312
The three quatrains extemporised by Husrau,
Garni, and Tanä'i.
By
Meer Musharraf-ul Hukk, Ph. D.
Yamln-ud-Din Abul Hasan Amir l^usra^ Dihlaqi
(d. A. H. 725 = A. C. 1324), the .Parrot of Hind", who was
preeminently the greatest Persian poet of India, was one of the
most prolific poets the world has ever produced *). He is stated
5 to have composed some half million of verses^), and a mere glance
at the list of his productions s) will verify the boundless fertility of his muse. In the prose preface to his first diuän, styled Tulifat- us-si^ar, yuaJt jüs^', ,The present of the early age', which contains
poems of the 16th — 19th year, the poet states that from his child-
10 hood he had a remarkable taste for poetry, and quotes an interes¬
ting anecdote*), how on one occasion he was brought into the
presence of l^qagah 'Izz-ud-Din, who having previously heard of
the extraordinary talent exhibited by the youth proposed to put
him to text by offering the four apparently disconnected words —
iSy C^*"')' (^gg). (arrow), and »jjji» (melon) — and
asking him to string them together into a quatrain, which to the
surprise and admiration of the critic the youthful poet extemporised as follows"):
vii^? o' '^j i'^ r' /
^ p
20 KiiMiS (VAS i^y" cMr*^
1) Elliot, Hist, of India, III, p. 523.
2) Cowell, Joum. As. Soc. Bong., XXIX, p. 225.
3) The works are mentioned by Ouseley, Biogr. Notices, pp. 148—163;
by Rieu, Brit. Mus. Cat., I, pp. 240—242, and II, p. 609; by Sprenger, Oude Cat., pp. 467—470; by Pertsch, Berlin Cat., p. 831 sq.; by Ethd, Bodl. Cat.,
Nos. 753—799, and lud. Off. Cat., Nos. 1186—1222; etc. For extracts in
English translation and notes of a few epic poems see Elliot, ibid., III, pp. 524—566.
4) Rieu, ibid., II, p. 609.
5) Abdul Muqtadir, Bankipore Orient. Lib. Cat., pp. 177—178.
Musharraf-ul Hukk, The three quatratjis extemporised etc. 313
hd^ e)'*^ j*^" OJ^
1 ^,«1,^ (jiJtJJj »jjyi.
Husraq further states that he scored so well in this attempt
at a tender age that he had the title of ,SultänI" conferred upon
him by the H^ägah, which he adopted as his takallus, and wrote 5
many of the earlier verses under that auspicious name.
Two other extemporised Rubä'Is are attributed respectively to
the equally famous poet and prolific writer Maulänä NOr-ud-
Dln 'Ab d-ur-Rahman &ämi (d. A. H. 898 == A. C. 1492) 2),
and Hakim IJyägah Husain Tanä'i. They are transcribed on lo
fol. 51» of a Persian MS. (No. 69, VI, in the Library of the D. M. G.),
which contains miscellaneous selections in prose and veree and is
dated A. H. 1234 (A. C. 1819). The quatrains moreover are bridged
by the anecdote that they were both extemporised on one and the
same occasion in an assembly at the desire of the celebrated Abul- is
Gäzi Sultan Husain Mirza-i Baikarä (A. H. 873—911 = A. 0. 1468
—1505), the last of the Timurides of Persia, who, it is stated,
had himself made choice of the words. 6ämi, it is well-known,
had always been a favourite with this Sultan, who was a true
patron of learning and to whom the poet had dedicated several of 20
his works, just as he had formerly enjoyed the patronage of his
father and predecessor Sultan Abü Sa'id Mirza at Herat.
The words which fell to the lot of öäml were ^ty?- (light,
lamp), JbyC (sieve), ^U'^j) (staircase), and gjy; (orange),' and he
extemporised the following quatrain on the spot: 25
^ o!iAc! fy^'ii^ vnAftAj i^jS- j/Sa ^Jo ciOiJjO £,Lr^
£.«
^jiSji o-i^ gjyj ^ (jLj w vii^ ej'^^y y
1) "Every hair in tlie two locks of tlie sweet-heart
"Has strung into it a hundred beads of amber,
"Do not believe that its heart is penetrating straight like an arrow,
"It has teeth imbedded inside like the seeds of a melon.
2) For the biography of Gämi vide Ouseley, pp. 131—138; W. N. Lees, in his "Lives of the Mystics", Calcutta 1859; Rosenzweig, Biogr. Notizen, 1840;
Joum. As., VI, p. 257, and XVII, p. 301; F. Falconer in his English translation of "Salaman and Absal", 1856, etc. For Gämi's works vide Rieu, I, p. 17, and II, pp. 643—650; Sprenger, pp. 447—451; Pertsch, Berlin, pp 867—883; Flügel, Vienna, I, pp. 564—575; Ethe, Ind. Off., Nos. 1300—1389; in fact, in all Persian collections.
