Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. IIEvliya Çelebi
History
Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. II
Evliya Çelebi
Caucasus, South -- Description and travel; Istanbul (Turkey) -- Description and travel; Turkey -- History
Sháfií although they are Persians, but this is a foul lie, they are
Ja’aferites, who, however, keep the regular prayer hours five times a
day, but never in company. They have some very fine mosques, every one
of which may be compared to Eden, they are lined with painted pottery,
and at some, the cupolas are covered in the same manner, there are
thirty-three minarehs in the style of those of Constantinople; that of
Ahmed Páshá exactly resembles that of Rostán Páshá at Constantinople.
The bath of Jenání is very pleasant, the walls are faced with
porcelain, and the floor is paved; the waiters are black-eyed youths
from Khoten, whose crystal white bodies are set off by the dark blue of
their aprons. Near the house where we lodged, as guests, is the bath
of Zál Páshá, which is also a soul-delighting bath, owing to its fine
water and excellent attendance; the walls are faced with porcelain,
and the floor paved with jasper, marble, and granite of various hues.
In the large basin ten feet square, which is underneath the cupola,
the young people swim like angels of the sea: the bath-keeper every
day pours into the basin, a basket of rose-leaves, which attaching
themselves to the bodies of the bathers forms a kind of veil which
is very becoming; thus they sport and play like peacocks and doves,
their nakedness being covered by rose-leaves; in short this bath is so
delightful that such poets as Hassán and Selmán could not sufficiently
praise it, how then could it be possible for me, poor Evliyá, to
succeed.
Rich merchants are established in the market, who trade by land and
sea, each of whom is as rich as Karún; the inhabitants are all given to
pleasure, and pass part of every day in each other’s gardens. The Khán
of Nakhshiván, Rísa-ud-din, after having met us, carried us directly to
one of his gardens, where he read our letters to the principal men of
Nakhshiván, and gave us an entertainment, attended by so many singers
and musicians, that it was equal to the feast of Hossein Bikara. The
Khán, a person of great repute, had been the treasurer of Sultán Sifí,
who had delivered the castle of Baghdád to Sultán Murad; he was a man
of great judgment, of Georgian extraction, and his name was Devlet
Murád Khán. After dinner he gave to Alaja Atlí Hassan, who came as
envoy from the Páshá, and to me, brilliant robes of honour, ten tománs
of Abbássí, and a horse, investing his own envoy also with a caftán.
He has from forty to fifty delightful companions excelling in various
arts. The inhabitants of this town generally speak the dialect Dihkáni,
or of peasants, but they have poets who speak the Pehleví and Moghol
languages with elegance. The languages that are spoken here, are the
Dihkání or rough Persian; the Derí, or court language; the Farsí, or
pure but less elegant Persian; the Ghází and the Pehleví, two ancient
dialects.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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