongthe learned men in Iraq and Fars. Theprince constantly sought his excellent

company and had complete trust in him.[427] He besought the mawlana to write amemorial volume for Timur, and Mawla-na Sharaf composed that book in his oldage at the prince's request and called it theZafarnama. The learned are of one ac-cord that in that history the mawlana hasachieved true eloquence, and the deeds ofthe family, grandsons and offspring ofthe Sahib-Qiran will remain until dooms-day through that great man's glorious ef-forts. Truly, none of the literati has everwritten in a purer style, though they mayhave labored more. The Zafarnama is asingular collection, free of excess ver-biage and pleasing to poetic natures.

It is said that it took the mawlana fouryears to finish the history. Ibrahim toospent great sums. From sultans' librariesin various countries he gathered the his-tory that the clerks and journal keepers ofthe great amir's time had recorded and,relying on trustworthy and aged men whowere in positions of authority duringTimur's days, he researched and editedand, with God's assistance, the historywas completed in all truth and trustwor-thiness.

Prince Ibrahim-Sultan b. Shahrukh wasappointed to the sultanate of Fars in Rajab819 [September 1416]. He was a virtuousand talented prince who patronized thearts, an exceptional administrator and re-ligiously observant. Mawlana Shara-fuddin Ali composed the following inpraise of him:

In the days when destiny was apportioned,two Abrahams were given:

By one Azar met his defeat, by the otherMuhammad's religion was [maintained] in

orthodoxy.55 [428]

During his father's lifetime PrinceIbrahim was renowned the world over forhis excellence and talent and for the

55In the Islamic version of the Abraham leg-end, Abraham overturns the idols of his father,Azar the idol monger. Ibrahim = Abraham.

34 DAWLATSHAH

graceful insight and subtle intellect hepossessed.

It is well known that he wrote therecords of Fars in his own hand, and hiscalligraphy was so good that he copiedthe writing of Qiblat al-Kuttab Yaqut al-Musta'simi, sent it out and sold it, andnot one keen-sighted critic was able to tellthe dlfference.w Even today remain theinscriptions he wrote on buildings,mosques and schools in Fars, and to thisday scrolls and exercises adorned withhis writing are to be found among callig-raphers.

Nonetheless, in the full bloom of youththat happy prince was stricken withchronic diseases, and treacherous fate andthe unjust celestial spheres drew the lineof annihilation through the daybook ofthat exalted prince's life: in the year 834[1430-31] he charged the steed of lifefrom the arena of this world ....

He departed, and in the revolving worldthere remained on the page of time as

memorial of him the grace of his calligraphyand the grace of his nature.

*

56The story is given by Mustafa Ali (Mana-qib-i hunarwaran, p. 26): "Among the nobly-born Timurid and Persian princes there wasIbrahim-Sultan son of Shahrukh Khan, who in817 was appointed to the rulership of Fars andwho, in addition to his high station in the artspertaining to poetry and calligraphy and the rulesof penmanship, held an exalted position inbeneficence to his subjects. During his time hecopied a specimen of Yaqut Musta'simi's callig-raphy and, adding [Yaqut's] own signature, sentit to the bazaar, where no one was able to distin-guish [it from Yaqut's own], so sublime was thepenmanship. Since it was thought to be Yaqut's,it was weighed in jewels and was bought forgold and silver. What marvelous calligraphy,what flawless writing whose jewels of letterscould not be distinguished from Yaqut's words,and whose blossoms of letters were found to beworth rubies and emeralds (yaqui):" [Translationmine.]

ISKANDAR QARAQOYUNLU

Iskandar was the son of Qara Yusuf,the son of Qara Muhammad. The [Qara-qoyunlu Turcomans] were originallyfrom the Ghazqard mountains of the far-thest reaches of Turkistan, but long agothey went to Azerbaijan and Bitlis. Theywere pastoral nomads, and Sultan Uways[439] Jalayir made them his herdsmenand shepherds. Qara Muhammad rebelledagainst [Sultan-Uways's] son SultanAhmad of Baghdad and seized Tabriz.The Turcomans were once defeated bySultan Ahmad, who built a tower of theirheads on the Khoy plain. Qara Yusuf de-stroyed that tower and ordered the headsof his kinsmen buried. On the site he hada hospice (langar) constructed, and Sul-tan Ahmad was killed by Qara Yusuf,who gained ascendancy.

Amir Timur Ktiragan drove Qara Mu-hammad and Qara Yusuf from Azer-baijan many times, and they always fledinto Anatolia. As long as the Sahib-Qiran's shining blade was being wielded,those brigands' seditiousness was kept atbay, and they were continually defeated,fleeing into Syria and Anatolia. However,after Timur's death, Qara Yusuf rebelledand, as has been mentioned, put Miran-shah Kuragan to death. Sultan ShahrukhBahadur repelled [Qara Yusuf] , who waskilled during the struggle.

After Qara Yusuf's death, his sonIskandar raised the banners of unmeritedrule, and he was daring and audaciousenough to engage Shahrukh Sultan inbattle. He defeated Shahrukh's right andleft flanks, but in the end "truth triumphedover falsehood," and [Iskandar] fled indefeat to Anatolia. That was on Wed-nesday the 19th of Rajab 824 [July 20,1421]. Shahrukh Sultan offered the ruleof Azerbaijan to all of his sons and greatofficers, but none would accept it out offear of Iskandar b. Qara Yusuf, andtherefore that region was left in chaoswhen [Shahrukh] returned to the capital.


Someone has composed the following todescribe the situation:

'Skandar struck our army and ran; our kingtook a kingdom and fled.

In short, between Shahrukh Sultan andthe sons of Qara Yusuf and the Turco-mans strife continued for many years.[440] After Shahrukh Bahadur twicemore led his army against the Turcomans,finally Iskandar was totally defeated in839 [1435-36] and took refuge in theAlmjaq Fortress near Nakhichevan. Sul-tan Shahrukh named Jahanshah b. QaraYusuf amir of Azerbaijan and orderedhim to besiege the Almjaq Fortress.Qubad, one of Iskandar's sons who hadfallen in love with one of his father'sconcubines, rewarded his father for hisevil and, in league with the slavegirl,stabbed him to death. By Shahrukh's or-der and edict, Azerbaijan was given toJahanshah, of whom and whose sonsmore later, God willing.

*MUHAMMAD-JUKI

It is related that Mawlana Ali [ShihabTurshizi] went to Qandahar in attendanceupon Sultan [Muhammad]-Juki, who as-signed the maw lana a tent next to his ownin the rikabkhana. One night, out oflonging for the capital, the prince recited:

Now that the zephyr passes raining musk,alas for a life that is spent without the face

of the beloved. [444]

Immediately the mawlana ran before theprince and said, "0 lord of the world, theline does not go like that."

"How does it go then?" asked theprince.

"Like this," he said:

Now that the zephyr passes raining musk,alas for a life that is spent in Qandahar.

The prince said, "Truly that is how itis." Soon, however, he decamped andreturned to the capital Herat, and all weresaved from the putrid air of that abode ofaffliction.

Prince Muhammad-Juki Bahadur sonof Shahrukh Sultan was a brave prince,dignified, wise and grand. He always en-joyed his father's favor, and [Shahrukh]always had in mind to make him his heirapparent, but for reasons of state he neverdeclared it openly. The happy prince wasalways occupied with the canons of rule.

The following describes his prowess inarchery:

Your arrow is like a bird that can snatch aseed like a mole on the cheek of a Negro

during the dark night of injustice.

It is related that four emissaries fromforeign lands-one from Anatolia, onefrom Syria, one from Hurmuz, and onefrom Shirvan-once gathered at Shah-rukh's court. On a holiday these fouremissaries were present, and the king setout for the place of holiday prayer. How-ever, before discharging the prayer, hestopped to watch the target practice thatwas going on. Squad after squad theprinces, archers and renowned youthswho would have unloosed the bond be-tween Gemini with the points of their ar-rows, and who could have snatched afeather from Aquila with their darts,poured onto the field, but their swiftchargers were as incapable of performingas the fortune of the ill-starred, and theirsilvery-shafted arrows fell to the ground.[445]

No one hits the target of fate contrary to thedictates of destiny.

The banner of the prince of the planetswas high, and to miss the prayer wouldhave been unseemly.l? However, royalhonor seized fortune by the hem, and he

57I.e., it was about noon, and if he lingeredmuch longer he would miss the holiday prayer.

36 DAWLATSHAH

cried out to Prince Juki, "Come in." Theprince reared his bejeweled, prancingsteed.

The first arrow from his thumb ring hit thetarget and split it in two.

A great roll came from the kettledrums,and a shout from the bowmen arose to theheavens. The emperor of the face of theearth was so overjoyed that he bestowedkisses upon the bowed eyebrows of thatdarling of the arched celestial sphere and,as was befitting to the occasion, recited:

The two mihrabs of your eyebrows are myintended qib/a: my dust-covered face is

always in prostration to you.

Prince Juki was given the province ofKhuttalan, the homeland of the Haytals,and it was decided that one of the ninehorses that [the emissaries] had broughtto Shahrukh's court, along with a saddlestudded with rubies and turquoise, begiven to Prince Juki. That was in 833[1429-30], and today the remnants left bythat exalted prince in Herat and otherplaces hold a high place in the regard ofarchers.

Through the false affection of fate andthe tyranny of fortune, the prince wasstricken during his youth with chronicdisease and was confined to bed for atime. Finally the illness became so severethat he had to be taken to Sarakhs, wherehe died in 848 [1444-45] at the age offorty-three. [446]

His princely progeny were, like theirforefathers, patrons of the great of theirtime:

Two eyes of the realm without envy orguile, Muhammad-Qasim and Sultan Aba-

Baler.

They were at the apex of exaltedness, butin its usual manner the chameleon chess-board sent in the crooked queen of death,aided by the knight of the celestialspheres, to attack those Shahrukhid

princes, and in a short while they wereknocked from their positions as knights,turned into pawns and ground into thedust by the checkmate of annihilation.

Small wonder that roses blossom from thedirt, for so many with bodies like rosepetals have gone to sleep in the ground.

Prince Muhamrnad-Qasim died a naturaldeath, but Prince Aba-Bakr was caught inthe web of Ulughbeg's intrigue. Unsus-pecting, the prince joined [Ulughbeg],who in the end, worried over revolt des-pite repeated oaths of loyalty, had himexecuted in 852 [1448~9] in the Sa-marqand citadel in the Kok Saray prison.It is said that Prince Aba-Bakr sent thisquatrain to Mirza Ulughbeg at the time ofhis execution: [447]

At first you trapped me in your net: in ahundred ways you wooed and charmed me.When you knew that you had me, you acted

like a total stranger.

Ulughbeg regretted his deed, but therewas nothing to be done. For many nightshe wept and wailed over this tragedy,saying:

To realize when it is too late is to bring thepanacea of all ills after Suhrab is dead.

*SULTAN-MUHAMMAD

As for the royal prince Sultan-Muham-mad b. Baysunghur, ... he was a prince ofnoble nature, talented and a connoisseurof poetry. He was manly, brave andhandsome. After Baysunghur's death[Baysunghur's] post, fiefs and rank weregiven to Prince Ala'uddawla, whomGawharshad Begim favored. SuItan-Muhammad and Babur-Sultan were leftwith nothing but name and title. SinceSultan-Muhammad had attained the rankof saffdar and bahadur, and the aura offortune was obvious on his world-


adorning brow, Shahrukh wanted to ele-vate him to the rank of sultan and appointhim ruler over a section of the kingdom.The generals and ministers of state wereall in accord with this, but GawharshadBegim disagreed, saying, "Sultan-Muhammad is an impetuous youth. Donot give him an opportunity to revolt." Inthe end the Emperor of Islam [Shahrukh]granted [him the rulers hip] and, with thegreat generals exerting themselves [on hisbehalf], Sultan-Muhammad was ap-pointed to the governorship of Qum,Rayy, Nihawand and its appendages upto Baghdad. With his grandfather's ap-pointment the prince became the ruler ofthat region, where he reigned for threeyears in all seriousness of purpose.

