Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fā‘ilātün Fā‘ilātün Fā‘ilātün Fā‘ilün
Devlet ile geçdi taḫt-ı nuṣrete sulṭān-ı fetḥ
‘Arṣa-i iḳbālde ṭurdı yine dīvān-ı fetḥ
Devlet ü iḳbāl u nuṣret furṣat u şevket ẓafer
Ṭurulur ṣaf ṣaf cemī‘i cem‘ olup erkān-ı fetḥ
Ḫıżr gibi zinde-dil her şaḫṣ pür-ẕevḳ ü sürūr
Var ise feyż oldı ḫalḳa çeşme-i ḥayvān-ı fetḥ
Şevḳ ü şādīde olursa ḫalḳ bülbül-veş n’ola
Bāġ-ı ‘ālemde açıldı çün gül-i ḫandān-ı fetḥ
Şād u ḫurrem yimede içmekde ‘ālem pür-sürūr
Çāşnī-gīr-i ḳażā çıḳdı ḳamuya ḫᵛān-ı fetḥ
Ġonce-i maḳṣūd açıldı cihānuñ gül gibi
Başlarına naġmeye murġān-ı ḫoş-elḥān-ı fetḥ
Ḫalḳ ‘ıyş ü ẕevḳde güm güm öter ‘ālem yine
Şevḳle ṭutdı cihānı na‘re-i mestān-ı fetḥ
Ẓulmet-i şām-ı ġam oldı ref‘ ‘ālemden yine
Burc-ı devletden ṭulū‘ itdi meh-i tābān-ı fetḥ
Her kişi şādān u ḫurrem ‘ıyş ü ‘işret itmede
Ḫalḳa ‘arż itdi cemālini yine ḫūbān-ı fetḥ
Dürlü dürlü rengle zeyn itdiler şehri ḳamu
Oldı her bir gūşe bir zībā bahāristān-ı fetḥ
Oldı rūşen çeşm-i Ya‘ḳūb-ı cihān pür-şevḳ ḫalḳ
Var ise irdi beşīr Yūsuf-ı Ken‘ān-ı fetḥ
Ya‘ni geldi Ḥażret-i Şāh-ı Cihān’uñ ḳāṣidi
Anuñ içün böyle tezyīn oldı şehr-istān-ı fetḥ
Şeh-süvār-ı ‘arṣa-i nuṣret şeh-i milk-i ẓafer
Çābük-i meydān-ı şevket dāver-i devrān-ı fetḥ
Şāh-ı milk-i salṭanat Sulṭān Süleymān bin Selīm
Kim ḳılıcıyla açıldı bāb-ı şehr-istān-ı fetḥ
Çerḫ-āsā ḫaymesi ‘arş-ı mu‘allā-yı ẓafer
Māh-peyker sancaġı ḫūrşīd-i nūr-efşān-ı fetḥ
Her sipāhı rezmde Sām u Nerīmān-ı ẓafer
Her dilīri cengde bir Rüstem-i destān-ı fetḥ
Al güllerden zemīni ḫūn-ı düşmen ḳıldı pür
‘Arṣa-i rezm-i şeh oldı ḫōş bahāristān-ı fetḥ
Berḳ-veş yalıñ ḳılıçlar şaḳıyup mānend-i ra‘d
Na‘re urdı ġāziyān yaġdı o dem bārān-ı fetḥ
Yüz ḳodılar ḫāke pā-der-gil olup düşmenleri
Tāze ter oldı bulup neşv ü nemā bustān-ı fetḥ
Od ṣaçar aġzından a‘dāsına ḳarşu ol şehüñ
Her tüfeng ü tōp rezm içinde bir şa‘bān-ı fetḥ
‘Īd idüp ḥüccāc-veş tekbīr itdiler ġuzāt
Kā‘be çıḳdı ḫūn-ı düşmen oluben ḳurbān-ı fetḥ
Sen şu şehsin kim [ulu] Fettāḥ virmiş destüñe
Serverā tīġ-ı ẓaferle ḫancer-i bürrān-ı fetḥ
Bezme inseñ meclisüñ sāḳīleri ḫūbān-ı dehr
Rezme yetseñ ger yanuñca cünd-i bī-pāyān-ı fetḥ
Kūy-veş meydānda ġalṭān itmege serin
Kām-kārā destüñe virmiş Ḫudā çevgān-ı fetḥ
Pād-şāhā çün maḳardur server-i iḳbālüñe
‘Arşdan ā‘lā olursa yiridür eyvān-ı fetḥ
İtmege gerd-i ‘adūdan pāk iy şāh-ı cihān
Perçem-i tūġuñ olupdur cārū-yı meydān-ı fetḥ
Ḳaṣd-ı bezm itseñ öñüñde cür‘a-keş ḫūbān-ı şevḳ
‘Azm-i rezm itseñ yanuñca bendedür şāhān-ı fetḥ
Serverā fülk-i ḥayātını ‘adūñuñ itdi ġarḳ
Bād-ı nuṣretle yine cūş eyleyüp ‘ummān-ı fetḥ
Sancaḳ-ı nuṣret-şi‘āruñ bir ‘arūs-ı tāzedür
Kām-kārā serverā çift eylemişdür ān-ı fetḥ
Ḫūn-ı ā‘dādan olupdur lā‘l her seng-i siyeh
Pād-şāhā rezm-gāhuñdur senüñ bürkān-ı fetḥ
Tīġuñ üzre şemse-i zer mihr-i raḫşān-ı ẓafer
Sancaḳuñda ol ‘alem māh-ı nev-i devrān-ı fetḥ
Sen şu şehsin kim olupdur iy şeh-i milk-i ẓafer
Ġāşiye-dāruñ öñüñce her zemān ḫāḳān-ı fetḥ
Fażlī-i bī-çāre vü miskīn du‘ā-gūyuñ durur
Ḳıl naẓar ol bende-i üftādeye iy ḫān-ı fetḥ
Ḥaḳ Te‘ālā eylesün saña müyesser ‘ömr-i Nūḥ
Düşmen-i bī-dīnüñ olsun ġarḳa-i ṭūfān-ı fetḥ
Ber-ḳarār ol salṭanat taḫtında devletle müdām
Milk-i nuṣretde ḳarār itdükce tā sulṭān-ı fetḥ
In English
1. The sultan of conquest has passed with fortune to the throne of victory; the council of conquest has once again been held in the arena of good fortune.
