The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
pledge himself to strengthen [Sidenote: Fol. 177.] my hands by not
opposing my orders, it shall so be before long that the country shall
prosper, the peasant be content, the soldier well-off, and the Treasury
full." The Mīrzā for his part gave the pledge desired, put Majdu'd-dīn
Muḥammad in authority throughout Khurāsān, and entrusted all public
business to him. He in his turn by using all possible diligence and
effort, before long had made soldier and peasant grateful and content,
filled the Treasury to abundance, and made the districts habitable and
cultivated. He did all this however in face of opposition from the begs
and men high in place, all being led by `Alī-sher Beg, all out of temper
with what Majdu'd-dīn Muḥammad had effected. By their effort and evil
suggestion he was arrested and dismissed.[1118] In succession to him
Niẕāmu'l-mulk of Khwāf was made Dīwān but in a short time they got him
arrested also, and him they got put to death.[1119] They then brought
Khwāja Afẓal out of `Irāq and made him Dīwān; he had just been made a
beg when I came to Kābul (910 AH.), and he also impressed the Seal in
Dīwān.
Khwāja `Atā[1120] was another; although, unlike those already mentioned,
he was not in high office or Finance-minister (_dīwān_), nothing was
settled without his concurrence the whole Khura-sānāt over. He was a
pious, praying, upright (_mutadaiyin_) person; he must have been
diligent in business also.
(_j. Others of the Court._)
Those enumerated were Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā's retainers and followers.[1121]
His was a wonderful Age; in it Khurāsān, and [Sidenote: Fol. 177b.] Herī
above all, was full of learned and matchless men. Whatever the work a
man took up, he aimed and aspired at bringing that work to perfection.
One such man was Maulānā `Abdu'r-raḥmān _Jāmī_, who was unrivalled in
his day for esoteric and exoteric knowledge. Famous indeed are his
poems! The Mullā's dignity it is out of my power to describe; it has
occurred to me merely to mention his honoured name and one atom of his
excellence, as a benediction and good omen for this part of my humble
book.
Shaikhu'l-islām Saifu'd-dīn Aḥmad was another. He was of the line of
that Mullā Sa`du'd-dīn (Mas`ūd) _Taftazānī_[1122] whose descendants from
his time downwards have given the Shaikhu'l-islām to Khurāsān. He was a
very learned man, admirably versed in the Arabian sciences[1123] and the
Traditions, most God-fearing and orthodox. Himself a Shafi`ī,[1124] he
was tolerant of all the sects. People say he never once in 70 years
omitted the Congregational Prayer. He was martyred when Shāh Ismā`īl
took Herī (916 AH.); there now remains no man of his honoured
line.[1125]
Maulānā Shaikh Ḥusain was another; he is mentioned here, although his
first appearance and his promotion were under Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā,
because he was living still under Sl. Ḥusain [Sidenote: Fol. 178.]
Mīrzā. Being well-versed in the sciences of philosophy, logic and
rhetoric, he was able to find much meaning in a few words and to bring
it out opportunely in conversation. Being very intimate and influential
with Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā, he took part in all momentous affairs of the
Mīrzā's dominions; there was no better _muḥtasib_[1126]; this will have
been why he was so much trusted. Because he had been an intimate of that
Mīrzā, the incomparable man was treated with insult in Sl. Ḥusain
Mīrzā's time.
Mullā-zāda Mullā `Us̤mān was another. He was a native of Chīrkh, in the
Luhūgur _tūmān_ of the _tūmān_ of Kābul[1127] and was called the Born
Mullā (_Mullā-zāda_) because in Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā's time he used to give
lessons when 14 years old. He went to Herī on his way from Samarkand to
make the circuit of the _ka`ba_, was there stopped, and made to remain
by Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā. He was very learned, the most so of his time.
People say he was nearing the rank of Ijtihād[1128] but he did not reach
it. It is said of him that he once asked, "How should a person forget a
thing heard?" A strong memory he must have had!
