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OCTOBER, 1914.]
THE POEMS OF PRINCE KAMRAN
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THE POEMS OF PRINCE KAMRAN.
BY MAULAVI ABDU'L WALI, M R.A.S. &c. &c.
THE dynasty of Chaghtai Turks, commonly called Mughals, that was founded by Bâbar in Hindustân, after he had defeated the Lôdi Monarch Ibrahim in the battle-field of Pânipat on April 21, 1526, ushered in a gifted family to India, that has bequeathed to the world a literature that stands unique in the annals of any single dynasty, ancient or modern. The autobiography of the founder is a standing monument of the nobility and charm of his character, the perspicuity and directness of his language.
The little work of his beloved daughter Gulbadan Bêgam (Lady Rosebud), recently published with translation and notes by Mrs. Annette S. Beveridge, is a book that blazes throughout with touches of feminine grace and charming simplicity, and stands unique in the annals of colloquial Persian. While we admire so much the style of several European female writers, we might have foregone the same delight but for the appearance of this charming monograph by an Eastern princess.
It is very strange that till now the world has been unacquainted with the existence of another book composed by another member of the same illustrious family, Prince Kâmrân. A notice of it, so far as I can recollect, appeared first in a Hindustanî periodical of Lucknow; but since then a detailed account of the Diwan-i-Kamran Mirza has been published in the catalogue of Persian Manuscripts of the Bankipore Public Library (Vol. II, prepared by M. 'Abdu'l-Muqtadir). This Dîwân, like Gulbadan Bêgam's Humayunnima was once treasured in the Imperial Library of Delhi, and bears autographs of Emperors Jahangir and Shahjahân, and other eminent persons, who once owned or examined it. The Sepoy revolt of 1857 did not give the rebels what they wanted; but it has unfortunately robbed India of her literary treasures.
Of the life and career of the Prince, I need say very little. The exact date of his birth cannot be determined. When he was a child, Bâbar left the ladies of his family in Kâbul under the nominal command of Kâmrân. 'Askarî, his younger full-brother was born in 922 H. (1516). Supposing Kâmrân was older by two years, he would be about 12 in 1525, when Bâbar had left him in Kâbul and about 42 years old in 964 H ((?) 1556) when he died in Mecca. Dildâr Bêgam was the mother of Prince Hindâl and the Lady Gulbadan Bêgam. Mâham Bêgam was the mother of Humâyûn. Gulrukh Bêgam was the mother of Princes Kâmrân and 'Askarî.
This collection of Kâmrân's poems consists of fragmentary pieces in Turki and Persian, as if the author had it copied in haste for presentation to, what appears to me, one Hazrat Khwaja, with a Turki epistle added at the end of the Diwân. The copyist Mahmûd bin Ishaq of Herât writes that he copied the book in haste. The Dîwân as it has come down to us clearly shows that Kamrân composed the poems as an impulse to his poetic genius and not as a sustained effort to produce something for the general public. They are to my mind the work of an artist who is employed, for the time being, in doing some other duties not very congenial to his genius. His rebellions against his generous brother, and his military exploits and subterfuges to gain for himself the sole sovereignty of Hindustan must be dismissed as ill-planned and ill-executed and something beyond his ken. But the fine art, in the shape of short lyrics and ballads that Kamran has left behind, and for which he probably did not much care in his lifetime, was indeed the work of a gifted poet and the worthy son of a worthy father. The inimitable style which Bâbar
