Âşıkî, Manzume 192: Cihânda dostlugı düşmânlıg olur

Manzume 192 — Cihânda dostlugı düşmânlıg olur

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

Four couplets on friendship that ends in enmity, where Ottoman slaves sent to aid Alâeddevle are killed at Sis and their heads used for polo in Cairo.

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Cihânda dostlugı düşmânlıg olur
Velî soñında hem peşîmânlıg olur

'Aceb kârhânedür hem güler aglar
Gehî saglık gehî sayrulıg olur

Bu çarhuñ bünyâdı böyle oldı
Öñi soñına küymez sürgün olur

'Âşıkî yaz menâkıb it temâşâ
Dime egri veyâ togrılıg olur

In English

1. In the world friendship turns to enmity; but in the end there is regret as well.

2. It is a strange workshop; it both laughs and weeps; now there is health, now sickness.

3. The foundation of this wheel of heaven was laid thus; its beginning does not match its end, it is driven on.

4. Âşıkî, write the legends and look on; do not say whether it is crookedness or uprightness.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Polo

What happened after Şehsuvar's death is told in the hundred and seventy-fifth chapter. Budak becomes lord again. With the Ottoman sovereign there is another of Şehsuvar's brothers: Alâeddevle. He too desires the Turkmen lordship and asks the sovereign for leave and help. The sovereign sends his son's chief doorkeeper and several slaves with him. They meet Budak; but the Turkmen lords with Alâeddevle turn traitor and flee to the Turkmen side. Alâeddevle is routed and his troops scatter. The chief doorkeeper and the slaves sent by the sovereign fall into the hands of the governor of Sis; the governor kills them and sends their heads to Egypt. The sultan of Egypt gives orders to the Circassians; the heads are taken to the square, made into balls and played with at polo. When the sovereign hears this he marvels: his own slaves fled from the Turkmens and took refuge with them. The author counts this too a cause of enmity and ends the chapter thus: "they did not let go of mottled friendship and mottled enmity." The date is 883.

Mottled Friendship

This "alaca", mottled, two-coloured relationship is tied to a general judgement. In the world friendship ends in enmity, and in the end comes regret. The second couplet likens the world to a strange workshop: it both laughs and weeps, now giving health, now sickness. The third says this comes from the make of the wheel of heaven: its beginning does not match its end. The last couplet suggests an attitude to the author: he must write the legends and look on, and not say whether it is crookedness or uprightness. This shows the author of the appendix refraining from passing judgement on the tangled relationship between the two states. There is no firm ground for tying this appendix piece to Âşıkpaşazâde either. The refrain of all four couplets never changes: "olur".