Mīr Jamālu'd-dīn the Traditionalist[1129] was another. He had no equal
in Khurāsān for knowledge of the Muḥammadan Traditions. He was advanced
in years and is still alive (934 to 937 AH.).
Mīr Murtāẓ was another. He was well-versed in the sciences [Sidenote:
Fol. 178b.] of philosophy and metaphysics; he was called _murtāẓ_
(ascetic) because he fasted a great deal. He was madly fond of chess, so
much so that if he had met two players, he would hold one by the skirt
while he played his game out with the other, as much as to say, "Don't
go!"
Mīr Mas`ūd of Sherwān was another.[1130]
Mīr `Abdu'l-ghafūr of Lār was another. Disciple and pupil both of
Maulānā `Abdu'r-raḥmān _Jāmī_, he had read aloud most of the Mullā's
poems (_mas̤nawī_) in his presence, and wrote a plain exposition of the
_Nafaḥāt_.[1131] He had good acquaintance with the exoteric sciences,
and in the esoteric ones also was very successful. He was a curiously
casual and unceremonious person; no person styled Mullā by any-one
soever was debarred from submitting a (Qorān) chapter to him for
exposition; moreover whatever the place in which he heard there was a
darwīsh, he had no rest till he had reached that darwīsh's presence. He
was ill when I was in Khurāsān (912 AH.); I went to enquire for him
where he lay in the Mullā's College,[1132] after I had made the circuit
of the Mullā's tomb. He died a few days later, of that same illness.
Mīr `Atā'u'l-lāh of Mashhad was another.[1133] He knew the Arabian
sciences well and also wrote a Persian treatise on rhyme. That treatise
is well-done but it has the defect that he brings into it, as his
examples, couplets of his own and, assuming them [Sidenote: Fol. 179.]
to be correct, prefixes to each, "As must be observed in the following
couplet by your slave" (_banda_). Several rivals of his find deserved
comment in this treatise. He wrote another on the curiosities of verse,
entitled _Badāi`u's-sanāi_; a very well-written treatise. He may have
swerved from the Faith.
Qāẓī Ikhtiyār was another. He was an excellent Qāẓī and wrote a treatise
in Persian on Jurisprudence, an admirable treatise; he also, in order to
give elucidation (_iqtibās_), made a collection of homonymous verses
from the Qorān. He came with Muḥammad-i-yūsuf to see me at the time I
met the Mīrzās on the Murgh-āb (912 AH.). Talk turning on the Bāburī
script,[1134] he asked me about it, letter by letter; I wrote it out,
letter by letter; he went through it, letter by letter, and having
learned its plan, wrote something in it there and then.
Mīr Muḥammad-i-yūsuf was another; he was a pupil of the
Shaikhu'l-islām[1135] and afterwards was advanced to his place. In some
assemblies he, in others, Qāẓī Ikhtiyār took the higher place. Towards
the end of his life he was so infatuated with soldiering and military
command, that except of those two tasks, what could be learned from his
conversation? what known from his pen? Though he failed in both, those
two ambitions ended by giving to the winds his goods and his life, his
house and his home. He may have been a Shī`a.
(_k. The Poets._)
[Sidenote: Fol. 179b.] The all-surpassing head of the poet-band was
Maulānā `Abdu'r-raḥmān _Jāmī_. Others were Shaikhīm Suhailī and Ḥasan of
`Alī _Jalāīr_[1136] whose names have been mentioned already as in the
circle of the Mīrzā's begs and household.
Āṣafī was another,[1137] he taking Āṣafī for his pen-name because he was
a wazīr's son. His verse does not want for grace or sentiment, but has
no merit through passion and ecstacy. He himself made the claim, "I have
never packed up (_būlmādī_) my odes to make the oasis (_wādī_) of a
collection."[1138] This was affectation, his younger brothers and his
intimates having collected his odes. He wrote little else but odes. He
waited on me when I went into Khurāsān (912 AH.).
