Hoshruba

by Musharraf Ali Farooqi

  As Emperor Afrasiyab approached flying, the bells began ringing and created a din. The handmaidens of Jamshed jumped off the swings and came toward him. Afrasiyab stood on one leg while he prayed to Jamshed and cut a piece of flesh from his other leg to place as an offering on the palace dome.

  Upon receiving admittance, when Afrasiyab stepped inside the palace, the seven handmaidens saluted him and asked, “O Emperor of Hoshruba, what brings you here this day?” He answered, “I am headed for the mausoleum of Lord Jamshed.” The handmaidens answered, “The mausoleum of Lord Jamshed still lies a long distance away but its boundaries start here. You can receive the gifts of the tilism even at this place. Tell us the purpose of your visit.”

  Afrasiyab answered, “I seek Lord Jamshed’s mantle in my fight against a plague of opponents. Amar Ayyar, who is denounced by the gods in the Book of Sameri, has entered the tilism. Thousands of sorcerer disciples of Lord Jamshed have been killed and mutinies brew in Hoshruba.”

  Jamshed’s handmaidens replied, “Lord Jamshed’s mantle is yours for the taking: since you are the Emperor of Hoshruba and may do as you please. But you will not find here his ring, necklace and other souvenirs for they lie in the neighboring tilism, Nur Afshan of dazzling light. Alas, you caused the destruction of your lands and now you are eyeing the souvenirs of the tilism. Lord Jamshed had foretold that the last emperor of Hoshruba would be an incompetent bungler; he would lose his writ over the tilism and cause the destruction of all its souvenirs and marvels. It appears, indeed, that you are the one described. It seems our end is near too, for you would one day also order us to fight at your side. the chest in which you will find Lord Jamshed’s mantle lies before you. you may take it for all we care!”

  With these words, one of the handmaidens flung the key to the chest toward Afrasiyab.

  Tears welled up in Afrasiyab’s eyes at this speech and he said to them, “I will not take Lord Jamshed’s mantle if it displeases you. I made every possible effort not to battle Mahrukh. That was the reason I indulged her even when she committed unforgivable offenses. It is still my desire that the rebels should return to my allegiance. I seek the mantle only to overpower and arrest them and restore them to honor after a quick reprimand.”

  The handmaidens answered, “When you made all these preparations, why did you not send the trickster girl Sarsar Swordfighter and her companions against Amar Ayyar? She would have guarded the sorcerers you sent and Amar and his tricksters would not have had the field to themselves.” Afrasiyab answered, “You speak true. Upon my return I will dispatch the trickster girls against the enemy tricksters.”

  Afrasiyab then picked up the key to the chest in which Jamshed’s mantle lay. When he opened its lid a flame leaped out of it and scorched Afrasiyab. He cut open a vein and made an offering of his blood that extinguished the flame.

  Afrasiyab saw Jamshed’s jewel-embroidered, silken mantle lying inside, filled with the soil from his grave. The mantle was proof against all magic and rendered useless even powerful magic of mighty sorcerers like Afrasiyab. When it was snapped into the wind against a rival army they fell unconscious, no matter how powerful the sorcerers or how numerous their horde.

  SORCERER RUTAS

  Afrasiyab flew away after securing Jamshed’s mantle and arrived in the Apple Garden in the region of Batin. He recited an incantation and clapped. A mighty sorcerer named Rutas, whose body glowed like fire, emerged from the ground and bowed before the Emperor of Hoshruba.

  Afrasiyab said to him, “You are a distinguished sorcerer of the tilism. I confer Lord Jamshed’s mantle on you because I can think of no worthier recipient. Take it with you and bring me Mahrukh Magic-Eye and Bahar as prisoners.” Rutas answered, “Your Excellency has bestowed too great an honor upon me. I am nothing but a humble slave of Lord Sameri, and a loyal subject and vassal of Your Highness.”

  Rutas received Jamshed’s mantle proudly and put it away with great care. Then he asked Afrasiyab, “Should I depart alone or take an army with me?” Afrasiyab answered, “I already sent an army with Shadeed and others, but do take along twelve thousand sorcerers as a precaution. Depart immediately and bring all prisoners to the Dome of Light where I am now headed. It is within easy reach from all corners of Hoshruba and from its vantage point I will be able to watch over the battle.”

  While Afrasiyab mounted his throne and departed, Rutas returned to his abode and mustered a twelve-thousand-strong army of sorcerers. The marching drums were beaten and his army set out with its tents and equipage. Rutas rode at the head of the army astride a magic flamingo.

  Now we return to Afrasiyab, who arrived near the Dome of Light to see the City of Disregard in turmoil, a great commotion brewing, and the air rent by cries of “Redress! Succor!” Afrasiyab saw sorcerer Shadeed making attempts to climb the Dome of Light and understood immediately that Bahar had cast a spell on him. In his wrath, Afrasiyab wanted to reverse Bahar’s magic so that Shadeed’s senses would be restored and the same frenzy would overtake Bahar. But one consideration stopped him: that such an action would likely kill Bahar, and even if she survived she would forever hold a grudge against him. He knew it would not do to antagonize or harm his beloved for then his desire would remain unrequited.

  Afrasiyab picked a magic citron and hurled it at Shadeed. It shot through his chest and a great din arose as Shadeed died. Afrasiyab then pointed his fingers and ten lightning bolts fell on Shadeed’s companions and burned to cinder their gardens of life as well.

