Samarqandi - Chahar Maqala Nizami Arudi
Samarqandi - Chahar Maqala Nizami Arudi
Samarqandi - Chahar Maqala Nizami Arudi
OF THE
CHAHAR MAQALA
("FOUR DISCOURSES")
OF
OF SAMARQAND,
BY
EDWARD G. BROWNE,
M.A., M.B., F.B.A., F.R.C.P.
1921
E. J. W. GIBB MEMORIAL" PUBLICATIONS.
OLD SERIES. (25 works, 37 published volumes.)
NEW SERIES.
Rahatu's-udur (History of Saljiiqs) of ar-Rawandi,
Persian text, ed. Muhammad Iqbdl (in the Press).
Fars-n&ma of Ibnul-Balkhi, Persian text, ed. le Strange
and Nicholson (in the Press).
Letters of Rashfdu'd-Dfn Fadlu'llah, abridged English
by Muhammad Shaff, followed
transl. by transl. of
Tansuq-nama (on Precious stones) by the late Sir A.
Houtum-Schindler (in preparation).
Mazandaran, topography of, and travels in, by H. L.
Kabino, with Map.
This Volume is one
of a Series
sophy and Religion of the Turks^ Persians and Arabs> to which^ from
his Youth upwards^ until his premature and deeply lamented Death
in his forty-fifth year, on December jr, ipoi, his life was devoted.
"
These are our works> these works our souls display;
E. G.BROWNE,
G. LE STR4NGE,
[H. R AMEDROZ, died March 17, 1917.]
A. G. ELLIS,
R. A. NICHOLSON,
SIR E. DENISON ROSS,
ADDITIONAL TRUSTEE.
IDA W. E. OGILVY GREGORY, appointed 1905.
CAMBRIDGE.
LONDON, W.C.
PREFACE
reasons have led me to publish this revised translation
TWO of the Chahdr Maqdla^ or " Four Discourses," of Nizamf-i-
'Anidf of Samarqand. The first is that the translation which I
originally published in the July and October numbers of the
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1899, and which also
appeared al a separate reprint, is exhausted, and is now hardly
^>tainable.
The second is that that translation contains many
defects and errors which it is now possible to amend and correct,
partly through the learning and critical acumen brought to bear
on the text by Mirzd Muhammad of Qazwfn, whose admirable
edition, accompanied by copious critical and historical notes in
Persian, was published in this Series (xi, i) in 1910; and partly
from the fact that the most ancient and correct MS. of the work
at present discovered 1 , that preserved in the Library of 'Ashir
liable to confuse and puzzle, rather than to help, the student. The
old translation has been carefully revised throughout, and the
supply me 1
. To facilitate comparison, the points in the translation
corresponding with the beginning of each page of the Persian
text are indicated by the appropriate Arabic numbers. Mfrza
Muhammad's notes, which in the original partake of the nature
of a running commentary on the text, though materially sepa-
rated from it, and occupy 200 pages (\ *A*), I have, from
considerations of space, rearranged and greatly compressed. The
shorter ones appear as foot-notes on the pages to which thf^
original commentary.
A full account of this work and its author is given both in the
Persian and English Prefaces to the companion volume containing
the text, and it will be sufficient here to summarize the facts set
forth more fully in that place.
The Aut/tor.
Christian era), and seems to have spent most of his life in Khu-
rsn and Transoxiana. What we know of him is chiefly derived
*
See Notes xxiv and xxxn, pp. 130-4 and 164-7.
PREFACE xi
The Book.
At the present day, apart from the text printed eleven years
clusively proved, these are but two different names for the same
book.
Not less remarkable than the style of the Chahdr Maqdla is
EDWARD G. BROWNE.
April n, 1921.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
'Translator's Preface ix
Author's Preface, including Doxology and Dedica-
tion i
Vegetable Kingdoms 5
Section IV, on the Animal
External Senses ...."..
Kingdom and
. .
7
8
Anecdote I,
Ascent of Man ......
on the Nasnds or Wild Man, and the
9
II.
The
......
nature of the Secretarial Art and qualifications
of the Secretary
Iskdfi's skilful citation of the Quv>dn . .
12
15
III. Iskafi's despatch on the defeat of Makan . . 16
IV. The secretary must be free from domestic worries 18
V. Laconic dismissal of an unjust judge of Qum . 1
9
VI. Importunity of the people of Lamghan . . 20
VII. Marriage of al-Ma'mtin with Ptirdn . . . 21
VIII. Al-Mustarshid's denunciation of the Saljtiqs
IX. The Oilr-Khan's warning to Atmatigfn
X.
... . .
23
24
Supernatural eloquence of the Qur*dn . . .
25
IX. Bughrd Khan's secretary Muhammad ibn 'Abduh 25
NOTES.
PAGE
I. The Dynasty of Ghtir or House of Shansab . . 101
II. The meaning of Jamghdj and TapghAch . . 102
III. Writers adduced as models of style . . .
103
IV. Historical errors in Anecdote II . . . . 106
V.
VI.
VII.
Historical errors in Anecdote III
The Sdhib Isma'fl ibn 'Abbdd
Fabrics and Materials mentioned in Anecdote VII
....
. . . .
107
107
107
VIII. Another historical error in Anecdote VIII . . 108
IX. The Giir-Khan and the Qdra-Khita'f dynasty . 108
X. Atmatigin, Amir Baydbdnf and Atsiz . . .
109
XL The House of Burhdn no
XII. Bughrd Khan and the flak Khdn in Anecdote XI 112
XIII. Ahmad ibn 'Abdu'lldh al-Khujistani . . .
113
XIV. Poets and writers mentioned in Anecdote XII .
113
XV. The vengeance of Sultan 'Ala'u'd-Din IJusayn
Jahan-suz . . . . . . . 120
XVI. Notes on Anecdote XI 1 1 121
XVII. Note on Anecdote XIV 122
XVIII. Note on the House of Muhtaj of Chaghdniydn . 122
XIX. Note on Tughanshah and the arbitrary methods of
some Persian editors 123
XX. Azraqi. (Anecdote XVII) 124
XXI. Another instance of the Author's inaccuracy .
125
XXIL The Khaqani, Khani or Afrdsiyabf Kings . . 126
XXIII. Five notable Astronomers 127
XXIV. Certain astrological terms 130
XXV. 'Umar-i-Khayydm 134
XXVI. On certain medical terms in the Preface to the
Fourth Discourse 140
XXVII. Physicians and their works mentioned in Anecdote
XXXII 144
XXVIII. Jamfs rhymed versions of Anecdotes XXXIV and
XXXVIII 159
XXIX. The Ma'miinf Khwdrazmshdhs
XXX. The Shdhinshdh 'Ald'u'd-Dawla ....
. . . . 161
162
XXXI. The Shaykh 'Abdu'lldh Ansdri
XXXII. Additional Note by Mr W. Gornold on
.....
the "Part
163
"
of the Unseen and other astrological terms . 164
GENERAL INDEX 168
INDEX OF TECHNICAL TERMS . . . . 182
In t/ie name of God the Merciful the Clement.
may his life be according to his desires, may the greater part of
the world be assigned to his name, and may the orderly govern-
ment of the human race be directed by his care For to-day he !
a
L. has
I.e.
b~ ^ "without the intervention."
Husdmu'd-Dfn Abu'l-Hasan 'AH ibn Fakhru'd-Dln Mas'iid. See Note I
at the end.'
3 L. has
JUlf* jl "from perils,
1'
instead of <lUl.
4 and the Tabaqdt-i Ndfirl(zA. Nassau Lees), pp. 101
See Note I at the end, et seqq.
Instead of Shansab, the correct reading, B. has C*^LJI and L. *,**& Jl.
B. I
2 CHAHAR MAQALA. EXORDIUM
vouchsafe to hint and to the other kings of that line a full portion
of dominion and domain, throne and fortune, fame and success,
command and prohibition, by His Favour and universal Grace !
SECTION I.
father and mother are alive congenial brothers are on his right
;
hand and on his left. And what father is like his sire, the
mighty, divinely-strengthened, ever-victorious and heaven-aided
Fakhrtfd-Dawla wctd-Diu*> Lord of Inin, King of the Moun-
tains (may God prolong his existence and continue to the heights
his exaltation !), who is the most puissant Lord of the age and
the most excellent Prince of the time in judgement, statecraft,
knowledge, courtesy, swordsmanship, strength of arm, treasure
and equipment Supported by ten thousand men bearing spears
!
and handling reins he hath made himself a shield before his sons,
so that not even the zephyr may blow roughly on one of his
servants. In her chaste seclusion and unassailable abode is a
prayerful lady (may God perpetuate her exaltation !) whose every
invocation, breathed upwards at earliest dawn to the Court of
God, works with the far-flung host and wheeling army. Where
again is a brother like the royal Prince Shamsu'd-Dawla weld-
Din*, Light of Islam and the Muslims (may his victories be
1
Qur'dn, xiv, 7.
3
The variant
*-> (wheel, firmament), though more attractive than
jj^, (parasol,
umbrella), rests on weaker manuscript authority.
* Fakhru'd-Din Mas'iid ibn 'Izzu'd-Din Hasan.
See Note I at the end.
4 Shamsu'd-Din Muhammad ibn Fakhru'd-Din
Mas'tid. See Note I at the end.
PROPHETS AND KINGS 3
!), who
glorious reaches the extreme term and limit in the service
of this my Lord (whose exaltation may God perpetuate!)? Praise
be to God that this my Lord falls short neither in reward nor retri-
bution yea, by his face the world enjoys clear vision, and life
;
and cause his kingdom to endure !), who, with fifty thousand mail-
clad men, strenuous in endeavour, hurled back all the hosts of the
world (r) ancr set in a corner all the kings of the age. May God
(ofessed and exalted is He !) long vouchsafe all to one another,
grant to all abundant enjoyment of one another's company, and
fill the world with
light by their achievementsjby His Favour,
and Bounty, and Grace !
SECTION II.
The Royal Mind (may God exalt it!) should deign to know
that all existing beingsnecessarily into one of two categories.
fall
Such being is either self-existent, or it exists through some other.
That Being which is self-existent is called "the Necessarily Existent?
which is God most High and most Holy, who existeth by virtue
of Himself, and who, therefore, hath always existed, since He
awaiteth none other ; and who (t) will always exist, since He sub-
sisteth by Himself, not by another. But that existence whose
"
being is through another is called Contingent Being? and this
is such as we are, since our is from the seed, and the sepd
being
is from the blood, and the blood is from food, and food is from flie
water, the earth and the sun, whose existence is in turn derived
from somethingcelse ; and all these are such as yesterday were
not, and to-morrow will not be. And on profound reflection [it
appeareth that] this causal nexus reacheth upwards to a Cause
which deri veth not its being from another, but existeth necessarily
in itself; which is the Creator of all, from Whom all derive their
existence and subsistence. So He is the Creator of all these
things, and all come into being through Him and subsist through
Him. And a little reflection on this matter will make it clear
that all Phenomena consist of Being tinctured with Not-being,
while He is Being characterized by a continuance reaching from
Eternity past to Eternity to come. And since the origin of all
creatures lies in Not-being, they must inevitably return
again to
nothing, and the most clear-sighted amongst the human race
have said, "Everything shall return unto its Origin? more
especially in this world of Growth and Decay. Therefore we,
who are contingent in our being, have our origin in Not-being ;
and that within the Sphere of the Fire is the Air, surrounded
by
the Fire; and within the Air is the Water, surrounded
by the Air,
while within the Water is the Earth, with the Water round about
it. And in the middle of the earth is an imaginary point, from
1
Qur'dn, xxviii, 88.
8
This is the lowest or innermost of the nine celestial
spheres which environ the
earth. Concerning the Muslim Cosmogony, see Dieterici's
Makrokoftnos, pp. 178 et seqq.
THE TERRESTRIAL GLOBE 5
what lies nearest to it and when we speak of " up," we mean the
;
above the Zodiacal Heaven, having naught beyond it, for with it
the material world terminates, or comes to an end 2 .
Now when God most Blessed and most High, by His effective
Wisdom, desired to produce in this world minerals, plants,animals
and men, He created the stars, and in particular the sun and
moon, whereon He made the growth and decay of these to
depend. Arui the special property of the sun is that (o) by its
reflection it warms all things when
stands opposite to them,
it
elevated above what it had been, while the water retreated from
it and dried up, according to that fashion which is witnessed.
This portion, therefore, is called the " Uncovered Quarter," for the
reason above stated and is also called the " Inhabited Quarter,"
;
SECTION III.
that interspace which lies between the water and the air, the
vegetable kingdom was manifested. Then God, blessed and
exalted is He, created for that substance wherefrom the plants
were made manifest four subservient forces and three faculties.
Of these four subservient forces one is that which draws to itself
whatever is suitable for its purpose, and this is called " the Force
"
Attractive (Jddhibd). Another retains what the first may have
" "
attracted, and this is called the Force Retentive (Mdsikd).
The third is that which assimilates what has been attracted,
and transmutes it from its former state until it becomes like unto
and this is called " the Force Assimilative" (Hddima). The
itself,
fourth is that which rejects what is not appropriate, and it is
called "the Force Expulsive" (Ddfi'a). And of its three faculties
one is that which increaseth it (i) by diffusing throughout it
nutritious matters with a proportionate and equable diffusion.
The second is that which accompanies this nutriment until' it
reaches the extremities. The third is that which, when the
organism has attained perfection and begins to tend towards
decline, appears and produces ova, in order that, if destruction
overtake the parent in this world, this substitute may take its
from the bind- weed 8 a plant which, when it twists round the vine,
,
causes it to shrivel up, wherefore the vine flees from it. In the
vegetable kingdom, therefore, there is nothing higher than the
date-palm and the vine, inasmuch as they have assimilated them-
selves to that which is superior to their own kingdom, and have
subtly overstepped the limits of their own world, and evolved
themselves in a higher direction.
1
The Pearl, however, seems generally to be placed higher. See Dieterici's
*
Afikrokosmos, p. n.
8
See Dieterici's tyikrokosnws, p. 25.
8
'Ashaqa, a species of Dolichos. See Lane's Arabic Lexicon, s.v.
THE EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL SENSES
defective. Thus the ant has no eyes, and the snake, which is
1
See my Year amongst the Persians, pp. 144-145.
THE MISSING LINK 9
called the deaf adder, no ears but none is more defective than
;
erect carriage and vertical stature, with wide flat nails. It cherishes
a great affection for men wherever it sees men, it halts on their
;
man, it carries him off, and it is even said that it will conceive
from him. This, after (*) mankind, is the highest of animals,
inasmuch as in several respects it resembles man first in its ;
ANECDOTE I.
I
Cf. Dieterici's Mikrokosmos, p. 43.
a The correct reading of this word, which appears in a different form in each MS.,
is doubtful, and it is probably a local term only. Mfrza Muhammad takes gtM-kirma
as equivalent to kirm-i-khdk, "earthworm."
3
The term nasnds either denotes a real animal or a fabulous monster. In the
first sense it is us>ed of various kinds of monkeys, eg. the orang-outang and marmoset;
in the latter it is equivalent to the Shiqq or Half- man (which resembles a man cut in
two vertically) of the Arabs, and the Dfv-martiitm of the Persians. See Qazwinf's
''gjtfibiJl-Makkl&qiit, p. 449 ; and my
Year amongst the Persians,
4 pp. 165, 267.
See Qazwinrs Atkdru'l-Bildd, p. 275. China or Chinese Turkistan appears to
be meant. See Note II at the end.
II
See n. i at the foot of p. 7 supra. This fourth interspace (fur/a) lies outside the
" " " Heaven of the Moon."
Igneous Sphere and inside the
io CHAHAR MAQALA. ANTHROPOLOGY
from the animal world he obtained for himself steeds and beasts
of burden. And from all three kingdoms he chose out medica-
ments wherewith to heal himself. Whereby did there accrue to
him such pre-eminence? By this, that he understood abstract
ideas, and, by means of these, recognized God. And whereby
did he know God ? By knowing himself; for "He knoweth
ytho
himself, knoweth his Lord''
So this kingdom [of man] became divided into three classes.
The first is that which is proximate to the Animal Kingdom,
such as the wilc^ men of the waste and the mountain, whose
aspiration doth not more than suffice to secure their own liveli-
hood by seeking what is to their advantage and warding off
what is to their detriment. The second class compriseth the
inhabitants of towns and cities, who possess civilisation, power
of co-operation, (*) and aptitude to discover crafts and arts;
but whose scientific attainments are limited to the organisation
of such association as subsists between them, in order that the
different classes 1 may continue to exist. The third class com-
priseth such as are independent of these things, and whose
occupation, by night and by day, in secret and in public, is to
reflect, "Who are we, for what reason did we come into existence,
and Who hath brought us into being?" In other words, they
hold debate concerning the real essences of things, reflect on
their coming, and anxiously consider their departure, saying,
"
How have we come ? Whither shall we go ? "
This class, again, is subdivided into two sorts first, those ;
who reach the essence of this object by the help of masters and
by laborious toil, voracious study, reading and writing and such ;
1
Or perhaps " races." The word is
et^jt, plural of Py , "species.'
1
9 from God.'
This is what is called 'Ilm-i'Ladutmi, or knowledge directly derived
PROPHETS, PRIESTS AND KINGS n
the well-being of the world ; for whatever others
is effective for
that method whereby the words shall subserve the ideas and
the matter be briefly expressed for the orators of the Arabs have
;
"
said, Thf best speech is that which is brief and significant^ \not
long and wearisome^" For if the ideas be subordinated to the
J^ U>^3I
8 '
J**$ J**ijJ 3 <J* ) The printed text omits the
last words.
14 FIRST DISCOURSE. ON SECRETARIES
Now the words of the Secretary will not attain to this elevation
until he acquires some knowledge of every science, obtains some
hint from every master, hears some aphorism from every philo-
sopher, and borrows some elegance from every man of letters.
Therefore he must accustom himself to peruse the Scripture of
the Lord of Glory, the Traditions of Muhammad the Chosen
One, the Memoirs of the Companions, the proverbial sayings of
the Arabs, and the wise words of the Persians and to read the ;
4
Quddma ibn Ja'far the Gests ;
of Badf*[u'z-Zamdn al-Hamaddnf] 5 ,
the Persian poets, the poems of Riidag{ 15 the Epic of Firdawsf 18,
,
books and doth not fail to read them, stimulates his mind
-
See the Yatimatu'd-Dahr (ed. Damascus), vol. iii, pp. 31-112 ; de Slane's Ibn
Khallikdn, vol. pp. 212-217, and Note III at the end.
i, L. omits Sabf.
8 The
Tarassult or Correspondence, of Qabris ibn Washmglr, the Ziydrid Prince
of Tabarista'n, who was killed in 403/1012-13. See p. 95 of the Persian notes.
4 See von Kremer's
Culturgesch., i, pp. 269-270.
8 See von Kremer's
Culturgesch., ii, pp. 470-476 ; Brockelmann's Gesch. d. Arab.
Lit/., i, pp. 93-94 and 276-278.
* See vol. ii, pp. 747-748, where a very fine old MS. of
Rieu's Persian
Catalogue,
the Maqdmdt-i-Hamldiv* described* written in the 1310 cent, of our era.
7 Abii ( Ali Muhammad al-Bal'ami
(d. 386/996).
minister, Ahmad ibn jiasan of Maymand (d. 424/1033).
8 The Ghaznawi
9 See de Slane's Ibn
Khallikdn, vol. iii', pp. 290-295.
Probably Muhammad ibn Mansdr al-Haddad. See H. Kh., No. 1729.
10
11
Abu 'Asim Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-'Abbadf (see Rieu's Arabic Suppl., p. 755),
who died in 458/1066, is probably intended. *
19
See von Kremer's Culturgesch., ii, pp. 380-381; Brockelmann's Gesch. d. Arab.
Lit/., i, pp. 86-89.
19
See Brockelmann's Gesch. d. Arab. Li/t., i, p. 253 ; and the Yatima, vol. iv,
pp. 25 and 62-64, where mention is made of this well-known Abiwardi (whose Diwdn
has been printed at Beyrout) and another.
*
14
15
Brockelmann, op. fit., i, p. 253. A., however, reads ij.
See Ethl's monograph and also his article s.v. in the Encyclopaedia Britannua.
especially Noldeke's Das Iranische Nationalepos in vol. ii (pp. 130-211)
10 See
polishes his wit, enkindles his fancy, and ever raises the level of
his diction, whereby a Secretary becomes famous.
Now if he be well acquainted with the Qur*dn, with one verse
therefrom he may discharge his obligation to a whole realm, as
did IskdfK
ANECDOTE II.
and I desire that thou shouldst write the answer ofi the back of
the letter." So Iskaff answered it on the spur of the moment,
and first wrote as follows :
ANECDOTE III.
When
IskafTs affairs waxed thus prosperous, and he became
established in the service of the Amfr Nuh ibn Mansur, Makan
son of Kakiiy 2 rebelled at Ray and in Ktihistan, withdrew his
neck from the yoke of obedience, sent his agents to Khwar and
8
Simnak, captured several of the towns of Ktimish , and paid no
heed to the Samanids. Nuh ibn Mansur was afraid, because this
was a formidable and able man, and set himself to deal with this
matter. He therefore ordered Tash, the Commander-in-chief, to
I
Qur\fai xi, 34.
8
chronological difficulties involved in these two stories are considerable, for
The
the rebellion of Makdn ibn Kakiiy occurred in 329/940-1, towards the end of the reign
of Nasr II ibn Ahmad, i.e. long before the rebellion of Alptagin (see n. ? on p. 15
supra). See Defr^mery's Satnanides, pp. 248 and 263-264. See Notes IV and V at
the end.
Better known as Qtiwis, the arabicised form of the name. See B. de Meynard's
II
Diet. Gtfogr., Histor.+tt Lift, de la Perse, pp. 454-455. For the three other towns
mentioned, see the same work, pp. 213, 317 and 318.
CONCISE DESPATCH 17
with courage and manhood, and hath both ability and generosity,
so that there have been few like him amongst the Daylamfs. You
must co-operate with Tdsh, and whatever is lacking to him in
military strength at this crisis, you must make good by your
counsels. And I will establish myself at Nfshdpiir, so that the
army may be supported from the base, and the foeman dis-
1
couraged. Every day a swift messenger with a concise despatch
from you must come to me and in this you must set forth the
pith of what may have happened, so that my anxieties may be
"
assuaged." Iskdff bowed and said, I will obey."
So next day Tash unfurled
his standard, sounded his drums,
and from Bukhdrd, crossing the Oxus with
set out for the front
seven thousand horsemen; while the Amfr followed him with the
remainder of the army to Nfshdpiir. There he invested Tdsh and
the army with robes of honour; and Tash marched out and
entered Bayhaq, and went forth into Kumish setting his face (a)
towards Ray with fixed purpose and firm resolve.
Meanwhile Mdkdn, with ten thousand mailed warriors, was
encamped at the gates of Ray, which he had made his base.
Tdsh arrived, passed by the city, and encamped over against
him. Then messengers began to pass to and fro between them,
but no settlement was effected, for Mdkdn was puffed up with
pride on account of that high-hearted army which he had gathered
together from every quarter. It was therefore decided that they
should join battle.
Now Tdsh was an old wolf who for forty years had held the
position of Commander-in-chief, and had witnessed many such
engagements; and he so arranged it that when the two armies
confronted one another, and the doughty warriors and champions
*
l
Mirza Muhammad (p. -1 of the Persian notes) has investigated the precise
" concise 1
v/ ANECDOTE IV.
One who pursues any craft which depends on reflection
ought to be free from care and anxiety, for if it be otherwise
the arrows of his thought will fly wide and will not be con-
centrated on the target of achievement, since only by a tranquil
mind can one arrive at such diction.
It is related that a certain secretary of tlje 'Abbdsid Caliphs
was writing a letter to the governor of Egypt and, his mind ;
1
The hands of Abti, Lahab shall perish*} and it is a pity to
surrender the minds of eloquent men like you into the hands of
the struggle for the necessaries of life." Then he ordered him to
be given means sufficiently ample to prevent such an announce-
ment as this ever entering his cars again. Naturally it then
happened that he could compress into two sentences the ideas
of two worlds.
v
ANECDOTE V.
The Sahib Isma'fl ibn Abbid 8 entitled al-Kdft (" the Com-
* '
and agents for the most part held the same opinion that he did.
Now there was at Qum a judge appointed by the Sdhib in
whose devoutness and piety he had a firm belief, though one after
another men asserted the contrary. All this, however, left the
Sdhib unconvinced, until two trustworthy persons of Qum, whose
statements commanded credence, declared that in a certain suit
between So-and-so and Such-an-one this judge had accepted a
bribe of five hundred dtndrs. This was mightily displeasing to
the Shib for two reasons, first on account of the greatness of
the bribe, and secondly on account of the shameless unscrupu-
lousness of the judge. He at once took up his pen and wrote :
"
In the Name of God the Merciful the Clement. O Judge of
"
Qum ! We dismiss you, (\ A) so Come !
9
meaning of 'adll ma<thhab. The followers of this doctrine, called their adversaries
" the Seceders," called themselves " Partisans of theby
Divine Justice and
alAfu'tazila,
Unity/' See my Lit. Hist, of Persia, vol. i, p. 281.
6
UU JU>ft jJ J^ ^UUI \^\ '^J\ O^P.I ^t^-*
deavoured to preserve^ feebly enough, the word-play in the original.
Ihaveen-
20 FIRST DISCOURSE. THE TAXES OF LAMGHAN
ANECDOTE VI.
while for even less than this they are ready to comt to Ghazna
to complain of exactions, and to remain there one or two months,
and not to return without having accomplished their object. In
short they have a strong hand in obstinacy, and much back-bone
in importunity. c
Now in the reign of Sultan Mahmud Yamimfd-Dawla (may
God illuminate his proof!), the heathen one night attacked them,
and damage of every sort befel them. But these were men who
could roll in the dust 8 without soil and when this event happened
;
several of their chiefs and men of note rose up and came to the
court of Ghazna, and, with their garments rent, their heads
uncovered, and uttering loud lamentations, entered the bazaar
of Ghazna, went to the King's Palace wailing and grieving, and
so described their misfortune that even a stone would have been
moved to tears. As their truculence, impudence, dissimulation
and cunning had not yet become apparent, that great minister,
Ahmad-i-Hasan of Maymand 3 took pity upon them, and forgave
,
them that year's taxes, exempting them from all exactions, and
bidding them return home, strive more strenuously, and spend
less, so that by the beginning of next year they might recover
their former position.
So the deputation of Lamghanis returned with great content-
ment and huge satisfaction, and continued during that year
in the easiest of circumstances, giving nothing to any one 4 .
1
Or Lamaghan. See B. de Meynard's Diet. Gtogr. dc la Perse, p. 503 ; Pavet de
Courtcille'sAKm. de Babtr^ ii, pp. 120-121.
