Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Zi devrân ki ne devrânlar sürüldi
Muhammed Han 'adûları sürüldi
Çü şevketi irişdi şarka garba
Temerrüd ehli kalmadı sürüldi
Bu âlüñ geleni olur ziyâde
Bu âle hükm-i Hak böyle sürüldi
Bularda 'adl ü bezl ü lutf u insâf
Bulundı tâ kıyâmet kim sürüldi
Mü'ebbeddür bu haslet bil bu âlde
Nevâlar oldı bu âlde sürüldi
In English
1. What an age, in which such ages were lived; the enemies of Muhammed Han were driven out.
2. When his might reached east and west, the stubborn did not remain; they were driven out.
3. Each who comes of this line is greater; so God's decree has run for this line.
4. In them justice, generosity, grace and fairness were found, and ran on till the Resurrection.
5. Know that this virtue is everlasting in this line; in this line bounties came to be and ran on.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Kemah and Constantinople
The account of Otlukbeli goes on through a question and answer. The chief among Uzun Hasan's captured lords are asked after: one is Ömer Beg, the others two brothers of the line of Timur; besides these, some three thousand captives were brought, and the number of the dead none but God knows. The author says, "what befell this Hasan-ı Dırâz befell no other sovereign"; he later suffered a sickness of the belly and died of that grief. The second question is what the sovereign did after this victory. The answer: he turned back and went, "he showed magnanimity and did not ravage his land." On the way the fortress of Kemah lies on the road to Karahisar; the sovereign takes it "with a single glance of majesty". Then he comes to his throne at Constantinople and, as soon as he enters the town, dismisses Mahmud Paşa again and removes him from the vizierate.
Driven Out, Lived Through
Every couplet works a different sense of a single word, "sürüldi". In the first couplet both the living of ages and the driving out of enemies are said with the same word. In the second the stubborn have been driven out. In the third God's decree has run thus for this line. In the fourth and fifth justice, generosity, grace and fairness have run on in this line till the Resurrection, and bounties have been enjoyed. This play on words joins a eulogy on the continuity of the dynasty after the victory. The thought in the third couplet, "each who comes of this line is greater", has been voiced in other verses of the work as well. Mahmud Paşa's dismissal in the prose is not mentioned in the verse.
Bibliography
- Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, ed. Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, p. 537 (transliterated text, bâb 150).
