Âşıkî, Manzume 131: Cihân nat'ına her kim nazar itdi

Manzume 131 — Cihân nat'ına her kim nazar itdi

Amasya05 Editorial Board • Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk • 01 October 2026 • Updated: 14 October 2026 • 3 min reading

The world as a chessboard, in eight couplets signed Âşıkî, just after the author says Murad II married his son, married off his sisters and came to a good end.

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Cihân nat'ına her kim nazar itdi
Hayâl oynamagına fikir itdi

Şehüñ öñine evvel sürdi baydak
Eli oyında göñlin hayrân itdi

Diledi baglaya fîlbend ü ferzin
Zi-ruhlar baglu kaldı tarh at itdi

Gözetdi mansıbalar ferzîn-ile
Felek tasına kim mühresin atdı

Bu nat'ı kim görürsin hôş döşenmiş
Hezârân şatranc-bâz geldi gitdi

Dilediler bu nat'ı zabt ideler
Cühûd-hânede anı şâh mât itdi

'Âşıkî yaz menâkıb-ı Âl-i 'Osmân
Ki bunlar her köyi bir Bagdad itdi

Gel iy 'âkil cihân alına kalma
Ki alı niçelere alın itdi

In English

1. Whoever looked at the chessboard of the world thought of the game of illusion.

2. Before the king he first moved the pawn; his hand at play, he filled his heart with wonder.

3. He wished to pin the elephant and the vizier; the living pieces stayed pinned, (he) threw the piece.

4. With the vizier he watched over the stations; who threw his dice into the bowl of heaven.

5. On this board you see so finely spread, thousands of chess players came and went.

6. They wished to seize this board; in the Jew's house the king was checkmated.

7. Âşıkî, write the legends of the House of Osman; for they made every village a Baghdad.

8. Come, O wise one, do not stay for the world's trickery; for that trickery has overcome many.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Good End

After the previous verse the author says: "In this world there are a few things to be aimed at: to marry off a son, to marry off a daughter, and to go from this world to the next with honour. Now this was granted to Sultan Murad." Murad married his son, married off his sisters, held great weddings and gave them to princes; his end too was good, and his son became a mighty sovereign after him. After this sentence comes a long verse built on images of chess.

The Chess of the World

Over eight couplets a game of chess is followed step by step. "Nat'" is the leather cloth on which a chessboard is spread; "baydak" is the pawn, "fil" the elephant, "ferzîn" the vizier, "şâh" the king, "mât" checkmate. The player first moves a pawn, then wishes to pin the elephant and the vizier; but "zi-ruhlar", the living, remain pinned. In the fourth couplet the game passes from chess to backgammon: dice are thrown into the bowl of heaven. In the fifth it is said that thousands of players have come to this board and gone; in the sixth those who wished to seize it are checkmated in "Cühûd-hâne", a cramped corner. The exact sense of this phrase is not explained in the edition. The seventh couplet leaves the image of chess and returns to the author's own task: he must set down the legends of the House of Osman, for they made every village a Baghdad, that is, made every place they went flourish. In the eighth couplet the word "al", trickery, is used twice: one must not be caught by the world's trickery, for it has overcome many. The couplets do not rhyme within themselves, but proceed with the same verb ("itdi"); the edition gives them as one piece.