3
See the Editor's note on on p. \ *\ of the text. This expression appears
A&tj**
to denote extreme cunning and resourcefulness, as though one should "
say to wash with-
out water." An attractive if bold emendation would be-
"shamelessly evaded their obligations."
8
See n. 8 on p. 14 supra.
4 This is Mirza Muhammad's explanation of the expression
's MARRIAGE WITH PtiRAN 21
his care and protection, (\*) so that through that bounty and
beneficence the people of Lamghdn had reached their proper
position and were able to dwell on that border but that, since ;
" "
jun, adifuhu dawauhu that is to say, The tax is a running
sore : its cure is its discharge? And from the time of this great
1
ANECDOTE VII.
should go to the bride's house and remain there for a month, and
after the lapse of this period should return home with his bride.
On the day fixed for their departure he desired, as is customary,
to array himself in better clothes. Now Ma'miin always wore
black and people supposed that he wore it because black was
;
the distinctive colour of the 'Abbdsids till one day Yahyd ibn
;
1
Literally "a wound of a thousand fountains," probably a carbuncle.
2 There appears to be a confusion here between the two brothers. Hasan ibn
Sahl was the father of Piirdn, al-Ma'mun's bride, while Fadl bore the title of Dhu'r-
Riydsatayn. See de Slane's Ibn Khallikdn, vol. i, pp.* 268-272, and 408-409;
vol. ii, pp. 472-476. Also the Laitfifu^l-Ma'drif of Ath-Tha'alibf (ed. de Jong),
pp. 73-74, where a full account is given of this marriage.
3
See de Slane's Ibn Khallikdn, iv, pp. 33-51.
22 FIRST DISCOURSE. AL-MA'MI)N'S MARRIAGE
wise that the nobles were filled with wonder thereat, for he had
collected so many rare things that words would fail to describe
or enumerate them. So when Ma'mun reached the gate of this
8
palace he saw a curtain suspended, fairer than a Chinese temple
yet withal more precious than the standards of the true Faith,
whereof the design charmed the heart and the colour mingled
with the soul. He turned to his courtiers and said, "Whichever of
those thousand coats I had chosen, I should have been shamed
here. Praise be to God and thanks that I restricted myself to
this black raimenc."
Now of all the elaborate preparations made by Fadl on that
day, one was that he had a dish filled with [pieces of] wax in the
form of pearls, each in circumference like a hazel-nut, and in each
one a piece of paper on which was inscribed the name of a village.
These he poured out at Ma'miln's feet, and whosoever of Ma'miln's
attendants obtained one of these pieces of wax, to him he sent
the title-deeds of that village!
So when Ma'mun entered the bride's house, he saw a mansion
plastered and painted, with a dado of china tiles fairer than the
8
,
onyx and the narcissus. She, rising to her feet like a cypress, and
walking gracefully, advanced towards Ma'mun, and, with a pro-
found obeisance and earnest apologies, took his hand, brought
him forward, seated him in the chief seat, and stood before him
in service. Ma'mun bade her be seated, whereupon she seated
1
The
exact nature of most of these fabrics I have been unable to ascertain. See
Note VII at the end.
8 "
This, not spring," seems to be the meaning of bahdr in this passage.
8 Jzdr or izdra
appears to denote a kind of lower half-wall or dado against whicji
one can lean while sitting.
4 Khdnawdr seems to mean "
large enough for [covering the floor of] a house,"
and Sk&sha-i-zar-kashida "spun" or " thread-drawn gold."
' A
quarter of Samarqand mentioned in the first story in Book i of the Mathnawi.
AL-MUSTARSHID'S ELOQUENCE 23
herself on her knees 1 hanging her head, and looking down at the
carpet. Thereupon Ma'mun was overcome with love: (r\)he had
already lost his heart, and now he would have added thereunto
his very soul. He stretched out his hand and drew forth from
the opening of his coat eighteen pearls, each one as large as a
sparrow's egg, brighter than the stars of heaven, more lustrous
than the teeth of the fair, rounder, nay more luminous, than
Saturn or Jupiter, and poured them out on the surface of the
carpet, where, by reason of its smoothness and their roundness,
they continued in motion, there being no cause for their qui-
escence. Bijt the girl paid
no heed to the pearls, nor so much
as raised her head. Thereat was Ma'mun's passion further in-
creased, and he extended his hand to open the door of amorous
dalliance and to take her in his embraces. But the emotion of
shame overwhelmed her, and the delicate damsel was so affected
that she was overtaken by that state peculiar to tvomen. Thereat
the marks of shame and abashed modesty appeared in her cheeks
and countenance, and she immediately exclaimed "O Prince of :
Believers! The command of God cometh, seek not then to hasten it!*"
Thereat Ma'mun withdrew his hand, and was near swooning
on account of the extreme appositeness of this verse, and her
graceful application of it on this occasion. Yet still
he could not
take his eyes off her, and for eighteen days he came not forth
from this house and concerned himself with naught but her. And
the affairs of Fadl prospered, and he attained to that high position
which was his.
ANECDOTE VIII. .
Believers (may God render his dust fragrant and exalt his rank
in Paradise !), came forth from the city of Baghddd with a well-
equipped army in full panoply, treasure beyond compute, and
many muniments of war, marching against Khurdsan, seeking to
4
establish his supremacy over the King of the World Sanjar .
1
I.e. in the Persian fashion, on the heels, with the knees together in front.
Qur'dn, xvi, i. Cf. de Slane's Ibn Khallikdn, vol. i, p. 270.
relatifs b
a mistake
for Mas f
iid ibn Muhammad ibn Maliksh
24 FIRST DISCOURSE. THE
and the Supreme Paradise. In the course of this harangue, in his
great distress and extreme despair, he complained of the House
of Saljiiq, in such wise that the orators of Arabia and the rhe-
toricians of Persia are fain to confess that after the Companions
of the Prophet (God's blessing rest on all of them), who were the
disciples of the Point of the Prophetic Function (ft) and the
expounders of his pithy aphorisms, no one had composed a
discourse so weighty and eloquent. Said al-Mustarshid: "We
entrusted our affairs to the House of Saljtiq, but they rebelled
against us: and the time lengtltened over them, and their Itearts
'
were hardened, and most of tltem are sinners 1,'" ttyit is to say,
withdrew their necks from our commands in [matters appertain-
ing to] Religion and Isl&m.
ANECDOTE IX.
The Giir-Khdn
of Khitd fought a battle with the King of the
World Sanjar, the son of Malikshdh, at the gates of Samarqand,
\vherein such disaster befel the army of Isldm as one cannot
describe, and Transoxiana passed into his power
2
After putting.
bright his example, and extend over him His Peace !), the Giir
Khdn bestowed BukhirA on Atmatigfn 4 the son of the Amfr
,
that he should do nothing without his orders, nor take any step
without his knowledge. Then the Gur-Khdn turned back and
retired to Barskhdn 7 .
Now
his justice had no bounds, nor was there any limit to
the effectiveness of his commands; and, indeed, in these two
Qur'dn, Ivii, 15. The meaning of the Arabic is repeated in Persian in the text.
1
2
See Mfrkhwand's History of the SaljAqs, ed. Vullers, pp. 176-180. Sir E.
Denison Ross has pointed out to me that Giir-Khan is a generic title. (See History
rfthe Moghuls of Central Asia by Eiias and Ross, pp. 287 et seqq., and also Schefer s
Chrestomathie Persane, vol. i, pp. 34 et seqq^ See also Mirzd Muhammad's note
HI p. \ tf of the text, and Note IX at the end.
s Husamu'd-Din'Umar ibn Burhanu'd-Dm ' Abdu'l- 'Aziz ibn Maza.
See Note XI
it the end.
4
The correct form of this name is uncertain, but Alptigfn, the reading of the
lithographed edition and of Schefer, op. cit., p. tV is certainly wrong. See note
on p. \ t of the text, and Note
\ X
at the end.
6
This name also is uncertain, and there are almost as many variants as there are
texts. See Note X at the end.
6 /.<?. Burhdnu'd-Dfn 'Abdu'l -'Aziz mentioned in the last footnote but two.
See
Note XI at the end. ,
7 The name of a See G. le Strange's
city in Eastern Turkistan near Khutan.
Lands of the Eastern Caliphate, p. 489, and Barthold in vol. i, part 4, p. 89, of the
Zapiski) or Afifev. de fAcaiL Imp. des Sciences de St Pttersbourg, viii* SMe. Classe
hist.-philoL, 1893-4.
MIRACULOUS ELOQUENCE OF THE QUR'AN 25
ANECDOTE X.
gulp down thy waters, and Heaven, draw them tip : and the
water abated. Thus was the matter effected. And it [i.e. the Ark]
1
and its lowest part is luxuriant; nor is it the word of man!" When
even enemies reached on the plane of equity such a level of
enthusiasm concerning the eloquence of the Qur'n and its
miraculous quality, see to what degree friends will attain.
ANECDOTE XI.
I It was formerly customary with the kings of old time and the
autocrats of past ages, such as the Pfshdddf, Kaydnf and Sasd-
nian monarchs and the Caliphs, to vaunt themselves and compete
with one another both in justice and erudition, and with every
ambassador whom they despatched they used to send wise sayings,
26 CHAHAR.MAQALA. END OF FIRST DISCOURSE
'^' '
*
'' %
'
'' "''
riddles, and enigmatical questions. So the king, under these
circumstances, stood in need of persons of intelligence and dis-
crimination, and men of judgement and statesmanship; and
several councils would be held and adjourned, until they were
unanimous as to their answers, and these problems and enigmas
were plain and apparent, when they would despatch the am-
bassador.
This practice was maintained until the time of that just king
Mahm6d ibn Subuktighi Yaminu'd-Dawla (may God have mercy
upon him!). But when (ft) the Saljiiqs succeeded him, they being
nomads, ignorant of the conduct of affairs and the jiigh achieve-
ments of kings, most of these royal customs became obsolete in
their time, and many essentials of dominion fell into disuse. One of
these was the Ministry of Posts, from which one can judge of the
remainder.) It isf related that one day Sultan Mahmud Yamimid-
Dawla despatched an ambassador to Bughrd Khan in Transoxiana,
and in the letter which had been drafted occurred this passage:
"
God Almighty saith, Verily the most honourable ofyou in God's
'
'
are agreed that here he [t.e. the Prophet] guards himself from
ignorance for the souls of men are subject to no more grievous
;
defect than this of ignorance, nor is there aught lower than the
blemish of folly. To the truth of this proposition and the sound-
ness of this assertion [God's] uncreated word also bears witness:
'[God will raise up those of you who believe~\ and those to whom
hath been given knowledge to [superior] degrees*! Therefore we
desire that the I minis of the land of Transoxiana and the
doctors of the East and scholars of the Kh&qdn's Court should
impart [to us] this much information as to matters essential [to
Salvation]. What is the Prophetic Office, what Saintship, what
Religion, what Isldm, what Faith, what Well-doing, what Godli-
ness, what the Approbation of Right, what the Prohibition of
Wrong, what the Path, what the Balance, what Mercy, what Pity,
what Justice, and what Excellence?"
When this letter reached the Court of Bughra Khan, and
he had acquainted himself with its purport and contents, he
summoned the Imdms of Transoxiana from the different towns
and districts, and took counsel with them on this matter. Several
of the greatest and most eminent of these Imams agreed that
they should severally compose a treatise on this subject, and
in the course of their dissertation introduce into the text a reply
to these interrogations. They craved a delay of four months for
this purpose which respite was fraught with all sorts of detri-
;
ments, the worst of which were the disbursements from the treasury
for the expenses of the ambassadors and king's messengers, and
*
Qur'dn, xlix, 13. Qur'dn, Iviii, 12.
SECOND DISCOURSE. ON THE POETIC ART 27
"
Saith God's -Apostle (upon whom be ffte Blessing of God, and
His Peace) Reverence for God's Command and loving-kindness
*
ANECDOTE XII.
'Alxlu'lldh al-Khujislanf, who revolted at Nishapilr and died in 264/877-8." (Bar bier
de Mcynard's />/</. Gfogr., Hist*, et Litt. tie la Perse ^ p. 197.) The editor points out
(Persian notes, p. \tr, and Note XIII at the end) that, according to Ibnu'l-Alhir,
Ahmad was assassinated in Shawwal, 268/882, after having reigned at Nisha*piir six
six years. See tint Journal Ariafitjue for 1845, PP* 345 et seqq. of the second half.
See Kth's Rildagfs I'orlanfer und Zeitgenossmi pp. 38-40, where these verses
*
traces will remain of his army, his treasure, and liis store but ;
his name will endure for ever by reason of the poet's verse, as
4
Sharff-i-Mujallidf of Gurgdn says :
Bayhaq, also near Ni.sliapur, was according to YarjiU (who gives an unsatisfactory
1
the end of this volume (derived in almost all cases from Mirza Muhammad's notes to
the Persian text) save in the case of a few who are too well known to need further
mentio/i (such as 'Unsuri, 'Asjadf, Farrukhf and Miniichihri) and a rather larger
number concerning whom no information is obtainable from the sources at present
available,such as Lii'liVi, Gulabi, 'AH Sipihri, Sughcli, Pisar-i-Tfsha, Kafa'f,
Ktisa-i-FaH, PUr-i-Kalah, Abu'l-Qasim Rafl'f, Abd Bakr Jawhari and 'AH Sdft.
Concerning Ja'far of Hamadan, see vol. ii of my Lit. Hist, of Persia, p. 260.
30 SECOND DISCOURSE. GREAT PERSIAN POETS
KhabbAzf of Nfshdpiir, and Abu'l- Hasan al-Kisd'f the names of;
shih fled before him. In vengeance for those two royal victims,
whom they had treated with such indignity, and of whom they
had spoken so lightly, he sacked the city of Ghazna, and destroyed
the buildings raised by Mahmud, Mas'iid and Ibrahim, but he
bought with gold the poems written in their praise, and placed
them in his library. Alike in the army and in the city none
dared call them king, yet the Conqueror himself would read
from the Shdtydma what Abu'l-Qasim Firdawsf says :
"
Of the child in its cot, ere its lips yet are dry
From the milk of its mother, Mahmtid!* is the cry !
*
All wise men know that herein was no reverence for Mahmud,
but only admiration of Firdawsf and his verse. Had Sultdn
Mahmud understood this, he would presumably not have left
that noble man disappointed and despairing.
Ghaznawi towards the 'middle of the .sixth century of the Flight. From his devastation
of Ghazna (550/1 155-6) their brother 'AlaVd-Dfn Husayn the Ghiiri received the title
vifahdn-sfa ("the World-consumer "). See Note XV at the end.
32 SECOND DISCOURSE. THE POET'S TRAINING
ANECDOTE XIII.
They relate thus, that Nasr ibn Ahmad, who was the most
brilliant jewel of the Smdnid galaxy, whereof the fortunes reached
their zenith during the days of his rule, was most plenteously
equipped with every means of enjoyment and material of
splendour well-filled treasuries, a far-flung army and loyal
servants. In winter he used to reside at his capital, Bukhdrd,
while in summer he used to go to Samarqand or some other of
the'cities of Khurdsdn. Now one year it was the turn of Herdt.
He spent th$ spring season at Bddghfs, where are the most
charming pasture-grounds of Khurasdn and 'Iniq, for there are
nearly a thousand water-courses abounding in water and pasture,
any one of which would suffice for an army. *
f
When the beasts had well enjoyed their spring feed, and had
regained their strength and condition, and were fit for warfare or
to take the field, Nasr ibn Ahmad turned his face towards Herdt,
t>ut halted outside the city at Margh-i-Sapfd and there pitched
his camp. It was the season of spring cool breezes from the
;
north were stirring, and the fruit was ripening in the districts of
Mdlin and Kariikh 1 such fruit as can be obtained in but few
places, and nowhere so cheaply. There the army rested. The
climate was charming, the breeze cool, food plentiful, fruit
abundant, and the air filled with fragrant scents, so that the
soldiers enjoyed their life to the full during the spring and summer.;
When Mihrgdn 2 arrived, and the juice of the grape came into
3 4 8
season, and the basil rocket and fever-few were in bloom, they
,
did full justice to the delights of youth, and took tribute of their
juvenile prime. Mihrgdn was protracted, for the cold did not wax
severe, and the grapes ripened with exceptional sweetness. For
in the district of Herdt one hundred and twenty different varieties
of the grape occur, each sweeter and more delicious than the
other and amongst them are in particular two kinds which are
;
1
See Barbier de Meynard's Diet, de la Perse pp. 487, 511-512, according to
',
which the former village is distant from Herat two parasangs, the latter ten.
2
The festival of the autumnal equinox, which fell in the old Persian month of
Mihr.
Shdhisfaram (Arabic Rayhdri) = Ocymum basilicum. Sec Schli miner's Termino-
3
B. 3
34 SECOND DISCOURSE. ON POETS
small-stoned, and luscious, so that you would say they contained
no earthly elements. A
cluster of Kalanjarf grapes sometimes
attains a weight of five maunds, and each individual grape five
dirhams' weight, they are black as pitch and sweet as sugar, and
one can eat many by reason of the lusciousness that is in them.
And besides these there were all sorts of other delicious fruits.
So the Amfr Nasr ibn Ahmad saw Mihrgdn and its fruits,
and was mightily pleased therewith. Then the narcissus began
to bloom, and the raisins were plucked and stoned 1 in MAlin,
and hung up on lines, and packed in store-rooms and the Amir ;
with his army moved into the two groups of hamlets called Ghiira
and Darwdz. There he saw mansions of which eaclf one was like
highest paradise, having before it a garden or pleasure ground
with a northern aspect. There they wintered, while the Mandarin
oranges began to arrive from Sfstdn and the sweet oranges from
Mdzandardn aod so they passed the winter in the most agree-
;
able manner.
When
[the second] spring came, the Amfr sent the horses to
Bddghfs and moved his camp to Mdlin [to a spot] between two
streams. And when summer came and the fruits again ripened,
Amfr Nasr ibn Ahmad said, "Where shall we go for the summer ?
For there is no pleasanter place of residence than this. Let us
"
wait till Mihrgdn." And when
Mihrgein came, he said, Let us
enjoy Mihrgdn at Herat and then go"; and so from season to
season he continued to procrastinate, until four years had passed
in this way. For it was then the heyday of the Samdnian pro-
sperity, and the land was flourishing, the kingdom unmenaced by
.foes, the army loyal, fortune favourable, and heaven auspicious ;
yet withal the Amfr's attendants grew weary, and desire for home
arose within them, while they beheld the king quiescent, the air
of Herdt in his head and the love of Herdt in his heart; and in
the course of conversation he would compare, nay, prefer Herat
to the Garden of Eden, and would exalt its charms above those
of a Chinese temple 2 .
there was none more honoured of the king's intimates, and none
whose words found so ready an acceptance. And they said to
him, "We will present thee with five thousand dinars if thou wilt
contrive some artifice whereby the king may be induced to depart
1
For this meaning of munaqqa the editor refers to the article ZaMb in the
Tnhfattfl-Mtiminin of Muhammad Mri'min al-Husayni. For an account of this
work, which was completed in A.D. 1669, see 'Fonahn's Zur Quellenkunde der
*
Persiscken Medizin, pp. 89-91.
2 Or "Chinese
Spring." See n. * on p. a a supra.
8
See the"s excellent monograph and his article in the Encyclopaedia Britannica;
p. 62 of the/.^.^.A for January, 1899 ; and Note XIV at the end, second paragraph.
RtiDAGf AND THE AlVffR NASR 35
hence, for our hearts are craving for our wives and children, and
our souls (rr) are like to leave us for longing after BukharA."
Rudagf agreed and, since he had felt the Amir's pulse and
;
in and sat down in his place and, when the musicians ceased,
;
he took up the harp, and, playing the " Lover's air," began this
1
elegy :
" The
Jii-yi-Muliydn* we call to mind,
We longfor those dear friends long left behind?
Then he strikes a lower key, and sings :
r
of Oxtis, toilsome though they be,
Beneath my feet were soft as silk to
me.
Glad at the friends* return, the Ox us deep
Up to our girths in laughing waves shall leap.
Long live Bukhdrd / Be tliou ofgood cheer!
Joyous towards thee hasteth our Amir!
The Moon's the Prince, Bukhdrd is the sky;
O Sky, the Moon shall light thee by and by /
Bukhdrd is the mead, the Cypress he;
"
Receive at last, O Mead, thy Cypress-tree !
When Rudagf reached this verse, the Amfr was so much affected
that he descended from his throne, all unbooted bestrode the
horse which was on sentry-duty 8, and set off for Bukhdrd so
precipitately that they carried his leggings and riding-boots
1
This poemis very well known, being cited in almost all notices of Rudagi's life
Blochmann's Prosody of the Persians, pp. 2-3. See Note XVI at the end.
9
The original name of this stream and the farms on its banks was, according to
Narshakhi's History} of Bukhdrd, J6-yi-Mawdliydn, "the Clients' Stream." See
Note XVI at the end of this volume.
*
Khing-i-nawbatl. To provide against any sudden emergency a horse, ready
saddled and bridled, was kept always at the gate of the king's palace, and it is this
" "
sentry-horse to which reference is here made. See my Lit, Hist, of Persia, vol. i,
p. 317* and n. i adcalc.
3-2
36 SECOND DISCOURSE. ON POETS
aftr him for two parasangs, as far as Bur Ana 1 and only then ,
reached Bukhard, and Riidagf received from the army the double
of that five thousand dindrs.
At Samarqand, in the year A.H. 504 (=A.D. iiio-iui), I
heard from the Dihqdn Abii Rij Ahmad ibn 'Abdu's-Samad
"
al-'Abidf as follows My grandfather' Abu Rija related that on
:
"
Now advanceth Rustamfrom Mtizandardn,
(ft)
Now advanceth Zayn-i-Mulk from Isfahdn?
All wise men will perceive how great is the difference between
this poetry and that for who can sing with such sweetness as
;
u
Surely arc renown and praise a lasting gain^
Even though the royal coffers loss sustain!"
For in this couplet are seven admirable touches of art ; first, the
verse is apposite secondly, antithetical thirdly, it has a refrain
; ; ;
it embodies an enunciation of
fourthly, equivalence fifthly, it ;
of the craft who has deeply considered the poetic art will admit,
after a little reflection, that I am right.
1 L.
has AJJu^ l^, and in a marginal note explains buruna as meaning turban or
handkerchief; but A. has AJ^/J and I suspect that it is really a place-name.
<y,
Cf. Sachau's remarks on the derivation of al-Bfnini's name at p. 7 of his translation of
the Chronology of Ancient Nations.
2
See Houtsma's ed. of al-Bundari's History of the Sa/jriys t pp. 93, 101, 105; and
Ibnu'l-Athir under the year 506/1112-13, in which Zaynu'1-Mulk was put to death by
his master Sultan Muhammad ibn Malikshah the Saljiiq.
3
Mirza Muhammad points out in his note on this passage (p. \Y\) that the first
three artifices are denoted by adjectives and the last four by substantives, and that* the
first and second (mutdbiq and mutadddd] are identical.
Finally he justly observes
that "style" or "elegance" (fa$rfhat) is not a rhetorical artifice but an indispensable
attribute of all good writing, whether prose or verse.
SULTAN HARMED AND AvAz 37
ANECDOTE XIV.
The love borne by Sultdn Yamimtd-Dawla Mahmiid to Aydz
the Turk is well-known and famous. It is related that Ayaz was
not remarkably handsome, but was of sweet expression and olive
complexion, symmetrically formed, graceful in his movements,
sensible and deliberate in action, and mightily endowed with all
the arts of pleasing, in which respect, indeed, he had few rivals in
his time. Now all these are qualities which excite love and give
permanence to friendship.
( Now Sultan Yamtnu'd-Dawla Mahmiid was a pious and God-
fearing man, and he wrestled much with his love for Aydz so that
he should not diverge by so much as a single step from the Path
of the Law and the Way of Honour. One night, however, at a
carousal, when the wine had begun to affect hinrf and love to stir
within him, he looked at the curls of Aydz, and saw, as it were,
ambergris rolling over the face of the moon, hyacinths twisted
about the visage of the sun, ringlet upon ringlet like a coat of
mail link upon link like a chain in every ringlet a thousand
; ;
1
Here and in the next sentence I have preferred the alternative reading of the
" IVe believe and we " in this
MSS. to the printed text, which has affirm place, and
omits these and the preceding eleven words below.
38 SECOND DISCOURSE. ON POETS
When the morning breeze blew upon him, and he arose from
sleep to ascend the Royal Throne, he remembered what he had
done. He summoned Aydz and saw the clipped tresses. The
army of remorse invaded his heart, and the peevish headache
born of wine vanquished his brain. He kept rising up and sitting
down [aimlessly], and none of the courtiers or men of rank dared
to address to him any enquiry as to the cause, until at length
Hdjib 'AH [ibn] Qarfb, who was his Chief Chamberlain, turned
"
to 'Unsurf and said, Go in before the King and shew thyself to
him, and seek some way whereby he may be restored to good
temper." So 'Unsurf fulfilled the Chamberlain's command, came
in and did obeisance. Sultdn Yamfnu'd-Dawla raised his head
and said, " O 'Unsurf, I was just thinking of you. You see what
has happened say something appropriate for us on this subject."
:
"
Why deem it shame a fair one*s curls to shear,
Why rise in wrath or sit in sorrow here?
Rather rejoice, make merry, callfor wine;
When clipped the Cypress doth most trim appear?
ANECDOTE XV.
Farrukhf was a native of Sfstdn, and was the son of Juliigh,
the slave of Amfr Khalaf-i-Bdnil 1. He possessed excellent
talents,composed pleasing verses, and was a dexterous performer
on the harp and he was retained in the service of one of the
;
"
He therefore appealed to the dihqdn saying, expenses have My
been increased how would it be if the dihqdn, having regard to
;
'0J*X^J*J +**
'
W
'
O^-*- J ^** +t-
*
0*& W
+
a huge turban on his head after the manner of the Sagzfs, with
the most unpleasing feet and shoes and this poetry, withal, in
;
the seventh heaven. He could not believe that it had been com-
"
posed by this Sagzf, and, to prove him, said, The Amfr is at the
branding-ground, whither I go to wait upon him and thither I :
full of tents and lamps like stars, and from each tent come the
strains of the lute, and friends sit together, drinking wine and
making merry, while before the AmiVs pavilion a great fire is
kindled, in size like unto several mountains, whereat they brand
the colts. And the Amfr, with the goblet in one hand and the
lassoo in the other, drinks wine and gives away horses. Compose,
now, a qasida, suitable to the occasion, describing the branding-
ground, so that I may take thee before the Amfr."
That night Farrukhf went and composed a very fine qastda y
qastda* :
1
The variant is in the margin of L. as meaning o J^j} 3
^btj explained
which I originally translated "roadster." The verb O****J> from wnich
seems to be derived, appears to be a variant of )}\j>
8
These words are omitted in the printed edition.
8
Pish upas, "hind before."
* See
pp. i*-\ \v of the lithographed edition of Farrukhf 's works published at
\
1
The printed text has^Jta*** for *,*& j^J.