In the end, out of youthful impetuosityand the desire to rule independently, herebelled openly against his grandfatherand attacked Hamadan, the governor ofwhich, Hajji Husayn, he put to death.After that, he took his troops and con-quered Isfahan too, putting the governor,Amir Sa'adat b. Amir Mirkhawandshah,in chains. When Shahrukh learned of hisrebellion, he conferred with his generals,who did not consider it politic for theEmperor of Islam to take on one of hisown grandsons in battle. They said thatno one was more competent to rule Per-sian Iraq than Sultan-Muhammad and itwas imprudent for the emperor to be up-set, for to attack his own offspring woulddetract from the honor of the kingdom.The prince should be sent a robe of honorand he should be given Iraq. [457] MirzaShahrukh approved of this plan and wasabout to carry it out, but GawharshadBegim would not give her approval, forshe patronized Mirza Ala'uddawla, whowas the heir apparent after Shahrukh. Shedid not know that it is useless to struggleagainst God's destiny. Time and again thesultan said to his lady, "I am old andweak.

The flame of white camphor has dawned inmy musky black hair: youth has deP\rted,

the era of old age has arrived.

The kingship will inevitably be inheritedby my children, what difference do twoor three days make one way or theother?" And he would recite this linefrom the Divan of Amir Khusraw:

Let me die today in your presence so thatyou may be shamed by me: tomorrow whenthe command comes, what obl~ation will

you owe, my soul?5

Gawharshad Begim once again turned theemperor from the path of beneficence andkindness, and he set out unwillingly forIraq to attack Sultan-Muhammad. Tomaintain appearances, he had it look asthough he were going to attack Isfandiyarb. Qara Yusuf in Baghdad, and thereforeit was known as the Baghdad Campaign,of which someone has said:

The drums of fortune must be sounded up tothe gates of Baghdad: for the people's

afflicted eyes rue must be burned.

In the year 850 [1446] the Emperor ofthe Face of the Earth set out from thecapital Herat for the two Iraqs, and at thesame time Sultan-Muhammad was be-sieging Shiraz. When he heard thatShahrukh had encamped at the RiverRayy, he left Shiraz. Prince Abdullah b.Ibrahim-Sultan, who was the governor ofFars, escaped his cousin's occupation.Sultan-Muhammad fled via the vicinity ofKushk-i Zar toward Kurdistan andBaghdad, and Shahrukh advanced toQum and Sawa. As has been reported, heordered the grandees of Isfahan executedand determined that his winter quarterswould be at Fasha Rud, Rayy. Sultan-Muhammad composed this ghazal incomplaint of his brothers and of his ownsituation and sent it to Shahrukh.

58Khusraw Dihlawi, Diwan, p. 190, ghazal559, line 6.

38 DAWLATSHAH

I, like a dust mote, have turned my facefrom the sun because of the cruelty of fate

and the torment of my brethren.I had the sultan's protection. I did not ceasein battle. I dispersed my servants in every

direction.Rustarn son of Dastan did not wage war

with Afrasiyab as I did with Hajji Husaynfor Hamadan.

In Iraq I wanted to test my servant. The kingimagines I attacked Isfahan.

For the sultan I constantly wield the swordin Iraq; I have made my breast a shield for

Khurasan.Jahanshah attacked me, and his army camefrom ambush: I ground that army into the

dust.Others indulge in pleasure; our hope is thebattlefield. I have lived in manliness, not

like them.Offspring of Sultan Baysunghur Khan am I:in the field of battle I have always paraded

on a fleet-footed steed.I have the name Muhammad for the sake ofthe Ahmad's religion: I have devoted my

life to the King of Men.59

By God's destiny, as has been men-tioned, Shahrukh died at Rayy, and thenobles and princes mostly supportedSultan-Muhammad, who [459] reigned incomplete independence, bringing underhis sway all of Persian Iraq, Fars, Ker-man and Khuzistan up to Basra and Wa-

_ sit. After Sultan Ulughbeg Kuragangained victory over Prince Ala'uddawla,Gawharshad Begim, the tarkhans andmost of the Shahrukhid generals andministers, turned to Sultan-Muhammad infear of Ulughbeg. Prince Ala'uddawla,who was left with no hope from anyquarter, also sought his protection. Thesun of Sultan-Muhammad's fortune be-gan to rise and, as can be imagined, hehad mercy on all. He kept Gawharshadwith all honor in his retinue and recon-firmed the generals and ministers in theposts they had held under Shahrukh.

59The King of Men (shah-i mardan), epithetof Ali b. Abi-Talib.

The Chosroes of the face of the earth satdeservedly upon the throne of sultans over

the realm of Iraq.

When his realm was secure and con-solidated, pride and conceit, which are thetraits of Adam's children, seized the skirtof that paragon of felicity, and he beganto quarrel with his brother, Sultan Abu'l-Qasim Babur Bahadur, who had seizedthe throne of Khurasan. It was impossibleto resolve the disputes, no matter how theadvisors and generals tried. In 853 [1449]Sultan-Muhammad set out from Iraq withhis mighty army to attack Khurasan, andin the environs of Farhadjird, a depen-dency of the province of Jam, a pitchedbattle occurred between the two brothers.

If a needle fell from a cloud, the only roomfor it would be on the tip of a sword.Arrows pierced plates of armor like a

nocturnal breeze attacking a dew-coated rosepetal. [460]

In the end the Iraqi army gained victoryover the warriors of Khurasan, and Sul-tan Babur fled to Dihistan and Nasa whileSultan-Muhammad attained the rule andacceded to Shahrukh's throne in Herat.

That winter he spent successfully inHerat, but when spring came Babur Sul-tan seized power once again with muchassistance from the Jalayirs, Turcomansand the army of Astarabad. Once moreSultan-Muhammad attacked his brother ,and Hajji Muhammad Qanashiri[n], whowas the son of a Shahrukhid general andhad attained high rank during the reign ofSultan-Muhammad, hastened with histroops from Mashhad against Babur Sul-tan. Babur Sultan did battle with HajjiMuhammad at Mashhad, defeated histroops and killed him.

When Sultan-Muhammad learned ofHajji Muhammad's death, he lost heartand began to worry that he was followinga bad strategy. Taking a group of selectwarriors, he galloped posthaste towardBabur and, at noon on Thursday, the lastday of Safar 854 [April 13, 1450], at-


tacked his brother the day after Babur hadput Hajji Muhammad to death and wasconfident of his victory. With his 700men he defeated Babur's army of 30,000and put Babur to flight. Incalculablebooty remained on the ground, whichthose few men were unable to appropri-ate. By chance Prince Ala'uddawla, whohad been appointed by Sultan-Muhammad to the governorship of Ghur,Garmser and Ylikli OIling, seized theopportunity to go to Herat and take theShahrukhid throne. Sultan-Muhammadhad left his uruq in Radkan at the time ofthe attack in the care of the great ministerof finance Ghiyathuddin Pir-Ahmad.[461] When everything was in chaos andthe news of Prince Ala'uddawla washeard, the people of the uruq plunderedeach other and were devastated. WhenSultan-Muhammad learned of the devas-tation of the uruq, he left Mashhad-i Zarand went to Radkan, finding nothing ofhis uruq and his riches left. Also hearingthe news of Prince Ala'uddawla's seizureof the Herat throne, he hesitated, with noalternative but to withdraw to Iraq viaChahar Ribat and Yazd.

During Sultan-Muhammad's absencePrince Khalil b. Jahangir had taken theprovince of Fars, put the great shaykhAbu'l-Khayr Jazari to death and rebelledagainst Sultan-Muhammad. In the vicinityof Istakhr Sultan-Muhammad defeatedhim in battle. Once again he held powerin Iraq and Fars, and the old enmity be-tween him and Babur Sultan arose. In855 [1451] he set out once more forKhurasan to fight his brother. When hereached the border of Firozkoh andDamghan, and Babur Sultan was in thevicinity of Sultanabad, the nobles ofSamarqand attempted to make peace be-tween them. He deceived his brother withwords of peace, but then he broke hispact and, headed for Khurasan, camped inJuwayn. From Juwayn he went to Is-farayin, where some of the amirs ob-jected, saying, "Lord of the World, it is an

unholy thing to break one's pact. Thisshould never have happened; however,now that it has happened, it would notnow be prudent for you to go to BaburBahadur. It would be better for us to goto Herat. When you have taken Herat,where all of Babur Sultan's women andchildren are, of necessity Babur's menwill come to your side in droves."

Sultan-Muhammad did not approve ofthe plan and shouted at the amirs, "Neversay these words in my presence again.The people suspect I am afraid of Babur.I swear that if Babur has 100,000 armedmen, I will beat him with a hundredhorsemen." When several of the amirscountered these words, he flew into arage-for he was a sharp-tongued, foul-mouthed man-and cursed them in thefoulest language. It is said that once,when he was drunk, he urinated on thebeard of Shaykhzada Qush-Ribati, whowas one of his amirs and proteges. [462]The amirs despised him and wished himdead.

On Sunday the 13th of Dhu 'l-Hijj a 855[January 6, 1452], in the vicinity of Cha-naran, which is near Isfarayin and a de-pendency of Shaqan, a battle was foughtbetween Sultan-Muhammad and BaburBahadur. Sultan-Muhammad's officersall deserted him, and the ingrate Shaykh-zada exercised hypocrisy and showed hiscowardice. The late Amir NizamuddinAhmad b. Firozshah served his masterfaithfully and did his best on his behalf.Babur Sultan had Sher-Ahmad, the gov-ernor of Astarabad, executed. In the enddefeat was Sultan-Muhammad's lot, andthe prince, after much valiant effort, fellprisoner to Abu'l-Qasim Babur Bahadurthrough the treachery of his ungratefulofficers.

o world, I do not know what your customis. It is not of love but of vengeance that for

the sake of these transitory five days youhave such enmity for your brethren.

To raise one's standard to the spheres is notworth killing a brother.

40 DAWLATSHAH

A wise man said that kingship is sweet butbarren. Barren the wise man may have calledit, but if you are healthy, kingship is infirm.

The veil of vanity fell over Babur'sforesighted gaze and severed his familyties, and the water of his compassion wasoverwhelmed by the fire of his wrath: hegave his consent to his brother's execu-tion, and the executioner of divine wrathwith the merciless sword [on which isinscribed,] "When your time of deathcomes neither can you postpone it for aninstant nor can you hasten it," dispatchedPrince Sultan-Muhammad to the gallowsof annihilation. [463]

Comrades, the world is a strange abode, soflee from this inconstant place.

You see how the great are humbled in thisworld. If that is how the great are treated,

what of the small?

Chronogram:

Shah Sultan-Muhammad, whose blood Marsshed during Dhu'l-Hijja, greeted in saluta-tion and praised the MOON-FACED ONE60

who gives the date.

It is related that one day before the bat-tle Sultan-Muhammad camped and gath-.ered his comrades and warriors for aspeech of encouragement at the Nu'manwaterfall in Isfarayin. "Be brave," he said,"and do not forget what you owe me." Ofone accord three thousand youths liftedtheir turbans from their heads and said,"May our heads be sacrificed for you."The next day they abandoned the princemiserably and fled. It is said that of thatarmy, save the blood of the prince thatwas spilled, there was not so much as abloody nose. Hence it is known to thoseof keen observation and insight that thereis no reliance upon the allegiance andflattery of the hoi poloi.

Give your ersatz overlordship to God so thathe can grant you true mastery. The

60Mahrukhi (moon-faced one) = 855.

seigniority the common people give youthey take back as quickly as a loan. [464]

The learned men and poets who wereoutstanding in the time of Sultan-Mu-hammad b. Baysunghur were MawlanaSharafuddin Ali Yazdi the scholar andMawlana Hasanshah, Wali Qalandar andBadi'i Samarqandi the poets.

*ALA'UDDA WLA

Prince Ala'uddawla b. Baysunghur wasa handsome prince, good-natured andnoble in character. During Shahrukh'sreign he had control of his father's posts,and for many years he ruled from theBaysunghurid throne. After his grand-father's death he became the Shahrukhidviceroy in Herat [466] and, openingShahrukh's treasury that been amassedover the years, gave money away to thesoldiers and subjects like the springbreeze casting dirhems over the heads oforchard denizens.