2. Fortune, prosperity, divine help, opportunity, majesty and victory have all gathered and stand in ranks as the dignitaries of conquest.
3. Everyone is lively of heart like Hızır, full of joy and delight; grace has reached the people from the fountain of the water of life of conquest. (Hızır is the figure believed to have drunk the water of life and become immortal.)
4. Is it any wonder if the people are full of eagerness and joy like the nightingale; the laughing rose of conquest has opened in the garden of the world.
5. The world is eating and drinking, cheerful and glad, full of joy; the taster of fate has brought out the table of conquest to all. (The çaşnigir was the palace officer in charge of the table.)
6. The bud of the world's desire has opened like a rose; the sweet-voiced birds of conquest have begun to sing over it.
7. The people are in pleasure and delight, the world is booming once more; the shouts of the drunkards of conquest have filled the world with eagerness.
8. The darkness of the evening of grief has once again lifted from the world; the shining moon of conquest has risen from the tower of fortune.
9. Everyone is glad and happy, feasting and carousing; the beauties of conquest have once again shown their faces to the people.
10. They decked out the whole city in colours of every kind; every corner became a lovely spring garden of conquest.
11. The eye of the Jacob of the world has grown bright, the people are full of eagerness; for the herald of the Joseph of Canaan of conquest has arrived. (When the herald bringing Joseph's shirt arrived, the blinded eyes of the prophet Jacob were opened.)
12. That is, the messenger of His Majesty the Shah of the World has come; that is why the city of conquest has been adorned like this.
13. He is the rider of the arena of divine help, the shah of the land of victory, the nimble horseman of the field of majesty, the sovereign of the age of conquest.
14. He is the shah of the land of sovereignty, Sultan Süleyman son of Selim, by whose sword the gate of the city of conquest was opened.
15. His sky-like tent is the high throne of victory, his moon-faced banner the light-scattering sun of conquest.
16. Each of his cavalrymen is a Sam and a Neriman of victory in battle, each of his brave men in combat a legendary Rüstem of conquest. (Sam, Neriman and Rüstem are Iranian heroes of the Shahnameh.)
17. The blood of the enemy filled the ground with red roses; the shah's battlefield became a fine spring garden of conquest.
18. The naked swords flashed like lightning and roared like thunder; the warriors of the faith shouted, and at that moment the rain of conquest fell.
19. His enemies, their feet stuck in the mud, laid their faces on the ground; the orchard of conquest grew and flourished and became fresh and green.
20. Every musket and cannon of that shah is a dragon of conquest in battle; it spits fire from its mouth against his enemies.
21. The warriors of the faith celebrated a feast like pilgrims and cried "God is great"; the blood of the enemy became the sacrifice of conquest and went up to the Kaaba. (The second line is obscure; the battlefield is likened to the place of pilgrimage and the blood shed to the sacrifice of the feast.)
22. O great one, you are such a shah that the [great] Fettah (God who grants conquests) has put into your hand, along with the sword of victory, the sharp dagger of conquest.
23. If you come down to the banquet, the cupbearers of your gathering are the beauties of the age; if you reach the battle, at your side is the endless army of conquest.
24. O shah who attains his desires, God has given into your hand the polo stick of conquest, so that you may roll the enemy's head like a ball across the field. (The çevgân is the stick used to strike the ball from horseback; the game played on horseback bears the same name.)
25. O padishah, since the hall of conquest is the seat of the throne of your good fortune, it is fitting if it is higher than the highest heaven.
26. O shah of the world, the plume of your horsetail standard has become the broom of the field of conquest, to sweep it clean of the enemy's dust.
27. If you wish to hold a banquet, the beauties of delight drink the dregs of the cup before you; if you set out for battle, the shahs of conquest are slaves at your side.
28. O great one, the ocean of conquest, surging once again with the wind of victory, has sunk the ship of your enemy's life.
