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Manzume 185 — Diler kim dünyâsın suya yitüre

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

Two couplets in the chapter on the end of sovereigns who hoarded wealth: Timur devoured Yıldırım's treasure, and Sultan Ahmed of Baghdad had his treasure sunk in the Tigris in stone chests.

Contents 4

1Original Ottoman Turkish Text
2In English
3Literary and Historical Commentary
4Bibliography

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Diler kim dünyâsın suya yitüre
Niçe susuzları suda yitüre

Mahabbet-i mâlı dînden çıkardı
Yüzi kara günâh yükin götüre

In English

1. He wishes to bring his worldly goods to the water; (he wishes) to lose many a thirsty one in the water.

2. Love of wealth drove him out of the faith; with blackened face he carries off his load of sin.

Literary and Historical Commentary

What Became of the Treasures

The heading of the hundred and seventieth chapter asks a question: what became in the end of the sovereigns who hoarded wealth? The first example comes from Ottoman history itself: "The late Yıldırım Hünkâr hoarded wealth, and the governance of the realm was neglected." Akçe was gathered and put into treasuries, and there was dearth in the land; in the end "the wretched Timur" devoured that wealth, and the province lay trampled underfoot. This agrees with the criticisms the work makes of the reign of Yıldırım Bayezid. The second example is Sultan Ahmed, sovereign of Baghdad: he gathered treasure, had the wealth put into stone chests and lowered by night into the Tigris, sank to the bottom of the river, and had those who carried it killed so that they would tell no one. In the end the wealth stayed in the water, and he himself perished with his whole line. The site's page Timur's Anatolian campaign and Amasya at the battle of Ankara tells of that campaign in detail.

Water and the Thirsty

Sultan Ahmed's story is taken up through a play on words. He wished to bring his worldly goods, his wealth, to the water; but at the same time he lost many a thirsty one, many a needy one, in the water. The word "water" here calls up both the river and the gift that might have met the needs of the thirsty: the sovereign who buried his treasure in the Tigris also lost the thirsty he could have fed with that wealth. The second couplet gives the moral judgement plainly: love of wealth drove him out of the faith; with blackened face he carries off his load of sin. With the two verses that follow it forms a series on wealth and treasure; its link to Âşıkpaşazâde is disputed because of the section it stands in. Yitüre serves twice as a rhyme, götüre a third time.