It is said that the Shahrukhid treasurysquandered byAla'uddawla amounted totwenty thousand tumans in minted silver,not counting the golden vessels, jewelsand other luxurious objects. In the end,the only recompense he received for suchgenerosity was ill fortune, as the greatnever see anything but frowns from thefaces of their contemporaries: kings maybestow upon their favorites thrones, butnever fortune; and emperors can increasetheir servants' salaries, but not their lives.

What need has he of wealth who was createdfortunate, and what can he do with

prosperity?

If kings were kings by means of wealthand treasure, then a rich king should ruleforever; however, there is no treasurebetter than the support of godly people.and anyone fortunate enough to possess


that treasure will enjoy both this worldand the next.

Seek might from fortune, not from yourfather's legacy. Realize that your daily

sustenance is from God, not from sownfields or fruit trees.

Sultan Ala'uddawla, as has been men-tioned, was defeated by Ulughbeg Ktira-gan's onslaught and was besieged for atime. After that, humbled and humiliated,he was spurned by his brothers, andwherever he turned fortune turned itsback on him.

Every day a different station, every night adifferent place-melancholy heaped on my

head by separation. [467]Unfortunate are those who voyage across theocean of the world, like shipwrecked sailors

in every sea.

Sometimes in Ghur, sometimes in Sari-neither help nor friendliness from anyone.

Sometimes wandering in the desert,sometimes destitute on the road to Iraq.

The, heart of a mountain would havemelted at the harshness of that nobleprince's misfortune, and a cloud wouldhave felt compassion for the brazennesswith which that sad prince's star fell. Thestone mountain with its echoing tongueand the cloud with its dewdrop tearswould have recited this verse:

Neither does my fortune show a friendly facenor is there any hope of kindness from a

friend when Icry out,o Lord, thus I suffer the agony of being alover: may no one in the world ever be so

afflicted.

Alas, such is the cruelty of fate, and suchis the cunning of the treacherous celestialsphere, upon which there is no reliancefor fortune. He is happy who passescourageously through its treachery.

o heart, take the world as you would haveit; repose therein for a thousand years like

Noah. [468]

Seize every treasure and every horde kingshave amassed.

With your gold and silver buy every slavethere is in Bulgar, Rum and China.

Cut robes for yourself of all the silk andsatin in Rum and Shushtar.

Bite the apples of the cheeks and taste thelips of elegant, graceful squint-eyed Turks.

Sit with intimate friends and close comradesand drink filtered wine.

Your wealth is like a fly, and you are like aspider: spin a spider's web around the fly.Alas, on the day of death you will have a

hundred regrets.Sa'di, your body is like a cage, and your

spirit like a bird: one day break the cage andlet the bird fly away.61

In short, the allotment from the celestialvat to Ala'uddawla's goblet was alwayspainful dregs, and in the end, out of mal-ice on the part of his brother SultanBabur, instead of the collyrium of goodfortune, his world-seeing eye saw theneedle of ill luck. However, God lookedupon him with favor and safeguarded thepupil of his eye from being permanentlyblinded. For a time he pretended to beblind, and in the end he fled from Mash-had and never again depended upon hisbrother or any other living creature. Hewent to the Qipchaq Steppe, where helived unknown and unheard of for severalyears.

After Babur's death in 861 [1457] hereturned from among the Uzbeks andQipchaqs to Khurasan, [469] and his sonIbrahim-Sultan took over the governanceof Khurasan. Once again, just as before,he was humiliated by his audacious son.For a few days that year he led a patch-work government at Nawroz, beleagueredon one side by Jahanshah the Turcomanand on the other by Sultan Abu-Sa'id.

Finally he set out in the company of hisson for the mountains of Ghur and Ghar-jistan. There were several disputes be-tween father and son in Sijistan, but in theend they agreed to fight Sultan Abu-

61Given in Sa'di, KulliYYOI, p. 864f., with agreat deal of variation.

42 DAWLATSHAH

Sa'id, by whom they were defeated inKulan, a dependency of Badghis. In hisflight Prince Ala 'uddawla reached Rus-tamdar, and that respected but deprivedprince prayed day and night that he hadsuffered reversal of fortune enough andwas ready for death. In 863,62 nearRustamdar, he departed this world.

*ABDULLAH B. IBRAHIM-SULTAN

Prince Abdullah b. Ibrahim-Sultan b.Shahrukh Sultan Kiiragan was a nobleand handsome prince of good character.After his father's death he ruled in Shirazand Fars. After Shahrukh's death Sultan-Muhammad [b.] Baysunghur drove himout of Fars, so he took refuge with hisuncle Ulughbeg Ktiragan, who receivedhim warmly, gave him his daughter inmarriage and took him to Samarqand.

After the murder of Abdul-Latif b.Ulughbeg, the rule of Samarqand passedinto Abdullah's hands. Like the springcloud raining down upon the inhabitants,he scattered Ulughbeg's treasury, whichAbdul-Latif had been too parsimonious totouch. It is said that he gave away a hun-

-dred thousand tilmans, from which onecan guess what other wealth was there.[480]

Do not bother for treasure among theseruins. When spiritual poverty is the currency

of your life, you can heap dust upon thehead of treasure.

Spiteful fate, which rewards the meanand puts down the noble, cast the stone ofadversity into that prince's path. SultanAbu-Sa'id rebelled against him and, withassistance from Abu'l-Khayr Khan, gavehim battle in 854 [1450] in Samarqand.Sultan Abdullab was martyred at thehands of Sultan Abu-Sa'id.

62865/1460 according to Khwandamir, HS,IV, 19f. and Abdul-Razzaq, Matla', n, 1231.

ABU'L-QASIM BABUR

As for Prince Abu'l-Qasim Babur Ba-hadur, [485]

His pen was the key to the treasury ofgenerosity, his sword effected the realm of

existence.

In his time the banners of world con-quest reached their heights. His army waswell equipped, with more brave and dar-ing young men than Alexander ever sawin his dreams of world dominion orFaridun ever heard of.

What Shahrukh gathered through labor andstriving in forty-five [years],

Weapons, pack-animals, horses and slaves-whatever can be given a name,

The heavens presented to the hero-bornBabur on a platter.

God gave him authority and, despite hisbeing younger, bestowed upon himsuperiority over his brothers. Nonethe-less, he was a prince who loved der-vishes, a military man who favored thedowntrodden, who knew what was inmen's heartscwhose generous hand ef-faced misery and whose pure heart waschosen by the best and the virtuous.However, because he was a king whowas religious, a mystic, inoffensive andeasy to obey, his ministers became in-dependent, and the subjects suffered onthat account.

A tyrannical but brave king is better for arealm than a just but weak and tractable one.

It is related that when Shahrukh died inRayy, [486] Prince Babur, who was inthe Shahrukhid camp, set out for As-tarabad. Amir Hinduka Nawyaqut, whodid not have a very exalted position dur-ing Shahrukh's reign, was in Astarabadat that time and hastened to join PrinceBabur's retinue. Gaining high positionand advancement, Amir Hinduka, in ac-cordance with the Koranic verse, "Thosewho have preceded shall precede; these


are they who shall approach near,"63 be-came commander-in-chief, and since hewas an aged and experienced warrior, the

. prince acted upon his advice. Once hesaid to the prince, "Sultan of the world,your brothers and cousins are indepen-dent in their lands, wealth and armieshave fallen into their hands, and the off-spring of the great of this ruling house arein their retinues. If you listen to mywords, the kingship will probably cometo you. Otherwise, these people will de-prive you of it"

"What is the best way?" the princeasked.

"First," he replied, "patronize base menof no family, for the sons of the great willnot bow to you. Second, be generous to afault so that people will hear of your gen-erosity and flock to you. Third, do notapply punishment too strictly and do notburden the people; thereby they will feelsecure with you. Fourth, do not forbid thearmy to pillage and plunder so that yourinterests may be furthered through theirignoble greed. When your interests areforemost, your kingship is assured. Be-ware, beware lest you ignore these igno-ble means or act counter to these infa-mous principles, for such things are doneout of exigency."

When the prince realized that Hindukawas speaking to establish the foundationof his fortune, he accepted his advice andacted upon it, and his rule was firmly es-tablished. However, when such innova-tion and such principles had been allowedto take hold, it was not possible to es-chew them all at once. The Muslimspassed some time in dismay because ofHinduka's evil policy-and in truth hissuperficial policy was totally erroneous,for God has based continued rule uponjustice, not upon the whim of a soldier,and has created rulership and good namein the spread of compassion for his ser-

63Koran56:10.

vants, not in building up a bulging trea-sury. [487]

In short, Prince Babur ruled success-fully for eleven years, and everywhere heturned fortune appeared propitious: hisgenerals spoke of emperorship, and hisofficers were the foundation of his rule.Had Hatim Ta'i been alive he would havelaid down his claim to generosity and lib-erality. After the death of his brotherSultan-Muhammad, he set out for Farsand Persian Iraq, which regions he sub-jugated, and in most of the land of Iranthe khutba was read in his name. Wher-ever he turned he could not be resisted,and all obeyed his command.

However, during his reign Iraq slippedfrom the hands of the House of Timur,and the Turcomans occupied that regionin 855 [1451]. This occupation wascaused by the bad planning of PrinceBabur, who, after the death of his brotherSultan-Muhammad, hastened ill armed toIraq. Jahanshah and his son Pir-Budaqseized the opportunity, and Prince Baburhad no chance to oppose the Turcomans.He withdrew from Iraq, over which theybecame rulers. After that, Prince Baburamassed a huge army to drive off Jahan-shah and the Turcoman army, but whilehe was marching to Iraq and Azerbaijan,Sultan Abu-Sa'id Kilragan took his armyfrom Transoxiana in 857 [1453] andkilled Pir-Darwesh Hazaraspi and hisbrother Mirza Ali, the governor ofBalkh. Prince Babur canceled his cam-paign against the Turcomans and took hisforces toward Samarqand via wintercamp at Sultanabad, Jurjan, to strike atSultan Abu-Sa'id. Crossing the Oxus atPanj Ab in 858 [1454], he surroundedSamarqand, and there were battles andskirmishes for over two months. Whenmidwinter came Sultan Babur agreed to atruce because the weather was cold, manyanimals were being lost and the soldierswere suffering. The elders made a peacesettlement between Sultan Abu-Sa'idKtiragan and Babur Bahadur, and Prince

44 DAWLATSHAH

Babur returned to Khurasan. On that trekBabur's men suffered greatly, returninghome hungry and naked. This was a blowto Babur's fortune, and thereafter hemade no campaigns, passing his days inluxury and pleasure. [488]

Sultan Babur's generosity encompassedcommon and elite alike, his compassionand humility could not be gainsaid, hehad a poetical nature and composed gemsof verse. This ghazal is by him:

In our time one of the ancient cavaliers iswine. And he who boasts of popularity is

the reed.This sultanate, which we got by being a

beggar, neither Dara nor Kay-Kaus ever had.Drink wine and give a draught to suffering

me: a wine-bibing rascal is better than aHatim Ta'i.

Wine is the touchstone: bring wine: whatseparates the sheep from the goats is this

wine.Do you know why the arched eyebrows of

beauties are black? Because the smoke frompeople's hearts twines around their ears.Our heart girdled by that tress holds theblackness of infidelity and all it entails.Babur, your bitter moan has reached the

beloved's ears: Layli is aware that Majnun isin this quarter.

One of the many stories told of Babur's. generosity is as follows. When Babur

Bahadur subjugated Fort Imad, whichhoused the principal treasury, purses fullof valuable jewels were brought to him.He gave one of them to one of his elitecorps. Khwaja Wajihuddin Isma'il Sim-nani, his vizier, said, "Lord of the world,first open the purse. It may contain aking's ransom in jewels."

"Khwaja,' the king replied, "I am toldthat [489] there are precious gems in thispurse-nothing more. If I open it, I willbe dazzled by the beautiful jewels andwill regret what I have said. It is better toput into practice this verse:.

