The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, Volume 6 (of 14): Medieval Arabic, Moorish, and Turkish
Religion
The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, Volume 6 (of 14): Medieval Arabic, Moorish, and Turkish
Oriental literature -- Translations into English
In a word, poetical discussions were the order of the day, and I was
constantly in the presence of the Emperor. One day he asked me whether
Turkey was larger than India, and I said: "If by Turkey your Majesty
means Rum proper, _i.e._, the province of Siwas,[136] then India is
decidedly the larger, but if by Turkey you mean all the lands subject
to the ruler of Rum, India is not by a tenth part as large." "I mean
the entire Empire," replied Humayun. "Then," I said, "it appears to
me, your Majesty, that the seven regions over which Iskender (_i.e._,
Alexander the Great) had dominion, were identical with the present
Empire of the Padishah of Turkey. History records the life and the
reign of Iskender, but it is not reasonable to suppose that he actually
visited and personally ruled these seven regions, for the inhabited
world (the fourth part of the present inhabited world) is 180 degrees
longitude and from the equator about 60 degrees latitude. Its area,
according to astronomical calculations, covers 1,668,670 _fersahhes_.
It is therefore an utter impossibility for any man to visit and
govern all these lands in person. Perhaps he only owned a portion of
each of these regions (_Iklim_), in the same way as the Padishah of
Turkey does." "But has the ruler of Turkey possessions in all these
regions?" asked Humayun. "Yes, certainly," I replied, "the first is
Yemen, the second Mecca, the third Egypt, the fourth Aleppo, the fifth
Constantinople, the sixth Kaffa, and the seventh Ofen and Vienna.[137]
In each of these regions the Padishah of Turkey appoints his Beglerbeg
and Kadi, who rule and govern in his name. Moreover, I was told in
Gujarat, by the merchants Khodja Bashi and Kara Hasan (God alone knows
whether their story is true), that when the Turkish merchants in China
desired to insert the name of their Sovereign in the Bairam prayers on
Bairamday, they brought the request before the Khakan of China, stating
that their Sovereign was Padishah of Mecca, Medina, and the Kibla
(Direction of the prayer), and therefore entitled to have his name
inserted in the Bairam prayers. The Khakan, although an unbeliever, had
insight enough to see the justice of their request, which he granted
forthwith; he even went so far as to clothe the Khatib[138] in a robe
of honor and to make him ride on an elephant through the city. Ever
since that time the name of the Padishah of Turkey has been included
in the Bairam prayers, and to whom, I ask, has such honor ever before
been vouchsafed?" The Sovereign (Humayun), turning to his nobles, said:
"Surely the only man worthy to bear the title of Padishah is the ruler
of Turkey, he alone and no one else in all the world."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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