Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefā‘īlün Mefā‘īlün Fe‘ūlün

Şehen-şeh Muṣṭafā Ḫān-ı felek-ḳadr
Ki var biñ bendesi behrām-ı girdār
Cenābında muḳarreb bendelerden
Biri kim ḥüsni virür mihre envār
Cemāli māh-ı ‘ālemden münevver
Adı Behrām bir ḫūrşīd-i ruḫsār
Ẓuhūr idüp saḫāvet maṭla‘ından
Şeref buldı olup luṭfa sezā-vār
Siliḥ-dār oldı şāh-ı nīk-baḫta
Ziyāde [itdi] iḳbālini Dādār
Binüp seyr eyledikçe şāh-ı ‘ālem
Ola iclāl ile dā’im ḳafā-dār
İşidüp didi tārīḫini Fażlī
Şehe Behrām-ı meh oldı siliḥ-dār (sene 957)

In English

1. The king of kings, Mustafa Han, high in worth as the heavens, who has a thousand servants warlike as Behram, that is, the planet Mars. (The reading of the word "girdār" in the couplet is uncertain; it may also be understood as "kirdār", "whose deeds and conduct are like those of Mars".)

2. Among the servants close to his presence there is one whose beauty gives light to the sun.

3. His face is brighter than the moon that lights the world; he is sun-cheeked, and his name is Behram.

4. Rising from the place where generosity dawns, he came forth; being worthy of favour, he gained honour.

5. He became sword-bearer to the king of good fortune; God increased his prosperity.

6. Whenever the king of the world mounts and rides out, may he always ride behind him in glory as one of his retinue.

7. Hearing of it, Fazlî spoke its chronogram: "Moon-faced Behram became sword-bearer to the king" (957).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a chronogram (tarih manzumesi) of seven couplets (beyit). It is written in the metre "mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün fe‘ūlün" of the hezec family and, like a kaside or ghazal, is built on a single rhyme from beginning to end. The rhyme is the sound "-ār": girdār, envār, ruḫsār, sezā-vār, Dādār, ḳafā-dār, siliḥ-dār. The last line, "Şehe Behrām-ı meh oldı siliḥ-dār", gives the year of the event by the ebced reckoning; according to Mustafa Özkat all the chronogram lines are arranged by the "târih-i tam" method, and this line indicates the year 957. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet.

Özkat publishes the poem as the second chronogram of the divan from the Fazlî divan section (fol. 228a) of the miscellany in the Hazine collection of the Topkapı Palace Museum Library. The word "saḫāvet" in the fourth couplet is written in the manuscript with a dot omitted; the word "itdi" in square brackets in the fifth couplet is Özkat's emendation for the metre. In the edition the Arabic-script form of the chronogram line is also given under the last couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

All the ornament of the poem is built on the name "Behrām". Behram is the Persian name of the planet Mars; in divan poetry Mars is known as the warrior of the sky. Özkat notes that, playing on this word, the poet uses for the person he praises the epithets "whose beauty gives brightness to the sun" and "whose face is brighter than the moon". In the first couplet the word "behrām" occurs as a comparison, likening the prince's warrior servants to Mars; in the third the same word is the proper name of the new sword-bearer. This is a double entendre (tevriye) and a repetition that use two meanings of one word in the same text.

Beside the name of the planet, the words sun (mihr, ḫūrşīd), moon (māh, meh) and "maṭla‘", the place where a star rises, are used; they form a congruence of images (tenasüp) belonging to the sky. There is also a harmony between the warlike nature of Mars and the office of "siliḥ-dār", bearer of arms: the young man who bears the name of the warrior star of the sky has become the one who carries the prince's weapon on earth. The phrase "Behrām-ı meh" (moon-faced Behram) in the chronogram line unites these two heavenly bodies in a single epithet. The word "ḳafā-dār" in the sixth couplet refers to the close retinue that rides behind the prince when he goes out on horseback.

Historical Context

According to Özkat, the poem was written on the appointment in 957 (1550) of a young man named Behrâm, who served in Şehzade Mustafa's retinue, as sword-bearer (silahdar). The sword-bearer was one of the prince's intimate attendants, who carried his weapon and did not leave his side. In these years Mustafa was sanjak governor of Amasya and Fazlî was his divan secretary; together with the chronogram written that same year on the appointment of a tutor to the prince's son, the poem records a promotion at the court in Amasya. No other information is given about Behrâm. Hüseyin Hüsameddin writes that in Mustafa's chancery in Amasya there were young men known for their beauty, such as "Gonca Keyvân, Gül Mehmed, Çiğdem Alî, Lâle-i zâr Hasan, Sünbül Ahmed, Zanbak Bâlî". That Behrâm, too, is praised for his beauty shows that the mention of beautiful youths in poetry was a familiar thing at the prince's court.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

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