Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Mef‘ūlü Fā‘ilātü Mefā‘īlü Fā‘ilün
İy tāze būy-ı ḫulḳuñ ile būstān-ı ‘adl
Ḫürrem hevā-yı luṭfuñ ile gül-sitān-ı ‘adl
Şān-ı şerīfüñ ile müşerref zemān-ı luṭf
Ẕāt-ı kerīmüñ ile mükerrem cihān-ı ‘adl
Ḳaddüñ ki i‘tidālde ‘ālī elif durur
Oldur riyāż-ı rif‘ate serv-i revān-ı ‘adl
Zer-baḫşsın müselsel eger kim disem n’ola
Zencīr-i zer aña saña Nūşīrevān-ı ‘adl
İy ṣāḥib-i livā-yı Sikender-nihād-ı dād
V’ey vāris̱-i serīr-i Süleymān-nişān-ı ‘adl
Sulṭān-ı tāc-dār u şehen-şāh-ı tāc-baḫş
Nāyib-cenāb ḥażret-i ṣāḥib-ḳırān-ı ‘adl
Ā‘nī yegāne Ḥażret-i Sulṭān Muṣṭafā
Şehzāde-i kebīr-i şeh-i kām-rān-ı ‘adl
Hem āsümān-ı ḳadrsin ü āfitāb-ı ṣadr
Hem āfitāb-ı luṭfsın ü āsümān-ı ‘adl
Cevlān vir esb-i devlete meydān senüñ durur
Virdi şerīf-i destüñe çün Ḥaḳ ‘inān-ı ‘adl
Devrüñde çıḳdı her kişi ḳaṣr-ı murādına
Dīvār-ı milke sen ura[sın] nerdübān-ı ‘adl
Tīġ-ı siyāsetüñle olup ḳahr ehl-i ẓulm
Sensin bu rūşen oldı bugün Ḳahramān-ı ‘adl
Ẓıll-ı ḥimāyetüñde cihān ḫalḳı ḫoş geçer
Keff-i kifāyetüñ ḳuralı sāyebān-ı ‘adl
Çekdüñ cihāna süfre-i in‘āmı olalı
Hemān serāy-ı ‘āleme sen mīr-i nān-ı ‘adl
Her kime sāye ṣalsañ olur pādişāh-ı vaḳt
Sensin hümā-yı devlet-i ‘arş āşiyān-ı ‘adl
Devrüñde bildi ḫalḳ-ı cihān ‘adl n’idügin
Oldı ‘ıyān zemānede sırr-ı nihān-ı ‘adl
Çekdüñ cihānı kendüñe oḳ gibi rāstī
Şāhā olalı ḳoluña ḳoldam kemān-ı ‘adl
Pāk oldı çirk-i ẓulmden el-ḥaḳ bu memleket
Şemşīr-i tīzüñ olalı āb-ı revān-ı ‘adl
Bir elde cām ṭut bir elüñde müdām tīġ
Kim biri baḥr-ı luṭf durur biri kān-ı ‘adl
Milküñ çü Ka‘be oldı cihāna ṭavāf-gāh
Şemşīr-i zer-niyāmuñ aña nār-dān-ı ‘adl
Nūşīrevān’uñ adı ḳalubdur hemān şehā
Ṭutdı cihānı nāmuñ ile dāstān-ı ‘adl
Dilden teveccühi sañadur cümle ‘ālemüñ
Sen kām-baḫş-ı luṭf olalı kārvān-ı ‘adl
Her pādişāh ‘adl ile eylerse iftiḫār
Ẕāt-ı şerīfüñ ile ider faḫr şān-ı ‘adl
Ḥamlüñ revān cihānda bedende revān gibi
Emrüñ teninde memleketüñ oldı cān-ı ‘adl
Virdüñ hevā-yı luṭfuñ ile dehre i‘tidāl
İtdüñ cinān cihānı eyā bāġı-yān-ı ‘adl
Devrüñde bir ṭabanca yimez kimse kimseden
Deffāfdan meger ki def iy kām-rān-ı ‘adl
‘Adlüñ şu resmedür ki cihān içre āh ider
Ancaḳ benüm zemānede iy kār-dān-ı ‘adl
Vardur şikāyetüm saña eylerseñ istimā‘
Şekvā-yı istimā‘ virür çünki şān-ı ‘adl
Ẓulm itdi ṭāli‘üm baña göstermedi murād
Aldadum andan iy şeh-i ‘arş-āsitān-ı ‘adl
Ḳıldum penāh işigüni ẓulm-i zemāneden
Ḳurtar beni meded meded irdi zemān-ı ‘adl
Çāk itdi şerḥa şerḥa tenüm tīġ-ı rūz-gār
Ḳan oldı yüregüm meded iy şāh ḳan-ı ‘adl
Uzatma Fażliyā sözüñi aç du‘āya el
Ḳābil degül ne deñlü iderseñ beyān-ı ‘adl
Olduḳca ‘adl-i ‘ām [ile] bünyān-ı memleket
Ma‘mūr ola vücūduñ ile ḫānedān-ı ‘adl
Gül-zār-ı devletüñde biten gül budaġını
Ḥaḳ eyleye dıraḫt-ı bülend-i cinān-ı ‘adl
Düşmenlerüñ müdām ola maḳhūr-ı ẓulm-i dehr
Her laḥẓa dōstlar olalar şād-mān-ı ‘adl
In English
1. O (prince) through the fresh scent of whose character the orchard of justice, and through the air of whose grace the rose garden of justice, is made glad.
