Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Olaldan 'ömr-i devlet kuvvet-i şâh
Uzatdı devlet eli kabza-i râh
Cemî'i ili yolı kapladı han
Güneş gibi o gündüz gice çü mâh
Bu han mu'ciz-i Ahmed'e irişdi
Çerisi evliyâlar mu'în Allah
Göñülden çünki niyyet itdi pervâz
İrer maksûdına bâ-püşt ü penâh
In English
1. Ever since the shah's might has been the life of the state, the hand of fortune has stretched out the hilt of the road.
2. The khan covered all the roads of the land; by day like the sun, by night like the moon.
3. This khan attained the miracle of Ahmed (the Prophet); his army is the saints, his helper God.
4. When intent takes wing from the heart, it reaches its aim with backing and shelter.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Four Conquests in One Campaign
The heading of the hundred and thirty-second chapter is one of the longest in the work: it will tell how Sultan Muhammed took Sinop, Kastamonu and all its province together with its ruler, Koylı Hisar and Trebizond, "all of them in one campaign". The verse comes right after this heading, before the prose, and serves as an introduction to the chapter as a whole. Later in the chapter come the events concerning Uzun Hasan, the conversation between the sovereign and Mahmud Paşa about the sovereign's intent, the surrender of İsfendiyaroğlu İsmail Beg and the campaign against Trebizond. Koylı Hisar is today's Koyulhisar.
The Bird of Intent
The first couplet binds the ruler's might to the life of the state: ever since the shah's might has been the life of the state, the hand of fortune has reached far. The second couplet says the khan has covered every road, reaching everywhere like the sun by day and the moon by night. The third shows the source of this success: the khan has attained the Prophet's miracle, his army is the saints and his helper is God. This thought repeats the belief, held since the beginning of the work, that the gazis march together with the saints. In the last couplet intent is likened to a bird in flight: the intent that takes wing from the heart reaches its aim with backing and shelter behind it. Later in the chapter it will be told that the sovereign did not reveal his intent even to Mahmud Paşa; this couplet prepares for that secrecy too. The second line of the first couplet is obscure; the edition's modern Turkish version reads it through the image of a sword of law and order. Şâh, râh, mâh, Allah and penâh follow one another on the "-âh" rhyme.
Bibliography
- Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, ed. Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, p. 504 (transliterated text, bâb 132).