Better to close our eyes to the candle of hisface: since there is no use, let us not see and

not bum [with regret]."

The great and wise have said that thebest conduct among humans is generosityand liberality, for such demeanor covers amultitude of sins.

Liberality, I have read, is the conduct ofleaders-nay, I am wrong, it is the character

of prophets.

However, generosity is a two-edgedsword: if carried to excess it leads fromthe rank of humanity down the road ofdevilishness. "Those who squander arethe brethren of devils." In any case, thestraight and narrow path is the goldenmean, which is the choice of the wise andlearned .... [490] ...

When the sun of Babur's fortune hadreached its zenith, it began to decline. Justas people had grown fond of his rule andtongues moved in thanksgiving for hisliberality, while he was yet young andsuccessful, the prince transferred from theprocession of life to the howdah of theother-worldly caravan, and all wept andwailed over his loss, reciting the follow-ing:

o slow-moving celestial sphere, you havedone a hard thing: you have destroyed thekingdom of Iran by the death of the shah.

You have pulled down a sun from its zenithand dashed it to the ground.

It is no small thing, for indeed when youmove you shed blood, plunder possessions

and uproot faith.

However, since Shah Babur was a der-vish at heart, a monotheist and mystic, hehad little attachment to this treacherousdustheap and departed like one of God'ssaints.

Lovers who die knowing melt like sugarbefore their beloved.

As he lay dying he told everyone thathe was about to go, made his last will,commended his son [491] Shah-Mahmudto his officers and ministers, pronouncedthe testament of faith, and died with thesewords on his lips:


My soul has joined God, and I am goingafter my soul; although the way is difficult,

I am traveling light.Upon departure my beloved smiled at me

and left. Having seen that face, I am goingsmiling.

The cold wind of death makes me hasten togo, but Iam so weak I go rising and falling,

like the zephyr.

His body was borne by his amirs and laidto rest in the shrine of Imam Riza, nearthe Imam's tomb, in Shahrukh's madra-sa under the dome on the qibla side.

If you live with humility for two days in theworld, when you depart you will reside in

the bosom of paradise.

May God make that prince happy in theafterlife. The date of his death has beenversified as follows:

Shah Babur was a king by whose justiceNushirwan's justice was obliterated. [492]

Since he was firmly rooted in generosity andliberality, the date of his death was FIRM.64

Another, clearer chronogram is:

Suddenly with divine power fate dashedBabur Khan's crown to the earth

In eight hundred sixty and one of theapostolic date on the six-and-twentieth of

Rabi' II [March 23, 1457].

Among the great, the learned and thescholars who were renowned duringBabur's time are Shaykh SadruddinMuhammad al-Rawasi al-' Akkasi, Maw-lana Muhammad Jajarmi, and the poetsMawlana Tuti of Turshiz, Khwaja Mah-mud Barsa and Mawlana Qambari Zihtabof Nishapur.

*JAHANSHAH QARAQOYUNLU

Amir Jahanshah b. Qara Yusuf was avictorious and prosperous king, but he

64Rasikh ("firm") = 861.

was an untrustworthy and evil-temperedman who jailed his commanders on anypretext-and his jail was an eternalprison. As has been mentioned, in 839[1435-36] Shahrukh gave him the ruler-ship of Azerbaijan, [517] and after thedeath of Shahrukh and defeat of Sultan-Muhammad b. Baysunghur he gained as-cendancy over the two Iraqs, Azerbaijanand most of the land of Iran. From thesons of Shahrukh he usurped the twoIraqs, where he ruled autonomously forthirty-five years.

During his time the Turcoman ascen-dancy waxed, and he attained a high de-gree of conquest and victory. The learnedhold that in the whole history of Islam nomore godless king than he has ever ap-peared: he had little regard for Islam andindulged in debauchery and ungodliness.

After the death of Babur Bahadur in861 [1457], he had designs on Khurasanand Astarabad. He did battle with anddefeated Prince Ibrahim b. Sultan Ala-'uddawla outside of the city of Astarabad.In that battle most of the renowned amirsof the Chaghatay nation were killed byJahanshah, and that was a mortal blow tothe Chaghatay nation. Jahanshah took thethrone of Herat by force and ruled inKhurasan for nearly eight months.

During that time, in accordance with theKoranic phrase, "Say the truth has comeand falsehood is vanquished," the breezeof fortune began to blow from the sourceof aspiration, and Sultan-Husayn Baha-dur, who today graces the throne of thecaliphate, set out from Marw-i Shahijanand led his army via Nasa and Baward toAstarabad, where he did battle with AmirHusayn Sa'dlu,65 a kinsman of Jahan-shah and governor of Astarabad. Dealinghim a blow similar to that which Jahan-shah had dealt to the Chaghatay nation, hetook revenge on the Turcoman forces.Most of Jahanshah's renowned warriorsand commanders were dispatched to

65Sa'dlu, for the Sa'atlu of the text.

46 DAWLATSHAH

annihilation by that renowned prince'sruby-dripping, glittering blade, and hecaused Husayn Beg and his kinsmen topass beneath the sword of execution inrevenge for the Chaghatay amirs. There-fore this exalted prince was justified inreciting these lines from the Shahnama toboast of his achievements:

Had I not gone to Mazanderan and crushedskulls with my weighty mace, [518]

Who would have disemboweled the WhiteDev? In whose arm would there have been a

hope [of accomplishing this]?

Thus Sultan Abu'l-Ghazi [Sultan-Husayn] became a dam between Jahan-shah and the kingdom of Iraq. Because ofthis Jahanshah suffered a fall, and weak-ness appeared in him. He withdrew fromHerat and set out for Iraq and Azerbaijan,perforce having to make a truce with Sul-tan Abu-Sa'id Kiiragan. He withdrew,and Sultan Abu'l-Ghazi was left in powerin Astarabad. Jahanshah passed throughDamghan, disregarding the deaths of hiskinsmen and followers, and Abu'l-GhaziSultan-Husayn Bahadur Kiiragan re-garded him as nothing.

What might and fortune, what power and_ status has God bestowed upon the king's

aura!

Indeed it is incumbent upon rich andpoor alike to pray for the continued goodfortune of this exalted monarch, for wereit not for his efforts, who of the royalfamily could have repulsed the evil andcorruption of the Turcomans? ...

When Jahanshah the reprobate reachedthe two Iraqs, the people stood in lessdread of him. Out of greed and lack ofcompassion an enmity sprang up betweenhim and his son Pir-Budaq, who rebelledagainst his father and set out from Shirazfor Baghdad. Jahanshah also headed forBaghdad to deal a blow to his son andlaid siege to the city for a year and a half.During the siege he wrote these lines tohis son:

My son, turn from the way of opposition.Lay down your sword, for I am the sun.

[519]I am the king: the kingdom of the caliphateis mine. You are my offspring: rebellion is a

sin in you.Usurp not our ancient post, for usurpation is

not allowed in our religion.My son, if you are worthy of kingship, lead

not [your troops] against your father.Draw not the sword lest you be shamed.

Have you no shame before me? Be ashamedof yourself!

Have you not heard what the sword Suhrabdrew against Rustam suffered from the

world?Do not brandish the sword against one like

me: see my might and be not brash.If my soldiers put their feet into their

stirrups, they are as numerous as the sandsof the desert

The mountains quake when I move; thecelestial sphere rises when I stand up.

Although you are not without wisdom inyour youth, this is not from youth but from

madness.No matter how clever a child is, even

though a prophet he is still small.When will this degree of skill come to you?

From my father to me, from me to you.[520]

Pir-Budaq's reply to his father was asfollows:

Heart and fortune are happy to encounteryou. May you long have glory, prosperity

and fortune.I am not that child that you first saw. I am

mature, and kingship is proper for themature.

It is not polite to call me a child when fatehas put me in a great position.

Both my fortune and I are young: do notattempt to fight with two young ones.

It would be foolhardy for you to contendwith me for kingship.

Do not draw your sword against your son:do not put a blemish in your precious pearl.

You are experienced in rule, do not speakimmaturely: I was born of you, not you of

me.An ancient root is the basis of the orchard; a

young tree is an ornament for the garden.My land is not less than yours; my army is

not fewer than yours.The realm of Baghdad was perfected by me.Why should I give it up for a silly whim?


How can you demand the throne of me? Iwill not give it up. Take it if you can! [521]

Pir-Budaq was young, brave and noblewhile .Jahanshah was experienced, craft~and wily.

Although a young buck may be brave, it isno match for an old lion.

The confrontation between father and sonreached a point where agreement was im-possible, and Jahanshah, out of spite,tormented his underlings, subjects andsoldiers for a long time in the heat ofBaghdad. It went so far that the soldiers'infant~ died in their cradles, and peoplecrept into subterranean chambers. InsideBaghdad too, as the siege continued, therewas famine and the stores of the citizensand citadel were depleted. Helpless, Pir-Budaq agreed to a truce.

During the truce Muhammadi, anothero~ Jahanshah's sons, began to worry thatPir-Budaq would escape and rise topower again and so talked his father intoagreeing ex silencio to Pir-Budaq's death.At noon on Tuesday, the 4th of Dhu'l-Qa'da 871 [June 7, 1467], that schemerwith a group of Jahahshah's amirs, en~tered Baghdad with the intention ofkilling his brother. They entered the pal-ace while Pir-Budaq was taking his noonrest and martyred that mine of nobilityand generosity.

Curse this perishable world, that for the sakeof two unstable days

A father could take his son's life, or that ason could rejoice over his father's death.

And know that one who takes his brother'slife is an Angel of Death, not a sibling.

[522]Evil is not unknown to kinship: Ibn Ziyad

was a kinsman of Husayn .... 66

66Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad, governor of Kufawhen Husayn ibn Ali, the prophet Muhammad's~ndson and distant relative of Ibn Ziyad, waskilled near Kufa at Kerbela in 680.

Since Pir-Budaq was a pillar of Jahan-shah's kingdom, the assassination of hisson-particularly of such an eldest son-became the cause for the decline of Ja-hanshah's rule in the world and religion.That unholy deed caused fortune to tumagainst him, and out of greed and acquis-itiveness, despite the vast extent of hisrealms, he had designs on Diyar Bakr, theancestral home of Amir Abu-Nasr HasanBeg [Aqqoyunlu]. He marched his armythere, but Amir Hasan Beg took him bysurprise on his return. Without warninghe attacked Jahanshah in a mountain passnear Diyar Bakr and killed him and mostof his sons, amirs and ministers. Thesmoke of defeat rose from the House ofQara Yusuf, [523] and the time of Tur-coman glory came to an end. That was inthe year 872 [1467-68].

J~hansh.ah lived to the age of seventy,ruling thirteen years in suzerainty toShahrukh Sultan in Azerbaijan andreigning autonomously for twenty-twoyears after [Shahrukh's] death in the twoIraqs, Azerbaijan, Fars and Kerman as faras Hurmuz.

The world does not give kingship toanyone without having its day of reckon-ing in the end, like Jahanshah. Lordshipover the world consists of being happyand content. Happy the heart that makesits living in this craft.

Let us assume that fate makes you prince ofRayy: in the end it will roll up the scroll of

your life.Let us assume that you have more wealththan Solomon. The world was not faithful

to him: why should it be to you?

*SULTAN ABU-SA'ID KORAGAN

In the year 861 [1456-57] in the Bagh-iZaghan in Herat, Sultan Abu-Sa'id Kti-ragan held a celebration that was in noway defective in splendor. Poets from allparts produced congratulatory verse forthe event, and Khwaja Mahmud [Barsa]

48 DAWLATSHAH

recited the following qasida on that occa-sion:

The lote tree in paradise is but the thresholdof your exalted thronel Of the pavilion

(chartaq) of your might the heavensthemselves are but one arch.

The arena of your palace of joy is asdelightful as Iram, the castle of yourgrandeur is as splendid as paradise.

The world, with its hundred thousand eyes,has never seen the likes of celestial you.The battlements of your palace are as farabove Farqadan as the heavenly throne is

above the flat earth.Your palace is the Gallery of China andKhawarnaq,67 the envy of gardens andorchards in beauty and ornamentation.