9 A gloss in the lithographed Tihrdn edition explains this word as meaning
"necklace" (jL^ O4r)> w^c^ meaning is also given in the Ghiydthu'l-Lughdt.
8 Variant ...C^w^^ i^lAAa^jy.
4
The printed text has jl^*. Ot^d"^ O39"*
6 The printed text has l^ for j and om. j after
42 SECOND DISCOURSE. ON POETS
1
The Majma'u 'l-Fusahd, as pointed out by the Editor (p. til), arbitrarily
substitutes
jJtlb for ^j>"** , in order to support the theory that the poem was com-
posed in honour of No. 6 not No. 7 of the House of Chaghdniyan. See Note XVIII
at the end.
2
The " "
O^^J explained
printed text has as slave-boys
The Tihra*n ed. has O^*> "eye**-"
3 The printed text has $~~t? jj*t
+
4
The lithograph substitutes
'
Fakkr-i-Dawlat."
5
Both the printed and the lithographed editions have :
Serpent-coiled in skilful hands fresh forms his whirling noose doth take,
Like unto the rod of Moses metamorphosed to a snake.
Whosoever hath been captured by that noose and circling line,
On the face andflank and shoulder ever bears the Royal Sign.
But, though on one side he brands, hegiveth also rich rewards,
Leads his foets with a bridle, binds his guests as though with cords?
had produced its full effect on the Amfr, then he arose and recited
this rhapsody (* *) on the branding-ground. The Amfr was amazed,
and in his admiration turned to Farrukhf, saying, " They have
brought in a thousand colts, all with white foreheads, fetlocks and
feet, bred in Khatlcin
2
The way is [open] to thee Thou art a
. !
head, hurled himself into the midst of the herd, and chased a
drove of them before him across the plain but, though he caused ;
effect. My own case was precisely similar and good poetry has;
never yet been wasted. Thou hast a goodly share in this art:
thy verse is even and melodious, and is still improving. Wait
and see the advantages which thou wilt reap from this science.
For though Fortune should at first be grudging, matters will
eventually turn out as thou wishest.
"
My father Burhdnf, the Poet-laureate (may God be merciful to
him !) passed away from this transitory to that eternal world in the
town of Qazwfn in the early part of the reign of Malikshah, en-
trusting me to the King in this verse, since then become famous
2
:
King's service; yet during this time I was unable to see him
save once from a distance, nor did I get one dindr of my salary
or one maund of my allowances, while my expenditure was in-
creased I became involved in debt, and my brain was perplexed
by my affairs. For that great Minister the Nizdmu'1-Mulk (may
God be merciful to him !), had no opinion of poetry, because he
had no skill in it; nor did he pay any attention to any one
except religious leaders and mystics.
"One day it was the eve of the day on which [the new
moon of] Ramadan was due [to appear], and I had not a farthing
for all the expenses incidental to that month and the feast which
follows it I went thus sad at heart to the Amfr 'AH ibn Far-
could do (tf ) can the son do, nor does that which accrued to the
father accrue to the son. father was a bold and energetic
My
man, and was sustained by his art, and the martyred King Alp
Arslin, the lord of the world, entertained the highest opinion of
him. But what he could do that can I not, for modesty forbids
me, and retiring disposition supports it. I have served [this
my
prince] for a year, and have contracted debts to the extent of a
thousand dinars, and have not received a farthing. Crave per-
mission, then, for thy servant to go to Nfshipiir, and discharge
his debts, and live on that which is left over, and pray for this
victorious Dynasty.'
truly,' replied Amfr AH: 'We have all
C
"'Thou speakest
been at fault, but this shall be so no longer. The King, at the
time of Evening Prayer, will come out to look for the new moon.
Thou must be present there, and we will see what chance Fortune
Thereupon he at once ordered me to receive a hundred
will offer.'
dinars to defray my Ramaddn expenses, and a purse 8 containing
1
According to the Editor's note (p. \\\ of the text) jdmagt is equivalent to the
modern mawdjib or mustamirri, and means wages in cash, while ijrd (the modern
jira\ means allowances, especially in kind.
*
AH ibn Faramara the Kakwayhid is intended. See S. Lane-Poole's Muhammadan
Dy nasties > p. 145,
and Mirza* Muhammad's note on pp. \\\\ v. of the text. He is
called Ddmdd ("son-in-law," but here in the wider sense of "sib") because in
469/1076-7 he married Malikshah's paternal aunt, Arsldn Kha*tun, widow of the
Caliph al-Qa'im biamri'llah. He ultimately fell in battle in 488/1095.
3
Muhr ordinarily means a seal, but Mirza* Muhammad (p. \ Y of the Persian
notes) quotes other passages shewing that it was also used in the sense of a sealed
purse, containing a definite and certified sum of money.
EARLY STRUGGLES OF Mu'izzf 47
nesses, and they then busied themselves in looking for the moon.
The King, however, was the first to see it, whereat he was mightily
pleased. Then 'Ald'u'd-Dawla said to me,
'
son of Burh^nf, say O
something original about this moon/ and I at once recited these
two couplets :
"
MethinkS) O Moon> thou art our Prince*s bow,
Or his curved eyebrow, which doth charm us so,
Or else a horse-shoe wrought ofgold refined*
\ Or ringfrom Heavcris ear depending low?
"
When I had submitted these verses, Amfr 'AH applauded
'
much, and the King said, Go, loose from the stable whichever
horse thou pleasest'; for at that moment we were standing close
to the stable. Amfr 'AH designated a horse which was brought
out and given to my attendants, and which proved to be worth
three hundred dinars of Nfshdpiir. The King then went to his
oratory, and I performed the evening prayer with him, after
which we sat down to meat. At the table Amfr 'AH said, O son
'
of Burhinf Thou hast not yet said anything about this favour
!
recting him]. And this noble and nobly born lord so wrought for me
that next day, by the time of the afternoon prayer, I had received
a thousand dindrs as a gift, twelve hundred more as allowances,
and likewise an order for a thousand maunds of corn. And when
the month of Ramadan was past, he summoned me to court, and
caused me to become the King's boon -com pan ion. So my fortune
began to improve, and thenceforth he made continuing provision
for me, and to-day whatever I have I possess by the favour of
that Prince. May God, blessed and exalted is He, rejoice his
dust with the lights of His Mercy, by His Favour and His
Grace!"
ANECDOTE XVII.
The House of Saljuq were all fond of poetry, but none more
so than TughAnshih ibn Alp Arslan 1 whose conversation and
,
1
His full names and titles were Sham sit d- Denote Adu'l-Fawtiris Tnghdnshdh ibn
Alp Arslan Muhammad ibn Chaghrl Big ibn Mfofftl ibn SaljAt/. During the reign of
Alp Arsldn he governed Khurasan from Herdt. By Ridd-quli Kha*n (Afajma'u'i-
Fn?a?ni, i, 139) and other biographers he has been confused with Tughdnshah ibn
Mu'ayyad Ay-aba. See the Editor's note on the text, pp. \Y.-t\r, where many
passages from poems in his praise by Azraqi are cited.
8 See Note XX at the
end, and the Editor's long note on pp. iYf-\YA of the
text ; Awfi's Lubab, ch. X, No. 3 ; Dawlatshah (pp. 71-73 of my ed.), Tabaqa II,
No. i ; and Majma'ifl-Fufahd, vol. i, pp. vr*-\of.
8 Abu Mansifr <Abdu'r-Rashid ibn Ahmad ibn Abi Yiisuf al-Hirawf. See 'Awfi's
Ahmad Badihf two pieces in the first house 1 and it was the
;
"
Reproach not Fortune with discourteous tricks,
If by the Kinfo desiring double six*
Two ones were thrown; for whomsoever he calls
Face to the earth before him prostrate falls?
ANECDOTE XVIII.
In the year A.M. 472 (A.D. 1079- io8o) 2 a certain spiteful person
laid astatement before Sultan Ibnihfm to the effect that his son,
Amfr Mahmud Sayfu'd-Dawla, intended to go to 'Iniq to wait on
Malikshih. The King's jealousy was aroused, and it so worked
on him that suddenly he had his son seized, bound, and interned
1
For the explanation of this passage I am indebted to my friend Mfrz 'Abdu'l-
"
Ghaffar of the Persian Legation. The six "houses on each side of the backgammon
board are named (proceeding from left to right) as follows : (i) khdl-khdnm yak-gdh,
(*) d&-khdn, (3) si-khdn, (4) chahdr-khdn, (5) bdf-dar* (6) shish-khdn or shish-dar-
gdh. The numbers contained in these names allude to the numtors which must be
thrown with the dice to get the pieces which occupy them off the board.
3
The MSS. and L. all have "571," an evident error, for (i) Sultan Ibrdlifm the
Ghalnawf reigned A.M. 451-492 (A.D. 1059-1099); (2) Malikshdh reigned A.If. 465-
485 (A.D. 1072-1092) ; (5) the poet in question died in A.H. 515 or 525 (A.D. 1121 or
1
130) ; (4) the Chahdr Maqdla, as we have already seen, was written during the life-
time of Sultan 'AlaVd-Dfn \\uszynjahdn-si4z, i.e. before A.H. 556 (A.D. 1161).
50 SECOND DISCOURSE. ON POETS
lj >> ^ 13
IP
1
l iZ
J\ *
fW
1
Mirzrf Muhammad (Persian notes, p. \Y\) at first failed to identify Wajirist^n,
but now believes it to be identical with the modern Waziristan.
8The only mention of Nay hitherto discovered in Persian geographical w^orks
occurs in the Nuzhatu'l-QuMb, where it is briefly mentioned in the section dealing
with Marw-i-Shhjan.
1
These verses are inserted in the margin of A. (f. so8) only. They are omitted in
the printed text.
MAS'UD-I-SA'D'S IMPRISONMENT 51
1
As Mfrza Muhammad has pointed out (Persian notes, pp. i YV- \ A ) there is some
confusion of facts here. Mas'iid suffered two separate periods of imprisonment, the
first for ten years, of which seven were spent in Su and Dahak (between Zaranj and
Bust in Sfstan), the second for seven or eight years in Maranj in India. Sultan
Ibrahim's death took place in A.M. 492 (A.D. 1098-9), so that, if he was still suffering
his first imprisonment at that time, it cannot have begun earlier than A.H. 482
(A.D. 1089-1090). Wehave Mas'tid's own authority for fixing the duration of his
imprisonment at ten (not twelve) years. See his verses quoted at the top of p. \ A of
the Persian notes.
Qiwamu'1-Mulk Nizmu'd-Din Abu Nasr Hibatu'lteh al-Farsf, a leading states-
3
man during these two reigns and a friend and patron of our poet, fell into disgrace in
the reign of Sultan Mas'iid, together with his clients and proteges. He died about
510/1116.
* He was
prime minister to Sultan Mas'iid ibn Ibrahim, and patron of many poets,
including, besides Mas'tid-i-Sa'd-i-Salman, Abu'l-Faraj-l-Runf, Mukhtaii and Sand'f,
all of whom have sung his praises. His uncle Abu Nasr Manstir ibn Mushkdn was
secretary to Sultan Mahmud and Sulta*n Mas'iid, author of a volume of Memoirs and
teacher of the historian Abu'1-Fadl-i-Bayhaqi.
42
52 SECOND DISCOURSE. ON POETS
Dfn Muhammad 1
, the son at the gates of
of Malikshdh,
Hamaddn, on the occasion of the rebellion of his son-in-law
(may God make fragrant their dust, and exalt their station in
Paradise!) Amfr Shihdbu'd-Dfn Qutulmush Alp Ghdzf, "It is
the sign of a malicious heart to keep a foe imprisoned for one ;
ANECDOTE XIX.
tin the time of Sultan Khidr ibn Ibrahfm* the power of the
3
Khdqinfs was at its most flourishing period, while the strength
of their administration and the respect in which it was held were
such as could ncf*. be surpassed.
Now he was a wise and just ruler and an ornament to the
throne, and to him appertained the dominion of Transoxiana and
Turkistdn, while he enjoyed the most complete security on the
side of Khurdsdn, wherewith he was allied by friendly relations,
kinship, and firm treaties and covenants. And of the splendour
maintained by him one detail was this, that when he rode out
they carried before his horse, besides other arms, seven hundred
maces of gold and silver. He was, moreover, a great patron of
poets, and were Amfr 'Am'aq Master Rashfdf,
in his service 4
,
He replied that it was good, but wanted spice. Now you must
compose a couple of verses on this subject." Rashfdf, with a bow,
sat down in his place and improvised the following fragment :
Khdn's there were set for largesse four trays of red gold, each
containing two hundred and fifty dindrs\ and these he used to
dispense by the handful. On this day he ordered Rashfdf to
receive all four trays, so he obtained the highest honour, and
became famous. For just as a patron becomes famous by the
verse of a good poet, so do poets likewise achieve renown by
u
receiving a great reward from the King, these two thi ~'ng
irfterdependent.
1
Sayyidu'sh-Shu'ard.
54 SECOND DISCOURSE. ON POETS
ANECBOTE XX.
v
Master Abu l-Q4sim Firdawsf x was one of the Dihqins (land-
2
owners) of Tiis, from a village called Bdzh in the district of
Tabardn a large village capable of supplying a thousand men.
3
,
1
This anecdote is cited by Ibn Isfandiydr in his History of Tabaristdn (A.H. 613,
A.D. 1216. See Rieu's Persian Catalogue* pp. 202-204 and 533 b), whence it was
excerpted and published, with a German translation, by Ethe (Z.D.M.G., vol. xlviii,
It was also utilized by Noldeke in 1896 in his Iranischf Nationalepos
pp. 89-94).
\Grundriss d. Iran. Phihlogie^ vol. ii, pp. 150 ct seqq.). A revised edition of this
valuable has just appeared (Berlin and Leipzig, 1920). The references
monograph
here given are, unless otherwise specified, to the original edition.
2
The Burhdn-i-Qdti'' is the only Persian or Arabic book of reference which
makes mention of this place as situated near Tris.
9 See
Noldeke, toe. cit. t p. 151 (p. 25 of the new edition), and Yaqiit, s.v. The
city of Tiis comprised the two districts of Tabaran (or Tabaran) and Nitqan.
4 These verses
(with some variants) will be found on pp. 124-125 of vol. i*of
Turner Macan's edition of the Shdhndma (Calcutta, 1829).
* The printed text has J*\j*
6 The text has J** for
FlRDAWSf 55
many favours :
"
^y //** men of renown of Ms city *AU Daylam and Ab& Dulaf have
participated in this book.
From them my portion was naught save * Well done T
gall-bladder was like to burst with their Well dones*?
*
My
fltiyayy the son of Qutayba is a nobleman who asks me not for unrewarded
verse.
I know nothing either of the root nor the branches of the land-tax;
I lotinge [at ease\ in the midst of my quilt**"
1
Poor asthis rendering is, I am strongly of opinion that for an English rendering
of the Shdhndma (which always seems to me very analogous in aim, scope, and
treatment to that little-read English Epic, the Brut of Layamon) the old English
alliterative verse would be the most suitable form.
2
See Noldeke, op. at., p. 153 (p. 27 of the new edition), and n. ? adcalc.
3
So A. and L. B. has the more usual " Husayn b. Qutayba." Cf. Noldeke, he. cit.
4 I.c. I am sick of their barren and
unprofitable plaudits. As these poor men
rendered him material service in other ways, Firdawsi's remarks seem rather un-
*
grateful.
5
What followsevidently an explanation of this couplet. Firdawsf means that
is
being no longer vexed with the exactions of the tax-gatherer, he can now repose in
peace.
6This celebrated minister had the title Shamsrfl-Kufdt and the nisba of al-
Maymandi. He died in 424/1033 after twenty years' service as Minister to Sultan
Mahmiid.
56 SECOND DISCOURSE. ON POETS
4
Thy gaze the Creator can never descry; '
Then wherefore, by gazing, dost weary thine eye ?
summon thee and seek to satisfy thee fully, for the labour spent on
such a book must hot be wasted." And next day he sent Firdawsf
"
100,000 dirhams, saying, I buy each couplet at a thousand
copy of them, so that this satire was done away with and only
these six verses of it remained 4 :
1
The MSS. have Shahrzdd and the lithographed edition Shfrzdd, both of which
readings are erroneous. The correct reading Shahriyar is given by Ibn Isfandiyar in
his citation of this passage. His full genealogy, with references to the histories in
whiah mention is made of him, is given on p. \ ^ of the Persian notes.
2
The last Sasanian king. * Cf.
Noldeke, loc. cit., p. 155, and n. 4 ad cole.
4
This is a remarkable statement, and, if true, would involve the assumption that
the well-known satire, as we have it, is spurious. Cf. Noldeke (op. ?.), pp. 155-156,
and n. i on the latter, and pp. 30-31 of his new edition of Das Iran. NationaUpos.
58 SECOND DISCOURSE. ON POETS
But as the camels were entering through the Rtidbdr Gate, the
corpse of Firdawsf was being borne forth from the Gate of Razdn
1
.
this doctor. Now within the Gate there was a garden belonging
to Firdawsf, and there they buried him, and there he lies to this
day." And in the year A.H. 5 10 (A.D. 1 1 16-1 117)! visited his tomb
9
.
not accept it, saying, " I need it not." The Post-master wrote to
the Court and represented this to the King, who ordered that
doctor to be expelled from Tabardn as a punishment for his
officiousness, and to be 'exiled from his home, and the money to
be given to the Imdm Abii Bakr ibn Ishdq-i-KirAmf s for the
repair of the rest-house of Chaha, which stands on the road
between Merv and Nfshdpi'ir on the boundaries of Tiis. When
this order reached Tiis it was faithfully carried out; and the
restoration of the rest-house of Chiha was effected by this money.
ANECDOTE XXI.
At the period when I was in the service of my Lord the King
of the Mountains 4 (may God illuminate (r) his tomb and exalt
his station in Paradise !), that august personage had a high opinion
of me, and shewed himself a most generous patron towards me.
Now on the Festival of the Breaking of the Fast one of the
nobles of the city of Balkh (may God maintain its prosperity !),
Amfr 'Amfd Safiyyu'd-Dfn Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn al-Husayn
Rawdnshdhf, came to the Court. He was a young man, accom-
plished and highly esteemed, an expert writer, a qualified secretary
of state, well endowed with culture and its fruits, popular with
all, whose praises were on all tongues. And at this time I was
not in attendance.
1
See Noldeke's new edition of his Ptrs. Nationalepos* p. 32, n. 2 ad calc. There
are several places called R&dbdr, of which one situated near Tabardn is probably
meant. See B. de Meynard's Diet, de la Perse, p. 266. A
Razdn in Si&tan is mentioned
by al-Baladhnri (pp. rvi-TAY), and another (O^j) m
the district of Nasa in Khurasan
(Diet, de la Perse, p. 259).
8 I am not
sure at what point the inverted commas should be inserted, but the last
sentence of this paragraph is certainly Nizdmi's.
8
This divine, Abti Bakr Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Mahmashad, was the head of
the Kira"mi sect at Nfshapiir, and his biography is given i'n the Tctrikhu'l- Yamlnt
(ed. Cairo, pp. r v~vr -
). The Kirdmi sect inclined to anthropomorphism. A full
account of their doctrines will be found in Shahristdni's Kitdbttl-Milaliva'n-Nihal.
*
This, as already stated, was the title assumed by the kings of GhiSr generally,
and by the first of them, Qutbu'd-Din Muhammad ibn 'Izzu'd-Din Husayn,
especially.
He it was whose death was avenged by his brother Sultan 'Ald'u'd'-Dm Jahdn-s&z in
the sack of Ghazna, and who was our author's patron. See Note XV
at the end.
60 SECOND DISCOURSE. ON POETS
and, ere the wine-cup had gone twice round, composed these five
couplets :
1
Thereading of this nisba is very doubtful in all three texts, both here and lower.
In some itappears to read Minbari*
2 The correct reading, si-yak j> is that given in the text, not sangt, which most of
the MSS. have. It 'is wine reduced by evaporation to one-third of its original bulk ;
in Arabic it is similarly called mulhallath. See the Anjuman-drdyi-Nd^irl^ s.v.
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL 61
"
H7 <? 7v Mra Nizdmts in the world, O King, on account of whom a whole
world is filled with outcry.
I am at Warsdd 1 before the Kings throne, while those two others are in
Merv before the Sultdn.
To-day, in truth, in verse each one is the Pride of Khurdsdn.
Although they utter verse subtle as spirit, and although they understand the
Art of Speech like Wisdom,
I am the Wine, for, when I get hold of them, both desist from their work"
Jew. It was the middle of summer and the time of active work,
and they melted much of the ore, so that in seventy days twelve
thousand maunds of lead appertaining to the tithe 3 accrued to
me, while the King's opinion of me was increased a thousand-fold.
May God (blessed and exalted is He) illuminate his august ashes
with the light of His approval and rejoice his noble soul by the
accumulation of wealth, by His Favour and Grace !
and should continually study the "Opus Major 8/' and should
look frequently into the Qdntin-i-Maftidi* and the Jdmi'-i-
Shdht, so that his knowledge and concepts may be refreshed.
1 Abu'l-'Abbas al-Fadl ibn
I.Iatam of Nayriz (near Darabjird in Firs). He
flourished in the latter half of the third century of the Flight (late ninth and early
tenth of the Christian era).
2
Presumably Avicenna's great philosophical work of this name is intended.
3
See Brockelmann's Gesch. d. Arab. Lttt. t vol. i, pp. 221-222, pp. t*A 4
of the Persian notes, and Note XXI II at the end.
4 See n. 6 on 5
See n. i on p. 62 supra.
p. 62 supra.
9 See
Ibid., pp. 222-223. Kiya Abu'l- Hasan Kiishydr ibn Labban ibn Basliahrf
al-Jili (of Gilan) was a very notable astronomer who flourished in the second half of
the fourth century of the Flight (tenth of Ihe Christian era). A fine MS. of his Mujmal
(Add. 7490) exists in the British Museum. See also p. f f of the Persian notes, and
Note XXIII at the end.
7 For this and other
Astrological terms see Note XXIV at the end.
8 Kdr-i-Mihtar
by Hasan ibnu'l-Khasfb, a notable astronomei of the second
century of the Flight.
Composed about A.D. 1031-6 for Sultan Mas'tid, to whom it is dedicated, by
8
10
A collection of fifteen treatises by Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abdu'l-Jalfl
as-Sajzf , a notable astronomer who flourished in the latter half of the tenth century of
the Christian era. See p. 62 supra, n. 6 ad calc.
64 THIRD DISCOURSE. ON ASTROLOGERS
ANECDOTE XXII.
Ya'qiib ibn Ishaq al-Kindf though he was a Jew, was the
1
,
philosopher of his age and the wisest man of his time, and stood
high in the service of al-Ma'mun. One day he came in before
al-Ma'miin, and sat down above one of the prelates of Islam.
Said this man, " Thou art of a subject race why then dost thou ;
Ya'qub ibn Ishaq asked for a tray of earth, rose up, took the
altitude, ascertained the Ascendant, drew an astrological figure
on the tray of earth, determined the positions of the stars and
located them in the Signs of the Zodiac, and fulfilled all the con-
ditions of divination and thought-reading 2 Then he said, " O
.
Abu Ma'shar 2 confessed and produced the knife from the middle
of the book, broke it, and cast it away. Then he bent his knees
and studied for fifteen years, until he attained in Astrology
that eminence which was his. (*v)
ANECDOTE XXIII.
It is related that once when Yamimtd-Dawla Sultan Mah-
mud ibn Nasiru'd-Di'n 8 was sitting on the roof of a four-doored
summer-house in Ghazna, in the Garden of a Thousand Trees,
he turned his face to Abti Rayhn 4 and said, "By which of these
" "
four doors shall I go out ? (for all four were practicable). De-
cide and write the decision on a piece of paper, and put it under
my quilt." Abu Rayhan called for an astrolabe, took the altitude,
determined the Ascendant, reflected for a while, and then wrote
down his decision on a piece of paper, and placed it under the
quilt. "Hast thou decided?" asked Mahmtid. He answered,
"
I have."
Then Mahmiid bade them bring a navvy with pick-axe and
spade, and in the wall which was on the eastern side they dug
out a fifth door, through which he went out. Then he bade them
bring the paper. So they brought it, and on it Abu Rayhan had
"
written, He will go out through none of these four doors, but
they will dig a fifth door in the eastern wall, by which door he
will go forth." Mahmiid, on reading this, was furious, and bade
them cast Abu Rayhdn down in the midst of the palace, and so
they did. Now there was stretched a net from the middle floor,
and on it Abii Rayhdn fell. The net tore, and he subsided gently
"
to the ground, so that he received no injury. Bring him in,"
said Mahmud. So they brought him in, and Mahmiid said, " O
"
Abii Rayhdn, at all events thou didst not know about this event!
1
Eiterally, "of the Banii Hdshim."
2
See n. 3 on p. 63 supra and Note XXIII at the end.
8
I.e. the great Sultan Mahmiid of Ghazna (reigned A.H. 388-421, A.D.
998-1030).
* Al-Bfninf. See n'. i on p. 62 supra, and Note XX III at the end.
B. 5
66 THIRD DISCOURSE. ON ASTROLOGERS
"
I knew it, Sire," answered he. Said Mahmiid, " Where is the
proof?" So Abii Rayhdn Almanac
called for his servant, took the
from him, and produced the prognostications out of the Almanac;
"
and amongst the predictions of that day was written To-day :
they will cast me down from a high place, but I shall reach the
earth in safety, and arise sound in body."
All this was not according to Mahmiid's mind. He waxed
still angrier, and ordered Abii Rayhdn to be detained in the
citadel. So Abii Rayhdn was confined in the citadel of Ghazna,
where he remained for six months.
ANECDOTE XXIV.
during that period of six months none dared
It is said that
Now when Abii Rayhn went to his house and the learned
came to congratulate him, he related to them the incident of the
sooth-sayer, whereat they were amazed, (*) and sent to summon
him. They found him quite illiterate, knowing nothing. Then
Abu Rayhdn said, " Hast thou the horoscope of thy nativity ? "
"
I have," he replied. Then he brought the horoscope and Abii
Rayhdn examined it, and the Part of the Unsfcen fell directly
on the degree of his Ascendant, so that whatever he said, though
he spoke blindly, came near to the truth.
ANECDOTE XXV.
I had in my employment a woman-servant, who was born on
the 28th of Safar, A.H. 51 1 2 (July ist, A.D. 1117), when the Moon
was in conjunction with the Sun and there was no distance be-
tween them, so that in consequence of this the Part of Fortune
and the Part of the Unseen both fell on the degree of the
Ascendant. When she reached the age of fifteen years, I taught
her Astrology, in which she became so skilful that she could
answer difficult questions in this science, and her prognostica-
tions came mighty near the truth. Ladies used to come to her
and question her, and the most part of what she said coincided
with the pre-ordained decrees of Fate.