3) "O thou whose light of reign has become the illuminating full-moon,
"And the bosom of whose enemies has turned into a sieve pierced by arrows,
"Place thy step on the staircase of resolution,
"And capture on the zenith the ornament of thy courage."
314 Musharraf-ul Hukk, The three quatrains extemporised etc.
The Sultan, highly delighted at this quick response of Öäml's
talent, then turned towards Tanä'i. This poet and his father
according to Takl-ud-Din KäSäni , the author of the IJulasat-ul-
As'är wa Zubd-ul-Afkär were proteges of Sultan Ibrähim Mirzä,
5 a grandson of TimQr, who was governor of Pars and died A. H. 839
(A. C. 1435). He left numerous Kasldahs and a Matna^I styled
^JOjCw! lX.- (Sadd-i Iskandar)*).
The four words, which the Sultan then offei-red to Tanä'i were
^Lb (bowl), iJJii/o (a chafing-dish, chafer), x>y«^ ^yi (a commen-
10 tary upon the Samsijjah^)), and o^J»^ (lit. a woollen hat), and
he extemporised a quatrain which runs:
^j^b ^.^j=^ ^Lf »jUü u5ULs ^Ua ß
er^jt j*i U U L
As unlike to the ease of IJusraq, it has not transpired what
16 was the reward which fell to the lot of 6äml and Tanä'i, for the
ready merit which they had displayed, it is better to leave this
matter to the generous judgement of the reader.
1) See Sprenger, p. 43.
2) The Samsijiah is a well known treatise on logic, by Nagm ud-Din 'All b. 'Umar al-KazwTnl al-Kätibi (d. A. H. 675 = A. C. 1276), see Rieu, Brit. Mus., Arab. cat. suppl.. No. 730—732; etc.
3) "We have pleasant prospects up in the vault of heaven,
"Although we burn with anguish like the chafing-dish,
"Tell us something abouth the parasol,
"For in this case we too have the same view".
^yCÜO L5j*^ j'' " " * ''^"'^ me,&n% "to be
in the same condition as another".
315
Indologische Analekta.
Von
J. S. Speyer.
1. Ityaka — Ippliaka.
In seiner dankenswerten Ausgabe von Budhasvämin's Brhat-
kathä-älokasaipgraha, von welcher bis jetzt Sarga I — X erschienen
sind, sagt Lacöte, da wo er zum ersten Male dem-Namen des Vidyä¬
dhara Ipphaka begegnet, in einer Note zu S. 26: .Ipphaka: les s
mss. AB donnent toujours Ippha-, les mss. nm tantöt Ippha-, tantöt
Ispha-, I.spha-. L'aspect de ce nom est nettement präkrit, mais je
n'en vois pas l'origine, ni comment il pourrait fetre identique ä son
correspondant Ityaka du K. S S. et B. K. M."
Der Zusammenhang beider Namensformen läßt sich unschwer lo
nachweisen. Der Name Ityaka, wie er in den Ausgaben des Kathä¬
saritsägara sich auch immer vorfindet (K. S. S. 110, 72. 112, 210—
212), ist nichts anderes als ein verlesenes oder verschriebenes
Ihhyaka. Der Sohn des Vidyädhara Madanavega und der Kaliüga-
senä heißt Ibhyaka. Der Name ließe sich ungefähr als „Richard" i3
verdeutschen. Die PaisäcT-Vorlage hatte Ip-phaka, das nach den
Regeln für die Cülikapaisäcl gebildet ist, vgl. Ramphä = skt. Ram-
bhä bei Pischel, Gramm, der Prakritsprachen § 191, S. 139. Aus
den Hss. des Budhasvämin geht nun hervor, daß dieser entweder
die Namensform, wie er sie in seiner Vorlage vorfand, unverändert 20
beibehielt, oder sie falsch zu Isphaka umsanskritisierte. Somadeva
machte es besser.
Ebenso Ksemendra. Ich weiß zwar nicht , auf welche Stelle
Lacöte sich stützt , wenn er sagt , daß der Name Ityaka in der
Brhatkathämafijarl vorkomme. In dem Namensverzeichnis, das dem 25
gedruckten Texte angehängt ist, wird man Ityaka nicht finden,
und ich erinnere mich nicht, den Namen im Texte gelesen zu haben.
Doch glaube ich, daß Ibhjaka von Ksemendra genannt wird, und
zwar zweimal ; doch beide Male ist er durch Korruptel verundeut-
licht. Zuerst lamb. XVIII, 98 (S. 607), wo man lese: 30