The farrash adorns your court by erecting acanopy over the seven tents of the celestial

spheres.Both Ridwan and the houris have fallen into

doubt as to whether your courtyard isRidwan's garden or paradise.68

To scatter at your feast, time itself hasbrought every jewel the keeper of mines had

in his shop. [535]The highest judge of the court of the

celestial sphere elatedly bestows a mantleupon your instrumentalists.

It is fitting if the minstrels at your feasthave the stars as jangles on their drums on

the celebration day.From first the world was created until the

trump is blown, no one can point to afestival to match this.

Today Venus and the sun are at their apex;today Jupiter and the moon are in

conjunction.69This is a feast in paradise, with a hundredthousand houris, each one in beauty the

leaven of eternal life.Statuesque beauties, countenances glowing,

walk gracefully in the meadow under theshade of cypress and pine.

67Khawamaq, the fabled palace built by theLakhmid Nu'man in Him. The story is told atthe beginning of Nizami's Haft paykar (Khamsa,pp. 631-37).

68RidwaO, the warden of paradise.69Astrologically Jupiter and Venus are known

respectively as the greater and lesser lucky stars(sa'd-i akbar, sa'd-i asghar); their conjunction[qirdn al-sa'dayn) is the most auspicious time.

This qasida goes on at length describ-ing Abu-Sa'id Knragan's festival, andKhwaja Mahmud was applauded and re-warded by the Sultan of the Age. In spiteof such glory and respect his reign cameto an end, and in the year 872 [1469] thestar of his life declined from the apex ofeternity, and the wealth he had accumu-lated, and the hopes and expectations hehad in that heap of chattel, went to dustand his life shed its petals like a rose tothe wind, as someone has aptly said:

Why do you gather worldly goods, when theobject of the world is no more than an old

cloak and a crust of bread? All else issuperfluous.

Frustration and agony are all that can begained from the world; and even if you

attain your desire, of what use is it? [536]

Abu-Sa'id Kiiragan was a grandson ofMiranshah b. Amir Timur Karagan. Hewas a wise and victorious king, magnifi-cent and a good shepherd to his flock. Hewas also a man of strict and summaryjustice. In 854 [1450-51] he rebelledagainst Sultan-Abdullah b. Ibrahim b.Sultan Shahrukh Bahadur at Samarqandand won the victory. He executed Sultan-Abdullah and became the ruler of Sa-marqand,Transoxiana and Turkistan.

In 858 Prince Sultan-Uways [b. Mu-hammad], who was one of the mightygrandsons of the renowned Prince Bay-qara [b. Umar-Shaykh] Bahadur andcousin to the Emperor of Islam, God'sShadow Abu'l-Ghazi Sultan-HusaynBahadur, by whose noble existence andprotectivejustice Iran and Turan are todayadorned, rebelled against [Abu-Sa'idKiiragan] and marshaled the army ofTurkistan. The amirs, tarkhans and war-riors of Turan all joined the darling of thesultanate [Sultan-Uways], who was a re-gal prince of handsome visage andpraiseworthy mind, a wise, courageousand generous man.


One would say that from head to foot thatgraceful mien was the royal splendor and

shadow of God's grace.

Like Afrasiyab he brought all of Tur-kistan under his rule, but Abu-Sa'id wasso brave and cunning that he won over[Sultan-Uways'] amirs and commandersso that they, like the cruel celestialspheres, played false with him. When[Sultan-Uways] fell into Abu-Sa'id'shands, that untrustworthy ruler martyredthe poor prince and thereafter ruled com-fortably from the throne of Samarqand,and his daring and bravery became fa-mous worldwide.

After the death of Babur Sultan, helooked with desire upon Khurasan and,crossing the Oxus, established himself atBalkh. Some of Prince Babur's amirs inBalkh and vicinity took counsel withSultan Abu-Sa'id Kiiragan, [537] and in861 [1456] he set out from Balkh forKhurasan to conquer Herat. He took thecapital Herat and put Gawharshad Begimto death. Soon thereafter, because PrinceAbdul-Latif [b. Ulughbeg Kiirliglin] hadrebelled in the vicinity of Balkh andseized power, he left Herat and returnedto Balkh. That winter he stayed in Balkh,but the next spring Jahanshah the Turco-man conquered Herat, and Sultan Abu-Sa'id assembled a valiant army of archersand warriors from Transoxiana, Khutta-Ian and Balkh to attack him and set outfor Herat. Because Sultan Abu'l-GhaziSultan-Husayn Bahadur had seizedpower in Astarabad and killed HusaynBeg the Turcoman, Jahanshah lost heartand sued for peace with Sultan Abu-Sa'id, leaving him Khurasan and depart-ing for Iraq. Sultan Abu-Sa'id Kuraganreigned autonomously in Khurasan, anddread of him was firmly established in thehearts [of wrongdoers], and his subjectsin Khurasan were happy with him.

At the beginning of 863 [1458] theTimurid princes Ala'uddawla, his son

Ibrahim-Sultan and Prince Sanjar70

joined forces to expel Sultan Abu-Sa'id.A great battle took place between themand Sultan Abu-Sa'Id at Kulan inBadghis, and they almost gained the vic-tory. In the end Abu-Sa'id won, byGod's command, and put Prince Sanjar todeath. Prince Ala'uddawla and his sonIbrahim-Sultan fled.

It is a very strange thing that, afterKhurasan was consolidated by Abu-Sa'id, Shah Mahmud, the son of BaburMirza [b. Baysunghur b. Shahrukh],Sultan-Ala'uddawla and his son Ibrahim-Sultan, one of whom was in Sijistan andQandahar, another of whom was in Rus-tamdar, and the third of whom was inMashhad-i Zar, a dependency of Baward,all three were killed within two months ofeach other and the regions passed totallyinto the hands of Sultan Abu-Sa'id. [538]

This is the custom of the vale of vanity: toone it is a funeral, to another a place of

rejoicing.

After the deaths of the above-mentionedsultans, Sultan Abu-Sa'id rested securelyas the ruler of Khurasan, Transoxiana,Badakhshan, Kabul and Khwarazm, andthe sun of his prosperity reached its ze-nith. He held Khurasan in check for eightyears. Out of respect Sultan Abu'l-Ghazi[Sultan-Husayn] did not resist him andleft him to reign, but Abu-Sa'id was con-stantly wary of that brave and daringprince, never drawing an easy breath lestthe spheres again revolve in their game.Sultan Abu-Sa'id twice led his army fromKhurasan to repel Prince Juki b. Abdul-Latif Mirza at Samarqand and Shahru-khiyya. Finally he captured the prince andhad him executed. What transpired be-tween Sultan Abu'l-Ghazi Sultan-Husaynand Sultan Abu-Sa'id will be reported atthe end of the book, God willing.

70Ala'uddawla, son of Baysunghur b. Shah-rukh; Sanjar son of Ahmad b. Umar-Shaykh.

50 DAWLATSHAH

In the benign shadow of justice SultanAbu-Sa'id maintained the peasantry ofKhurasan, which had been devastated byBabur's revolt and Jahanshah's tyrannyand pillage. He distributed largesse to hissubjects and extirpated heresies.

After Jahanshah's death all the lords ofPersian Iraq and Kerman took counselwith Sultan Abu-Sa'id Kuragan, whodispatched viceroys and prefects withpost horses, and the subjects accepted hisrule, thus bringing from the borders ofKashghar to Tabriz under his sway andthe subjugation of his amirs.

Then tyranny and pride began to workon the king. In 873 [1468-69] he mus-tered a vast army and set out from Khu-rasan for Iraq and Azerbaijan. Jahan-shah's sons also joined him, and he,thinking that there was no power greaterthan his in all the world, stepped beyondthe limits of equity and justice. It has beenheard from reliable sources that manytimes he said, "The inhabited climes ofthe world cannot contain more than oneking." But he did not realize that all sonsof Adam share in the heritage of the earth.

One silver drachma contents a beggar:Faridun was only half content with the

kingdom of Persia.

In the end, when he reached the bordersof Azerbaijan, Amir Abu'l-Nasr HasanBeg sued for peace, but it was rejected.Despairing of peace, he made a manlyand brave resolve and day after day foiledSultan Abu-Sa'id's machinations. Abu-Sa'id's soldiers, in desperate straits, fa-tigued from the long road they had trav-eled and suffering from hunger and cold,were ready to die or be taken prisoner. Areliable source has related the following:

One night as I was passing by the tent of oneof the king's courtiers I heard a voice at prayer. Iperceived that someone was beseeching God,saying, "My God, assist Hasan Beg to achievevictory, take my wife and children prisoner andsell us in bondage to the Anatolians. I am at mywit's end!"

I went in and chided him, saying, "What in-gratitude is this you are displaying toward yourmaster? Even if all are saying the same thing,you should at least admit that you have been pa-tronized by this court. Don't speak like this, forshamel"

"You are right," the man said, "but I waspraying like that because of the destitution thisking inflicts upon Muslims with his wild am-bitions. Don't you realize that with one favorableglance God has bestowed upon him from Fars toBaghdad and from Rayy to Anatolia, which canbe said to be half the world? Of course he wantsto subjugate the whole world in one month andthinks nothing of the suffering of God's ser-vants."

Finding this man in the right, I ceased up-braiding him and hastened to recite this verse:

Go easy on your men, for it is a law ofnature that the spheres are hard on the

overly ambitious.

In short, fortune's jealous eye turnedagainst that mighty sovereign, and hisarmy, in all its magnitude and might, wassurprised by a group of Turcomans. Sul-tan Abu-Sa'id was checked not by thepaucity of his army and soldiery but byDivine Power. The arrow of his machi-nation missed the target, and the sword ofexecution remained veiled in the scabbardof futility.

When destiny lowers its wing from thecelestial heights, rational men become deaf

and blind.

The Chosroes who vied with Parvez inthe arena of heroism was humbled in ex-ile and penitence; the Jamshid who wouldhave espoused the Lady of the FourthHeaven fell into the snare of the Zahhakof calamity.

The Egypt of kingship you saw wasdevastated; the Nile of magnificence you

heard of became a mirage.

In short, the amirs of Khurasan whofeared the king, and the warriors of Sa-marqand who nurtured hypocrisy in theirhearts, went over to the side of the rebeland left that renowned king in the lurch.


Describing this state, the heavens sang tothem this verse:

o friend, do not wound your beloved's heartwith nonsense. I fear you may regret when it

is too late.

Those who observed the ill-starredhour, which occurred on Monday the21st of Rajab 873 [February 4, 1469],have reported that the banners of thathappy prince, Abu-Sa'id, were over-turned and the traces of his good fortunewere effaced. At dawn that day, when theking learned of the perfidy of his amirs,he saw that he had lost control and thearrow of fate had flown. He saw noalternative to admitting defeat and, with afew friends, tried to reach the shore ofsafety from the whirlpool of catastrophe.The Turcomans [541] pursued him, andhe was captured by Ztimbiil, son of AmirHasan Beg.

Amir Abu'l-Nasr Hasan Beg was toogenerous and wise to want to inflict in-jury upon that exalted prince, and the an-cient devotion that his ancestors had hadfor the family of Amir Timur Ktlragandid not allow him to wax angry. How-ever, some of the tarkhan amirs, harbor-ing in their hearts an old rancor againstthat noble king for having killed Gaw-harshad Begim, turned Amir Hasan Begfrom the right way so that he acceded tothe execution of the monarch. Four daysafter the above-mentioned date that happyprince Sultan Abu-Sa'id was martyred inthe Muqan Plain.

The fourth sphere became the scene of awake: Gabriel went to console the sun.