One day an old woman came to her and said, " It is now
four years since a son of mine went on a journey and I have no
news of him, neither of his life nor of his death. See whether he
is of the living or the dead, and wherever he is acquaint me with
his condition." So the woman-astrologer arose, took the altitude,
worked out the degree of the Ascendant, drew out an astrological
figure, and determined the positions of the stars and the very ;
5-2
68 THIRD DISCOURSE. ON ASTROLOGERS
" "
I tell you," said the other, thy son hath come. Go, and if
he hath not come, return that I may tell thee how he is."
So the old woman went to her house, and lo, her son had
arrived and they were unloading his ass. She embraced him,
took two veils, and brought them to the woman -astrologer, saying,
"
Thou didst speak truly my son hath come," and gave her a
;
blessing with her present. When I came home and heard tidings
of this, I enquired of her, " By what indication didst thou speak,
"
and from what house didst thou deduce this prognostication ?
"
She answered, I had not reached so far as this. When I had
finished the figure of the Ascendant, (i ) a fly came and settled
on the number of the degree of the Ascendant, wherefore it so
seemed in my mind that this young man had returned. When
I had thus spoken, and the mother had gone to find out, it
became as certain to me that he had come as though I actually
saw him unloading his ass."
Then I perceived that it was the Part of the Unseen which
had effected all this on the degree of the Ascendant, and that
this [success of hers] arose from nothing else but this.
ANECDOTE XXVI.
Mahmiid
Dd'udi, the son of Abu'l-QAsim Da'iidi, was a great
fool, nay, almost a madman, and had no great amount of know-
ledge of the stars though of astrological operations he could
;
his neck became hard and prominent, and all the symptoms
of anger appeared in him, and he cried, " O So-and-so, who was
Abii 'AH ibn Sfad ? I am worth a thousand Abii 'AHs, for he
never even fought with a cat, whilst I fought before Amfr-Dad
with two Ghurf dogs." So on that day I knew him to be mad ;
ANECDOTE XXVII.
Hakfm-i-Mawsilf was one of the order of Astrologers in
Nfshdpiir,and was in the service of that Great Minister Nizdmu'l-
Mulk of Tiis, who used to consult with him on matters of import-
ance, and seek his advice (if) and opinion. Now when Mawsilf 's
years were drawing to a close, and failure of his faculties began
to manifest itself, and feebleness of body began to appear, so
that he was no longer able to perform these long journeys, he
asked the Minister's permission to go and reside at Nfshdpur,
and to send thence, annually, an almanac and forecast for
the year.
Now the Minister Nizdmu'1-Mulk was also in the decline of
life and near the term of existence and he said, " Calculate the
;
may God make illustrious his Proof, and accord him an ample
approval !
1
This is an error of .the author's, for the evidence that Nizdmu'1-Mulk was assas-
sinated at Nihdwand is overwhelming.
*UMAR KHAYYAM'S PROGNOSTICATION 71
ANECDOTE XXVIII.
In the year A.H. 506 (A.D. 1112-1113) Khwdja Imdm 'Umar-
2
i-Khayydmi and Khwdja Imdm Muzaffar-i-IsfizAr{ 3 had alighted
in the city of Balkh, in the Street of the Slave-sellers, in the
house of Amfr (ir) Abu Sa'd Jarrah, and I had joined that
assembly. In the midst of our convivial gathering I heard that
"
Argument of Truth (Hujjatul-Haqq) 'Umar My grave will
say,
be a spot where the trees will shed their blossoms on me twice
in
a year 4 ." This thing seemed to me impossible, though I 'knew
that one such as he would not speak idle words*
When I arrived at N(shpur in the year A.H. 530 (A.D. 1 135-6),
years since that great man had veiled his
5
it being then four
countenance in the dust, and this nether world had been bereaved
of him, I went to visit his grave on the eve of a Friday (seeing
that he had the claim of a master on me), taking with me one to
point out to me his tomb. So he brought me out to the Hfra
6
hayldj and kaiikhudd) are explained in the section of the MafdtihiSl-'ulum which
treats of Astrology (ed. van Vloten, pp. 125-232). See, however, Note XXIV at
the end.
2 The
MSS. have Khayydml^ the form usually found in Arabic books. See Note
XXV at the end.
3
A notable astronomer who collaborated with 'Umar-i-Khayydm and others in
A.H. 467 (A.D. 1074-1075) in the computation of the Jalalf era by command of
Malikshah. Ibnu'l-Athir mentions him under the above year by the name of Abu'l-
Muzaffar al-Isfizarf.
*
The editor of the text has adopted the reading of the Constantinople MS.,
"
every spring-tide the north wind will scatter blossoms on me," but the reading here
adopted seems to me preferable, for there would be nothing remarkable in the grave
being; covered with fallen blossoms once a year ; what was remarkable was that it
should happen twice.
The Constantinople MS., which is the oldest and most reliable, alone has this
reading, the others having "some years." If "four" be correct, it follows that
'Umar-i-IQiayyam died in A.H. 5*6 (A.D. 1132) and not, as stated by most authorities,
in A.H. 515 (A.D. 1121-1122) or 517 (A.D. 1123-1124).
6
Hira, according to as-Sam'ani and Yaqiit, was a large and well-known quarter
lying outside NishapUr on the road to Merv.
72 THIRD DISCOURSE. ON ASTROLOGERS
8
upon him by His Grace and His Favour! Yet although I
1
,
ANECDOTE XXIX.
In the winter of the year A.H. 508 (A.D. 1 1 14-1 115) the King
sent a messenger to Merv to the Prime Minister Sadru'd-Dfn
[Abu Ja'far] Muhammad ibn al-Muzaffar (on whom be God's
s
Imdm ['Umar] said, " Let the King be of good cheer, for this
very hour the clouds will clear away, and during these five days
there will not be a drop of moisture." So the King rode on, and
the clouds opened, and during those five days there was no
moisture, and no one saw a cloud.
But prognostication by the stars, though a recognized art, is
not to be relied on, nor should the astronomer have any far-
reaching faith therein and whatever the astrologer predicts he
;
ANECDOTE XXX.
It is incumbent on the King, wherever he goes, to prove such
drive him away, and guard even the outskirts of his environment
from his very shadow. Whoever does not believe in the religion
of God (great and glorious is He !) and the law of Muhammad
the Chosen One, in him can no man trust, and he is unlucky,
both to himself and to his master.
In the beginning of the reign of the King Sultdn Ghiydthiid-
Dunyd wctd-Din Muhammad ibn Malikshdh, styled Qastmu
Amtrfl-Mtiminin (may God illuminate his tomb!) the King of 1
,
the Arabs Sadaqa 2 revolted ancl withdrew his neck from the yoke
of allegiance, and with fifty thousand Arabs marched on Baghdad
from Hilla 8 The Prince of Believers al-Mustazhir bi'lldh had
.
sent off letter after letter and courier after courier to Isfahdn,
summoning *the Sultdn, who sought from the astrologers the
determination of the auspicious moment. But no such determi-
nation could be made which would suit the Lord of the King's
Ascendant, which was retrograde. So they said, "O Sire, we
find no auspicious moment." "Seek it, then," said he; and he
was very urgent in the matter, and much vexed in mind. And
so the astrologers fled.
Now there was a man of Ghazna who had a shop in the
Street of the Dome and who used to practise sooth-saying, and
women used to visit him, and he used to write them love-charms,
but he had no profound knowledge. By means of an acquaintance
with one of the King's servants he brought himself to the King's
"
notice, and said, I will find an auspicious moment depart in ;
that, and if (i<) thou dost not return victorious, then cut off my
head."
So the King was pleased, and mounted his horse at the
moment declared auspicious by him, and gave him two hundred
dindrs of Nfshapiir, and went forth, fought with Sadaqa, defeated
his army, took him captive, and put him to death. And when he
returned triumphant and victorious to Isfahan, he heaped favours
on the sooth-sayer, conferred on him great honours, and made
him one of his intimates. Then he summoned the astrologers
and said, " You did not find an auspicious moment, it was this
Ghaznawf who found it and I went, and God justified his fore-
;
cast. Wherefore did ye act thus ? Probably Sadaqa had sent you
a bribe so that you should not name the auspicious time." Then
"
they all fell to the earth, lamenting and exclaiming, No astro-
loger was satisfied with that choice. If you wish, write a message
1
Reigned A. H. 498-511 (A.D. 1104-1117).
3 "
.For an account of this event and the doings of Sadaqa ibn Mazy ad, the King of
the Arabs*" here mentioned, see Ibnu'l-Athir's Chronicle sub anno A.H. 501 (A.D.
1107-1108).
* This is an
error, for Sadaqa never attacked Baghdad nor quarrelled with the
Caliph al-Mustazhir bi'llah, his quarrel being with Muhammad ibn Malikshdh.
74 THIRD DISCOURSE. PN ASTROLOGERS
Khayydmf says."
The King saw that the poor wretches did not speak amiss.
He therefore summoned one of his accomplished courtiers and
said, "Hold a wine-party at your house to-morrow. Invite this
astrologer of Ghazna, give him wine, and, when he is overcome
with wine, enquire of him, saying, That moment determined by
'
thee was not good, and the astrologers find fault with it. Tell me
"
the secret of this/
Then the courtier did so, and, when his guest was drunk,
"
made this enquiry of him. The Ghaznawf answered, I knew
that one of two things must happen ; either that army would be
defeated, or this one. If the former, then I should be loaded with
honours; and if the latter, who would concern himself about me?"
Next day the courtier reported this conversation to the King,
who ordered the. Ghaznawf sooth-sayer to be expelled, saying,
"Such a man holding such views about good Musulmdns is
unlucky." Then he summoned his own astrologers and restored
1
"
his confidence to them, saying, I myself held this
sooth-sayer
to be an enemy, because he never said his prayers, and one who
agrees not with our Holy Law, agrees not with us."
ANECDOTE XXXI.
In the year A.H. 547 (A.D. 1 1 S2-3) 2 a battle was fought between
the King of the World Sanjar ibn (11) Malikshah and my lord
King 'Ala'u'd-DunyA wa'd-Dfn at the Gates of Awba ; and
3
the
the army of Ghiir was defeated, and my lord the King of the
East (may God perpetuate his reign !) was taken prisoner, and
my lord's son the Just King Shamsrfd-Dawla wctdrDin Mu-
hammad ibn Mas'ud 4 was taken captive at the hands of the
Commander-in-Chief(^w/r-iW^//^2r/r)YaranqushHarfvva. The
ransom was fixed at fifty thousand dlndrs, and a messenger from
him was to go to the court at Bdmiydn to press for this sum ;
1
A. adds: " they killed him, and...."
2
This is the correct date, but the Tctrtkh-i-Gustda gives A.H. 544 (A.D. 1149-
1150).
3 A village near Hertft.
4 of the Kings of Shansab or Ghi'ir who ruled over Bamiydn, and the
The second
son of Fakhru'd-Din Mas'iid. See p. \t of the Persian notes and Note I at the end.
8 The
meaning appears to be that a ransom was demanded by the Amir Yaranqush,
the Prince's actual captor, but not by his over-lord Sanjar.
A UTOBIOGRAPH ICAL 75
him till theafternoon prayer. When the call to prayer was sounded,
he remarked reproachfully, " The afternoon prayer has arrived,
"
but still no news Even while he was thus speaking, a courier
!
arrived bringing the good tidings that the consignment had come,
consisting of fifty thousand dinars^ sheep, and olher things, and
that 'Izzu'd-Dfn Mahmiid Hdjji, the steward of Prince Husdmu'd-
Da\yla wa'd-Dfn, was in charge of the convoy. Next day my lord
Shamsu'd-Dawla wa'd-Dfn was invested with the King's dress of
honour, and released. Shortly afterwards he regained his beloved
home, and from that time onwards his affairs have prospered more
and more every day (may they continue so to do !). And it was
during these nights that he used to treat me with the utmost
kindness and say, "Nizdmf, do you remember making such a
prognostication in Herdt, and how it came true ? I wanted to fill
thy mouth with gold, but there I had no gold, though here
'I have." Then he called for gold, and twice filled my mouth
"
therewith. Then he said, It will not hold enough hold out thy ;
1
The ordinary definition of Medicine ends at the word " restored," but the whole
of Book VIII of the Dhakhira-i-Khwdrazmshdhi deals with the care of the hair,
nails, complexion, etc.
76 FOURTH DISCOURSE. ON PHYSICIANS
[Excursus.]
of the moderns, that Proof of the Truth Abu 'Alf al-Husayn ibn
'Abdu'lldh ibn Sfn& (Avicenna) 2 says in his book the Qdntin*
,
guidance assist the physician in his search for the truth, his
thought will not hit the mark. So also in the inspection of the
urine, the observing of its colours and sediments, and the deducing
of some special condition from each colour (i*) are no easy
matters; for all these indications depend on Divine help and
Royal patronage. This quality [of discernment] is that which we
have indicated under the name of acumen. And unless the
physician knows Logic, and understands the meaning of genus
and species, he cannot discriminate between that which appertains
to the category, that which is peculiar to the individual, and that
which is accidental, and so will not recognize the cause [of the
disease]. And, failing to recognize the cause, he cannot succeed in
his treatment But let us now give an illustration, so that it may
be known that it is as we say. Disease is the genus fever, head- ;
ache, cold, delirium, measles and jaundice are the species, each of
which is distinguished from the others by a diagnostic sign, and in
"
turn itself constitutes a genus. For example, Fever" is the genus,
wherein quotidian, tertian, double tertian and quartan are the
1
Some notes on the varieties of pulse recognized by the Arabian physicians will
be found in Note XXVI at the end.
"
See de Shine's translation of Ibn Khallikdn, vol. i, pp. 440-446; von Kremer's
Culfargeschichte d. Orients, vol. ii, pp. 455-456; WUstenfeld's Gesch. d. *Arab.
Aerzte, pp. 64-75; and Note XXVII, No. 10, at the end. ^
3 The
Qdntin was printed at Rome, A.D. 1593, and the Latin translation at Venice
in A.D. 1544. According to Steinschneider, Gerard of Cremona's Latin translation
was printed more than thirty times, and fifteen times before A.D. 1500.
HEALING BY PRAYER 77
2
lassitude, nor pain. Again inflammatory fever is distinguished
from other fevers by the fact that when it attacks it does not
abate for several days while tertian is distinguished by the fact
;
that it comes one day and not the next and double tertian by ;
it attacks one day, does not recur on the second and third days,
Logic and possessed of acumen and knows which fever it is, what
the materies morbi* is, and whether it is simple or compound, he
can then at once proceed to treat it. But if he Vail to recognize
the disease, then let him turn to God and seek help from Him ;
saying, "In the year A.H. 502 (A.D. 1108-9) a certain notable
man of Nishdpiir was seized with the colic and called me in.
I examined him, and proceeded to treat him, trying every remedy
"
contrition,"being broken to pieces."
2 4JLJx
*f3' See Schlimmer's Terminologie Mtdico-Pharmaceutique (litho-
graphed at Tihran, A.D. 1874), pp. 192-197 and 285. Perhaps, however, it should
here be translated "remittent" or even
" continuous." See Note XXVI at the end.
* /. whether it be primary or secondary, from which of the four humours it
arises, etc.
* m
4 The readings vary, A. has-^*o * ; B.JMJ*** J>pfc * ; L.^p ** only.
J>p
The reading adopted in the text is no doubt correct.
78 FOURTH DISCOURSE. ON PHYSICIANS
4
(Avicenna) or the Dhakhira-i-Khwdrazm-shdhP, and read it in
,
6
wild ass ": all this of which I have spoken is to be found in
the Qdmin, with much in addition thereto and whoever, has ;
what a fool the author was, and how detestable is the book
which he has composed For what right has anyone to find fault
!
with so great a man when the very first question which he meets
with in a book of his which he comes across is difficult to his
comprehension ? For four thousand years the wise men of an-
tiquity travailed in spirit and melted their very souls in order to
reduce the Science of Philosophy to some fixed order, yet could
not effect this, until, after the lapse of this period, that incom-
parable philosopher and most powerful thinker Aristotle weighed
this coin in the balance of Logic, assayed it with the touchstone
of definitions, and measured it by the scale of analogy, so that all
doubt and ambiguity departed from it, and it became established
"
This, known to mediaeval Europe as the Continens," is the most detailed and
1
most important of ar-Razi's works. The original Arabic exists only in manuscript,
and that partially. The Latin translation was printed at Brescia in A.D. 1486, and in
1500, 1506, 1509 and 1542 at Venice. See Note XXVII at the end, No. 4.
2 This notable
work, also known as al-Kitdbtfl-Malikl^
"
Liber Regius ") was com-
posed by 'AH ibnu'l- Abbas al-Majusi (" Haly Abbas of the mediaeval physicians of
4
Europe), who died in A.H. 384 (A.D. 994). The Arabic text has been lithographed
at Lahore in A.H. 1283 ( A D> 1866) and printed at Bulaq in A.H. 1294 (A.D. 1877).
*
There are two editions of the Latin translation (Venice, A.D. 1492, and Lyons,
A.D. 1523).
8
Avicenna's master, d. A.H. 390 (A.D. 1000). See Wiistenfeld, loc, at., pp. 59-
60, No. 1 18; p. (? of the Persian notes; and Note XXVII, No. 9, at the end.
4
See Note XXVII, No. 10, at the end.
8
See Rieu's Persian Catalogue, pp. 466-467.
*'
Meaning that every kind of game is inferior to the wild ass. It is said proverbi-
ally of any one who excels his fellows. See Lane's Arabic Lexicon, p. 2357) s.v.
7
8o FOURTH DISCOURSE. ON PHYSICIANS
should keep ever with him some of the smaller treatises composed
by proved masters, such as the "Gift of Kings" (Tu/ifahfl-
Mulfiky of Muhammad ibn Zakariyyd [ar-Razi], or the Kifdya
of Ibn Manduya of Isfahan 2 or the " Provision against all sorts
,
ANECDOTE XXXIII.
Bukht-Yishu' a Christian of Baghdad, was a skilful physician
1
,
and a true and tender man and he was attached to the service
;
Believers, I will attempt it, and perchance God Most High may
cause it to succeed."
Now the patient was going to stool fifty or sixty times a day.
So Bukht-Yishu' prepared a purgative and administered it to
him and on the day whereon he took the purgative, his diarrhoea
;
that if the purgative were withheld, only the death of the patient
was to be expected, (vr) but that if it were administered, there
was a possibility of either life or death. So I deemed it best to
administer it."
1
See Wllstenfeld, op. /., p. 17, No. 30, and Note XXVII, No. i, at the end.
Concerning this and similar names, see Noldeke's Geschichte d. Artakhshir-i-Pdpakdn*
p. 49. n. 4.
*/.<-.
" Put his whole heart into his task."
82 FOURTH DISCOURSE. ON PHYSICIANS
ANECDOTE XXXIV.
The great Shaykh and Proof of the Truth Abu 'AH ibn Sfnd
(Avicenna) relates as follows in the "Book of the Origin and the
"
Return (Kitdbu'l-Mabdci wa *l-Ma'dd)\ at the end of the section
on " the possibility of the production of exceptional psychical
phenomena": He says "A curious anecdote hath reached me
which I have heard related. A
certain physician was attached
to the court of one of the House of Sdman, and there attained
so high a position of trust that he used to enter the women's
apartments and feel the pulses of its carefully-guarded and
closely-veiled inmates. One day he was sitting with the King
in the women's apartments in a place where it was impossible
for any [other] male creature to penetrate. The King demanded
food, and it was brought by the hand-maidens. One of these
who was laying the table took the tray off her head, bent down,
and placed it on the ground. When she desired to stand upright
again, she was unable to do so, but remained as she was, by
reason of a rheumatic swelling of the jointfc 2 The King turned
.
"
to the physician and said, You must cure her at once in what-
ever way you can." Here was no opportunity for any physical
method of treatment, for which no appliances were available,,}^
drugs being at hand. So the physician bethought himself ^p,,
psychical treatment, and bade them remove the veil fro n he;
r
head and expose her hair, so that she might be ashamed and
make some movement, this condition being displeasing to her,,
to wit that all her head and face should be thus exposed. As,
however, she underwent no change, he proceeded to something
still more shameful, and ordered her trousers to be removed.
She was overcome with shame, and a warmth was produced
within her such that it dissolved that thick rheum and she stood
up straight and sound, and regained her normal condition
3
.
1
The original passage is cited by Mirza Muhammad (on p. Vt of the Persian
notes) from Add. 16,659 of the British Museum, f. 488.
2 "
Literally, by reason of a thick rheum which was produced in her joints."
8 This anecdote is told
by al-Qifti (p. \rt) and Ibn Abi Usaybi'a (Vol. i, p. \ TV) of
the physician Bukht- Yishii* and the Caliph Hartinu'r-Rashid. A
versified rendering of
it is given in Jdmi's
" Chain of Gold "
(Sihilat^dh-Dhahab}, composed in*A.D. 1485.
The text of this version is given in Note XXVIII at the end.
PSYCHOTHERAPEUSIS 83
boat, and fetch him across." They did so, but their entreaties
moved him not at all. Then they bound his hands and feet,
placed him in the boat, and, when they had ferried him across
the river, released his limbs. Then they brought the led-horse,
fully caparisoned, before him, and he mounted in the best of
Jiumours, and set out for Bukhara. So they enquired of him,
saying, "We feared lest, when we should cross the water and set
thee free, thou wouldst cherish enmity against us, but thou didst
not so, nor do we see thee annoyed or vexed in heart." He
replied, "I know that every year twenty thousand persons cross
the Oxus without being drowned, and that I too should probably
not be drowned still, it was possible that I might perish, and if
;
this had happened they would have continued till the Resurrec-
tion to say, 'A foolish fellow was Muhammad ibn Zakariyyd, in
that, of his own free will he embarked in a boat and so was
drowned.' So should I be one of those who deserve blame, not
of those who are held excused."
1
That is Mansiir I, who reigned A.H. 350-366 (A.D. 961-976). This anecdote
is given in the Akhldq-i-Jaldli (ed. Lucknow, A.H. 1283), pp. 168-170. It is,
however, a tissue of errors, for this Mansiir came to the throne at least thirty years
after the death of the great physician ar-Razf, who died either in A.H. 311 or 320
(A.D. 923-4 or 932). The Manstir to whom his Jfitdbil-Man$iiriw& dedicated was
an entirely different person. See Note XXVII, No. 4, at the end, s.v. Al-Kitdbifl-
Manstvt. This anecdote, as Mirza Muhammad has pointed out to me, appears to be
based, so faT as the refusal to cross the Oxus is concerned, on an incident in the life of
the geographer Abu Zayd al- Balk hi. See al-Maqdisi's Ahsanu't- Taqdstmfi
mtfrifatfl-
Aqdlim, p. 4.
8
QuSdn, ii, 191.
6-2
84 FOURTH DISCOURSE. ON PHYSICIANS
he suffered not one to enter the bath. Then he brought the King
into the middle chamber of the hot bath, and poured over him
tepid water, after which he prepared a draught, tasted it, and
gave it to him to drink. And he kept him there till such time
as the humours in his joints had undergone coction.
Then he himself went out and put on his clothes, and, [taking
a knife in his hand] 2 came in, and stood for a while reviling the
,
and did all that was possible. There was, however, an extreme
failure in the natural caloric, and the treatment of the disease by
ordinary means would have been a protracted affair. I therefore
abandoned it in favour of psychical treatment, carried you to the
hot bath, administered a draught, and left you so long as to bring
about a coction of the humours. Then I angered the King, so as to
aid the natural caloric, and it gained strength until those humours,
already softened, were dissolved. But henceforth it is not expedient
that a meeting should take place between myself and the King."
1
See n. i on p. 35 supra, and Note XVI at the end.
9 This sentence, though omitted in the printed text, seems on the whole to be an
improvement
PSYCHOTHERAPEUSIS 8$
Now after the Amfr had risen to his feet and Muhammad
ibn Zakariyyd had gone out and ridden off, the Amir at once
fainted. When he came to himself he went forth from the bath
and (vi) called to his servants, saying, "Where has the physician
gone?" They answered, "He came out from the bath, and
mounted the horse, while his attendant mounted the mule, and
went off."
Then the Amfr knew what object he had had in view. So he
came forth on his own feet from the hot bath; and tidings of
this ran through the city. Then he gave audience, and his
servants and retainers and people rejoiced greatly, and gave
alms, and offered sacrifices, and held high festival. But they
could not find the physician, seek him as they might. And on
the seventh day Muhammad ibn ZakariyyA's servant arrived,
riding the mule and leading the horse, and presented the letter.
The Amfr read it, and was astonished, and excused him, and
sent him an honorarium consisting of a horse fufly caparisoned,
a cloak, turban and arms, and a slave-boy and a handmaiden ;
ANECDOTE XXXVI.
AbuVAbbds Ma'miin Khwarazmshah had a Minister named a
Aerzte, No. 115, pp. 58-59) who died A.H. 381 (A.D. 991). See also Note XXVII
at the end, Nos. 5, 6, 9 and 10.
86 FOURTH DISCOURSE. ON PHYSICIANS
man." Then he equipped Abii 'AU [ibn Sfna] and Abii Sahl,
ind sent with them a guide, and they set off by the way of the
ivolves 1 towards Gurgin.
1
I imagine that a word-play is here intended between Gurgan (the oM Hyrcania,
>fwhich the present capital is Astardbad) and as rdh-i-gurgdn (" by the Wolves'
Vay"), i.e. "across the desert." This is the reading of C.; the other texts have
*
across the desert to Mdzandara*n."
AVICENNA'S FLIGHT FROM KHW^RAZM 87
-
me i*n tasylr is explained at p. ft- of Van Vioten's ed. of the Mafdtihu'l-
'uliim.
88 FOURTH DISCOURSE. ON PHYSICIANS
Gurgdn, for Qibiis who was King of that province, was a great
1
,
one who knows all the houses in this street." They brought such
an one, who proceeded to give out the houses till he reached
a house at the mention of which the patient's pulse gave the
same flutter. "Now," said Abii 'Alf, "I want someone who
knows the names of all the household and can repeat them."
They brought such an one, and he began to repeat them until
he reached a name at the mention of which that same flutter
was apparent.
Then said Abii 'Alf, " It is finished." Thereupon he turned
"
to the confidential advisers of Qdbiis, and said, This lad is in
J
Shamstfl-Mcfdlt Qdbds ibn Washmgfr reigned A.H. 366-371 (A.D. 976-981)
and again A.H. 388-403 (A.D. 998-1012). To him al-Bfnini dedicated his Chronology
of Ancient Nations. See Sachau's English translation of that work, Preface, p. -viii.
AVICENNA'S DIAGNOSIS OF LOVE 89
Mathnawi of Jalalu'd-Din Riimf, and also a passage in the section of the Dhakhira-i-
Khwdrazm-shdhl (Hook vi, Guftdr i, Juz' 2, ch. 3) dealing with the malady of love,
" Now the lover's
of which this a translation
is :
pulse is variable and irregular,
especially when he sees the object of his affections, or hears her name, or gets tidings
of her. In this way one can discover, in the case of one who conceals his love and the
name of his beloved, who is the object of his passion, and that in the following way.
