and this book or text has no citations it is as true as any bed time story about princess & the frog!
Muhammad Kásim recei*ves an order from the Khalífah.
The next day when the king of stars made his appearance from behind the curtain of night, a camelman bearing a letter from the capital of the Khalífahs arrived. Mu*hammad son of Alí, and Abdul Hasan Humadání relate that at the time of Rai Dáhar's death, two of his virgin daughters had been captured in his seraglio. Muhammad Kásim sent them in charge of some Abyssinian servants to the holy city of Baghdád.* The Khalífah ordered them to be taken into his seraglio, in order that they might take rest and be comforted for some days, and be in a fit con*dition to be admitted into his bed-chamber. After some time* the Khalífah remembered them, and ordered that both, of them be brought to him at night. When they came, Walìd son of Abdul Malik required his interpreter to make the usual enquiries, and to ask them as to which of them was the elder, so that one of them might be kept back and taken care of till her sister's turn was over. The interpreter first asked their names. The elder of them said, My name is Súrijdew,* and the younger said My name is Pirmaldew. He then called the elder sister to himself, and ordered the younger to be removed and taken care of. When he seated the elder near himself, she unveiled her face and the Khalífah of the time looked at it, and became charmed with her perfect beauty. Her blood-sucking blandishments, took away patience from his heart, and he began to take liberties with her, and, catching hold of Súrijdew, pulled her to himself. Súrijdew sprang up and said: May the king live long: I, a humble slave, am not fit for your Majesty's bed-room, because the just amír, Imáduddín Muhammad Kásim kept us both with him for 3 days, and then sent us to the Khalífah. Perhaps your custom is such, or else this kind of disgrace should not be permitted by kings. At that moment his passion for the girl blinded the Khalífah. He lost patience, and his excess of jealousy did not permit him to make any enquiries. He therefore immediately sent for pen, ink and paper, and with his own hands wrote an order, directing that Muhammad Kásim should, wherever he may be, put himself in raw leather* and come back to the chief seat of the Khalífah.
Muhammad Kásim arrives at Udhápur and receives the Khalífah's order.
When Muhammad Kásim received this order on his arrival at Udhápur, he at once asked his men to put him into a fresh hide. This was done and the living parcel was placed in a box and carried away. Muhammad Kásim thus in a short time breathed his last. After his death the governors, appointed to different divisions of the country, remained in charge of them. As for the box, it was taken to the Khalífah. The men who had brought it, at first requested the chief attendant, to inform Walíd son of Abdul Malik son of Marwán that Muhammad Kásim had been brought. Is he dead or alive? in*quired the Khalífah. He is dead was the reply. He got your order in the town of Udhápur, and immediately he enclosed himself in raw leather. After two days* he entrusted his soul to God and went to the everlasting abode. The rulers and governors appointed by him to different places have remained secure in their possessions and are trying their best to administer the country well in the name of the Khalífah, whom they duly mention (with praise) in the orations and addresses that are delivered from the pulpits.
The Khalífah opens the box.
Then the Khalífah raised the lid, and opened the box. The two girls were also called to be present there. The Khalífah had a stick of green emerald in his hand at that time, and he placed it on the teeth of the dead body, and said: O daughters of Rái Dáhar, look how our orders are promptly obeyed by our officers; they are ever anxious to carry them out strictly. As soon as he got our letter in Kanúj, he sacrificed his dear life at our behest.
Conversation between Dá-har's daugh er Jankí* and the Khalífah Abdul Malik.
Hearing this, the virgin girl, Jankí,* removed her veil from her face and placing her head on the ground, said: May the king live long, and may his power and dignity increase and last for many many years! The sovereign of the time, who is supposed to be a perfect paragon of wisdom, should consider it his duty, to weigh and test (like gold) whatever comes to his ears whether from a friend or a foe, and when he finds it to be true beyond doubt, then only (and not before) is he justified in issuing decisive orders, lest he be punished by the divine wrath and held up to scorn by human tongues. It is true that your command is strictly obeyed, but it never occurred to your majesty to make a preliminary enquiry. The fact is that Muhammad Kásim was like a brother or a son to us; he never touched us, your slaves, and our chastity was safe with him. But in as much as he brought ruin on the king of Hind and Sind, desolated the kingdom of our fathers and grandfathers, and degraded us from princely rank to slavery, we have, with the inten*tion of being revenged on him and of bringing ruin and degradation on him in return, misrepresented the matter and spoken a false thing to your majesty against him. Now our object is gained, for by means of this deceit and falsehood, we have taken our revenge. As for your majesty's passing an urgent and irresistable order, if the excess of lust and passion had not eclipsed and clouded your majesty's reason and judgment, you would have thought it proper to enquire into the matter first and would not have made yourself blameworthy and repentant. As for Muhammad Kásim himself if he bad had any sense in him he would have travelled in the usual way, till he had arrived within a day's journey from here, and then enclosed himself in raw leather, so that after enquiries had been made he would have been acquitted and would not have died.
When the Khalífah heard all this, he was so much overpowered by grief, that he bit the back of his hand.
Another speech of Jankí.
The Princess Jankí then once more attempted to speak, and looking at the Khalífah and finding that he was much enraged, said: The king has committed a great blunder, since for the sake of two slave girls he has killed a man who captured a hundred thousand noble girls like us, brought down seventy kings, who were rulers of Hind and Sind from a royal throne to a bier, and built mosques and minarets in place of idol-houses and temples. Even if it be assumed that he did some slight mischief or was guitly of an inde*cent act, Muhammad Kásim should not have been killed simply on the slanderous word of a malicious individual.
The Khalífah immediately ordered the two sisters to be buried alive in a wall.* From that time up to our own days, the banner of Islám has been rising higher and higher and gaining greater and greater glory day by day.
chchnama
PHI Persian Literature in Translation