The grandees of the Chaghatay nation,who had spent one hundred years inmight and majesty, were humbled. How-ever, Arnir Hasan Beg was a wise andforesighted king, honorable, chivalrousand generous. He afflicted no one withanything other than favor and grace, andthought to himself that since God had

given him such a great triumph, thank~-giving for such fortune was proper, In

accordance with the dictum, "Amnestyafter victory is a noble quality." He wasalso worried by Sultan Abu'l-Ghazi[Sultan-Husayn]'s vengeful sword, for ifhe inflicted harm upon the Chaghatay na-tion, that majesty's shining blade wouldtake revenge on him as it had on Jahan-shah's men in Astarabad, and so the Em-peror of Islam's protection from Khura-san was placed over the Iranian prisoners.[542]

If they take not refuge under the shadow ofyour good fortune, all people will be lost in

misfortune.

May God extend the shadow of thismighty emperor's protection over all thepoor people of Khurasan ....

Sultan Abu-Sa'id's reign in Transoxi-ana was eight years, and in Khurasaneight years, making a total of sixteenyears. For nearly a year the khutba andcoinage were in his name from the bor-ders of Baghdad to the reaches of Fer-ghana and Turkistan, and from the realmof India to the borders of Khwarazm, andhis name was a watchword for justice,equity and swift punishment.

It is said that he forbade himself sleepduring the day lest perhaps a litigant comefor justice or a needy person approach hiscourt for remedy of his need. He used tosay, "If I am asleep and a litigant or needyperson comes, who will give justice to theoppressed, and who will tend to the needsof the poor? For this reason I deprivemyself of sleep." His years had not ex-ceeded forty-two when he was elevated tothe rank of martyr, and today his noblesons, the darlings of the sultanate andcaliphate, are powerful in the rule ofTransoxiana, Tokharlstan and Kabul andare favored and patronized by the em-peror of the world, Sultan [Abu]'l-Ghazi[Sultan-Husayn], to whose world-receiving court they are sincere servants.

52 DAWLATSHAH

Among the shaykhs, ulema and poetswho lived in Sultan Abu-Sa'id's time are:Khwaja Ahrar [son of] Khwaja Nasirud-din Abdullah, upon whose noble breaththe world rests today; the Qazi'f-QuzatMawlana Qutbuddin Ahmad Imam al-Harawi; and the poets Mawlana Abdul-Samad Badakhshi and Khwaja MahmudBarsa.

*SULTAN-HUSAYN

It is not within human capability to de-scribe adequately his career. If, for exam-ple, Muhammad Jarir al-Tabari, HamzaIsfahani, Istakhri and the historiographersand Greek philosophers were alive, theywould not be able to record more than adecimal of a tenth of the exploits of thisChosroes as brave as Rustam andSuhrab. How then can the feeble pen ofthis emaciated one flow in this major un-dertaking? Nonetheless, it would be bestto record one of a thousand or a few ofhis many exploits and thus finish thisbook.

It is the shape of a citron on the branch thatpromises the fruit spring later brings.

The noble time of His Highness is thespring of life. Consequently his acts,deeds and exploits [590] are the blossomsand herbs of this spring. It is the customof historians and writers to order thingschronologically; otherwise, the super-iority of the Seal of the Prophets over theprophet Ezra and the precedence of theKoranic chapter Ikhlas over Tabbat areobvious."! Therefore following the greatmen of the past, we are finishing the bookwith a mention of His Exalted Highness

71T'abbat, chapter 111 and one of the earliestand least significant chapters of the Koran, im-mediately precedes the late Ikhlas (112), which isprobably the most highly esteemed chapter. I.e.,Precedence in chronological order does not nec-essarily indicate precedence in merit

the Khaqan and presenting, in the mannerof a Turkish offering, a toquz (set ofnine) of the amazing battles and encoun-ters in which he engaged.

One should know that this exaltedprince is noble in [maternal and paternal]lineage, and among the progeny of theSahib-Qiran no one else has the honor tobe descended from the great Sahib-Qiranthrough both father and mother.72 On hismother's side he also has a connection tothe ancient sultans of Transoxiana, butthere is no necessity to explain his rela-tionship to Padishahzada Mirza Mirak,who was king of Transoxiana, since it ismore obvious than the sun in the sky andis mentioned in the Zafarnama. Whenthis renowned ruler reached the age ofyouth, traces of authority and greatnessshone from his brow.

After the death of Babur Sultan inMarw-i Shahijan, he raised the banners ofconquest, and in the year 861 [1457] heascended the throne of Marw-i Shahijan,the mother of all cities of Khurasan.

With a spear [as straight] as a cypress youfirst issued a call, like Abu-Muslim, from

Merv.

After emergence and accession, his firstexploit was the conquest of Astarabadand the execution of Husayn Beg Sa'd-lu,73 of which something has alreadybeen written. It is considered a major bat-tle by the rulers of the world, for none ofthe sultans of the past has ever done suchbattle or made such a conquest.

The second was his battle with Sultan-Mahmud Mirza in the vicinity of Astara-bad and the conquest of that region in865. Sultan Abu-Sa'id Ktiragan hadgiven the province of Astarabad to hisson Sultan-Mahmud Mirza and gone

720n her paternal side Sultan-Husayn'smother, Firoza Begim Taychiut, was a grand-daughter of Timur's daughter Aka Begi; hermother Qutlugh Sultan was a daughter ofMiranshah. See Beveridge, Babur-nama, I, 256.

73For the Sa'atlu of the text.


himself to Samarqand and Shahrukhiyyato repel Mirza Juki the son of PrinceAbdul-Latif. Amir Shaykh Hajji Jandar, aShahrukhid officer and experienced war-rior, had been assigned [591] to PrinceSultan-Mahmud. His Caliphal High-ness 74 seized the opportunity and set outfor Astarabad with a few soldiers fromKhwarazm and the Qipchaq Steppe. Sul-tan-Mahmud Mirza and his high-rankingofficers made a fierce stand with anenormous army. At a place near As-tarabad called Jawz-i Wali a great battletook place. In the end His Highnessgained the victory, and with his oppo-nents vanquished the prince's tall bannerswere raised high in triumph. Sultan-Mahmud Mirza fled in defeat to Herat,and Amir Shaykh Hajji was killed. HisCaliphal Highness had mercy on the restof the soldiers and took them under theregis of his clemency and quarter. Afterthat victory the realm of Khurasan washis.

His third battle was at Turshiz, as fol-lows. When Sultan Abu-Sa'id Karaganacceded in all autonomy to the throne ofHerat, His Highness set out from theQipchaq Steppe and Khwarazm towardKhurasan. Without asking permission hemade his camp at Nishapur. Sultan Abu-Sa'id Ktlragan flew into a rage andwanted to go there himself, but hethought better of it lest something dis-graceful happen, for he had already seenwhat His Highness was capable of.Nonetheless, he dispatched at full gallopmost of his renowned officers underAmir Muhammad Ali Bakhshi to Turshizand Nishapur to do battle with His High-ness. In 868 in the province of TurshizHis Highness fought a battle with thatarmy. Although His Highness had nomore than ninety armed men with him,and the enemy army was at full comple-

74"His highness" (hadrat-! a'la), "his caliphalhighness" (hadrat-t khildfatpandhi) and "Em-peror of Islam" (padishah-! is/am) refer through-out this passage to Sultan-Husayn.

ment of ten thousand armed men, he puthis trust in God and was not worried.Like Rustam he hurled himself againstthat force and smashed them tosmithereens. In one instant that mass hadits doomsday, and Muhammad AliBakhshi fled back to his master. HisHighness the Emperor of Islam pardonedthe crime of the rest and forgave them all.From Turshiz he wanted to set out to dobattle with Sultan Abu-Sa'id, but hisofficers and attendants did not think itwise. In accordance with the dictum"Retreat is praiseworthy," he returned inglory and splendor to his base atKhwarazm.

The fourth exploit [592] was the con-quest of Khurasan and accession to thethrone of Herat, This took place on Naw-roz of the Year of the Ox in the month ofRamadan of the year 873 [March 1469].

God wanted the kingdom, religion, law andfaith to flourish, so he offered the fiefs of

Khurasan to the sultan.

When Sultan Abu-Sa'id was [defeated] inAzerbaijan, as has been described previ-ously, this renowned prince had comefrom the Qipchaq Steppe with the inten-tion of subjugating Khurasan, and he hadit almost conquered. The news of SultanAbu-Sa'id's defeat was itself the causefor the glory of this exalted prince, and inthe month of Rajab of that year [January1469] he set out in splendor from Abi-ward to Marw-i Shahijan. Assigning thegreat amir Shuja'uddin Wali Beg Bahadurto take Holy Mashhad and Nishapur andthe rest of the province of Khurasan, hehastened thither. Through the fortune ofdivine grace and regal luck, a crowdgathered around the great amir and thatarea was conquered.

At that time Prince Mahmud, defeatedin Azerbaijan, went to Khurasan, and agreat crowd of soldiers joined him alongthe way. When he reached Herat andheard that His Highness was headingfrom Marw-i Shahijan to Herat, his com-

54 DAWLATSHAH

posure failed and perforce he fled, takingthe road to the Khuttalan Fort. At thattime the invincible army was camped atChihil Dukhtaran in Badghis, and by in-finite divine grace the leaders and com-manders of Sultan Abu-Sa'id's armycame over to His Highness in droves andattained the honor of paying homage, asGod has said, "They enter into the reli-gion of God by troops."75 His Highnesstoo embraced all with regal favor and,disregarding the past, con finned them inthe posts they had held under SultanAbu-Sa'id. [593] Out of the infinite feel-ing and devotion that was part of thisking's innate nature, he many times ex-pressed his sorrow for Sultan Abu-Sa'id,saying, "He was like a father and motherto me. I wish he had remained untouchedby this tragedy and I had not acquiredauthority." This he said as tears raineddown his blessed cheeks from the foun-tains of his eyes. Oh, what compassionand equity! what devotion and feeling!As a consequence God made this exaltedprince the heir to the Sahib-Qiran's em-pire. The throne of former sultans isadorned by his noble being. May this an-gelic padishah remain meritoriously in thesultanate for centuries! And may the sul-

. tan ate and caliphate remain to hissuccessful sons and renowned progenyuntil the day of resurrection!

The fifth exploit was his first battle withPrince Yadgar-Muhammad son of Sul-tan-Muhammad b. Baysunghur. The rea-son for this battle is as follows. When, bydivine grace and heavenly favor, the sul-tanate of Khurasan came into the posses-sion of the Emperor of Islam [Sultan-Husayn], and the great officers andgrandees of the region were all in obedi-ence to his regal command, Amir Abu-Nasr Hasan Beg appointed as governorof this region Yadgar-Muhammad, whowas a royal heir and had grown up fromhis early youth among the Turcomans.

75Koran 110:2.

Taking an infantry and cavalry with him,he set out for.Khurasan. The renownedamirs of Khurasan and Sultan Abu-Sa'id's commanders he sent hither incompany with the prince. Yadgar-Muhammad, encouraged by Hasan Begand with expectations raised by therenowned amirs, set out from PersianIraq for Khurasan, headed first for As-tarabad. He took that region, defeatingAmir Shaykh Zahid Tarumi, who wasgovernor for His Highness. When thenews reached the royal ears on the throneof Herat, Sultan-Husayn immediately or-dered his army to do battle with Yadgar-Muhammad at Astarabad. [594] Some ofthe amirs, who arrived at a gallop prior tothe royal train, were distressed by theoverwhelming enemy and took shelter inthe mountainous summer pasture ofKhwarazm in the vicinity of DarbandShaqan until their luck should turn. In themonth of Safar 874 [August 1469] theEmperor of Islam reached the amirs, whorecited these lines in rejoicing:

"Welcome!" cries fortune. Around your facethe rose makes its chemise a robe.

The stars see your train and make praise; theangels see your face and offer prayer.

The next day the enemy descended uponthe Shaqan mountain.

The fortunate prince busied himselfwith the arrangement of his forces, andwhen the enemy's mass could be seenfrom the summit of the mountain, thecommanders were worried, some sayingthat it would be wise not to lose these fastmountains because the enemy army ap-peared so massive. The Emperor of Islamcried out to the amirs and recited this line:

If I become fearful of the enemy, it would bebetter to be at one with the dust.