The physician should place his finger on the patient's pulse, and unexpectedly order
the names of those persons amongst whom it may be surmised that his sweetheart is
to be found to be repeated, whereupon it will appear from the patient's behaviour who
his beloved is, and what her name is. Avicenna (upon whom be God's Mercy) says :
I have tried this plan, and have succeeded by it in finding out who the beloved
(
"
object was.' Avicenna's actual words are quoted from the Qdntin on pp. f t V-f . of
the Prsia% notes.
2
We have it on Avicenna's own authority that he arrived in Jurjan just too late to
see Qabris, who had been deposed and cast into prison, where he was soon afterwards
put to death in 403/1011-1013. (See pp. f --f o \ of the Persian notes.)
go FOURTH DISCOURSE. ON PHYSICIANS
truth/'
Qdbus was greatly astonished at this treatment and was filled
with wonder, and indeed there was good reason for astonishment.
"O most glorious, eminent and excellent one," said he, ".both the
lover and the beloved are the children of my sisters, and are
cousins to one another. Choose, then, an auspicious moment
that I may unite them in marriage." So Master Abii AH chose
a fortunate hour, and in it the marriage-knot was tied, and lover
and beloved were united, and that handsome young prince was
delivered from an ailment which had brought him to death's
door. And thereafter Qdbiis maintained Abu 'AH in the best
manner possible, and thence he went to Ray, and finally became
minister to the Shihinshah 'Ald'u'd-Dawla 1 as indeed is well
,
ANECDOTE XXXVII.
The author of the Kdmilu's-Sind'at* was physician to 'Adu-
du'd-Dawla 8 in Pars, in the city of Shiraz. Now in that (A*) city
there was a porter who used to carry loads of four hundred and
five hundred maunds on his back. And every five or six months
he would be attacked by headache, and become restless, remain-
ing so for ten days or a fortnight. One time he was attacked by
this headache, and when seven or eight days had elapsed, and
he had several times determined to destroy himself, it finally
happened that one day this great physician passed by the door
of his house. The porter's brothers ran to meet him, did reverence
to him, and, conjuring him by God Most High, told him about
"
their brother's condition and headache. Show him to me," said
the physician. So they brought him before the physician, who
saw that he was a big man, of bulky frame, wearing on his feet
a pair of shoes each of which weighed a maund and a half. Then
the physician felt his pulse and asked for and examined his
urine; after which, "Bring him with me into the open country,"
said he. They did so, and on their arrival there, he bade his
servant take the porter's turban from his head, cast it round his
neck, and twist it tight. Then he ordered another servant to
take the shoes off the porter's feet and strike him twenty
blows on the head, which he accordingly did. The porter's sons
lamented loudly, but the physician was a man of consequence
He was the son of Dushmanziyar, ruler over Isfahan from A.H. 398 to 433
1
so that a good stew may be prepared from my flesh '; until matters
reached such a pass that he would eat nothing, and the days
passed and he continued to waste away, and the physicians were
unable to do him any good.
"Now at this juncture Abu 'AH (Avicenna) was prime
minister, and the Shdhinshdh 'Alzi'u'd-Dawla Muhammad ibn
Dushmanziydr favoured him greatly, and had entrusted into his
1
hands all the affairs of the kingdom, and left all matters to his
judgement and discretion. And indeed since Alexander the
Great', whose minister was Aristotle, no King had had such a
minister as Abu 'AH. And during the time that he was minister,
he used to rise up every morning before dawn and write a couple
of pages of the Shtfd*. Then, when the true dawn appeared, he
used to give audience to his disciples, such as Kiyd Ra'/s
Bahmanydr Abu Mansiir ibn Zfla 'Abdu'l-Wdhid Juzjdnf,
8 4
, ,
bade them bring him into the middle of the house, bind him
hand and foot, and throw him down. When the patient heard
this, he ran forward into the middle of the house and lay down
on his right side, and they bound his feet firmly. Then Abti 'Alt
came forward, rubbing the knives together, sat down, and placed
his hand on the patient's ribs, as is the custom of butchers.
'
1
what a lean cow said he; 'it is not fit to be killed: give it
!
fodder until it gets fat' Then he rose up and f came out, having
bidden them loose his hands and feet, and place food before him,
saying, 'Eat, so that thou mayst speedily grow fat.' They did as
Avicenna had directed and set food before him, and he ate.
After that they gave him whatever draughts and drugs Avicenna
prescribed, saying, Eat well, for this is a fine fattener for cows,'
'
hearing which he would eat, in the hope that he might grow fat
and they might kill him. So the physicians applied themselves
vigorously to treating him as the minister had indicated, and in
a month's time he completely recovered and was restored to
health."
All wise men will perceive (At) that one cannot heal by such
methods of treatment save by virtue of extreme excellence,
perfect science, and unerring acumen
1
.
ANECDOTE XXXIX.
In the reign of Malikshah and during part of the reign of
Sanjar there was at Herat a philosopher named Adfb Isma'fl,
a very great, learned and perfect man, who, however, derived his
income and livelihood from his receipts as a physician 8 By him .
ANECDOTE XL.
The Shaykhu'l-Isldm 'Abdu'lldh Ansarf (may God sanctify 1
ANECDOTE XLI.
In the time of Galen one of the notables of Alexandria was
attacked by pain in the finger-tips, and suffered great restlessness,
being debarred from all repose. They informed Galen, who
prescribed an unguent to be applied to his shoulders. As soon
as they did as Galen commanded, the patient's pain ceased and
he was cured. The physicians were astonished, and questioned
Galen, saying, "What was [the rationale of] this treatment
which thou didst adopt?" He replied, "The nerve which supplies
the aching finger-tips has its origin in the shoulder. I treated
the root and the branch was cured."
ANECDOTE XLII. 1
ceed." Then Fadl ibn Yahyd applauded the acumen and dis-
cernment of that great man, and revealed to him his real complaint,
"
saying, It was for this that I summoned thee, and what I did
was for a proof."
Then the Catholicos applied himself to the treatment of the
case, and did all that was possible in .this matter. When some
time had elapsed and there was no improvement, the Catholicos
writhed inwardly, for this had appeared no great matter, yet it
was thus protracted. At last one day when he was sitting with
Fadl ibn Yahyd, he said, " Honoured Sir, I have tried every
available remedy without effect Perchance thy father is dis-
pleased with thee. Satisfy him, and I will remove this disease
from thee."
So that night Fadl arose, went to [his father] Yahya, fell at
his feet, and asked for his forgiveness. His old father forgave
him, [and the Catholicos continued to treat him after the same
sort as before, and he began to improve, and ere long was com-
pletely cured].
Then Fadl asked the Catholicos, " How didst thou know that
"
the cause of my complaint was my father's displeasure ? The
"
Catholicos answered, I tried every known remedy without
effect. So I said to myself, This great man has received a blow
'
from some quarter.' (*v) I looked about, but could find no one
who lay down at night dissatisfied and afflicted through thee ;
ANECDOTE XLIII.
152-3)*, when a battle took place
In the year A.H. 547 (=A.n.
1
help me, for I am young, and have not yet seen the world."
The tears sprang to my eyes, and I said, " Be of good cheer, this
is an easy matter." Then I placed my fingers on her pulse, and
found it strong, and her colour and complexion normal, while
most of the ten indications were present, such as a robust habit
of body, a strong constitution, a healthy temperament, a clear
complexion, a favourable age, season and climate, suitable habit,
propitious accessories and skill. Then I summoned a phlebotomist
and bade him open the basilic vein in both her arms; and
I sent away all the women. The bad blood continued to flow,
and, by pressure and manipulation, I took from her a thousand
dir/iams* weight of blood, so that she fell down in a swoon. Then
I bade them bring fire, and prepared roasted meat beside her,
and put a fowl on the spit, until the house was filled with the
steam of the roasting meat, and it entered her nostrils. Then
she came to her senses, moved, groaned, and asked for a drink.
Then I. prepared for her a gentle stimulant agreeable to her
taste, and treated her for a week until the loss of blood was
1
B. has sirs.
98 A UTOBIOGRAPHICAL
made good, and that illness passed away, and her monthly courses
resumed their normal condition. And I called her my daughter,
and she called me her father, and to-day she is to me as my
other children.
CONCLUSION.
1
For an account of the House of Shansab or Kings of Ghilr and their genealogy,
see Note I at the end. Fakhru'd-Din Mas'iid, whom the author praises in the con-
cluding sentence of his book, was the first of the Kings of Bamiyan and the father of
Shamsu'd-Din Muhammad and Hu&amu'd-Dfn Abu'l-Hasan 'All, of whom the latter
was our author's special patron.
FINIS.
NOTES
.V
Islam at his hands, and to have received from him a standard and
recognition of his rule. It was a source of pride to the family that during
the Umayyad period they refused to conform to the order for the public
cursing in the pulpits of the House of Ali.
(
j
Our principal source of information concerning this dynasty is the
Tqfagdt-i-Ndsiri , but the history of Herat entitled Rawddtu 'l-Janndt
l
Of
these 'Ala'u'd-Dfn Husayn of Ffrtiz-ktih was the most powerful
and important, and raised the glory of his House to its highest point.
To avenge the death of his two brothers Qutbu'd-Din Muhammad and
Sayfu'd-Dfn Stirf he made war on Bahramshah, entered and occupied
his capital Ghazna, and looted, massacred and burned it for seven days,
thus earning the title vijahdn-stiz, the
" World-consumer." He
reigned
from A.H. 545 to 556 (A.D. 1150-1161).
1
in the Bibltotheca Indica, and translated by Major H. G. Raverty
Published
with copious notes. Sections xvii-xix (pp. 300-507) of vol. i of the translation are
devoted to this dynasty.
8 See Lane-Boole's Mohammadan
Stanley Dynasties^ pp. 491-494.
102 NOTES ON THE FIRST DISCOURSE
spend the summer "in Tamghaj, which is the centre of China, and its
environs"; and this statement is quoted by Abu'1-Fida (who, however,
writes the word Tilmhaj or Tumkhaj) in his Geography. Al-Qazwini in
his Athdru'l-Bildd*' describes Tamghaj as "a great and famous city in
the land of the Turks, comprising many villages lying between two
mountains in a narrow defile by which only they can be approached."
Finally Mukhtari of Ghazna, in the course of a panegyric on Arslan Khan
of the Khdniyya dynasty of Transoxiana, speaks of "nimble Tamghajf
minstrels, quick at repartee."
5
It seems possible, however, that Tamghaj and Tafghach are merely
variants of the Eastern Turkish word Tapghdch, meaning "worshipful,"
"renowned," and used repeatedly in the sense of "Chinese" in the
Orkhon inscriptions of the eighth century of our era. In this case the
title "Tamghaj (or Tapghach) Khdn*' commonly assumed by rulers of
the Khaniyya dynasty really signifies "the worshipful Khan," not "the
Khan of Tamghaj"; and the prevalent belief that there was a country
called Tamghdj arose from a misunderstanding, and from a false analogy
with such titles as Khwarazm-shah, which does actually mean "King of
Khwarazm." Mirza Muhammad, however, in a lengthy and learned
1
Ed. Calcutta, pp. 29 et seqg. ,
2
Ibnu'l-Athir (ed. Tornberg), xiii, 28; Tafaitlt-i-Ntlfiri, p. 52; Lubdltfl-Alb&b
(ed. Browne), i, 321.
3 Ed. 4
Houdas, pp. 4-5. Ed. Wustenfeld, p. 275.
For this form see the Persian notes to the text, pp. 151, 1. 3, 189, 1. 12, etc.
NOTE III. GREAT STYLISTS 103
note which he has been good enough to send me, proves that the name
Tamghaj was applied by early Muhammadan writers to a definite and
real city, identified by him on the strongest evidence with Khan Baligh
corresponded with the Sahib above mentioned, and was very celebrated
for his skill in this form of composition. Many of his letters were
collected by Abu'l-Hasan 'All ibn Muhammad al-Yazdadi, and extracts
are given by Muhammad ibn Isfandiyar in his History of Tabaristan as
well as by Yaqiit. I have recently acquired a MS. of Yazdadi's com-
"
pilation entitled KamdMl-Baldgha (the Perfection of Eloquence ")
A.D.
1156-1157).
1 " E. W. Gibb
Vol. ii,pp. 273-343 of Prof. D. S. Margoliouth's edition in the J.
Memorial" Series (vi, 2, London, Luzac and Co., 1909).
2 8
Ibid., vol. vi, pp. 143-151. Ibid.* vol. vi, pp. 203-205.
104 NOTES ON THE FIRST DISCOURSE
Abu <Ali Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn <Abdu'll&h
at-Tamfmf al-Bal'amf was minister to the Samanf King Mansilr I
ibn Niih ibn Nasr (reigned A.H. 350-366; A.D. 961-976), for whom he
translated Tabarf s great history from Arabic into Persian. This Persian
version was lithographed at Lucknow in 1291/1874 (800 pages), and
a French translation of it by Hermann Zotenberg was published in
Paris in four volumes (1867-1874). This Bal'amf (Abd 'Alf) is often
confused with- his father Abu'1-Fadl, who also bore the name of Mu-
hammad, was minister to Isma'fl the Samni, and died in 329/940-1,
while the son, with whom we are here concerned, died in 386/996.
Bal'am, from which both derive their nisba, is said to be a town in
Asia Minor. See Sam'ani's Ansdb (Gibb Series, vol. xx, f. 90*), where,
however, an alternative statement represents Bal'am as a district in the
village of Balashjird near Merv.
Ahmad ibnu'l-Hasan al-Maymandi, entitled Shamsu'l-
Kuf&t, was for twenty years minister to Sultan Mahmiid of Ghazna
and his son Mas'rid, and died in 424/1033. He was a noted stylist, and
caused all official documents to be written in Arabic, not, as had pre-
*
who bore this title, and who was one of Malikshdh's under-secretaries
and favourites. He was subordinate to Sharafu'1-Mulk Abu a'd
Muhammad ibn Mansur ibn Muhammad, his chief in the same
and both were
Ministry, notable secretaries and officials of the Saljriq
dynasty. See al-Bundarfs History of the Saljtiqs (ed. Houtsma), p. 59.
NOTE III. GREAT STYLISTS 105
fused Alptagin with Abu 'Ali Simjiir, who raised a formidable rebellion
against Ndh II ibn Mansiir.
(2) The general who defeated Makan was not Tash, as our author
states, but the Amir Abii *Ali Ahmad ibn Muhtaj.
A<
AXJI
>
Cf. p. 103 supra.
io8 NOTES ON THE FIRST DISCOURSE
Three of the precious fabrics mentioned in this story are included in the
glossary added by Mirza Habib of Isfahan to his edition of the Diwdn-i-
Albisa (Constantinople 1 3037 1885-6) of Nizamu'd-Din Mahrmid Qarf of
Yazd, the poet of clothes. Atlas "is called by the Franks 'satin'." Akstn
is "a black brocade (dibd}^ like dabiql (a fine silken stuff) worn by the
" 1'
great for ostentation." Naslj is silk inwoven with gold. See Yule's
Marco Polo (ed. 187-5), v l- i> PP- 6 5> 67, 276 and 285.
Of the remainder the exact nature is more doubtful. Mfrza Muham-
mad makes the following remarks (notes, p. no) :
' '
clear, but it is also mentioned, with the addition of the epithet Riimi
(Greek or of Asia Minor) in a quaint passage in al-Mafamlkhfs History
of Isfahan (see the last note), cited on p. no of the Persian notes,
where a dying nobleman requests that his shroud shall be made of this
material, not, ks the bystanders suggest, of plain linen, because he is
unwilling to appear before God less sumptuously clad than it had been
appear before his fellow-men.
his habit for sixty years to
On the nature of Ma'dint and Maliki no information is obtainable,
nor on Jbmim, which the editor of the Tihran lithographed edition has
seen fit to emend to Tumam (pi. of Tumma), meaning a handful of wool
or hair plucked from a sheep or other animal, an emendation neither
plausible nor appropriate to the context, although the aforesaid editorv
mentions it with especial pride and satisfaction in his concluding note.
that the Caliph al-Mustarshid marched forth from Baghdad. When the
two armies met near Kirmanshah most of the Caliph's troops deserted
to Mas 'ild, and he himself was taken prisoner. On his arrival at Mardgha
he fell a victim to the Assassins of Alamut in 529/1 134-5.
For more than two centuries which elapsed between the fall of the
Samanid and the rise of the Mongol power there existed in Transoxiana
a Muslim Turkish dynasty variously known as " i lak-Khani," " Khanf "
and "Afrasiyabi/ These the Qdra-Khita'is suffered to remain, only
requiring of them the payment of tribute and the acceptance of a
political resident (Shahna) at their Court. From most of the Khwarazm-
shdhs also they received tribute until overthrown by them in 607/1210-1 1
as mentioned above.
This collapse of the Qara-Khita'i power proved, in fact, to be a great
calamity for the Khwarazm-shahs in particular and the Muslims in general,
for thereby was broken down a barrier which had hitherto effectively
protected them from the Mongols and other predatory heathens who
dwelt further to the north ajid east, and so was prepared that gr(at
catastrophe which shortly afterwards laid waste the Muslim world; a
fact emphasized by Ibnu'l-Athir (ed. Tornberg, xii, p. 235) in a passage
translated in the second volume of my Literary History of Persia,, p. 430.
The word Giir-Khdn* (otherwise Ktir-Khdn, KA-Khdn, tfz-Khdn,
&r-Khdn or Or-Khdn) was a generic title of these KingjJ, not the proper
name of any one of them. Ibnu'l-Athir says " Ku in the Chinese language
:
ending in tigin (like Subuktigfn, Alptigin, etc.) but the first element
remains doubtful. The same uncertainty affects "the son of the Amir
Bayabani, on whose identity no satisfactory light has yet been thrown."
1
Mirza Muhammad cites two passages which show, by the word-plays wherein
lies their point, that by the Persians at any rate the pronunciation Gur-Khdn was
adopted. Khaqani says :
J^J >j
See also vol. ii, p. 93 of the Tdrikh-i-Jahdn-gushdy :
no NOTES ON THE FIRST DISCOURSE
The name Atsiz, also Turkish, is compounded of dt (Western Turkish
" "
dd) name," and the privative siz without," and consequently means
" nameless." Ibn
According to Khallikan it was customary amongst the
Turks when a man lost several sons in childhood to give this name,
which was supposed to be a protection, to a newly-born son in the hope
that he might survive.
The "Sons of Burhan," or Banii Maza, were one of the great families
of Bukhara, celebrated for their splendour and bounty, and were hereditary
leaders of the Hanafi school of Sunni 'doctrine which prevailed in
Transoxiana. During the later Qara-Khita'i period they held an almost
regal position, and paid tribute to that dynasty. Qazwinf in his Athdrit
'IBildd (ed. Wiistenfeld, p. 343), composed in 674/1275-6, mentions
'Umar ibn 'Abdu'-l-'Aziz ibn Marwan as the head of the house in his
time, and it still flourished in the reign of Uljaytil (Khuda-banda)
the Mongol (A.H. 703-716; A.D. 1303-1316), after which all trace of it
is lost. Mirza Muhammad has collected from various sources a mass of
information about fourteen of the most eminent members of this family,
which he embodied in the notes contributed by him to my edition of
'Awffs Lubdbu'l-Albdb (vol. i, pp. 332-6), and which he has reproduced
in his notes to the Chahdr Maga la. These are as follows. v
p. 1
19, 1. 6. It occurs on pp. 23-4 of the edition of M. O. Houdas (Paris, 1891), and
on pp. 41-2 of his French translation (Paris, 1895).
8 An-Nasawl
(ed. Houdas), p. 39= pp. 66-7 of the French translation.
8
Sfce Y^qiit's Mu'jamu'l-Buld&n, vol. i, pp. 69-70, and G. le Strange's Lands of
the Eastern Caliphate, p. 434. The town is also called Amul by the Arabs, like the
better-known town of that name in Mazandaran.
4
See Mfrzd Muhammad's edition of the Ta"rikh-i-Jahdn-gushdy, vol. i, p. 88
"
(" E. J. W. Gibb Memorial Series, xvi, i).
ii2 NOTES ON THE FIRST DISCOURSE
origin, and theological school of the last-named all point to the conclusion
that he belonged to the Al-i-Burhdn.
The following genealogical table indicates the relationship of the
members of this family mentioned above. In each case the corresponding
number is given for reference to what precedes, the proper name is given
in full, and the title in an abbreviated form, where 'A. = 'Aziz ;
B. - Burhdn ; D. = Din ; H. = Husdm ; If. = Ijtikhdr ; Is. = Islam ;
J. ^Jahdn ; M. = Malik / N. = Nizdm ; S. - Say/; = adr ;
S/t. = Shams ; and T. = Taj.
* Maza
(i) B. D. 'Abdu'l-'Aziz
(13) N. D. Muhammad
Kings, in the last of which he took their capital Bukhara, but died on
his homeward march in 383/993-4*, five or six years before Sultan
Mahmud ascended the throne of Ghazna.
He was succeeded by his nephew (or, according to Howorth, his
brother) frak Khan, whose proper name appears to have been "Nasiru'l-
Haqq Nasr flak ibn *AH ibn Mtisa ibn Satuq, while .his 'coins,
bearing dates ranging from A.H. 390 to 400 (A.D. 1000 to 1010) were
1 a
Ed. Tornberg, ix, 68. J.R.A.S. for 1898, pp. 467-507.
4 anno
Ibnu'l-Athfr, sub (ed. Tornberg), ix, 70.
NOTES ON THE SECOND DISCOURSE, XIII, XIV 113
R 8
ii4 NOTES ON THE SECOND IJISCOURSE
Riidak, a district situated near Samarqand. His full name was Abu*
'Abdu'llah Ja'far ibn Mufoammad; he was "the first to produce good
poetry in Persian," and he died in 329/940-1. See the late Dr Hermann
Ethe's monumental paper Rtidagi, der SamarAdendichter 1 The vocal- .
ization Rawdhakf also occurs, with the addition of the names of the
poet's grandfather (Ffakim), great-grandfather ('Abdu'r- Rahman), and
great-great-grandfather (Adam). See my Hand-list of Muhammadan
Manuscripts (Cambridge, 1900), No. 701, pp. 125-6.
Abu*l-<Abbs as-Ribanjanf's full name was Fadl ibn 'Abbas.
See 'Awffs Lubdb , Ribanjan (the correct reading is due to
vol. ii, p. 9.
the late Professor de Goeje) is a city near Sughd and Samarqand, given
"
by ydqtit in the corrupt form Rabaykhan." It is also mentioned in
the Ansdb of as-Sam'ani (Gibb Series, vol. xx, ff. 23 b and 248 b ) as
Atbinjan and Rabinjan. Mfrzd Muhammad has furnished me with a
fresh reference to this AbuVAbbas in the' Thimdru'l-Qulub (Cairo ed.,
p. 147) of ath-Tha'alibi, where some Persian verses (a good deal
corrupted in the f printed text) from an unlucky qaslda which he com-
posed on the occasion of a festival in the thirty-first and last year of the
reign of his patron Nasr ibn Ahmad the Sdmdnid (A.H. 331 A.D. 942-3) ---
are cited.
Abu'l-Mathal of Bukhara is mentioned in the Lubdb (ii, 26)
and in Asadi's Glossary (ed. P. The vocalization "Mathal"
Horn, p. 28).
is proved by a verse of Mimlchihri's in which mention is made of ten old
Awfi's Lubdb (i, 31-2) and Asadi's Lughat (p. 17), was contemporary
vith Nilli II ibn Mansiir the Samanid, who reigned from A.H. 366 to 387
|A.D. 976-997)^ Aghajfs full name was Abu'l-JJasan 'AH ibn Ilyas
il-Aghaji (or al-Aghjf) of Bukhara. His title Aghdji(<yc one of its several
variants) appears to be a Turkish word meaning a chamberlain or
personal servant of a king, serving as an intermediary between him and
lis subjects
2
There is a notice of him in ath-Tha'alibi's Supplement 3
.
lad attained the age of fifty when he wrote it. How much longer he
ived is unknown. The late Dr Hermann Kthe wrote a valuable mono-
jrapti on him (Die Liederdes Kisdi) in the Sitzungsberichte d. Mtlnchener
4kad. (philos.-phitol. Classe) for 1874, pp. 133-153.
Tihran ed., pp. 125 and 276) as receiving a handsome present for
lis verse.
1
The only authority for this statement is the passage in 'Awfi's Lubdb cited in the
ext line, and, as Mir /a Muhammad now thinks, it is not certain that it will bear so
precise an interpretation.
a For the evidence for this see a note by Mirxa Muhammad in my edition of
Awfi's Lubdb, i, 397-8.
There is a fine MS. of this Tatimma, or Supplement,
a the Bibliotheque
in
Rationale at Paris (Ponds Arabs, 3308). Unfortunately it still remains unpublished.
4 Re
is, per haps, identical with the Tukhdrl (or native of Tukharistan) mentioned
n the Majma'iil-Fusahd as Khabbazi's contemporary.
6
The first eight verses are cited in the Persian notes, pp. 131-2. The whole
a$lda is given in 'Awfi's Lubdb, ii, 38-9.
Vol. x of the " E. J. W. Gibb Memorial
6 "
Series.
8-3
ii6 NOTES ON THE SECOND DISCOURSE
as-Sam'ani, is a suburb of Baghdad, but, on the face of it, it is not likely that our
Iskdfi can have been directly connected with that city.
NOTE XIV. POETS AND WRITERS IN ANECDOTE XII 117
A.H.489 (A.D. 1096). Riina, from which he took his nisba> was a place
near Lahore, not, as asserted in the Ta^rtkh-i-Guzida^ in Khawaran of
Khurasan, nor, as the MajmaWl-Fusahd states, near Nishapiir.
Mas'iid-i-Sa'd-i-Salman. On this poet Mirza Muhammad
wrote a long based on a careful study of his poems,
critical notice,
which I translated into English and published in tivtJ.R.A.S. for 1905
(pp. 693-740) and 1906 (pp. 11-51). The substance of this, which he
has summarized in the Persian notes (pp. 142-150 and 178-182) to this
text, is here given in a still more condensed form. The poet's family came
originally from Ramadan in Persia, but he himself was born at Lahore,
of which, in several passages in his poems, he speaks as his native place.
