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NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
lessons in Christianity by way of auspiciousness, and charged Abulfazl to translate the Gospel. Instead of the usual Bismillah-irrahman-irrahim!, the following lines were used -
Ai nám i tu Jesus o Kiristo (O thou whose names are Jesus and Christ) which means, 'O thou whose name is gracious and blessed:' Shaikh Faizí added another half, in order to complete the verse
Subhánaka lá siwaka Ya hú. (We praise Thee, there is no one besides Thee, O God !)
These accursed monks applied the description of cursed Satan, and of his qualities, to Muhammad, the best of all prophets-God's blessings rest on him and his whole house!
a thing which even devils would not do.
Bír Bar also impressed upon the emperor that the sun was the primary origin of everything. The ripening of the grain on the fields, of fruits and vegetables, the illumination of the universe, and the lives of men, depended upon the sun. Hence it was but proper to worship and reverence this luminary; and people in praying should face towards the place where he rises, instead of turning to the quarter where he sets. For similar reasons, said Bír Bar, should men pay regard to fire and water, stones, trees, and other forms of
born in Ajmír during the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, the Ioth Jumádalawwal 979.
1 The formula 'Bismillah, &c.' is said by every schoolboy before he commences to read from his text book.
The words Ai nám i tu Jesus o Kiristo are taken from the Dabistán; the edition of Badáоní has Ai námi wai thazho Kiristo, which, though correct in metre (vide my Prosody of the Persians,' p. 33, No. 32), is improbable. The formula as given in the Dabistán has a common Masnawí metre (vide my Prosody,' p. 33, No. 31), and spells Jesus
s dezuz. The verse as given by H. H. Wilson ('Works,' ii. p. 387) has no metre.