Banā'i was another; he was a native of Herī and took such a pen-name
(Banā'i) on account of his father Ustād Muḥammad _Sabz-banā_.[1139] His
odes have grace and ecstacy. One poem (_mas̤nawī_) of his on the topic
of fruits, is in the _mutaqārib_ measure;[1140] it is random and not
worked up. Another short poem is in the _khafīf_ measure, so also is a
longer one finished towards the end of his life. He will have known
nothing of music in his young days and `Alī-sher Beg seems to have
taunted him about it, so one winter when the Mīrzā, taking `Alī-sher Beg
with him, went to winter in Merv, Banā'i stayed behind in Herī and so
applied himself to study music that before the heats he had composed
several works. These he played and sang, airs with variations, when the
Mīrzā came back to Herī in the heats. [Sidenote: Fol. 180.] All amazed,
`Alī-sher Beg praised him. His musical compositions are perfect; one was
an air known as _Nuh-rang_ (Nine modulations), and having both the theme
(_tūkānash_) and the variation (_yīla_) on the note called _rāst_(?).
Banā'i was `Alī-sher Beg's rival; it will have been on this account he
was so much ill-treated. When at last he could bear it no longer, he
went into Aẕarbāījān and `Irāq to the presence of Ya'qūb Beg; he did not
remain however in those parts after Ya`qūb Beg's death (896 AH.-1491
AD.) but went back to Herī, just the same with his jokes and retorts.
Here is one of them:—`Alī-sher at a chess-party in stretching his leg
touched Banā'i on the hinder-parts and said jestingly, "It is the sad
nuisance of Herī that a man can't stretch his leg without its touching a
poet's backside." "Nor draw it up again," retorted Banā'i.[1141] In the
end the upshot of his jesting was that he had to leave Herī again; he
went then to Samarkand.[1142] A great many good new things used to be
made for `Alī-sher Beg, so whenever any-one produced a novelty, he
called it `Alī-sher's in order to give it credit and vogue.[1143] Some
things were called after him in compliment _e.g._ because when he had
ear-ache, he wrapped his head up in one of the blue triangular kerchiefs
women tie over their heads in winter, that kerchief was called
`Alī-sher's comforter. Then again, Banā'i when he had decided to leave
Herī, ordered a quite new kind of pad for his ass and [Sidenote: Fol.
180b.] dubbed it `Alī-sher's.
Maulānā Saifī of Bukhārā was another;[1144] he was a Mullā
complete[1145] who in proof of his mullā-ship used to give a list of the
books he had read. He put two _dīwāns_ together, one being for the use
of tradesmen (_ḥarfa-kar_), and he also wrote many fables. That he wrote
no _mas̤nawī_ is shewn by the following quatrain:—
Though the _mas̤nawī_ be the orthodox verse,
_I_ know the ode has Divine command;
Five couplets that charm the heart
_I_ know to outmatch the Two Quintets.[1146]
A Persian prosody he wrote is at once brief and prolix, brief in the
sense of omitting things that should be included, and prolix in the
sense that plain and simple matters are detailed down to the diacritical
points, down even to their Arabic points.[1147] He is said to have been
a great drinker, a bad drinker, and a mightily strong-fisted man.
`Abdu'l-lāh the _mas̤nawī_-writer was another.[1148] He was from Jām and
was the Mullā's sister's son. Hātifī was his pen-name. He wrote poems
(_mas̤nawī_) in emulation of the Two Quintets,[1149] and called them
_Haft-manẕar_ (Seven-faces) in imitation of the _Haft-paikar_
(Seven-faces). In emulation of the _Sikandar-nāma_ he composed the
_Tīmūr-nāma_. His most renowned _mas̤nawī_ is _Laila and Majnūn_, but
its reputation is greater than its charm.
Mīr Ḥusain the Enigmatist[1150] was another. He seems to have had no
equal in making riddles, to have given his whole time to it, and to have
been a curiously humble, disconsolate (_nā-murād_) [Sidenote: Fol. 181.]
and harmless (_bī-bad_) person.