Five Kings of the House of Ghazna were the objects of his panegjjrics,
to wit Ibrahim, Mas'rid III, Shirzad, Arsldn and Bahrdmshah, whose
reigns extended over a period of 96 lunar or 93 solar years (A.H. 451-
547 = A.D. 1059-1152). His special patron was Sultan Ibrahim's son
Mahmiid, who was made governor of India in A.H. 469 (A.U. 1076-7),
an event which the poet asserts to have been foreshadowed fifty years
earlier by the great astronomer al-Biruni in his Tafhim 1 This is the .
irbitrary alterations of the text of certain poems into which these errors
have misled the author.
temporary of 'Unsuri and his circle, and died, according to the MajmaWl-
Fusahd, in A.H. 426 His nisba, Ghada'iri, is explained 1
(A.D. 1034-5).
as "
meaning "potter," tile-maker/' ghad&ir being the plural Qfghatfdra,
a kind of sticky, greenish clay used for making pottery. The' form
Ghada'iri (not Ghadarf, as the Majmtfu'l-Fusahd has it) is proved cor-
1
See the Ansdb of as-Sam'dni (Gibb Series, b.
vol. xx), f. 4oo
NOTE XIV. POETS AND WRITERS IN ANECDOTE XII 1 19
the well-known romantic poem on the loves of Wis and Ramfn. The
only well-known Farrukhi, to whom Anecdote
XV is devoted, was from
Sistan.
1
See edition of Dawlatshdh, pp. 42-3; Majdlistfl-M&mi*tn (Tihran lith. ed.,
my
A.H. 1268); Ta'rikh-i-Guzlda (Gibb Series, xiv, i), p. 816; and the Mttfam ol
Shams-i-Qays (Gibb Series, x), pp. 145 and 146.
120 NOTES ON THE SECOND DISCOURSE
The RafH of Nfshapur occurs in the
only other mention of
MajmaW l-Fusahd, appears that he was a contemporary of
from which it
returned to Ghdr with their effects, destroying on his way all the fine
buildings erected by Sultan Mahmiid of Ghazna. On reaching Finlz-kiih
he composed another fine but arrogant piece of poetry* which he bade
his minstrels sing. These events took
place in A.H. 545 (A.D. 1150-1),
year. Two or
the year of his accession to the throne, or in the following
three years later, in A.H. 547 (A.D. 1152-3), he was himself defeated and
taken prisoner at Awba near Herat, by Sultan Sanjar the Saljitq, together
with our author, who refers to this event in Anecdote XXXI.
The chief authority for the history of the Kings of Ghiir is the
Tabaqdt-i-Ndsiri of the Qadi Minhaju'd-Dfn 'Uthmdn ibn Siraju'd-Din
Muhammad, who was their contemporary (born 589/1193 and survived
the year 658/1260). This valuable history has been
published if* the
Bibliotheca Indica Series, but the late
Major H. G. Raverty's English
1 2
Persian notes, p. 157, II.
7-8. Ibid., p. 157, 1. 18 L
p. 158, 5.
J
Ibid., p. 158, 1. u p. 159, I. 2.
NOTE XVI. THE Jti-vi-MtfuvAN OF BUKHARA 121
Kakiiy the Daylami in A.H. 329 (A.D. 941), and it was on this occasion
that the celebrated despatch of his secretary Abu'l-Qasim Iskafi
(alluded
to in Anecdote III, pp. 16-18 supra) was penned. He extended the
Samdnid authority over Jurjan, Tabaristan, Zanjan, and Kirmdnshah.
In A.H. 333 (A.D. 944-5) the Amfr Niih I ibn Nasr II ibn Ahmad
dismissed him from the Government of Khurdsdn, whereupon he rebelled,
deposed the Amir (who fled to Samarqand), overran Khurdsdn, and
captured Bukhdrd. Finally in A.H. 344 (A.D. 955-6) he fell a victim to
the plague at Ray and was buried with his father at Chaghaniyan.
(5) Abu Mansiir ibn Ahmad, another son of No. 2, who appointed
him Governor of Chaghaniyin in A.H. 340 (A.D. 951-2) when he himself
was made Governor of Khurasan.
Abu'l-Muzaffar Jahir ibn Fadl, nephew of No. 2 and son of
(6)
No. was Governor of Chaghaniyan until his death in A.H. 377 (A.D.
3,
987-8). He was himself a poet and a generous patron of poets, Manjik
of Tirmidh being one of \\isproteges. See 'Awff's Lubdb, i, pp. 27-29.
Of Farrukhi's " admirable description of the poetic art " six verses,
besides the one given in the text, are cited on p. 166 of the Persian
notes. The editor's learned demonstration of the identity of Khuttal and
Khatldn, of which place the former is the Arabic and the latter the
Persian name, is mentioned in note 2 at the foot of p. 44 supra. The
details of the proof must be sought in the Persian notes, pp. 166-8.
" Such
arbitrary emendations are not only an encouragement to
ignorance, but a betrayal of the trust committed to us by men of yore.
For it is evident that their books, compositions, writings and harangues
are a precious heritage which our forefathers have bequeathed to us
Dawlatshdh, Hajji Khalifa and the Haft IqUm do, indeed, speak of an older
1
Tughanshah praised by Azraqi, but all the statements they make about him are
incorrect. See the Persian notes, p. ivr, second paragraph.
124 NOTES ON THE SECOND DISCOURSE
in trust, and which we in turn should transmit to our descendants
untampered with and unaltered. For should it once be allowed that from
the time of Firdawsi until now, a period of nearly a thousand years,
everyone should emend the verses of the Shdh-ndma in accordance with
his own whims and fancies, no trace or sign would now remain of
this Royal Treasure, this Mine of Jewels and Coral, which constitutes
the greatest literary glory of Persia, and is the guarantee of the per-
petuation of our national tongue.
" '
I actually heard a certain Persian scholar in Paris say My late :
the death of Qutulmush, who therefore obviously could not have rebelled
against him. Secondly, Qutulmush was not the son-in-law of Sultan
Muhammad, but the first cousin of his great-grandfather. Thirdly ^^
title of Qutulmush was Shihabu'd-Dawla, not Shihabu'd-Dfn. Fourthly,
he did not bear the name Alp Ghazi. Fifthly, the battle in which he
was killed was near Ray, not Hamadan; and sixthly, it took place
nearly a century before Nizami of Samarkand wrote the Chahdr Maqdla.
We are driven to suppose that in this passage the original text has
been tampered with. The real Alp Ghazt was the nephew of Sultan
Ghiyathu'd-Dfn Muhammad of Ghtir, and fell in battle with Sultan
Muhammad Khwarazmshah near Herat in A.H. 600 (A.D. 1203-4),
fifty years after the Chahdr Maqdla was written. There were two
kings called Ghiyathu'd-Din Muhammad, the one of Ghur, mentioned
immediately above, who died in A.H. 599 (A.D. 1202-3) and was actually
related to the real Alp Ghazi ; and the other the grandson of Alp Arslan
the Saljiiq, to whom this anecdote refers, and who died in A.H. 511
(A.D. 1117-8).
A
(7) The
verses of certain contemporary poets who were their pane-
such as Rashidi and Siizani of Samarqand, Mukhtdrf of Ghazna,
gyrists,
Racliyyu'd-Dfn of Nishapilr, 'Am'aq of Bukhara, Shams-i-Tabasf, etc.
In none of these books, however, except 'Awfi's Lubdb^ is mention
made of Qilij Tamghaj Khan Ibrahfm, the last ruler but one of the
dynasty. He was a great patron of poetry and learning. Radiyyu'd-Din,
the poet just mentioned, has especially celebrated his generosity to men
of letters, and several notable prose works were dedicated to him, amongst
others the Sindibdd-ndma* and the A'rddu'r-RiydsatfiAghraiWs-Siydsat*
of Baha'u'd-Din az-Zahiri of Samarqand, and another work by the same
author entitled Sam^%-Zahlrft fa
1
Or. 141 of the British Museum, flf.
*
Suppl. Persan 1331 in the Bibl. Nationale of Paris, ff. 132^136*.
8
See p. 1 25 supra.
4 See Hajji Khalifa, s.v., and 'Awff's Luldb, i, 91. There is a MS. of the work in
the Leyden Library.
6
See ff. Kh.> s.v. and the Lubab, i, 91.
t
(i
Sachau quotes the Ansdb of as-Sam'ani in favour of this latter pronunciation, but
in \htfacsimile of this work published by the " E. J. W. Gibb Memorial" (vol. xx,
b
f. 98 ) the
passage in question has bfl-kasri (with the i vowel) instead of b?l-fath),
(with the a vowel).
128 NOTES ON THE THIRD DISCOURSE
1
(Khiva) on Dhu'l-JJijja 3, A.H. 362 (Sept. 4, A.D. 973), and died (probably
at Ghazna) on Rajab 2, A.H. 440 (Dec. 1 1, A.D. 1048) at the age of 77 lunar
years and 7 months. He was one of the greatest men of science produced
"
by Persia, and in him, as Dr Sachau says, there is much of the modern
spirit and method of critical research," in which respect "he is a phe-
nomenon in the history of Eastern learning and literature " As a writer
his industry equalled his learning. In A.H. 427 (A.D. 1035-6), when he
had reached the age of 65 lunar (63 solar) years, he drew up for a
correspondent a list of his writings, which has been fortunately preserved
to us, and of which the original Arabic text is included by Sachau in
the German Introduction to his edition rial-Athdru'l-Bdqiya (pp. xxxviii-
xlix). This list comprises over a hundred works, arranged in 13 classes
as follows :
I.
Geometry, Astronomy, etc. ... 18 works
II. Geography ... ... ...
15
III. Arithmetic 8
IV. Light 4
V.i The Astrolabe 5
VI. Times and Seasons 5
VII. Comets 5
VIII. Stations of the Moon 12
IX. Astrology ... ... ... 7
X. Persian and other tales ... 13
XI. Religion 6
XII. Books of which the author re-
tained no copy ... ...
5
XIII. Unfinished books
ip
Total: 113
He also enumerates 25 other works written by three other men of
learning and ascribed to him, viz. 12 by Abii Nasr Mansilr ibn 'All ibn
'Arraq; 12 by Abii Sahl 'fsa ibn Yahya al-Masftn; and one by Abii 'AH
al-Hasan ibn 'All al-Jili. Further, Hajji Khalifa enumerates 15 more of
al-Binini's works not appearing in the above list,
though some of them
are no doubt included in it under slightly different titles, while others
are probably wrongly ascribed to our author. In Europe he is chiefly
known "
by^his Chronology of Ancient Nations" (al-Athdntl-Bdqiya
'-anVl-Qurtinfl-Khdliya) and his work on India, editions and translations
of both of which we owe to the learning and
industry of Dr Edward
Sachau. The former, unfortunately, presents many serious lacunae-.
"Many most essential parts," says Dr Sachau 2 "both, large and small,
are missing, e.g. the chapter on Zoroaster, a most deplorable loss, arising
was one of the most celebrated astronomers of the third century of the
2
hijra (ninth of the Christian era), and, according to al-Qifti , the greatest
authority on the history of the ancient Persians. He dwelt in Baghdad,
in the western part, and was originally a traditionist ; and his fanaticism
led him to insult and molest Ya'qiib ibn Ishaq al-Kindi, the " Philosopher
of the Arabs," and to stir up the common people against him. Finally
al-Kindi induced some of his friends to draw his attention to, and
arouse his interest in Mathematics and Geometry, so that he came to
seek instruction from al-Kindi, and was reconciled with him. He soon
passed on (at the age of forty-seven) to the study of Astronomy. On
one -occasion he was scourged by command of the Caliph al-Musta'm
(reigned A.H. 248-251; A.D. 862-5) because of a prognostication which
,he had made and which proved too correct. Thenceforth he used to
say: "I guessed right and was punished." He died on Ramadan 28,
A.H. 272 (March 8, A.D. 886). Al-Qifti enumerates 38 of his works, of
which such as are still extant are enumerated by Brockelmann (i, 221-2).
Abu Sa'fd Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn <Abdu'l-Jalil as-
Sajzi was a notable mathematician and astronomer of the fourth century
"
of the hijra. Amongst his numerous works is \hzJdmi -i-Shdhi) or Royal
t>
this work, written at Shirdz, where he apparently spent most of his life,
he refers to the years A.H. 351 (A.D. 962) and A.H. 380 (A.D. 990). The
4
Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris possesses a beautiful MS. , containing
41 mathematical and astronomical tracts, transcribed by him in Shiraz
during the years A.H. 358-361 (A.D. 969-972). The colophons of such
of these tracts as have them are given by Mirza Muhammad on pp. 200-
201 of the Persian notes. Including the 15 tracts comprised in the
Jdm?-i-Shdhi, 29 of his treatises are extant in European libraries',
besides the ad Bdb mentioned in the text, and a dissertation on the
Astrolabe.
1
German Introduction to the text, pp. Hi and liii.
2
Tiirlkhu'l-Hukamd, ed. Lippert, p. 152. .
8
See Rieu's 'Arabic Suppl., pp. 528-530.
*
4
Ponds Arabe 2457. See Brockelmann, i, 219.
'
3. 9
130 NOTES ON THE THIRD DISCOURSE
' '
and so forth. So by day they compute the Part of Happiness from
the Sun to the degree of the Moon, and add to it (that is to the degrees
between the Sun and the Moon) the degree of the Ascendant. Then
from the Ascendant's total they subtract thirty each [for the Sign
of the Ascendant and the adjoining Sign], and what remains will be the
the position of the Part of Happiness.' And by night they
*
de^ee of
compute from the degree of the Moon to the degree of the Sun, and
add thereto the degree of the Ascendant.
"Example. Ascendant 10 in Aries; the Sun 20 in Leo; the Moon
15 in Libra, leaving 40 [from the position of the Sun in Leo] to [the
beginning of] Libra. [To this] we add the 15
[already] traversed by
the Moon [in Libra], which gives us 55. To
we add the degree of
this
the Ascendant, which gives us 65. Of these we give 30 to Aries and
30 to Taurus, and the 5 '
remaining to Gemini. So the place of the
'
Part of Happiness will be the fifth degree of Gemini."
Pisces Aries
Aquarius Taurus
Capricorn Gemini
Sagittarius Cancer
Scorpio Leo
Libra Virgo
" As for the *
Part of the Unseen/ by day they compute it from the
Moon and by night from the Sun, adding thereto the degree of the
Ascendant, and subtracting thirty each from the Ascendant, as before;
then what remains over is the place of the 'Part of the Unseen.'"
1
^her/follow directions on similar lines for calculating the other 'Parts,
' ' '
viz. the Part of Days (Sahmu'l-Ayydm), the Part of Men-servants
*
Published in the Bibliotheca Indica, Calcutta, 1862.
92
132 NOTES ON THE THIRD DISCOURSE
'
Part of Wealth and Friends (Sahm-i-Mdl u
'
and Maid-servants/ the
Asdiqd), the 'Marriage of Women (Tazwij-i-Zandn), and the 'Parts'
1
is one of five things: first, the Master of the day- or night-shift ($dhib-i-
'Part of
night; thirdly the Degree of the Ascendant; fourthly, the
-,
nates the place of tthe Hayldj in this sense, that it is the Lord of the
Mansion wherein the Hayldj is actually situated, or the Lord of its
exaltation ($dhib~i-SIiaraf\ or the Lord of some other of its Parts which
stand in relation to that position.
If the Hayldj be one which has no Kad-khudd, then they leave it
14
out and seek another of the five Haydlij which has one; and if none of
them has a Kad-khudd, then the quality of being a Hayldj belongs to
the 1 )egree of the Ascendant.
"
Example of the Hayldj and Kad-khudd. If at the time of the birth
of the child (by day) the Moon be in 19 of Aries, then the Moon' will
be one of the five Haydlij (subject to the concurrence of the other
in
proper conditions which are set forth in books of Astrology). Then,
this hypothetical the Kad-khudd will be the Sun, for the Sun
example,
dominates the place of the Hayldj, that is to say is the Lord of its
altitude, for the exaltation (sharaf) of the Sun is in 19 of Aries. And if,
in this hypothetical example, the degree of the Ascendant is in 19 of
Aries, this degree of the Ascendant will be the Hayldj, and again the
Sun will be the Kad-khudd, and so on.
41
So from the admixture and combination of the sum-total of the
Hayldj and the Kad-khudd, they deduce (as they imagine) the duration
of the child's life, its length or brevity, and its happiness or infelicity.
"The derivation of the word Hayldj is unknown 2 ."
Mr .Ralph Shirley's observations are contained in three letters, dated
May 22, May 31 and October 25, 1920, the first addressed to Professor
Margoliouth, to whom my enquiries were originally addressed, the others
to myself, the last one after reading the proofs containing the anecdotes
to which this note refers.
These particulars were derived by Mirza* Muhammad from the British Museum
1
MS. of the Tafhlm* Add. 7697, ff. 146* and 154*', and from Kushyar's Mujtyalu'l-
Uf*l< Add. 7490, ff. 28-9.
9
It is said to he from the Greek vXtfcfa; see Sedillot's Prolegomena, p. \t\ of the
the sun would be hyleg, and vice versa. If neither sun nor moon occupy
it is usual to take the ascending
any of these positions, degree as hyleg,
but some of the old astrologers would regard the dominant planet as
hyleg under such circumstances. It must not be supposed from this that
when the sun is hyleg the moon has therefore no influence on the constitu-
tion. The moon in any case has to do with the digestion and various
matters of this kind, and the sun is in any case the ruler of the hcait
and therefore always important. The sun, however, niight be violently
afflicted though the health might not bo seriously endangered, if it did
not occupy the position of hyleg. The same would apply to the moon.
I think, other things being equal, the moon is to be regarded as having
more influence with a woman and the sun with a man. Alcohodcn is
merely another name for hyleg, but is not used nowadays.
"
As regards the other words, I have never heard of them. 1 have
however little doubt that the last, sahmits-sa^ddat^ is the Arabic term
for fche Part of Fortune.' Some old astrologers attached a good deal of
*
'
of Fortune is that part of the horoscope where the moon would be if the
'
sun were exactly rising. The Part of Fortune was supposed to refer to
'
the wealth and property of the native.' Ptolemy laid great stress on it,
'
"Thank you for yours of the 29th May. I think it might be a help
if you sent me a copy of the book in question. I have, however, read
so much on the- subject of astrology that I question whether there is any
likelihood of my being able to throw light on the Part of the Unseen.'
'
that rules the ascending sign of the Zodiac. The two most important
positions in the horoscope are the ascendant and the mid-heaven, and
any planets here are considered more powerful than any others. The
Ascendant has special relation to the individual, and the mid-heaven to
the fortune."
"I am sorry to have kept your proofs so long, but I have been
a good deal away from the office lately, and consequently my work has
got into arrears.
" With *
regard to the Part of the Unseen/ this is evidently something
kindred in nature to the Part of Fortune/ and as the Part of Fortune
'
Abu'1-Fath (
Umar ibn Ibrahim al-Khayyamf, commonly
called 'Umar (or 'Omar) Khayyam, is so much more celebrated in
the West, especially in England and America, than in the East that
Mirzd Muhammad has, for the benefit of his own countrymen, for whom
he is primarily writing, added a very long note on his biography, the
sources of our information about him, and the history of the "Omar
Khayyam Club" founded in London in his honour in 1892. The
information contained in this note is mainly derived from Professor
Valentin Zhukovski's masterly article on the "Wandering Quatrains" 01
'Umar-i-Khayydm, which appeared in the Festschrift published in 1897 at
St Petersburg in honour of the late Baron Victor Rosen, by eleven of his
pupils, and entitled, in allusion to his Christian name, al-Muzaffariyya.
This article, written in Russian, was translated by Sir E. Denison Ross
and published in the f.R.A.S. for 1898 (vol. xxx, pp. 349-366), and
reproduced in its essentials by him in Methuen's edition of FitzGerald's
Quatrains, and by me in vol. ii of my Literary History of Persia,
pp. 246-9. It is therefore sufficient to summarize here the inrbrmatiqn
which can be found in greater detail in those places.
NOTE XXV. 'UMAR-I-KHAYYAM 135
2. The Kharidatu'l-Qa$r.
(Addition to Persian notes, p. r*\ )
4. The Mirs&du'l-'Ibd.
The Mirsddu I-' Ibdd of Shaykh Najmu'd-Din Daya, composed in
A.H. 620 (A.D. 1223-4), contains a passage in which *Umar is denounced
as an atheist, and two of his quatrains are cited with disapproval. The
text of this important passage is quoted by Mirza (Persian Muhammad
notes, p. 211) from Zhukovski's article. I have collated this with a fine
old 'MS. of the Mirsdd transcribed in A.H. 768 (A.D. 1367), which
presents the following variants, generally improvements.
211, i, inserts *} after >^Jl**; reads for
tj^lj.y |;^y^jj j;
inserts ^Jl after Ojy*; and reads JU. for
^J&U.. 211, 5, inserts
3 before *<u3^: 1. 6 after JL^ substitutes for jjt^ at the end of the line
the following words :
before, and inserts lj^ after cJ^ILg; and after cJk( adds U jl^\ j
3>3 ^^. ^SU^. 211, 10, inserts jjtw at beginning of line. 21 1, 12,
omits [Uul^]. 211, n, ijuO. Of the passage thus emended the
translation is as follows:
"And it will become apparent for what reason this pure, celestial
and luminous spirit was drawn into the form of this lowly earthen
mould, and also why it must part therefrom, why the spirit must sever
its connection with this mould, why the form must perish, and what is
the reason for the restoration of this mould at the Resurrection and the
reinvestiture of the spirit therewith. Then will he [t.e. the enquirer]
come *
foJth from the company of these are like cattle^ nay^ they are yet
more misguided? / attain to the rank of [true] humanity, escape from the
l
1
Qnr'dn, xxv, 46.
136 NOTES ON THE THIRD DISCOURSE
veil of heedlessness of 'they know the outward appearance of this present
but are careless as to the life to come\ and set his feet eagerly and
J
/iff,
materialists, who are debarred from these two stations, err and go astray,
so that one of the most talented of them, who is known and noted
amongst them for scholarship, philosophical knowledge and judgement,
that 'Umar-i- Khayyam, in the extreme of bewilderment must needs
is
5. Shahrazurf s Tawarfkhu'l-Hukama.
This " History of the Philosophers," properly entitled Nuzhatu'l-
Anvdh wa Rawdatu' l-Afrdh, composed by Shamsu'd-Din Muhammad
ibn Marnmid of Shahraziir between A.H. 586 and 6n (A.D. 1190 and
3
1214), exists in two recensions, one Arabic and one Persian Of the.
latter there exists, besides the MS. described by Rieu, another iMS.
6. Ibnu'l-Athfr.
Mention of 'Umar-i-Khayyam is made by this great historian, who
wrote in A.H. 628 (A.D. 1230-1), under the year A.H. 467 (A.D. 1074-5),
where he says:
"And in it the Nizamu'1-Mulk and Sultan Malikshah assembled
a number of the most notable astronomers, and fixed the Naw-rtiz
(Persian New Year's Day) in the first point of Aries, it having been
hitherto at the passage of the Sun through the middle point of Pisces;
and what the Sultan did became the starting-point of [all subsequent]
Calendars. In it also was constructed the Observatory for Sultan
n, xxx, 6. ^
9 The secondof these quatrains, which may be accounted amongst the, most
certainly genuine of those ascribed to 'Umar, is No. 126 in E. H. Whinfiel&'s edition.
3
See Sachau's Introduction to his edition of al-Bfruni's al-Athdril-Bdqiya,
pp. L-LI, and Rieu's Persian Supplement, pp. 68-9.
*
Op. cit., pp. 327-9.
NOTE XXV. 'UMAR-I-KHAYYAM 137
7. Al-Qiftf s Ta'Hkhu'l-Hukam&.
The "
History of the Philosophers," composed between A.H. 624 and
646 (A.D. 1227 and 1248-9) by Jamalu'd-Din Abu'l-rjasan 'Alf ibn
1
Ytisuf al-Qiftf, and edited by Dr Julius Lippert , also contained a notice
of 'Umar-i- Khayyam, of which a French translation is given by Woepcke
in his I'Algtbre tfOmar Alkhayydmi*) while later Russian and English
8
versions are given by Zhukovski and Ross respectively .
8. Ta'rfkh-i-JahSn-gush6.
In the account of the massacre of the people of Merv perpetrated
by the Mongols early in the year 618/1221 one of 'Umar's quatrains is
said to have been recited by Sayyid 'Izzu'd-Din Nassdba when he had
finished counting the bodies of the victims, of whom the number ex-
ceeded 1,300,000. This history was composed in 658/1260, and the
passage in question occurs in vol. i, p. 128 (" K. J. W. Gibb Memorial"
Series, xvi, i).
9. Qazwfnf s Atharu'l-Bilad.
In his "Monuments
of the Lands," composed in A.H. 674 (A.D
1275-6), Zakariyya ibn Muhammad ibn Mahmild al-Qazwfni gives,
under his notice of the city of Nishapur, some account of 'Umar 4
containing certain new materials which I have summarized in my
Lit. Hist, of Persia (ii, 251 -2).
6
Khayyam The chronological difficulties involved in this story, how-
.
ever, render its acceptance very difficult. Mirza Muhammad has com-
municated to me the ingenious suggestion that its historical basis is to
"
be found in a passage in Ydqtit's Mu'jamtfl Udabd or Dictionary of
Learned Men ," where
1
it is stated on the authority of Abu'l-IJasan ibn
Abi'lQasim Zayd al-Bayhaqi, author of the Mashdribu't-Tajdrib, that in
the year 434/1042-3 the poet 'All ibnu'l-Hasan al-Bakharzi and Abil
Nasr Muhammad ibn Mansrir al-Kunduri, who subsequently became
famous under the title of *Amidrfl-Mulk as Minister to the Saljuq
Sultans Tughril Beg and Alp Arslan, were fellow-pupils of the same
Imam Muwaffaq of Nishaptir at whose lectures the "Three Friends"
are supposed to have become acquainted. That the framework of a
story should be preserved with the substitution of more interesting or
mort celebrated personalities as its heroes is a very common literary
phenomenon. If this has happened in the present case, the poet al-
Bakharzi has simply been replaced by the poet 'Umar-i-Khayyam, and
Alp Arslan's earlier Minister 'Amtdu'I-Mulk by his later Minister
Nizdmu'l-Mulk, the Imam Muwaffaq remaining in both versions.
1
ii. Ta'rfkh-i-Guzida.
This well-known history, composed in 730/1329-1330, also contains
a brief notice of 'Umar and cites one of his quatrains. ("E. J. W. Gibb
Memorial" Series, xiv, i, pp. 817-818.)
12. Firdawsu't-Tawdrfkh.
"
This work, the Paradise of Histories," composed in A.H. 808
(A.D. 1405-6) by Mawland Khusraw of Abarqiih, contains an account
of 'Umar-i-Khayyam of which the Persian text is reproduced from
Zhukovski's article on pp. 217-219 of the Persian notes, and of which
the substance is given in my Lit. Hist^ ii, 254.
"
J. W. Gibb Memorial
1
"E. Series, vi, 5, p. 124.
*
It extends, however, only to the year 997/1588-9.
NOTE XXV. 'UMAR-I-KHAYYAM 139
The Quatrains.
How many of the Rubfriyydt or Quatrains attributed to 'Umar-i-
Khajfyam are really his
it is
impossible to determine, since no very
ancient manuscript collection of them has yet been discovered 2 but ;
*.