29. O great one who attains his desires, your banner bearing the emblem of victory is a new bride; the moment of conquest has wedded it (to victory).
30. O padishah, every black stone has become a ruby with the blood of the enemy; your battlefield is the volcano of conquest. ("Bürkān" means volcano and contains within it the word "kān", mine; the ruby was believed to ripen and redden inside the stone through the sun.)
31. The golden sun ornament on your sword is the shining sun of victory, and that finial on your banner is the new moon of the age of conquest. (The finial of a banner is crescent-shaped.)
32. O shah of the land of victory, you are such a shah that the khan of conquest has always been the bearer of your saddle-cloth before you. (The gaşiye is the saddle-cloth carried before the ruler in processions.)
33. The helpless and wretched Fazlî is the one who prays for you; O khan of conquest, cast a glance at that fallen servant.
34. May God Most High grant you the life of Noah; may your faithless enemy drown in the flood of conquest.
35. As long as the sultan of conquest remains in the land of victory, may you remain for ever with fortune on the throne of sovereignty.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The poem is a kaside (qasida) of praise of thirty-five couplets (beyit). The metre is the "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün" pattern of the remel family. The rhyme is the sound "-ān" (sulṭān, dīvān, erkān, ḥayvān...), followed by the redif (refrain word) "-ı fetḥ" (of conquest); Özkat too presents the kaside as having the redif "fetḥ". Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent is named in couplet 14 as "Sulṭān Süleymān bin Selīm", and the pen name (mahlas) appears in couplet 33. According to Özkat, the opening section (nesib) depicts how the splendour of Süleyman's reign was reflected among the people; after couplet 14 come the sultan's deeds of valour on the battlefield, and the kaside ends with a prayer of two couplets. The kaside has no title, and it is not known on what campaign or conquest it was written.
Özkat publishes the kaside as the first of the four poems of praise written for Süleyman. The text is found only in miscellany no. 314 of the Âşir Efendi collection of the Süleymaniye Library (fol. 83b). The word "ulu" in square brackets in couplet 22 is a completion made in the edition.
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The first twelve couplets of the kaside describe the joy that news of a victory causes in a city. The people are lively like Hızır and eager like the nightingale; everyone eats and drinks, the city is decked out in all kinds of colours, and every corner turns into a spring garden. The reason for this joy is explained in couplet 12: the messenger of the shah of the world has arrived, bringing the news of conquest. The poet tells this in couplet 11 through the story of Joseph: just as the prophet Jacob's eyes were opened when the herald bringing his son's shirt arrived, so the news of conquest has brightened the eye of the world. The nesib of the kaside thus becomes, in Özkat's words, a festive tableau showing how the sultan's splendour was reflected among the people.
In the section of praise, scenes of battle come to the fore. When Özkat says that Fazlî was a lively observer of everything from battlefields to wedding ceremonies, he chooses two couplets from this kaside: couplet 18, in which the swords flash like lightning and roar like thunder and the warriors shout, and couplet 16, in which every cavalryman is a Sam and a Neriman and every brave man a Rüstem. According to Özkat, the poet here sets the men standing in ranks on a par with the famous heroes of the Iranian epic. In couplet 20 the musket and the cannon are likened to dragons spitting fire from their mouths; Özkat gives this couplet as an example of the idiom "ağzından ateş saçmak" (to spit fire from one's mouth). The idiom "yüzünü toprağa koymak" (to lay one's face on the ground) in couplet 19 is also among those he collected.
Fazlî builds a chain of metaphors by attaching the word "conquest" in the redif to something different in every couplet: the council of conquest, its dignitaries, its water of life, its rose, its table, its moon, its beauties, its spring garden, its rain, its dragon, its sacrifice, its polo stick, its broom, its ocean, its volcano and its flood. Much of the art of the kaside comes from this variation. Images drawn from court life also stand out: the taster of fate brings the table of conquest (couplet 5), the plume of the horsetail standard sweeps the field (couplet 26), and the khan of conquest carries the saddle-cloth before the sultan (couplet 32). In couplet 24 the game of polo played on horseback is carried over into war, and the enemy's head is likened to a ball rolling across the field. Contrasts of colour and light are used in couplets 30 and 31: the black stone turns into a ruby with blood, the golden sun ornament on the sword becomes the sun of victory, and the finial of the banner the new moon of conquest.
In couplet 33 Fazlî presents himself as "the helpless and wretched one who prays" and asks the sultan for a glance; the kaside closes with the wish for the life of Noah and for the enemy to drown in the flood. The congruence of images (tenasüp) between Noah and the flood is a find that adorns the prayer in the last couplets.
Bibliography
- Mustafa Özkat, Kara Fazlî'nin Hayatı, Eserleri, Edebî Kişiliği ve Dîvânı (İnceleme-Tenkitli Metin), MA thesis, Marmara University Institute of Turkic Studies, Istanbul 2005, pp. 150-152, kaside no. 10 (Süleymaniye Library, Âşir Efendi 314, fol. 83b); also pp. 48-50 (on the kasides), pp. 76-77 (descriptions of war) and pp. 90-94 (idioms), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.
Online sources