Instantly he arranged his right and leftflanks. [595]

The next day, when the azure sphere fixedthe yellow orb of the sun's body,


the Emperor of Islam mounted the steedof good fortune to engage the enemy. Inthe vicinity of Darband Shaqan wasfought a battle in comparison to which[Rustam's] seven labors were no morethan a gallop and Isfandiyar's battle inZabul was nothing more than a ridearound the parade field.

The billet of death came from the hand ofthe seizer of spirits; with a hundred wails

spirits lamented the ghosts.

The zephyr of victory finally began toblow in the direction of the fortunateprince, and Gabriel started to recite thelitany of victory. It did not take long be-fore the opponent's banners were over-turned and the enemy's fortune was re-versed. Prince Yadgar-Muhammad man-aged cunningly to escape the whirlpool ofdisaster, but some of the Turcoman andChaghatay amirs in his retinue were takencaptive. By the time of evening prayer theprince stopped in Chanaran and sent outmessages of triumph to all parts of therealm. To set an example two or threeTurcoman and Chaghatay amirs were fedto the wild beasts and birds, but helooked upon the rest of the prisoners withthe eye of compassion and said:

Offer prayers on my behalf eternally. Go,captives, to your homes.

All the prisoners, craftsmen and soldiers,who were near their homes, set out, easyof mind and praising the Emperor of Is-lam, for Herat and the districts of Khura-san via Isfarayin and Kuban. Victorious,the exalted prince galloped to the capitalHerat. [596] That victory was in 874[1469-70], which corresponds to theYear of the Tiger.

In the sixth [exploit] Prince Yadgar-Muhammad was killed and Herat wasconquered a second time. At this labor bythe renowned prince all stand agog. Sucha feat had not been performed by Rustam,and Bahram Gor did not fight the Khaqan

in this manner, for it is mentioned in his-tories that Bahram defeated the Khaqanwith three hundred men, while the Kha-qan had ninety thousand. Moreover,[Bahram Gor's] surprise attack was madein the open field, while the renownedChosroes' feat was accomplished right inthe capital city. Despite so many block-ades and guards and watchmen of theroyal camp, might and power are God's[to dispose as he wishes]. The cause is asfollows.

When Prince Yadgar-Muhammad wasdefeated, he once again sought help fromthe Amir Kabir Abu'l-Nasr Hasan Beg.Once again the amir mustered a vast armyfor the prince and sent to Khurasan in theprince's company his own relative YusufBeg with several Turcoman amirs led byYa'qub Beg. That army joined Yadgar-Muhammad, and set out for Khurasan.They took Isfarayin, Sabzawar and Ju-wayn. When His Caliphal Highnessheard that Yadgar-Muhammad wasapproaching this region, he set out fromHerat to battle the Turcomans andYadgar-Muhammad. Near Jajarm, be-tween Jajarm and Juwayn, the advanceguard of the two sides met. After apitched battle Yadgar-MuhammadMirza's advance guard was defeated.Ni'mat Khwarazmi, who was outstandingin his time and one of the champions ofYadgar-Muhammad Mirza's army, wascaptured along with several of theprince's elite. His Highness orderedNi'rnat and most of the others punishedfor their crime, and they were put todeath. Due to this Yadgar-MuhammadMirza and the Turcoman army becameapprehensive, and that night they fledfrom Jajarm. His Highness returned vic-torious and triumphant. He appointedHasan Shaykh Temur as governor ofAstarabad and established himself in theRadkan Meadow, where he gathered hisforces and the Turcomans of Khurasan.Yadgar-Muhammad Mirza, after [597]his defeat, again consolidated his position

56 DAWLATSHAH

and parlayed with Hasan Shaykh Temtirfrom Janashk, a dependency of Bistam.That wily fox summoned Yadgar-Muhammad Mirza and, meeting him out-side of Jurjan, went over to the enemy.Shaykh-Ali Purnak, a great Turcomanamir and relative of Hasan Beg, broughtauxiliaries from Iraq.

Once more with strength and power,Yadgar-Muharnmad set out in Dhu'f-Qa'da 874 [May 1470] from Firozghandwith high hopes for victory in Khurasan.His Highness, totally -prepared for war,wanted to engage at Radkan and give thepretender his due. However, the youngsoldiers and some of the impudent, inex-perienced sons of amirs turned awayfrom the fortunate prince and played falsewith him. His Highness was distraughtby this and went to Herat. Every day sol-diers deserted the victorious camp indroves to join the enemy. His Highnesssaw clearly that these imbeciles were un-dermining themselves, but they were toohapless to distinguish right from wrong,and no one save God almighty can con-tend with the wishes of the "hoi poloi likecattle." His Highness saw no alternativeto relinquishing the throne for a time untilhis fortune should improve. With this re-

.solve he set out from Herat with hishousehold, baggage train, personal ser-vants and devoted followers for Qaysar,Maymana and the vicinity of Balkh.

Yadgar- Muhammad Mirza entered He-rat with a host of Turcomans and beganhis tyranny and infamy. God's servantswere exposed to injustice, the pillage offoreign soldiery and the padishah's stu-pidity. Vile, foul-mouthed Turcomans setabout tyrannizing and indulging openly indepravity and abominations. That hapless,stupid prince was so incapable, not onlyof understanding anyone but also ofdealing with anything, that old womenand peasants cried out for help.

When this news reached His High-ness's hearing, Islamic zeal took hold ofthis great king, who said to his amirs, "Is

it possible for such tyranny to occur inthe realm of Islam while I am still alive?"Those present said of one accord, "Mayathousand souls be sacrificed to the Em-peror of Islam! We consider this warequal to the great holy war." Immediatelyhe arrayed the army in Maymana and setout for Herat. He commanded a thousandexperienced warriors to gallop at break-neck speed;

From Maymana the felicitous sultan setforth. luck and victory to the right and

fortune to the left

In short, three nights and three daysthey traversed highway and byway. Ateventide of the fourth day they came upona number of the rebel soldiers in Badghisnear Ribat-i Yaghi. When questioned theysaid that Yadgar-Muhammad Mirza wasbusy enjoying himself, his amirs and sol-diers likewise, every one asleep with abeauty, each couched with a lass. WhenHis Highness heard how his opponentswere, he rejoiced and said,

o darling sweetheart, how do I find thee?

Immediately he encouraged his warriorsand distributed mail and armor among hischampions, assigning to each of the greatamirs one of the enemy amirs. In haste hecame down from Mount Kay tun andreached the vicinity of the Pir of HeratKhwaja Abdullah Ansari's blessed shrineat midnight. He prayed for assistancefrom the miracle-granting spirit of thesaint and entered the Khiyaban as the firstrays of dawn were breaking. Speedily herode to the Zaghan Garden. Severalguards and watchmen made an attempt [tostop them] but were unsuccessful. Byblows with their battleaxes they broke thelock on the gate, and His Highness en-tered the garden in triumph. By chancethat night Prince Yadgar-MuhammadMirza was drunk and asleep in his mis-tress's arms. When the sounds of a com-motion reach him, he jumped up and saw


that the night had turned into the day ofresurrection. Confused, he wanted toconceal himself in a comer of the garden,[599] but a group of His Highness'sbodyguards seized him and brought himbefore the sultan. The prince's couragehad probably failed him altogether, for hewas so disconcerted that all he could dowas stare at the ground and, as was hisold habit, remain taciturn. His Highnessturned to him and said, "Knave! Youhave disgraced our family! Have you noshame? The Turcomans always obeyedthe will of our ancestors. Are you notashamed to be sat upon the throne ofShahrukh Sultan by Turcomans and tumloos~ ~ bU!1chof bandits to wreak tyrannyand mjustice upon the subjects of our an-cestral kingdom?"

Disgraced one, you have shamed yourhouse.

At once he motioned to the swordsmen ofexecution to let that prince join his deadclansmen. That was on Wednesday evethe 17th of Safar 875 [August 15, 1470].Th~ next morning the Turcoman army,WhICh was beyond enumeration, fled indroves, their hair standing on end' in fearof the king. The great emirs brought theenemy to the world-receiving court fromeverywhere they had been stationed. HisHighness had Amir Ali Jalayir executedbut pardoned all the rest. In accordancewith the dictum, "Be merciful and youwill be shown mercy," by the authorityvested by God in this prince the ornamentof pardon was drawn on the register ofeveryone's deeds. The compiler of thismemorial volume says:

Who among kings gave his steed barleycornfrom the produce of Faryab and water from

the springs of Murghab?He charged the throne of Herat at dawn like

the sun and washed the sleep from hisopponent's eyes. [600]

Who in the world has such good fortune?Who else but a divinely aided shah attains

such success?

o Lord, of thy grace and kindness safeguardalways this eternal state from disintegration

and revolution.

The seventh exploit was the conquest ofAndkhud and battle with Prince Sultan-Mahmud. The truth of this affair is thatwhen that prince left Herat in defeat forthe region of Hisar, he gathered a greatand mighty following in a short while.Ambitious for conquest, he arrayed anarmy and conquered Balkh. His Highnesswas busy at that time repairing the devas-tation the Turcoman soldiers had wroughtin Khurasan, but when news of the fall[of Balkh] reached his ears, he concen-trated all his energies on repelling thatprince. From Jurjan and Mazanderan tothe farthest reaches of Murghab soldiersgathered around that exalted prince, andhe began by sending a letter of advice toSultan-Mahmud, saying, "Beloved of thesultanate, fruit of the tree of the caliphate,do not create opposition. Be equitable andstrive for peace, for today I stand behindan army and fortune smiles upon me. Becontent to be a brother and son to me andknow for certain that old enemies lie inambush and adversaries lurk in the cor-ners." This advice was of no avail and. 'Pnnce Sultan-Mahmud transgressed inclaiming the kingship and calling for warand battle. When His Highness despairedof advising him, he unsheathed the swordof vengeance from the scabbard of zeal.

Beware lest you lose the battle [even] if youknow you will win. If there is no alternative

to fighting, you must have fortitude andpatience.

The Emperor of Islam gathered hisforces, and in the vicinity of Andkhud[601] in a place called Chakman Saray:battle broke out.

Betimes falling, betimes boiling, betimesglittering, betimes shining-warrior's headvein of blood, spear point, dagger's edge. '

58 DAWLATSHAH

The courageous prince mounted a mam-moth steed and encouraged and gaveheart to his knights and warriors to battle.I myself, the author, was in that battle inthe royal retinue and saw it with my owneyes, and I am certain that the shout ofAllahu akbar I heard came not from thesoldiers but rather from people of the in-visible realm. It is my belief that somewho were present on that day at the battlehad the feelings expressed in this line:

He who is aided by the impeccableassistance of God has all bodies as support

for the army.

In short, in one instant the breeze ofvictory began to blow, the banners of thesultan waved in triumph, and the oppo-nent was vanquished. The warriors of theage reckon this battle as one of the mostfamous of all time, nay they consider itthe most heated of battles. The laurel forthis battle His Highness gave to none ofthe great amirs or champions of the age.That is a task for me to accomplish, forthe amirs and heroes said that the prizewent absolutely to the Sultan of the Agehimself as they recited this:

Your standard is planted on the moon andreaches to the Pleiades; the face of victory is

obvious in the mirror of your sword.

After that victory His Highness addedBalkh and its dependencies to his realm.He appointed the governance of Balkh toAhmad Mushtaq, a commander fromIraq, and [602] returned to Herat. Thatwas in Muharram 876 [June-July 1471].

The eighth exploit was his siege andconquest of Balkh. This affair is amongthe strangest and most marvelous. Youshould know first that Balkh is an ancientcity, the first to be built in the world ac-cording to the claim of most historians.Some have said that Damawand is older,and others say that Babylon is more an-cient. Some say that Balkh was foundedby Balakh son of Enoch, while othersmaintain that Gayomarth was the builder

of Balkh when he killed the murderer of[his son] Hushang at that spot. To cele-brate he founded the city right there. Inany case, the greatness and magnificenceof Balkh no one disputes. Wise men havedubbed Balkh "mother of towns," "domeof Islam," "worldly paradise," and "thebest earth." Anwari says ofBalkh:

If heaven were an infant, Balkh would nurseit because it knows so well how to mother

the inhabited world.

