Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Ne han kim dünyâdan 'adl-ıla gitdi
Ol 'ukbîde dahı bil tahta gitdi
Fenâ mülkinde sultân-ı 'âdil oldı
Bekâ mülkine mahbûb pâk gitdi
In English
1. Whatever khan went from the world with justice, know that in the hereafter too he went to a throne.
2. In the realm of transience he was a just sultan; to the realm of permanence he went beloved and pure.
Literary and Historical Commentary
The True Treasury
The last link in the series on wealth comes with a short story. They ask one of the mystics: "Do sovereigns need a treasury?" The mystic answers, "There is one true treasury; that one is needed." When they ask "What true treasury is that?" he says: "The good prayers of the subjects are the sovereigns' treasury." This answer gathers up the examples told since the beginning of the chapter: Timur devoured Yıldırım's treasury, Sultan Ahmed's treasure stayed at the bottom of the Tigris, Mirza Şah and İbrahim of Karaman hoarded wealth and perished. The treasury that lasts is the people's prayer.
Two Thrones
The thought is carried over into both worlds. The khan who leaves the world with justice goes to a throne in the hereafter too. The second couplet compares the two realms: in the realm of transience, the passing world, he was a just sultan; to the realm of permanence, the lasting world, he went beloved and pure. The phrases "palace of transience" and "palace of permanence" are often used in the work when the deaths of rulers are told; here the same thought becomes a counsel. The plain, short shape of the couplets is like a fitting conclusion to the mystic's answer: after a long account of treasure, the permanence of justice is said in two couplets. Like the other pieces of the part counted as added, these two couplets can be tied to the author only by attribution. Both couplets end on "gitdi".
Bibliography
- Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, ed. Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, p. 569 (transliterated text, bâb 170).