The Pulse (frabd) is very fully discussed in all Arabic and Persian
works on Medicine, e.g. the Firdawsu'l-Hikmat of 'Ali ibn Rabban
at-Tabari, JVaw* iv, Maqdla #//', chs. 6-9 (Brit. Mus. Arundel Or. 41,
a b
ff!
i63 -i6s ); the Kamilu's-Sina'at, also called al-Kitbu'l-
Malikf, of 'Ali ibnuVAbbas al-Majtfsi, Part /, Maqdla vii, c/is. 2-11
(Cairo ed. of 1294/1877, vol. i, pp. 254-281); the Qanun of Avicenna,
.Book /, Fann //, Tcflim iii,Jumla 1(19 sections), pp. 628 of the Rome
h b
edition of A.D. 1593 (= ff. 49 -53 of the Latin translation printed at
Venice in 1544); and the Persian Dhakhfra-i-Khwarazrnsfcahi,
Book //, Guftdr /'//',
chs. 1-23.
As our author Avicenna, we may conveniently do the,
chiefly follows
same, though indeed the general views of all these writers appear to be
almost identical. Each pulsation consists of four factors or elements,
two movements (harakat)^ a diastole (inbisdt) and a systole (inqibdd),
and two pauses (suk&n) separating the two movements. The ten kinds or
genera (jins) of pulse are determined by consideration of the following
features :
The amount of the diastole (miqddru 'l-inbisdt, " genus quod est
(1)
sumptum ex quantitate diastoles "). In this genus three elements are to
be considered, length (////), breadth (fard) and depth {^umq\ each of
which supplies three simple varieties of pulse, two extremes and a mean,
besides composite varieties, which I shall not here enumerate. Thus we
have the long (tawil), the short (gasfr, "curtus") and the intermediate
" mediocris "
(mu'tadit, ") ; the broad ({arid> latus "), the narrow (dayyiq,
(7) The duration of the pause (zamdmf s-sukun, "quod est sumptum
ex tempore quietis"), three varieties, the continuous (tuntawdtir, also
called mutaddrik and mutakdthif^ "frequens," "consequens" or "spissus")>
the differentiated (mufafdwit, also called mutardkht and mutakhalkhil^
"rarus," "lassus" or "resolutus"), and the intermediate ("mediocris").
(8) The equality or diversity of the pulse (istiwd'u'n-nabdi wa
'khtildfuhui "quod est sumptum ex aequalitate et diversitate," "aut sequale,
>J
aut diversum seu insequale ), two varieties, equal (niustaw, "iequalis")
and unequal (mukhtahf, "di versus ").
the different sorts of composite pulse which have proper names, such as
"
undosus "), ^-^//(^vermiculosus"),
al-ghazdli (" gazellans "), al- mawji (
an-namli (" formicans "), etc. Very full treatment is accorded to the
whole subject, and in particular it is explained why the pulse is felt at
the wrist preferably to any other place, and what precautions should
be observed in feeling it. The remarks about the observing of the
systole ascribed by our author to Avicenna appear to be really quoted
" Galenus
by hhn from Galen quoque dixit longo tempore non fui
'
:
aliquid percepi, et postea illud complevi. Nam postea portpe pulsus mihi
apertae fuerunt V 1
142 NOTES ON THE FOURTH DISCOURSE
heart, transmitted by the intermediary of the spirit and the blood to the
blood-vessels and [thus] diffused throughout the whole body, which it
heats and inflames with an inflammation whereof the harmful effects
appear in all the natural functions.' This sentence formulated above is
'
the definition (hadd) of Fever ; the word Heat is the genus, while the
*
anything else ; and when the heat of anger, or the like thereof, reaches
that point where it will be injurious to the natural functions, it is but the
cause, and the injury thereof only becomes apparent by the intervention
of something else. Even so is the putridity \^uf&nai\ of fever, for the
1
This same corrupt form also occurs in most MSS. of the Dhakhtra-i-Khwdra^i-
shdhi, Book VI, Gutter i, Part i, ch. i, where, however, the word is specifically
recognized as Greek.
?Gharlb % lit. "strange."
NOTE XXVI. FEVERS 143
putridity is the cause, while the hurt thereof is through the intervention
of that heat which is produced from it. And the natural functions,
wherein the hurt of fever becomes apparent, are such as the appetite for
food and wine, digestion, rising up, sitting down, going, eating, sexual
intercourse, and the like thereof."
The next (second) chapter deals with the different kinds of fever,
and is too long (3 pages) to be translated in full here. The human body
is compounded of three sorts of substances (i) basic tissues such as
;
the bones, nerves and blood-vessels; (2) the marrow of the bones, the
blood, and other liquids contained in the vessels and cavities of the
body, such as the phlegm, bile and black bile, known as the 'humours';
(3) the natural, animal or vital, and psychic spirits, and the vapours
diffused throughout the body. This the ancients Jbave
composite body
likened to a hot bath, whereof the walls, bricks and stones are represented
by the bones, nerves and blood-vessels ; the water by the marrow, the
blood, and the humours; and the steam by the natural, animal and
psychic spirits, and the vapours. When the heat of the fever attacks the
basic tissues of the body, it is like the heat of the fire Affecting the walls,
stones and bricks of the hot bath; and this kind of fever is called
hectic (diqq). When it first attacks the humours and subsequently the
' '
basic tissues, it is like the hot water being let into the chambers of the
bath and heating the walls ; and this kind of fever is called 'humoristic'
(khaltiyya). When it attacks the spirit and the vapours, which in turn
heat the humours and the tissues, it is like the hot air in the bath heating
in turn the water and the walls thereof ; and this kind of fever is called
'quotidian' (Pers. tab-i-yak-niza \ Arab, hummd yawm ").
1
'
This is one Another is into simple (basif) and
classification.
'
compound
more than one. Thirteen kinds of fever are recognized, viz. :
m These, says the author, are the broad general divisions, each of
which contains subdivisions which will be treated of in subsequent
"
chapters. Fevers of the type called " putrid ('ajfn, in Persian ganda or
144 NOTES ON THE FOURTH DISCOURSE
of the phlegm (balgham) ; tertian (Arab, ghibb) from that of the bile
(safrd) quartan is atrabilious (sawddwi) in origin ; and semi-tertian
(shafru* l-ghibd) is from a combination of bilious and phlegmatic dis-
turbance. Fevers arising from corruption in the blood, on the other
hand, are continuous (mutbiqa, or Idzini). If the blood become over-
heated in the vessels without undergoing corruption, the resulting fever
is called s&ndkhis (? O-UFC^T/S). If there is corruption as well, it may
affect half the blood, or less, or more, in which last case the resulting
" "
fever is called burning (Arab, muhruja, Pers. st'tzanda). But if all the
blood be so affected, the patient will surely die. All fevers arising from
the blood are continuous, whether the affection of the blood be primary
or secondary. The latter may arise from a " bloody swelling" (dmds-i-
khuni) of one of the internal organs, such as the stomach, liver, spleen,
gall-bladder, bowels, lungs, diaphragm, muscles or nerves. Such secondary
fever is not an independent disease but a symptom, and the treatment
must therefore be directed to the cause. The aetiology of corruption of
the humours is discussed in a subsequent section of the book (Bodk V,
Guftar iii, ch. i).
be noted that in the older Arabic medical treatises, such as
It is to -
Jo ;
tertian ^jlbljip (rptraio?) instead of
^^^^^ ;
and semi-tertian
r. Bukht-Yishff.
Ten members of this great medical family, which for three centuries
(eighth to eleventh of our era) produced some of the most eminent
physicians of that time, are enumerated by Wiistenfeld (pp. 14-18,
Nos. 26-35). They were Christians, as indicated by the family name,
for the correct explanation of which (Bukht-Yishi1'= "Jesus hath de-
livered") we are indebted to Noldeke The chief members of the
1
.
i.
2. Jurjls* I
3. Kukht-YMm* II
(phyMCiari to -Mahcli, -Hadf and llarifnu'r-Rashfd, cl. i.s/8oi)
" "
i-Shdptir, or
'
ShapuYs Better than Antioch,' a name gradually
" It
shortened to Gunde-Shapiir, or, in its Arabic form, Junday-Sabtir.
was enlarged into a great city," says Rawlinson, " by his seventh suc-
* '
cessor Shapiir II Dhrfl-Aktdf (A.D. 309-379).. .and during his reign
became the see of a bishop of the Nestorian Church which had been
instituted in Susiana a century before; and when Jundi-Sabiir soon
afterwards rose to be the chief city of the province, the seat of the
metropolitan, which had been formerly fixed at Ahwaz, or, as it is called
by the Syrians, Beth Lapat was transferred to it. The School of Jundi-
8
,
1
Ed. Van Vloten (Leyden, iyoo), pp. 109-110.
8 De Goeje's Bill. Geogr. Arab.,
vol. ii, pp. 173-1 74- t , . ,
3
Ibn Abi Usaybi'a specially mentions that both Juijis I (vol. i, p. 124) and his
son Bukht-Yishii* (vol. i, p. 126), on being presented to the Caliphs al-Mansiir and
Haninu'r-Rashid respectively, prayed for them in Arabic and Persian.
8
*
De Godje's Bibl. Geogr. Arab., vol. Hi, pp. 4'4~4<5- Q fti PP- "7^-75-
the Greek sciences
^Sergius of Ra's Ayn flourished about A.D. 536, and translated
into Syriac. See Wright's Syriat Literature, pp. 88-93.
'
Qiftf, p. 176.
IO 2
148 NOTES ON THE FOURTH DISCOURSE
culture that it was known as Hellenopoiis. The following were the most
notable members of the family :
Qurra
Ibrdftim I Sin an
(d.A.H. 331; A.D. 942-3)
Thdbit II IbrMm II
(d.A.H. 363; A.D. 973-4)
Thabit ibn Qurra, to whom Qifti devotes a long notice (pp. 115-122),
was a most prolific writer on logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy,
medicine, etc. tie was born at Ilarran in A.H. 221 (A.D. 836) but spent
most of his life at Baghdad, where he enjoyed the favour of the Caliph
al-Mu'tadid (A.D. 892-902). Qifti gives a very full and authoritative
listof his writings compiled by Abii *Ali al-Muhassin 2 ibn Ibrahim ibn
Hilal as-Sabi, including some in Syriac on the Sabean religion and on
music which were never translated into Arabic. The almost miraculous
cure of the butcher related in Anecdote XXXIX of this book is by
Qifti (pp. 1 20- 1.) and Ibn Abi Usaybi'a (i, 216) ascribed to Thabit ibn
Qurra. The Dhakhira ("Thesaurus") mentioned in the text was, Accord-
ing to Qifti (p. 1 20), declared by T habit's hompnymous grandson to be
unauthentic, though a good book enjoying a wide circulation.
which he composed 12 books 3, but the study brought him no luck, for,
being unable to translate his theories into practice, he vjas struck on the
head by his disappointed patron Mansrir, governor of Ray, in consequence
of which he became blind. He refused to undergo an operation on his
eyes on ascertaining that the surgeon who was to perform it was ignorant
of the anatomy of the eye, adding afterwards that he had looked on the
world until he was tired of it.
The marvellous acumen displayed and the wonderful cures effected
by him form the subject of numerous anecdotes similar in character to
No. XXXV
in this book in such collections of stories as the Arabic
4
al-Faraj btfdctsh-Shidda ("Joy after Sorrow") of at-Taniikhf and the
Persian Jawdmfrfl-Hikdydt of 'Awfi.
Razf was a most prolific writer, and Qifti (pp. 274-7) enumerates
1
and the Hdwf, are more important (especially the last named), and
deserve somewhat fuller mention.
ibn Asad, who was appointed Governor of Ray in A.H. 290 (A.D. 903)
by his cousin Ahmad ibn Isma'fl ibn Ahmad ibn Asad ibn Saman, the
second King of that Royal House, held that position until A.H. 296
(A.D. 908-9), and rebelled against Nasr II ibn Ahmad ibn Isma'il in
A.H. 302 (A.D. 914-915). All other authorities, even those generally
most trustworthy, seem, as M
frza Muhammad points out (Persian notes,
pp. 231-3 and 240-1), to have fallen into error. Thus the Fihrisi
(pp. 299-300), Qifti (p. 272, 11. 21-2) and Ibn Abi Usaybi'a (i, p. 310,
" Mansiir ibn
1.
29) call Rdzi's patron Isma'il," a person unknown to
history ; or (Ibn Abi Usaybi'a in another passage, viz. i, p. 313, 1. 20)
" Mansiir ibn Isma'il ibn
Khaqan, lord of Khurasan and Transoxiana";*
or (Ibn Abi Usaybi'a, i, p. 317, 11. 17-18) "Mansiir ibn Ishaq ibn
Isma'fl ibn Ahmad." Ibn Khallikan in one passage identifies him with
Abii Salih Mansiir ibn I slid q ibn Ahmad ibn Niih (which is correct
if we substitute
"
Asad " for " Niih " in the genealogy), and in another
falls into the same error as the author of the Chahdr Maqdla by
identifying him with the sixth Sdnianid ruler Mansiir ibn Niih ibn Nasr,
who reigned from A.H. 350 to 366 (A.D. 961-976-7), long after the
death of Razi, which is generally placed either in the year A.H. 311
(A.D. 923-4), or in A.H. 320 (A.D. 932), though one MS. of Qiftf. (p. 272)
puts it as late as A.H. 364 (A.D. 974-5).
The Arabic text of the Mans&ri has, so far as I know, never been
published in its entirety, nor are MSS. common. For his edition of the
anatomical portion of the work Dr P. de Koning made use of a MS. in
the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris (No. 2866 of de Slane's Catalogue).
The Latin version, as already noted, has been repeatedly printed 3 .
1
See Choulant's Handbuch, pp. 341 and 343.
2 8
Mu'jamu'l-Bulddn, vol. ii, p. 901. See Choulant, op. laud., p. 343
NOTE XXVII. CERTAIN EMINENT PHYSICIANS 151
Al-Kitdbu'l-Hdwl ("Continens")-
%This the largest and most important of the works of Rdzi. It is,
is
The Latin version, on the other hand (Brixise, October 18, 1486),
1
comprises twenty-five parts entitled as follows:
(1) De morbis cerebri.
(2) De oculis.
(3) De auribus, naribus, lingua et gula.
(4) De asmate, peripleumonia et pleuresi.
(5) De passionibus stomachi.
(6) De evacuationibus.
(7) *De passionibus cordis et epatis et splenis.
1
But according to Choulant the Venice edition of A.D. 1509 is divided
(p. 343)
into 37 books. In the following table I have retained the original spelling, except in
the case of ligatures and contractions.
1
52 NOTES ON THE FOURTH DISCOURSE
(19) De crisi.
but from Anecdote XXXVI it is clear that he survived the year A.H. 408
(A.D. 1017-8) in which Sultan Mahmiid conquered Khwarazm. His full
name was Abu'l-Khayr al-Hasan ibn Suwar ibn Baba ibn Bahram l[or,
according to Ibn Abf Usaybi'a, Bihnam), and he was a Christian,
apparently of Persian ancestry. He made translations from Syriac into
Arabic. Fifteen of his works are enumerated by Ibn Abi Usaybi'a*, but
it is uncertain whether
any of them still exist.
6. Abti Nasr ibn 'Arrdq.
was Abd Nasr Mansiir ibn Ali ibn 'Arraq Mawld Amirfl-Mtfminin.
c
like so many other ancient and noble Persian families, seems to have
been destroyed or dispersed by Sultan Mahmiid of Ghazna. There is no
our author's assertion that Abu* Nasr ibn 'Arraq was
justification for
the nephew of Khwarazmshah.
a
1
Cf. Neuburger, ii, pp. 168-175. See pp. 145 and 265 of that work.
*
3
Op. 333.
tit., i, p.
4 of the Athdrif l-Bdqiya, where
i. xlviii of the Einltitung of Sachau's
See edition
tifty are enumerated; and also pp. 246-249 of the Persian notes to the Chahdr
Maadla.
* two kings occur on pp. 241 and 35-36 of al-
Al-Birdni's references to these
Athdru'l-Bdgiya.
i$4 NOTES ON THE FOURTH DISCOURSE
edition of his Kdmilifs'Sinfrat "Majiisi" has been wantonly pointed as " Mujawwisi"
or " Mujawwasi," in order, I
suppose, to attempt to conceal his Zoroastrian Origin.
Mfrza Muhammad, howevei, after reading this note, has supplied me with many
instances derived from such respectable authorities as as-Sabi, Qifti, Ibn Khallikan,
Ibn Abi Usaybi'a, etc., of Jews, Christians and other non-Muslims bearing Muham-
madan names, titles and kunyas.
NOTE XXVII. CERTAIN EMINENT PHYSICIANS 155
9. Abu SahH-MasihL
This writer's full name
is Abti Sahl 'isa ibn Yahya ai-Masfhi (the
prince had been deposed and cast into prison, where he was soon after-
wards murdered (403/101 2-3). Avicenna subsequently became minister
to Shamsu'd-Dawla at Ramadan, where he suffered disgrace and imprison-
ment, but presently escaped to Isfahan, and entered the service of 'Ala'u'd-.
'Dawla Abii Ja'far IJluhammad ibn Dushmanziyar of the so-called Kaka-
wayhid dynasty for whom he wrote his Persian Encyclopaedia of the
2
,
OU
" I saw Ibn Sind (Avicenna) contending with men, but he died in prison (or,
of constipation) the most ignoble death ;
"
What he attained by the Shijd (or, by healing) did not secure his health,
nor did he escape death by his Najdt (or 'Deliverance 1 )."
In these verses there are three ingenious word-plays, for habs means
both " imprisonment and " constipation," while two of his most famous
"
works are entitled Shifd (" Healing") and Najdt (" Deliverance ").
Besides his medical- and philosophical works, Avicenna wrote a good
deal of fine poetry in Arabic and a few quatrains (some of which are
often ascribed to 'Umar-i-Khayyam) in Persian. The latter hate been
5
collected by the late Dr Hermann Ethe and of the former a consider-
,
able number are given by Ibn Abi Usaybi'a 6 Of his beautiful Arabic .
qasida on the descent of the soul into the body a translation will be
found in vol. ii of my Literary History of Persia (pp. 1 o-i 1 1). Another 1
"
praise of wine, which is compared to blood of gold," the Christian
Trinity, and the First Cause. His literary activity was prodigious and
varied, extending to almost every branch of letters and learning, as may
be seen by glancing at the lists of his works given by Ibn Abf Usaybi'a 2
and Brockelmann. Of these only three are specifically mentioned in the
Chahdr Maqdla^ namely the KitdbtM-Mabda\v(Jl-Ma''dd, quoted by
3
Mirza Muhammad from the British Museum MS.; the book htitled
" How to
guard against various mistakes in medical treatment," printed
at Biilaq in the margins of ar-Razi's Mandfi^il-aghd/uya wa daj'u
~naddrri-hd under the title of Daf>u'l-mcn1drr?l-kulliyya 'aml-abddtrfl-
4
usdntyya ; and the Qdntin, the largest and most famous of Avicenna's
medical writings. In the preparation of the FitsJl'atrick lectures on
"Arabian Medicine" which I delivered at the Royal College of Physi-
cians in November 1919 and 1920, and which will I hope be published
in the course of 1921, I made use of the fine but not very correct edition
printed at Rome in AD. 1593, but there is also a Biilaq edition in two
volumes. A good account of the various editions and Latin translations
will be found in Dr Ludwig Choulant's Handbuch der Bilcherkunde fur
die Altere Medicin (Leipzig, 1841), pp. 359-368. See also Morilz Stein-
scnneider's Die Europdischen Ubersetzungen aus dem Arabischen bis Mitte
des 17 Jahrhunderts* in the Index s.v. "Avicenna."
In Anecdote XXXVIII the narrator, Abii Kalanjar, mentions four
other disciples of Avicenna, concerning three of whom Mirza Muham-
mad gives some valuable information in the Persian notes on pp. f of-
ro. Bahmanyar's full name was Abu'l-Hasan Bahmanyar ibn Mar-
zuban al-Adharbayjanf al-Majrisi, and he died in 458/1066. A few of his
writings exist in manuscript, and two of his metaphysical treatises were
printed at Leipzig in A.D. 185 1. Abu" Mansiir al-FIusayn ibn Muhammad
ibn 'Umar ibn Zila al- Isfahan! died in 440/1048-9. The assertion that
he was a Zoroastrian is unsupported by evidence, and, in view of the
names of his father and grandfather, appears very improbable". There
exist in the British Museum MSS. of two of his treatises, one on Music,
entitled al-Kdfi (Or. 2361), and the other a Commentary on Avi-
cenna's Story ofHayy ibn Yaq%dn.
Far more important than these two was Abii 'Ubayd Abdul-Wa^id ibn
Muhammad al-JUzjani, who first became acquainted with Avicenna in
7
Jurjan in 403/101 2-3 Avicenna was then about thirty-two years old, and
.
2
1
Vol. ii, p. 14. Lw* cit.) pp. 18-20.
3 4
See p. ft of the Persian notes. Ibid., p. f rv.
*lPublished in two parts with separate pagination in the Sitzungsberichte d. fCais.
J(kad. J! Wissensch. (Phiios.-histor. Klasse^ Vienna, 1904 and 1905.
8 i at the foot of p. 154 supra.
Compare, however, note
7
Mirza Muhammad has established this date from the writings of both Avicenna and
al-Juzjani. See Persian notes, pp. f of-CM ad cole.
158 NOTES ON THE FOURTH DISCOURSE
al-Jdzjanf was thenceforth constantly with him until his death in 428/1037,
always urging him to record his knowledge in books while he lived, and
preserving these writings from destruction after his death. For Avicenna,
as recorded in the Chahdr Maqdla (p. 92 supra), distracted by the
rijal
claims of learning, pleasure and statecraft, enjoyed little leisure jnid
tranquillity, and when he wrote a book would often give the original to
the person who had asked him to write it without keeping a ctipy for
himself. After his death al-Jtizjani sought out these scattered writings
wherever they could be found and arranged and edited them, while in
other cases he actually assisted in their composition. Thus the Ddnish-
ndma-i-'Altfi 1 Avicenna's most important Persian work, composed for
,
1
As already noted, the text was lithographed in India in 1309/1891-2, but is
rare. Mr A. G. Ellis most kindly placed his copy at my disposal. Mirza Muhammad
mentions two MSS. in the British Museum, viz. Add. 16,830 and Add. 16,659,
b b
ff.
258 -342 , and there is another, Or. 16,830. Sec Rieu's Pers. Cat., pp. 433-434.
- *
Tabaqdtitl'Atibbdt ii, pp. 4-9 Pp. 417-426 of Lippert's edition.
4 In an old thirteenth
century MS. of Books l-III of this work in my possession.
5 Zur *
Quellenkunde d. Pers. Meet., p. 129.
6 Pers. 7
Cat., p. 466. Hist, dc la Midtcine Arabe, vol. ii, pp. 18-20.
8
Op. fit., No. 16, pp. 11-13. 9
/Wtf-i No -
39> ? 35-
10
Ibid., No. 280, p. 105!
NOTE XXVI 1 1.
J Aid's VERSION OK TWO ANECDOTES 159
logy and Therapeutics. These I have not seen, and they are completely
overshadowed by his magnum opus the Dhakhtra-i-Khwdrazmshdhi, or
"Thesaurus of Khwarazmshdh," of which I have collected several fine
manuscripts and which I have studied with some care. Before speaking
of iUJiowever, I must observe that the Khuffi was so called from khuff^
a boo^, because it was written in two elongated narrow volumes, one of
which tre traveller could carry in each of his riding-boots, and that its
name is not Khafi ("Hidden," "Secret"), as stated by Fonahn and
Leclerc 1 .
Note XXVIII.
Jami's rhymed versions of Anecdotes XXXIV (Text, p. 73) and
XXXVIII (Text, pp. 82-4) in the Silsilatu'dh-Dhahab.
(The text is taken from a MS. dated 997/1589 /;/ my own possession and ,
b
Or. 425, ff.
75 and 76* in the Cambridge University Library.)
Anecdote XXXIV.
1
Mirza Mujiammad has pointed out to me that, as we learn from Qifti (p. 80) and
Ibn Abf Wsaybi'a (i, p. 20 r), one of Ishaq ibn Ilunayn's works was similarly entitled
tfunndshiS'l-Khuff, and that Sayyid Isnia'il probably got the idea from him.
8 No.
Op. cit., 15, pp. 7-1 1.
3 Book X on Compound Medicaments was subsequently added by the author.
160 NOTES ON THE FOURTH DISCOURSE
*-W
Anecdote XXXVIII.
4
ju o^-
^ ^ J5j j
^ -
U
NOTE XXIX. THE MA'MtiNf KHWARAZMSHAIIS 161
of the Unseen.'
"In the case cited, 28 Safar, A.H. 511 (i July, A.D. 1117), the time
of birth being New Moon (here shown to be at 5.32 p.m. local mean
time) when both the luminaries were above the horizon, we have to deal
with a day horoscope. Therefore we count from the Moon's place to
that of the Sun, which is twelve whole Signs and nothing over. The
Part of the Unseen must therefore be on the Ascendant, and this must
be the case at the time of every New Moon, whether it happens by day
or by night. Only we have to note that as the Moon separates from the
Sun the Part of Fortune is carried from the Ascendant downward to
the nadir, while the Part of the Unseen is carried upward towards the
midheaven, and this converse motion goes forward in each case at the
rate of about 12 degrees per day until they meet again, this time in
opposition to the Ascendant, at the full of Moon.
" I had the
pleasure of seeing Mr Shirley yesterday and conferred
'
with him in regard to his use of the term ' Alcochoden as synonymous
with 'Hyleg' or Hayldj, and he informed me that he derived fcis
information from Wilson's Dictionary of Astrology^ a work of which I
am extremely suspicious, as on many occasions I have found that he
treats of subjects about which he has evidently no practical experience.
But I think the matter must be settled by reference to some of the
Arabic or Persian works in which the term is used. The context would
undoubtedly give any astrological student the clue to interpretation.
If, as I think, Alcochoden is Ruler of the i2th House then its influence
would be associated in the text with enemies, capture, imprisonment,
etc., which would clearly indicate its evil repute, while Almuten, con-
year A.D. 138. It was translated into Arabic in the ninth century by
command of the Caliph Al-Ma'mun. Persian, Hebrew, and Greek
versions are also mentioned. The best English translation is that of
AVimand. Ptolemy's astrological work, the Tetrabiblos^ or Quadrapartite^
standard work on the subject in general use among modern
is students.
Th^A/magest, Syntaxis and Tetrabiblos are works of extreme interest
to astr^pomers and students of astrology.