The citadel and city walls, which are nowin good repair, are called Hisar-i Hindu-an. After the destruction of the ancientcity of Balkh it was devastated [again] atthe hands of Ahnaf ibn Qays and Qutay-ba ibn Muslim al-Bahili .... Anyway, toconquer the Balkh fortress is impossiblebecause water lies close to the surface ofthe ditch around the fortress so tunnelscannot be made.

When the Emperor of Islam conqueredBalkh, he confirmed Ahmad Mushtaq asgovernor and warden, as has been men-tioned. After a short time the vile Turco-mans mutinied against the Emperor ofIslam and showed their ingratitude totheir benefactor. Joining the sons of Sul-tan Abu-Sa'id, they rebelled. This eventwas grievous to the all-conquering em-peror, who quickly raced his steed to be-siege Balkh. He led his army to the gatesof Balkh, and although he maintained thesiege for some time there was no victory.Battles and skirmishes constantly tookplace, and the warriors of the invinciblearmy were wounded. Some of the greatamirs represented to the Emperor of Is-lam, saying, "To take the Balkh fortress isan impossible task. It is senseless towaste our time in this labor. [603] If theking of the face of the earth would decideagainst pursuing the conquest of this ruinit would be in his best interests."

Take a goblet of wine in merriment inKhiyaban [Herat]. Think of old Balkh as

nothing more than Rayy.


His Highness the Emperor of Islam,benefactor to the human race,

Swore an oath by the Ultimate Judge. by thelight of day and dark of night: "I will reducethese battlements to the dust 1 will capture

these villains."

And he sent an order to all parts of thekingdom for copper so that the mastercatapult builders and artillerymen mightbring those dogs of Balkh to their kneeswith missiles, catapults and balistas. Theymade huge cauldrons and sawhorses, andthe naqabchis of the whole realm came toBalkh. When their awesomeness reachedthe [Turcomans] and Ahmad Mushtaq,life became so bitter in Balkh that helonged (mushtaq) for his promised mo-ment of death and saw no alternative toseeking pardon. Opening the gates to theprince, he sought the intercession of theamirs, who requested the prince to for-give him. The Emperor of Islam, as washis accustomed manner and inheritedstyle, which was innate and instinctive tothis manifestation of grace and benefi-cence, forgave the ingrate's audacity andcrimes. For a second time the city ofBalkh entered his realm, and that was in878 [1473].

The ninth exploit was the victory overPrince Abu-Bakr son of Sultan Abu-Sa'id, the death of that prince and a num-ber of Turcoman amirs. This affair un-folds as follows. Prince Abu-Bakr'smother was of the royal line of Badakh-shan, and during his lifetime Sultan Abu-Sa'id appointed this prince while still aninfant to the sultanate of Badakhshan.[604]

After his father's death the prince at-tained full glory. Indeed he was a princeof handsome countenance, brave, coura-geous and worthy. Not content with thekingdom of Badakhshan, he constantlyspoke of conquest and expansion and re-cited this verse of his own composition:

Why should only Badakhshan fit into mysignet? Let from China to Badakhshan enter

therein. Why should 1 ride only inKohistan? Let the entire face of the earth be

my parade ground.

A prince whose delicate nature pierced apearl of this type and composed poetry inthis manner, whose belvedere was theshining sun and who was nurtured fromthe mines of Badakhshan-who canknow the worth of such a gem? Who isable to speak of his excellence?

In short, the prince fought and madepeace many times with his brethren. Fi-nally he gained the upper hand overPrince Sultan-Mahmud Mirza and con-quered Hisar Shadman and its dependen-cies. After a short time he was defeatedby Sultan-Mahmud Mirza and went toHerat, where he was honored by HisHighness and shown great affection. Hewas honored to be made his son-in-law,and for a while he served in His High-ness's retinue. However, corruptors se-duced him and made him so cynical thathe erred in his mind and turned his faceaway from the emperor of the age'sthreshold, at which the angels make theirnest, and fled. Next, for no offense hehad Amir Sayyid Farid Arghun put todeath, without compassion for thatwronged amir's noble lineage and longservice. From the vicinity of Tirmidh heset out to attack Khurasan. His Highnesssent a group of amirs to fight Prince Abu-Bakr in Merv, and there he was defeated.Returning to Balkh, he found no footholdand so set out for Kabul and India. Fromaround the Indus he headed for Kech[606] and Makran and then Kerman.There Wali Pir-Ali and a Turcoman forcejoined him. They encouraged him to takePersian Iraq until the army of the AmirKabir Ya'qub Beg, who today governsIraq, Azerbaijan, Diyar Bakr and Fars,and who is the son of the Amir KabirAbu'l-Nasr Hasan Beg, attacked theprince. Defeated in Garmser by the Tur-comans, he once again headed for Khu-

60 DAWLATSHAH

rasan. When the heralds announced to theEmperor of Islam that he was coming toKhurasan from Sistan, the emperor of theage raced after Prince Abu-Bakr. FromFarah in Sistan, Prince Abu-Bakr washeading across the desert for Turshiz andSabzawar. The Emperor of Islam pur-sued, stopping where Abu-Bakr had beenthe night before. From the province ofFarah to within four parasangs of As-tarabad the Emperor of Islam chasedPrince Abu-Bakr. The group who were inthe royal retinue on that journey reportedthat nearly two thousand war horses ofthe emperor's retinue were lost or left be-hind wounded. By God's decree, the en-emy stopped one day by the Jurjan Rivernear Astarabad. They were sitting un-awares when suddenly the royal bannersloomed large and the invincible army ap-peared. The enemy saw clearly that thiswas doomsday and raced pell-mell to geton their horses and flee. They reeled toand fro and tossed like animals with theirthroats cut, but in the end their feet stum-bled on the rock of catastrophe and thehand of opposition was bound by thecord of tribulation.

If a despised opponent stands opposite you,it is like a sparrow and phren ix, gnat and

hurricane.

In the end when the churning sea of theemperor's forces surrounded the area,there was no chance of escape, and sothey threw themselves into the JurjanRiver. Some perished in the water, butmost of them were caught by the imperialenemy-binding lasso, at their head [606]Pir-Ali the son of Ali-Shakar and Bayramhis brother. Those two Turcomans werebrought before his majesty, who ad-dressed them, saying, "You haplesswretches, what did you want of thisignorant, conceited child you havebrought down to your own level? Youknow that fortune has turned its back onyou and seeks retribution for so manyyears' tyranny."

Buy one day what you sell all year.

Immediately the sultan's order to exilethose vile ones and the other corruptorsfrom the city of life to the beggary ofdeath was carried out.

Better for one who makes a chink in thekingdom to lose his head; better for an army

that is faithless to be disbanded.

Prince Abu- Bakr left the battlefield in de-feat and wandered till late in the wilder-ness. That night he changed his horse andclothes and set out for Khurasan. Withfortune turning its back and luck biddinghim adieu, the prince, wailing of loneli-ness and dejection, came upon a group ofwomen and inquired the way toKhurasan. They showed him the way,and he made it to Firozghand, where heasked some nomadic people for food. Aclever youth among them recognizedfrom his splendid external appearance thathe was Prince Abu-Bakr, [The youth]followed him and said, "Prince, I knowwho you are. I have come to be yourguide and lead you from the brink of de-struction to safety." The prince said, "Mygood man, if you are true to your word Iwill make you a commander." That per-son went some way with the prince, butin the end he thought better of what hehad said and turned the prince over to thenomads. They could not hide such a trea-sure. [607]

Truly because of its exalted station a falconof kings cannot be hidden in a sparrow's

house.

When the victorious banners reached thevicinity of Firozghand after conqueringthe territory and killing the evildoers, themen told the sultan about Prince Abu-Bakr. Immediately His Highness the sul-tan ordered him brought. The sultan ad-dressed the prince, saying, "You ignorantyouth, how could you allow the blood ofinnocent persons, especially one related tothe purest of families, to be shed? Don't

TADHKIRA TAL-SHU' ARA 61

you realize that to enter into league withthe foreign, base Turcomans causes for-tune to wither?" Then he recited thisverse:

In the end the course of him who severs hisconnection with the good and joins the evil

leads to destruction.

Then he said, "Alas that there is no reli-ance on your word. For all the good Ihave done you I have seen nothing butevil." These words passed the Emperor ofIslam's lips, and from his blessed eyes atorrent of tears flowed. He faced theamirs and pillars of state and said, "I donot want to harm this sapling of the gar-den of fortune, for my heart is poundingwith affection for him and my soul isfirmly caught by the bonds of familyties." The amirs all shouted together, "0prince of the world,

Since God gave you victory over the enemy,sever his head to the delight of your friends.If you want to reward good men, leave him

no hope of life."

The king realized that to allow him to livewould mean the end of his own goodfortune. Unwillingly [608] he gave hisconsent to the execution of Prince Abu-Bakr.

Kingship cannot tolerate lese-majesty, be itfrom a stranger or from a relative.

God's decree uprooted the sapling of thatprince's life from the garden of the livingand made the garden of his friends' hopesas dark as the enemy's fortune. The kingset out in victory and triumph from thevicinity of Firozghand for Herat viaMashhad. That was in the month of Safarin the year 885 [April 1480]. Truly thedays of this mighty padishah have hadand will have a conquest every year and asuccess every month.

When you look you will see that everyvictory heaven gives at the end of one labor

is only the beginning of another.

As a consequence of such exploits fearand dread of the Emperor of Islam havetaken firm hold in the hearts of theworld's tyrants, and kings and sultans ofall parts continually resort to this celestialcourt to live in homage and obedience tothe Emperor of the Age, and the poor andpeasants of Khurasan live in welfare andease under the shadow of his protection.This renowned prince's angelic natureconstantly strives to raise higher the ban-ners of religion and spread the law, andduring his reign the lot of the ulema ofIslam is splendid, while the daily bread ofthe poor and homeless is assured. Thecorrupt, the unjust and brigands are frus-trated, and heretics and evil thinkers arecompletely reduced to extremities. Godhas taken Khurasan and Khurasanis intohis grace and favor, for through the pro-tective justice of this law-shelteringprince, in waystations and stoppingplaces that were formerly nests of thievesand brigands there are now servants andguards in the caravanserais and charitablefoundations to serve wayfarers and trav-elers. The subterranean irrigation canalsthat had been, since the days of GenghisKhan, as closed as the gates of the stingy[609] now flow as openly as the banquettables of the generous. Waystations thatwere destroyed in the time of SultanMahmud [of Ghazna] now flourish ingood repair. Agriculture and farminghave reached such a state that Saturn sit-ting atop the seventh celestial sphere isenvious of the tillers of the soil and themarketplace of Spica's harvest is at astandstill compared to these farms.

Every place that without your favor andgrace in the world was coffins and gallows

is now thrones and pulpits.With your presence the abode of security

Herat is the envy of paradise and the light ofnations.

May God preserve for long years theshadow of this happy prince's fortune,which assures the well-being and security

62 DAWLATSHAH

of the people of faith. May he extend formany centuries his exalted offspring, eachof whom is a cypress in the garden ofmagnificence, in the shadow of thisprince's grandeur. Until the day of resur-rection may the sultanate and caliphateremain fixed in the family of this princeblessed by fortune. May there be everyday allotted to this happy prince a newvictory to be recorded in the register ofnahnu qasamna.lv

Conquer more realms and seize morehorizons than you can imagine.

May God have mercy on all who sayamen. It is wise to conclude our bookwith a prayer for the Emperor of Islam.

With God's assistance the book is nowfinished. Worthy of praise is our Lord,and His are gifts and bounties. Praise beto God Lord of the Universe, and prayersand salutations upon His apostle, the lastof His prophets, Muhammad the Musta-fa, and upon his family, companions andfollowers all.

This memorial volume was composedby the least of God's slaves, Dawlatshahson of Ala'uddawla Bakhtishah al-Ghazial-Samarqandi on the twenty-eighth ofShawwal in the year eight hundred ninetytwo of the Hegira [October 17, 1487].

76"We have distributed" (Koran 43:32).

mir dawlatshah samarqandi

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