Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Fesâd itdi ziyâde çarh nişânı
Dökile kanlar ola çok ziyânı
Bu ehl-i İslâm içre dökilen kan
Niçelerüñ gide dîn ü îmânı
Ziyâde ola harâblık cihanda
Bu sözüme sakın tutma gümânı
Yıkıldı Karaman bozıldı iller
Büridi 'âlemi zulmüñ tumanı
In English
1. The sign of the wheel of heaven worked great mischief; let blood be shed, let its loss be great.
2. With the blood shed among these people of Islam, let the faith and belief of many be lost.
3. Let ruin grow great in the world; beware, hold no doubt of this word of mine.
4. Karaman was laid waste, the lands were ruined; the smoke of oppression covered the world.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Larende and Ereğli
When troops are sent to Karaman again in the hundred and forty-fourth chapter, Rûm Mehmed Paşa is at their head. The author tells how he had the mosques and medreses at Larende pulled down and had the people stripped bare: "That cruel Greek spared nothing." He passes on to Ereğli and lays waste the villages of the province. The people of the province tell him that this province belongs to God and His Prophet, and ask why he has no regard for its pious endowments; if no more provision goes from this province to the poor of the Prophet at Medina, what answer will he give before the Prophet on the Day of Resurrection. Rûm Mehmed has those who say these words killed; the author says, "He did not fear God and was not ashamed before the Prophet." The chapter ends with bitter mockery. Rûm Mehmed enters the land of Uyuz Beg in the Varsak country and pours out there among the stones the unlawful gains he took from Karaman. The Varsaks come and say, "This is the livelihood of our neighbours of Karaman; Rûm Muhammed brought it and gave it to us," and, "what a generous man this Greek is," gathering it up while cursing him.
The Smoke of Oppression
The spread of oppression is then told through an image of the heavens. The sign of the wheel of heaven has worked mischief; blood will be shed, the loss will be great. The second couplet gives the gravest result of this blood: with the blood shed among Muslims the faith and belief of many will be lost. The third announces like a prophecy that ruin will grow, and tells the reader not to doubt it. The last couplet gathers up the events of the prose: Karaman has been laid waste, the lands ruined, and the smoke of oppression has covered the world. The author ties this ruin not to Karaman's enmity but to a vizier's oppression; the distinction deserves notice in the work's attitude towards Karaman. After nişânı, ziyânı, îmânı and gümânı, the rhyme chain closes on "tumanı", smoke.
Bibliography
- Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, ed. Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, p. 527 (transliterated text, bâb 144).
