Âşıkî, Manzume 132: Gel imdi ey musavver gevher-i pâk

Manzume 132 — Gel imdi ey musavver gevher-i pâk

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

Seven couplets under the heading "Devr-i Sultân Muhammed", announcing Murad II's death and the beginning of the Conqueror's reign, calling on Mehmed and mocking the house of Karaman.

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Gel imdi ey musavver gevher-i pâk
Ki senüñ-çün olupdur hıtta-i hâk

Senüñdür meydân-ı eflâk-i âlem
İriş meydânuna sen cüstü çâlâk

Sebük-bâr olıban atuña bin gel
Karaman saçmak ister başına hâk

Gel ahîr sen i yâr Sultân Muhammed
Karaman gözine bir kuhl-i gûr çek

Karamanoglı yumurda basupdı
Togurdı karga kuzgun hâr u hâşâk

Harâm-zâlar togurdı ad virdi
Degül bunlar o neseblerde gerçek

Kimine Germiyân Aydın Teke dir
Yalandur Menteşelü dişi irkek

In English

1. Come now, O you who were fashioned of a pure jewel; this earthly realm has come to be for you.

2. The arena of the heavens of the world is yours; nimble and quick, reach your arena.

3. Lighten your load, mount your horse and come; Karaman wishes to scatter dust on his own head.

4. Come at last, O friend, Sultan Muhammed; draw the kohl of the grave into Karaman's eye.

5. The son of Karaman had sat on eggs; he hatched crow and raven, thorn and rubbish.

6. He begot bastards and gave them names; these are not truly of those lineages.

7. Some he calls Germiyan, Aydın, Teke; it is a lie, Menteşe, female and male.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Reign of Sultan Muhammed

A heading in capitals, "DEVR-İ SULTAN MUHAMMED", the reign of Sultan Muhammed, opens the Conqueror's era; the verse sits right beneath it, this time without the word "Nazm". First there is a short prose passage: Murad's reign lasted thirty-one years; the author says he witnessed this period, "I, Âşıkî Derviş Ahmed, saw and knew each one of them." Murad dies at the beginning of Muharram 855, and Mehmed takes the throne on the sixteenth of the same month, a Thursday. The verse that follows greets the Conqueror with a call.

A Call and a Satire

The first four couplets address Mehmed: he was fashioned of a pure jewel, the earthly realm is for him, the arena of the heavens is his. In the third couplet the subject turns suddenly to Karaman: Karaman wishes to scatter dust on Mehmed's head. In the fourth Mehmed is asked to draw into Karaman's eye "kuhl-i gûr", the kohl of the grave; that is, to blind him and send him to his death. The last three couplets are among the harshest satires in the work. The lord of Karaman "sat on eggs" and from them came crows, ravens, thorns and rubbish; he gave his children names, but they are not truly of that line. In the last couplet the lines of Germiyan, Aydın, Teke and Menteşe are also denied. This is a plain example of Âşıkpaşazâde rejecting the legitimacy of the Anatolian principalities that rivalled the Ottomans by way of descent. His saying elsewhere in the work that children of unknown parentage were born when the land of Karaman was plundered is connected with this satire. The rhyme words are pâk, hâk, çâlâk, hâk, çek, hâşâk, gerçek and irkek, the sound moving between "-âk" and "-ek".