Photo: Zeynel Cebeci, CC BY-SA 4.0

Manzume 22 — Bu Gāzi Orhan Han bindi ata

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

Sent alone for the first time against Karaçepüş and Karatekin, with Akça Koca, Konur Alp, Gazi Abdurrahman and Köse Mihal, Orhan is praised in three couplets.

Contents 4

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

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Bu Gāzi Orhan Han bindi ata
Sıfâtı mazhar oldı 'ayn-ı zâta

Tecellî burcı Ahmed'den görindi
Göñül gözinde gözle mir'âta

Bu nûr-ı İslâm'a burc oldı Orhan
Âyine düşdi vü bil iki sıfâta

In English

1. This Gazi Orhan Han mounted his horse; his attribute became the place where the very Essence appeared.

2. The constellation of manifestation appeared from Ahmed (the Prophet Muhammad); look into that mirror with the eye of the heart.

3. Orhan became the constellation of this light of Islam; the mirror fell upon two attributes, know this.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The First Campaign Alone

Osman Gazi speaks to his son in the twenty-second chapter: "Son Orhan, though we gave an oath to this Tatar, their Tatar ways do not leave them." He sends Orhan with the gazis against Karaçepüş and Karatekin, and gives him four companions: Akça Koca, Konur Alp, Gazi Abdurrahman and Köse Mihal. He calls to the gazis, "Let me see how you stir on the path of the faith." The author notes that this was Orhan Gazi's "ibtidâ yaluñuz seferi", the first campaign he led on his own. The three couplets are attached directly to this note.

Mirror and Constellation

The prince setting out on campaign is praised here in the terms of Sufism. "Mazhar", "'ayn-ı zât", "tecellî" and "mir'ât", the place of manifestation, the very Essence, manifestation and mirror, come from the vocabulary of the doctrine of the unity of being, which describes the divine becoming visible in created things. In the second couplet the constellation of manifestation is Ahmed, that is the light of the Prophet Muhammad; in the third Orhan becomes the constellation of that light. Constellation and mirror are two different images but say the same thing: light rises from a source and appears on a surface. The "two attributes" of the last line may be understood as celâl and cemâl, majesty and beauty, that is wrath and grace; the text does not say so explicitly. Such a style contrasts with the generally plain and narrative language of the work. These three couplets can be counted among the pieces closest to Âşıkpaşazâde's identity as a dervish. Ata, zâta, mir'âta, sıfâta: the rhyme meets in "-âta".