2. The age of grace has been honoured by your noble glory, the world of justice has been ennobled by your generous person.
3. Your stature, which in its straightness is a lofty alif, is the swaying cypress of justice in the gardens of eminence. (The letter alif is a straight, tall stroke; "i‘tidāl" means both straightness and moderation.)
4. Is it any wonder if I call you a giver of gold without end; O Anushirvan of justice, his golden chain is now yours. (According to legend the Sasanian ruler Anushirvan had a chain of justice hung at his palace for complainants to pull; a congruence of images is made with "müselsel", chained, continuous.)
5. O lord of the banner of justice with the nature of Alexander, O heir to the throne of justice with the seal of Solomon.
6. Crowned sultan, crown-bestowing king of kings; deputy of His Majesty (the padishah), the lord of the auspicious conjunction of justice.
7. That is, the unique one, His Highness Sultan Mustafa, the eldest prince of the shah of justice who has attained his desires.
8. You are both the sky of worth and the sun of high office; you are both the sun of grace and the sky of justice.
9. Make the steed of fortune gallop, the field is yours; for God has put the reins of justice into your noble hand.
10. In your time everyone has climbed to the palace of his desires; it is you who set the ladder of justice against the wall of the realm.
11. The people of oppression have been crushed by the sword of your punishment; it is plain that today you are the Kahraman of justice. (Kahraman is one of the heroes of the Shahnameh; his name is played on with the word "kahr", crushing.)
12. Since your sufficient palm set up the awning of justice, the people of the world live happily in the shade of protection.
13. Since you spread the table of bounty for the world, you are the master of the bread of justice in the palace of the world.
14. Whomever you cast your shadow on becomes the padishah of the age; you are the huma of the fortune of justice that nests on the Throne of heaven. (It was believed that whoever the shadow of the huma bird fell on would become a ruler.)
15. In your time the people of the world learned what justice is; the hidden secret of justice became manifest in the age.
16. My shah, since the bow of justice has become a "koldam" on your arm, you have drawn the world to yourself in uprightness like an arrow. (According to Özkat, a "koldam" must be a device that archers fastened to their arm when shooting.)
17. Since your sharp sword became the flowing water of justice, this land has truly been cleansed of the filth of oppression.
18. Hold a cup in one hand and ever a sword in the other; the one is a sea of grace, the other a mine of justice.
19. Your realm, like the Kaaba, has become a place of circumambulation for the world; your gold-sheathed sword is its spout of justice. (The golden spout on the roof of the Kaaba is famous; the word "nār-dān" in the line has been understood as "nāvdān", spout.)
20. My shah, only the name of Anushirvan remains; the epic of justice has filled the world with your name.
21. Since you became the one who graciously grants desires to the caravan of justice, the whole world has turned to you from the heart.
22. Every padishah takes pride in justice; but the glory of justice takes pride in your noble person.
23. Your command flows through the world like the soul in the body; your order has become the soul of justice in the body of the realm. ("Revān" means both flowing and soul.)
24. With the air of your grace you have given the world a temperate climate; O gardener of justice, you have turned the world into paradise.
25. O fortunate lord of justice, in your time no one receives a slap from anyone; unless it be the tambourine from the tambourine player.
26. O you who know the subtleties of justice, your justice is such that in this age I alone in the world am sighing.
27. I have a complaint to make to you, if you will listen; for the glory of justice requires lending an ear to complaints.
28. O shah of justice whose threshold is the Throne of heaven, my fortune has wronged me and shown me no face of desire; I have been deceived by it.
