Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün
İnficār-ı tāze buldı yine yenbū‘-ı ḫayāl
Eylesün cūy-ı senā vü medḥi pür-mevc-i zülāl
Ya‘nī ol ẕāt-ı şerīfüñ medḥi kim şāyestedür
Olsa vaṣfıyla kümeyt-i ḫāmeden fekk-i ‘ıḳāl
Ol sütūde-sīret-i vālā nihān-ı ḫūş-şiyem
Ketḫüdā-yı vāli-i Baġdād-ı devlet-iḥtifāl
Himmeti mefḫar-ı ‘ālem Muḥammed kim odur
Gülşen-i ezhār-ı dāniş mecma‘-ı ḥüsn-i ḫıṣāl
Bī-tereddüd ser-i ḫāmīm oldı isminde celī
Āḫir-i ḥarf-i şerīfidür ki yormaz pāke dāl
Āfitāb-ı ālem-ārā gibi mis̱li bī-naẓīr
Sīret ü ḫulḳı sürūşānveş ser-ā-pā bī-menāl
Hem binā-yı aḳl u fikrinde metānet şöyle kim
Bulsa da ‘ālem tezelzül sīne bulmaz iḫtilāl
Ketḫüdālıḳ bezmine virdikde revnaḳ maḳdemi
Buldı dillerden ġubār hem vaġm-ı naḳż-ı zevāl
Vaṣf-ı pākinde n’ola oldı ise īcāz-süḫan
Ġālibā īrās̱-ı iḥẕār eyler iks̱ār-ı maḳāl
Nükte-i "māḳalle dell" is̱bāta ḳāfīdür bunı
Bīm-i taṣdī‘ ise aḳdem cümleden bī-ḳīl u ḳāl
Eyleye Mevlā mübārek irtiḳā-yı rif‘atin
Devlet ü ‘ömrin ide efzūn Ḫudā-yı zü’l-celāl
Gūş idince Ṣāḥib-i iḫlāṣ-kārı bī-riyā
Didi tārīḫ-i güzīn-i ketḫüdā-yı bā-kemāl
In English
1. The spring of imagination has found a fresh outburst once again; let it fill the stream of praise and eulogy with waves of sweet water.
2. That is, the praise of that noble person, for which it would be fitting if the hobbles of the bay horse of the pen were loosened to describe him.
3. That lofty person of praised conduct and good nature, the steward of the governor of Baghdad, celebrated with the ceremonies of state,
4. Muhammad, whose zeal is the pride of the world, the rose garden of the flowers of knowledge, the gathering place of fine qualities.
5. Without doubt the head of "hâ-mîm" has become manifest in his name; the end of his noble letters is "dâl", which does not weary the pure. (The solution of this riddle-like couplet is not certain.)
6. Like the world-adorning sun he has no equal; his conduct and nature are flawless from head to foot, like the angels.
7. There is such firmness in the building of his reason and thought that, even if the world were shaken, his breast would find no tremor.
8. When his arrival gave splendour to the gathering of the stewardship, the dust and the grief of ruin were wiped from hearts.
9. No wonder if words were kept brief in describing his pure qualities; most likely, too much talk breeds weariness.
10. The subtlety "what is brief and to the point" (is the best speech) suffices to prove this; as for the fear of wearying, it (should be set aside) before all else, without idle talk.
11. May the Lord increase his loftiness with a blessed rise; may God, the Lord of majesty, increase his fortune and his life.
12. On hearing (this), Sâhib, sincere and without pretence, spoke its date: "The chosen steward, possessed of perfection."
Literary and Historical Commentary
This short chronogram (tarih) praises a man named Muhammad, steward (kethüda) of Hasan Pasha, governor of Baghdad; the fourth couplet gives the name plainly. The edition gives no information about the steward's identity. The poem comes after the Urfa chronograms, following the three earlier pieces written for Hasan Pasha's circle; the order in the divan may not be the order in which the poems were written.
The fifth couplet is a letter riddle. The name Muhammad is written in Arabic letters as "mîm, hâ, mîm, dâl"; the poet says that in this name the "head" of the letters "hâ-mîm", the letters "Hâ Mîm" found at the beginning of certain suras of the Qur'an, has appeared, and that the last letter of the name is "dâl". Since "dāl" also means "indicating, pointing to", the second half of the line may carry a double entendre (tevriye); but the couplet is obscure and the edition offers no explanation.
In the ninth and tenth couplets the poet defends keeping the praise short. To this end he quotes the part "mā ḳalle ve dell" of the Arabic saying known as "hayru'l-kelâm mâ kalle ve dell" (the best speech is brief and to the point); too much talk breeds weariness, and that is why the couplets are few. Sâhib, who wrote long praises in the earlier chronograms, thus ties his contentment here with twelve couplets to this reason.
The phrase "ketḫüdā-yı bā-kemāl" in the chronogram line, when reckoned by abjad (ebced) with the izafet "ye" written, gives the value 1129 (1716-1717); if the word "güzīn" is also counted, the number becomes far too large. Since the text does not indicate which words enter the reckoning, this result is a guess. The first line of the fourth couplet does not fit the metre, as Topal notes; once again the text is known only from the Ali Emîrî manuscript.
Bibliography
- Meral Topal, Pîrî-zâde Mehmed Sâhib Hayatı, Edebî Kişiliği, Eserleri ve Divanı'nın Tenkitli Metni, MA thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2004, pp. 76-77, tarih 7 "Tārīḫ-i Berāy-ı Ketḫüdā-yı Vālī-i Baġdād Ḥasan Paşa" (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 10a). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014
Online sources