"P. 67, 1. 23. The 'Part of Fortune/ depending on the elongation of
the Moon referred to the Ascendant of the horoscope, would of course
be on the Ascendant at the time of New Moon. At First Quarter it is
on the nadir, at Full Moon on the descendant, at the Last Quarter on
the midheaven. Some authors compute its place by longitude in the
Zodiac and others by oblique ascension or descension. The rule of
Ptolemy is that it corresponds with the place held by thfc Moon'at the
time of sunrise, but he does not say whether it is local or equatorial
sunrise, nor whether the 'place' of the moon is to be taken by longitude,
right ascension, or oblique ascension.
" P.
67, 1. 21. July ist, A.D. 1117 is equivalent to Safar 28, A.H. 511.
This appears evident from reference to other datt% occurring in the
course of your pages.
"This date, July ist, is O.S. and corresponds with July 8th N.S.
"By adding 760 years (or 40 cycles of 19 years each) to the date
1117 we get equivalent year of cycle A.D. 1877, and to the date we
must add two days due to the omission of leap year days in the i2th
and 1 6th century-years, which brings us to July loth, 1877, when
it is seen that there was a New Moon. Hence the date is correctly
taken.
" As to the Part of the
'
Unseen/ this appears from the context to
be derived from a reversal of the method employed for the Part of '
Fortune.' The former is counted from the Moon to the Sun, and the
latter from the Sun to the Moon, and the distance in the Zodiac is set
off from the Ascendant.
"Unlike all the planetary Points to which I have drawn your
attention, and which are determined by their solar elongations, the Part
'
'
of the Unseen appears to be a lunar Point, determined from the Sun's
elongation in respect of the Moon.
"TheViate of birth having been fixed, we are left to find the time
of birth by the reference to the positions of the Sun and Moon, which
it is said were so situated that there was no
space at all between them.
It is not presumed that this was an observation made at the time of
birth, but one that was afterwards calculated and found to be correct.
The New Moon of Safar 28, A.H. 511, took place locally in longitude
68 E. at 5.32 p.m. (G.M.T. i o'clock) when the luminaries were in
ecliptic conjunction in Cancer 15 8'. The Moon was then only about
1 1
past the S. Node, and therefore had about 57' of S. latitude. It was
a partial eclipse of the Sun. The fact that this is not mentioned goes to
prove that the calculation was retrogressive and that the observation
was* not made at the time of birth.
" The
following is the horoscope set for lat. 35 N. and long. 68 E.
The planets' places are put into the nearest whole degree. I do not
1 66 NOTE XXXII. THE HOROSCOPE IN ANECDOTE XXV
know what symbol was used for the 'Part of the Unseen/ and if it
occurs in any of the works to which you have access, I should be glad
to have it. The others, belonging to the planets, I have put in according
to their traditional use among the moderns. To these we have
receip,ly
added the Lightning Flash, due to Uranus, and the Web or Grille >ue
to Neptune. They are found in the same way as the others, Jty the
planet's distance from the Sun in the order of the signs.
MID-HEAVEN.
"P. 64, 1. 22, and pp. 130-131. Khaby and Damir The 'Hindus
have systems of horary astrology, called Salyana and Arudha, by which
they are able to determine what is hidden and where lost property may
NOTE XXXII. HAYLAJ AND KAD-KHUDA 167
be found. Things held in the hand concealed have often been well
described to me by Indian Jyoshis.
*" Hyleg' or Hayldj This term is in common use among astrological
*
sturents, and the rules for finding it are contained in Ptolemy's work
on Astrology, and also in Placidus de Titus' 1 'Primum Mobile.' Both
these^uthorities differ from the Arabic authors in their method of
location\
"P. 132, 1. 17. * Exaltation.' The planets, also the Sun and Moon,
are held to be ' exalted' in certain Signs, and especially in certain degrees
of those signs. Thus the Sun is ' exalted* in the sign Aries and the i9th
Altitude' 2
*
degree thereof. is an astronomical term which signifies
distance above the horizon and should preferably not be used in this
connection.
" The term Almuten refers to the Planet which has dominion Jh the
i House of Friends and Allies. Alchocoden or Alcoc/toden
ith House, or the
(whichever may be the correct form) refers to the planet which has
dominion in the i2th House, or House of Enemies. It has not any
connection with the Hyleg, as Mr Shirley seems to think.
"The term Kad-khudd (Lord of the House) reJbrs to the Planet
which rules the Sign in which the Hyleg is found at birth. Thus if the
Sun were so qualified as Hyleg and were in the sign Scorpio, then the
planet Mars would be the Kad-khudd.
1
Mr Gornold sends me the following note: "Of Placidus de Titus, who first
rendered a studied version of Ptolemy's work on Astrology, we have very little in-
formation. It appears that he was known as Didacus Placidus, and was a native of
Bologna, became a monk, and was appointed mathematician to the Archduke Leopold
of Austria. He wrote in the early part of the seventeenth century a work entitled the
"Primum Mobile," in which he gives a thorough digest of the teaching of Ptolemy.
The best English translation is by Cooper. Placidus showed that Ptolemy recognized
two sets of directions arising out of two sets of planetary positions, one in the Zodiac
and the other in the World, i.e. in the prime vertical. To Placidus remains the credit
of having elaborated that part of directional Astrology which has regard to all di-
rections in mundo"
9
I originally translated Sharaf by this term, but have corrected it according to
Mr Gornold's suggestion.
GENERAL INDEX
In this Index I have followed the same plan as that adopted in my /'ersian
Literature under Tartar Dominion. Where numerous references occur vider one
heading the more important are printed in Clarendon type, which is alsotf<ed for the
first entry under each letter of the alphabet, and for headings under which two or
moie homonymous persons are grouped together, either in chronological order, or in
order of importance, or in classes (rulers, men of learning, poets, etc.). The letter b.
between two names stands for Ibn ("Son of..."), and n. after the number of a page
indicates a foot-note. The addition in parentheses of a numl>er after a name, book,
battle, or the like, indicates, if Roman, the century, if Arabic, the year of the Christian
era in which the man was horn (b.), flourished (fl.) or (d.) died, or in which the book
was written or tjie battle fought. Prefixes like Abii ("Father of...") and Ibn ("Son
of...") in Muhammad an, and de, le, von in European names are disregarded in the
so that names like Abu Sa'fd, Ibn Sina, le Strange, de
alphabetical arrangement,
Slane, etc., must be sought under S, and von Kremer under K. Titles of books
and foreign words are printed in italics, and an asterisk is prefixed to the former when
they are quoted at any length in the translation or notes. hyphen preceding a word A
indicates that the Arabic definite article al- should be prefixed to it.
Abawardf ((1.
1
115), 69 'Adudu'd-Dawla (Buwayhid, x), Son., 90
IbmiM-'Abbadi, Abu 'Asim Muhammad and n., 91, 154
b. Ahmad (d. 1066), 14 n.; orlbnu'l- Afrasiyab, 58; House of see Kha- ,
b. 'Arraq, king of Khwarazm (xi), 153, cluM-'Aziz, r<tjiM-M<tm (of the House
1 61 ; Qurashf (boon-companion of of Burhan, xii), 24-25, no, 112; b.
Tughanshah the Saljviq, xi), 48 Faraj (physician), 78; b. 'Umar b.
Abdu'l-Malik b. Nuh (Samdnid, x), 'Ali (xii), the author of this book, see
105, 106 (Shaft 'ite doctor, xiv), 1 1 1 Nizamf-i-'Arudi-i-Samarqandi
;
b. Muhtaj (d. 955), 105, 106, 107, 122 *Askar Mukram, 105
Allen, Edward Heron , 13911. Assassins, 70, 108, 137. See also Alamut
Almagest (of Claudius Ptolemy), 63, 164, Astarabad, 86 n.
. 165 -/WMntl'Hdqiya of -Bfnint (ed. and
Almuten (astrological term), 164, 167 transl. by Ed. Sachau), 62 n., 88 n ,
Alp Arslan (Saljiiq, xi), 46, 48 n., 104, 128, 129, 136 n., 153 n., 155 n.
125, 126, 138, 163 AtlMrifl-Bttdd (of -Qa/wfnf, 1276, ed.
Alp Ghazf, Shihsibu'd-Dawhi Qutulmush Wustenfeld), 9 n., 102, no, 137
(Saljdq, xi), 52, 125, 126; but the text .ItMritl- Wit-Mra (of SayfuM-Dfn - t A(jili),
transmitted to us has apparently con- 104
founded two different people Ibnu'l-Athir (Arab historian, xiii), 15 n.,
Alptagin (x), 15, 16, 24 n., 106, 109 28 n., 36 n., 52 n., 71 n., 73 n., 104,
*Am'aq of Bukhara (poet, xii), 30, 52, 53, 105, 108 n., 109, 112 n., 126, *i36-7,
118, 127 139, 161 n.
*
Amid- i- As 'ad (patron of the poet Far- Atmatigfn (name uncertain), 24-5, 109
rukhf), 40, 43, 44 Atsiz (Khwarazmshah, xii), 24, 80 n., 109,
'Amid Safiyyu'd-Dm Abii Bakr Muham- no, 158
mad b. -Husayn Rawdnshahf (xii), 59, Avicenna (Abii *Alf-llusayn b. 'Abdu
60-61 980, d. 1037), 63^,
'IhCh b. Sfnd, b.
'Amfdu'1-Mulk. See -Kunduri 66, 68, 76, 79-80, 82, 85-90, 92-3,
Ibnu'l-'Amid, 104 140-1, 142, 148, 149. '54 ^S-S* 160,
Amiransha*h b. Qawurd (Saljiiq of Kirma"n, 161, 163
xi). 124 Awba, Battle of (1152), 74, 96, 120
Amfr-DaM Abti Bakr b. Mas'ud (fl. 1114), 'Awfi, Muhammad (author of the Lu-
68-9 bdbtfl'Albdb and the JawdmMr-&i-
'Amr b. Layth (Saffjlrid, ix), 28 and n., kdydt wa Lawdmi'ifr-ltiwdydtt xiii),
39 n., 113 29 n., 48 n., 104, no, in, 113, 114,
Amu, Amul ftpwn on Oxus), 1 1 1 and n. 115, 116, 126, i*7i '49
INDEX
IFaft LjUm (of Aminird-I)m Rui), 12 jn. Howorth, Sir Henry 112, 113, 127 ,
sa b. Yahyd (physician and teacher (if 'fiih'igh (father of the poet Farrukhl), 39
Avicenna), 156 Jundf-Sabiir, 146-7
Isfahdn, 36, 48, 73, 103, 105, 107, 108, Jurjdn.
See
Qurgdn
122, 156, 162, 163 Jurjilniyya (Ifrgjinj or Gurganj), 12811.,
Isfandiydr, 43 ; Muhammad b. (author 161
of History "of Tab'arislan), 5411., 103 Jurjis, 145, 146. See Bukht-Yishii*
Isfarayinf, the son of (poet), 52 Juwayuf, 'Ala'u'd-Dfn 'Ala Malik (author
Isfizarf, Imam Muzaffar-i (astronomer, of the Tttrtkh-i-JahAngH*ht\yi xiii),
xi), 71 and n. in
Ishaq b. Hunayn (d. 910 or 911), 147 Ju-yi-Muliyiin, 35, 84, 121
and n., 159 n. ; the Jew (contem- Jiizjan, 162
porary with author), 61 -Ju/janf, Abu 'Ubayii Abdu'l-Wjlhid b.
Abu IshsCq-i-Jiiybarf (poet), 29, 114 ^f uhammad (disciple of Aviconna),
Iskdf, "Abii Hanffa (poet, xi), 30, 92 ^S. 157-8
116 Jyoshis, 167
Iskaff, Abu'l-Qasim 'All b. Muhammad
(stylist and secretary, x), 15 and n., Kdbul, Rudaba princess of , 54
Mafdtlhu'l^ Ulnm (ed. Van Vloten), 71 n., b. Khaqan, 150; b. Ishaq b. Isma'il
37-fr 45, 5' n., 55 n., 56-8, 65-7, 86- (of the House of Muhtdj, fl. 950), 123;
7, 89, '04, 112, 113, 115, 120, 122, 'Abdu'l-Qjihir b.' TAhir- Baghdad!
124, 153, 161, 162; Sayfu'd-Dawla (mathematician, d. 1037), 62 and n. ;
b. Ibrahim-i-Ghaznawi (fl. 1080), 49, Ilusayn b. Muhammad b. 'Uniar b.
51, 117; b. Tdju'l- Islam Ahmad, Zila-Isfahani (d. 1048-9), 92 and n. t
1 1 1 DaYuli (circ. 1115), 68-^g ;
; 57? h. Abi Yiisuf Sajdwandi (poet,
Qarf-Yazdi, Nizamu'd-D(n , 108 xi), 48, 49
Mjali\itl-Mmintn (by the Qddi Nil- -MansAH, "-Kitab (the "Liber AI-
ru'lldh Shiishtarf, circa 1585), 11*911. mansoris of -Razi, q.v.}, 78, 83, 149,
Majdu'd-Dawla b. Fakhru'd-Dawla (Bu- 150
wayhid, x-xi), 1 19, 162, 163 Mantiqi of Ray (poet), 30, 118
Abu'1-Maid Majdiid. See Sana'i Maqdmat of -Hariri, 103 ; of I.iamfdf
Afajma'ul-Fnsahd (biographies of poets (composed in 1156-7), 14 n. f 103
by Rida-quli Khan Hid ay at, xix), 42 n., -Maqdisl (or -Muqaddasi), geographer,
48 n., '115, 116, 117, 118 83 n.
Majma ''/- 7 'awdrtkh ,127 Mardgha, 108
Afajma'ifl-UftM (by Kushyai the astro- Maranj (in India), 51 n., 117
nomer, x-xi), 130, 13211. Marco Polo, 108
-Majiisfj
'AH b. -'Abbas (physician, x), Margh-i-Sapfd (near Herat), 33
79 n., 90 and n., 91, 140, 154-5 Margoliouth, Prof. IX S. , 10311., 105
Makan (d. 940-1), 16, 17, 18, 107, 122 Matw-i-Shahjan, 50 n. See also Merv
-A/aKM, -Kitdb ("Liber Regius"). Marwdn II (LJmayyad Caliph, 744- 750),
See Kdmilu's-Sind'at 104
Malikshiih (Saljiiq, 1072-92), 24, 45-8, MasiYil ("Questions" on Medicine) by
49 5. 5*> 7n- 93 ">4 "9i I2 4 Hunayn b. Ishdq (//.7/.), 78
136, 137 Ibn Mdsawayh (Messue), 147
Maliku'l-Iildm b. Hurhdnu'd-Ufn Mu- A/ashtihfr-i-/(kwttrazinfyy-\\{t\\\\[)t 162 n.
hammad (xiii), 1 1 1 Abu Ma'shar Ja'far b. Muhammad
Maliku'l-Jibal (" King of the Mountains," -Balkhf (astronomer, ix), 63, 64 n.,
title of ), 102 65, 86, 129, 130
Malin (near Herat), 33, 34 Ataskttridtft- To/drib^ 1 38
Ma'mtin ('Abbasid Caliph, 813-33), Mashhad, 45 n.
21-3, 64, 81, 85, 107, 130, 146, 165 ; Masiln. See Abu Sahl
b. Muhammad Khwarazmshah (995-7), Massignon, L. i63n.
,
!
55 '*6 1 ; b. Ma'mi'm (son of pre- Mas 'lid b. Mahmiid-i-(iha/nawi, Sultdn
ceding, d. 1016-7), 85-7, 155, 162 --, 63 n., 104', 115, 116, 120, 122, 125;
Ma'muni Khwarazmshdlis, 161-2 Ill b. Ihnihmi-i-Gha/.iiawi (1099-
wa Maddrrn-lui
Matidfi'u'l-Ag/tdhiya 1114), 5 in.; ii 6, 117; b. Muham-
Merv, 59, 60, 61, 71 n., 72,84, 104, 137, Muhassin, Abu 'AH Stfbi, 148 and n.
158 Muhtaj, House of 122-3 ,
'iid (Cihi'uid, xii), 74 and n., 75, 98, Mnrufudli-Dhahab (of -Mafudl), 125
101, 102; b. Sam, (ihiydthu'd-Din Mmdmara fi Akhlnir-i-KhwArami (by
(Ghurid, d. 1202), 126 ; Khwdrazm- -Biriini, xi), 162 n.
shah, 'AlaVd-Dfn (xiii), 126; b. -Musta'in ('Abbasid Caliph), 121, 129
'Abduh (Secretary of Bughra Khdn, x- -Mustarshid ('Abbdsid Caliph), 23-4, 108
xi), 14, 27, 104; b. 'Abdu'l-'Azfz -Mustazhir ('Abba'sid Caliph), 23, 73
Sadr-i-Jahan (xiii), in; b. 'Abdu'r- -Mu'tadid ('Abljasid Caliph), 148
kidd-I.Iusayn( (fl. 1330), 107; b. -MiUanabbi (the poet), 14
Ahmad b. Muhammad b. 'Arr.-iq (king -Mutawakkil ('Abbdsid Caliph), 130, 147,
of Khwdrazm, x), 153 ; b. *Amfd 149
(minister of RuknuVl-Davvla the Bu- Mu'tazilitcs, 19 and n., 56, 147
wayhid), 151 ; b. Ahmad, Burhanu'd- Muwaffaq, Imim ,
of Nishapur, 138
Dm (d. 1219), 1 1 1 ; 'b. 'Aqil-Qazwuif, -Mirzaffariyya (Baron Victor Rosen's
91 ; b. 'AH Ma'miin Khwdrazm-
b. Festschrift, 1897), 134
shdh (xi), 162 ; Badr Jajarmi (poet),
b.
n. Dushmanziyar. Abu Ja'far NafahAtifl-Uns (by Jdmi, xv), 118, 163
~39
1
(xi), 156;
;
-
b. Fadlu'lhih, Abu'l- -NajAt (of Avicenna), 156
Mahiisin ,
see Sayyidu'r-Ru'asa; Najfbf of Farghdna (poet, xi), 30, 52,118
b. IhisilmuVl-lXn, Shamsu'd-Dfn Najjdr-i-Sagharji (poet), 30, 52, 118
Sadr-i-Jahdn (fl. 1163), no; Iqbdl Najmu'd-Dfn Daya (xiii), 135-6
1921), 28 n.;
(fl. Mansiir-Hadddd, NAma-i-DAnishwarAn (composed in
104, 119, 136, 137-138, 139* 163 (,)dni-Khitd'f (or Giir-Khdnf) dynasty,
Noldeke, Prof. Th. , 14 n., 29 n., 54n., 108-9, no, 126
55 n - 57 n 59 8l n J 45 *4<> "
- -
Qarluq Turks, f 10
Niih (the Patriarch Noah), 16 ; I b. Qohdramf (poet, xi), 30, 1 16
Nasr (Samdnid, 942-954), 105, no, Abu'l-Qasim Dd'udi, see Da'iidi ;
122"; II b. Mansiir (Sdmdnid, 976- (courtier of Sultdn Ibrahfm-i-Gha/jiawf,
997). i5-i8, 39, 106, 107, 115, 125, 156 xii), 117
Nuqan, 54 n. Qasfmu Amfri'l-Mu'minfn, 73. See Mu-
Niir-i-'Uthnuiniyya Library (Constanti- hammad b. Malikshah (Saljiiq)
nople), 163 n. Qatawan, Battle of (1141-2), 108-9,
Nusakh~i'Jahan-tird(tiy\he Qadf Ahmad- 110
i-Ghaffari), 162 Qawurd (first of the Saljuqs of Kirman,
NuzhadSl-Qulub (of Hamdu'lldh Mus- xi), 124
tawfi of Qazwfn, xiv), 500. Qazwin, 103, 119
-Qazwfnf, Zakariyyd b. Muhammad b.
Occult Review, 130 Mahmud, xiii, 90., 102, no, 137
"Omar Khayyam Club," 134. See -Qiftf (author of the TtfrikhtJl-HukamA,
'Uma--i-Khayyam ed. Lippert), 78 n., 82 n., 93 n., 129,
Gribasius, 155 137* '45 146, I4 '49 >50, 151. 154.
Orkhon inscriptions, 102 155. 158. i59 l6 'n-
Oxford, 151 Qilij Arslan Khdqan 'Uthmdn (d. 1212-
Oxus, 17, 35,^83, 84, in, ia8 3), n6
B.
INDEX
Qilij Tamghaj Khan (reigned 1095-1 101), Ribat-i-Sangfn, 28
119, 126, 127 Abu Ridd b. 'Abdu's-Sal^m of Nishapiir
Qiwamu'1-Mulk Nizamu'd-Dfn Abu Nasr 1116-7), 9
(fl.
r ee
Hibatu'lldh (xi), 510., 117 Rida-quli Khdn Hidayai (xix).
Quadrapartite of Ptolemy, 165 Parhang-i-Anjuman-ara, Majr .a-
Quba'dhiya'n, 39 n. u'1-Fusahd
^
Quddma b. Ja'far (stylist, d. 948-9), 14, Rieu, Dr Ch. (British Museum iabic,
103 Persian and Turkish Catalogue .), 14 n.,
Quhandiz (near Bukhara*), 105 5411., 62 n., 63 n., 79 n., i 9, I36n.,
Qum, 19 158, 163
Qumis, i6n. Abd Rija, Shah (poet), 30, 117;
-QuSan, i n., 3n., 4n., n
n., 14, 15, 16, Ahmad b. AbduVSamad-'Abidi
I9n., 23, 24, 25, 26, 77-8, 83, 105, 10-1 1 1 1 his grandfather was also
(fl. 1 1 :
Qurra (of Harran), 148 Ross, Sir E. Denison 24 n., 134, 137
,
Abii Sa'fd Ahmad -Sajzi (astronomer, Shahriya'r (of the House of Bdwand), 57
d. 886), 62 and n., 63, 129 ; 'Ubay- and n., 58
du'lldh (physician, d. 1058-9), 145 Shahrzdd, error for Shahriyar, 57n.
St Petersburg, 128 Shams -i-Fakhrf (lexicographer), 33 n*
Saj (. See above under Sagzi and Abii Shanis-i-Qays (prosodist), 115
Sa'id and below under Sfstan Shams- i-Tabasi (poet), 127
Salenl^nn, 33 n., 128 Shamsu'd-Dawla b. Fakhru'd-Dawla
Salyana, Hindu system of Astrology, 166 (Kdkawayhid, patron of Avicenna, xi),
Saila*mf, 2 Sii 'Alf -Bayhaqi (d. 912- 156, 163
3), 26 and n., 113 Shamsu'd-Din Muhammad b. Fakhru'd-
Saljiiq, House of 23-4, 26, 48, 104,
,
Dm Mas'iid (Ghiirid, xii), 2 andn., 74-
116, 118, 125, 126, 127 5, 98, 101-2
Salmon, grandfather of the poet Ma'stid- Shansab, House of (1148-1215), i, 30,
i-Sa'd, q.v. ; Khwaja , 50 74 n., 98, 101-2
Sam (legendary hero of Persia), 54; ,
I
Shdpur (Sdsdnian king, iii), 146
Baha'u'd-Dfn (Ghiirid), 101 Sharafu'1-Mulk Abii Sad Muhammad
Saman, House of , 15-17. 28 n., 29, (secretary to Malikshah, xi), ic j.
Sayyidu'r-Ru'asd (secretary, 104 xi), 14, S(md'u l-Kab(r (client of Amfr Isma'(I-i-
Schefer, M. Ch. , 24 n., 121,
I32n. Sdmani), 121
Schlimmer's Terminologie, 56 n., 77n. Sfmjur, Abii 'All (x), 15, 106
Sedillot, i32n. Simnak, 16
Ibn Serapion, 155 Slm-Tdqd, 53
Sergius of Ra's *Ayn (fl. 536), 147 and n. Ibn Sind. See Avicenna
Shah-aMd (modern site of Jundi-Sdbur), Sina*n b. Thdbit b. Qurra of Ilarrdn
146 (scholar and translator, d. 942-3), 148
Sh^hansh^h,
Sha*hinsha*h
(ancient title re- Sind, 20
vived by Buwayhids), 19, 90, 92, 162-3 SindibAd-ndma, 125, 127
Shahid b. Husayn of Balkh (poet and Sipihri, 'AH (poet), 29 n., 30, 52
philosopher), 114 Sfstan, 34, 39, 44, 51 n., 59 n., 106, 117,
Shahna (prefect or political resident), 109 119l
Shdhndma (of Firclawsf), 54, 55, 57, 124 Sitta ashar ("the Sixteen Treatises" of
-Shal-.azurf, Shamsu'd-Din Muhammad Galen), 79
, author of a History of Philosophers de Slane, Baron McGuckin , see Ibn
Tabaqat-*-M/.r/r/, in., 6 in., 101, 102, 836, d. 901), 62, 78, 93 n., 148; also
1 20-1, 1 27 ; i-Shi^ara, see Sallami his grandson b. Sinan (d. 942-3), 148
and Dawlatshah ; -i-MJiyya (of Theodosms, Bishop (ix), 147
-
.
Sulami), 163 ThtmdnSl-Qnhtt(\sy -Tha'alibi), 114*
Tabaran (Tiis), 54, 58, 59 Thicjatu'l-Mulk T^hir b. *AH 1). Mushkan,
-Tabari (the historian), 104, 146; 5'i "7
"(physician, teacher of -Rdzf). See *Ali ribb-i-MamiM (by -Razi), 78 and n.
b. Kabban Tihr&i, 149
Tabari stan, 140,, 30, 57, 103, 122, 156; Tirmidh, 39 n.
History of by Ibn Isfandiyar, 103 Tisha, the son of (poet), 2911., 30t >
'
46 n. 'j^.t 144 '^j^i. iptUI 7
*- l?
33 n. 'tjt^aJH 1 08 '^Jlbl 9411
7 'i^JULtf Oly.il
ii ^Ul 1 08 \
'* " *
4911. ^sJU 33 n. ^
33 'O^ 22 'jlyj 330.
'
142 'dj-Ju 33 n.
* *
49 n. 'ol^jlv** 53 w^A^. 46 n.
c
'
c
*
3-1, l66 '^5**- 22 'jtyU. 4911.
'
J
35n-'L5^y^-^ 43
3
l
] 42 *cW> <43< X
44 3> I0
(
108 l^> 141 '(^^oJ) ^>^> 1490. *^
n C *
INDEX OF TECHNICAL TERMS 183
34n. '^--rfj 33
>n-
'
49 " ^O 1^*-'
4
xx
c
22
<
22, 108
144 'u T
9 n ******* \J<**
-
4
142 '^ J^ 36
' '
8 64 **5t 3 ** 8 aJs
*j>\ *4* 6, 1
'
8 *
'
5 7
'
A^J*** "^ 7
'
6, 164
l
33 ^S^=> 71, 132, 167
J
'
14.5, 144
(
3611. tfiu
* '
( '
36 n
c
22, 108
'^^o 143, 144 '(v^o*-) AijLi
i
*
(u^-H) ^5--^ i
7
'
v-^ 1
^ .Un.
4611. 'j
U
'
HI 4
08
35"- 'i^y (cAfJ) ^^P 1
'
91 n. jl* 7i '3 2 -3 164, 167