29. I have made your threshold my refuge from the oppression of the age; help, save me, the time of justice has come.
30. The sword of time has torn my body to shreds, my heart has turned to blood; help, O shah, mine of justice. (The word "ḳan", blood, in the line should be read "kān", mine, for the rhyme; there is a play on sound between "kan" and "kān".)
31. O Fazlî, do not draw out your words, raise your hands in prayer; however much you tell, it is impossible to describe justice.
32. As long as the edifice of the realm stands through general justice, may the house of justice prosper through your being.
33. May God make the rose branch that has grown in the rose garden of your fortune the lofty tree of the gardens of justice.
34. May your enemies ever be crushed by the oppression of the world; may your friends rejoice at every moment in justice.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The poem is a kaside (qasida) of praise of thirty-four couplets (beyit). The metre is the "mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün" pattern of the muzari family. The rhyme is the sound "-ān" (būstān, gül-sitān, zemān, cihān, revān...), followed by the redif (refrain word) "-ı ‘adl"; every couplet ends with the word "justice". Özkat presents the kaside as having the redif "‘adl" and says that here Fazlî points to Prince Mustafa's justice. Mustafa is named in couplet 7 as "Ḥażret-i Sulṭān Muṣṭafā", and the pen name (mahlas) appears in couplet 31. There is no opening section (nesib); the kaside begins directly with praise, passes to the poet's complaint in couplets 26-30, and ends with a prayer of three couplets.
The text is found only in miscellany no. 314 of the Âşir Efendi collection of the Süleymaniye Library (fol. 116b), and instead of a title it has the note "ve lehu" (and again by him). "ura[sın]" in couplet 10 and "[ile]" in couplet 32 are completions made in the edition.
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The whole art of the kaside rests on the refrain word. The word "justice" is attached to something different in every couplet, forming a chain of metaphors: the orchard of justice, its rose garden, its cypress, its Anushirvan, its throne, its lord of the auspicious conjunction, its sky, its reins, its ladder, its Kahraman, its awning, its huma, its bow, its flowing water, its mine, its spout, its epic, its caravan, its soul and its gardener. In couplets 6 and 7 the prince's position is drawn plainly: Mustafa is the deputy and the eldest prince of the padishah, who is "the lord of the auspicious conjunction of justice". His being called in couplet 5 the lord of Alexander's banner and the heir to Solomon's throne belongs to the same frame. The allusion in couplet 4 to the legend of Anushirvan's chain of justice is supported by the words "müselsel" (chained) and "zencīr-i zer" (golden chain).
Özkat draws attention to two Old Turkish words in this kaside. "Ṭabanca" in couplet 25 means a slap: in the prince's time no one receives a slap from anyone, except the tambourine from the hand of the tambourine player. This couplet is a witty find that adorns the praise of justice with a scene from everyday life. For the word "ḳoldam" in couplet 16, however, Özkat found no equivalent in any source; he supposes that it belongs to the early periods of Turkish and was a device that archers fastened to their arm when shooting. In the couplet the bow of justice is like a koldam fastened to the prince's arm, and he draws the world to himself in uprightness like an arrow; the images of arrow, bow and arm form a congruence of images (tenasüp). In couplet 18 the ruler's faces of banquet and battle are named together through the image of a cup in one hand and a sword in the other. In couplet 23 the word "revān" is used in the senses of both "flowing" and "soul".
After couplet 26 the kaside takes an unexpected turn. The poet says that the prince's justice is such that he alone in the world is left sighing. Then he opens his complaint: his fortune has wronged him and shown him no face of desire; he takes refuge at the prince's threshold and cries "help". This section is the "arz-ı hâl" (petition) part that ties the praise to the poet's own need. The subject of the complaint is not stated openly. In couplet 30 there is a play on sound between "kan" (blood) and "kān" (mine): the sword of time has torn the poet's body and his heart has turned to blood, while the prince is the mine of justice. In one of the last couplets it is wished that the rose branch grown in the garden of fortune may become the lofty tree of paradise.
Historical Context
The kaside was written for Prince Mustafa. After 1543 Fazlî became Mustafa's secretary of the council in Amasya and remained in his service until 1553; according to Özkat, all the poet's kasides up to the twenty-seventh were written for Mustafa. In what year the kaside was written and what the poet's complaint was based on are not known.
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. 176-179, kaside no. 18 (Süleymaniye Library, Âşir Efendi 314, fol. 116b); also p. 19 (his life), p. 52 (on the kasides) and pp. 105-106 (Old Turkish words), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.
Online sources