  The noise and commotion caused by their deaths took a long time to subside. When Afrasiyab finally entered the Dome of Light and Heyrat saluted him, he said, “This was all the doing of your sister Bahar, who put Shadeed under such a powerful spell that he became entirely forgetful of himself. But, ultimately, you must shoulder the blame for her causing the death and destruction of such a large number of my men.”

  Heyrat answered, “Your Excellency should grant me leave to go and chastise that strumpet.” Afrasiyab answered, “I will find a way to arrest and punish Mahrukh since she rebelled against me and my authority. You may have a free hand in the matter of your sister, however. Deal with her as you see fit. I have already sent Rutas with Jamshed’s mantle to arrest both Mahrukh and Bahar. If he is unsuccessful, you may advance against them.”

  TRICKSTER GIRLS SARSAR SWORDFIGHTER, SABA RAFTAR THE QUICK, SHAMIMA TUNNELER, SUNUBAR SNARE-ROPER, AND TEZ NIGAH DAGGER-FIGHTER

  Afrasiyab then entered a chamber of the Dome of Light, which looked out over the River of Flowing Blood and a view of the regions of Zahir and Batin. He sat down on a throne and his four ministers and the nobles of the court took their stations. A dance recital began and Heyrat poured wine for the Emperor and passed him the cup.

  Afrasiyab ordered a sorcerer to send for his trickster girls. The sorcerer departed for the City of Portraits to deliver the emperor’s message.

  Afrasiyab had conferred the governorship of the City of Portraits on his chief trickster girl, Sarsar Swordfighter. Saba Raftar the Quick was her minister while Shamima Tunneler, Sunubar Snare-Roper, and Tez Nigah Dagger-Fighter were her deputies and confidants.

  The five beautiful, adolescent trickster girls were childhood companions. They were matchless in trickery and despised magic and sorcery. When they received Afrasiyab’s message they put on their trickster’s livery, armed themselves, and headed for Afrasiyab’s court. In due time, they arrived, saluted the emperor and stood humbly awaiting his orders.

  Afrasiyab said, “O Sarsar, Amar Ayyar and his trickster companions have entered the tilism and killed hundreds of sorcerers. I thought that sorcery would prevail over trickery just as tyranny is repelled by might. But the tricksters continue to wreak havoc in the land. Because only a trickster knows how to fight another, I am sending you on the campaign against them. Confront them and bring them to me as prisoners. While you do not know magic and sorcery, you will have unimpeded access to all three regions of the tilism. No one will obstruct your way in the regions of Zah
ir, Batin or Zulmat.”

  After receiving her orders, Sarsar and the other trickster girls curtsied before Afrasiyab, received robes of departure, and left. They sped like the wind and reached the wilderness near Mahrukh’s camp before the arrival of Rutas and his force and busied themselves planning their strategy.

  Amar Ayyar and the tricksters were training in the wilderness when they heard the sound of tricksters’ bells and pricked up their ears. When they investigated the source they saw five adolescent beauties armed with tricksters’ contraptions and weapons, springing forward in giant leaps and strides, suspicious even of their own shadows.

  Their hair was tied in buns to one side of their heads, their mantles were knotted in front bracing their shoulders, the bottoms of their pants were tightly fastened and they wore warriors’ socks and shoes. Slings were tied to their arms, snare ropes to their heads, and sacks of sling stones hung around their necks. Besides wielding scimitars, daggers, bows, arrows and shields, they were also richly caparisoned with ornaments and jewels.

  At their head was Sarsar Swordfighter, sporting the crown of charm and allure, speeding forward with great pomp and splendor. The swellings of her bosom were themselves like two veiled warriors – headstrong and vain. Her gait crushed the hearts of lovers for whom her beauty was like the elephants of calamity and the troopers of catastrophe. Coquetry and dalliance walked in her wake, carrying the skirts of her robe of vanity. She was followed by her minister, Saba Raftar the Quick, whose essence was kneaded with capriciousness, and who had an equal claim on beauty with her dark complexion and conjoined eyebrows.

  Beside them were the other three trickster girls, all sprightly and spirited and destroyers of lovers’ lives, names and honor. Before their gait, the elegant cypress hid its face in shame; they even taught the rose the vain airs of a beloved.

  Upon sighting them, Amar blew his trickster’s whistle. Qiran heard it and speedily joined Amar and the other tricksters. The trickster girls drew their daggers upon hearing the whistle, made their war cries and charged Amar Ayyar and his companions.

  After deciding on secret codes for combat, the tricksters also shouted their war cries. As Amar charged, Sarsar confronted him. Saba Raftar accosted Qiran, Shamima challenged Burq the Frank, Sunubar encountered Jansoz, and Tez Nigah locked her gaze with Zargham’s.

  The tricksters were felled by the arrows of love upon beholding their beauty. They were wounded by the darts of their eyelashes and lacerated by the daggers of their eyebrows. Love couplets broke out from their lips.

  Amar Ayyar addressed Sarsar, singing,

  “As a dispersed army takes to marauding

  Your loosened black locks destroyed my faith.”

  Sarsar attacked with her dagger, saying,

  “Who die not in the fetters of my locks

  They die without faith, I proclaim.”

  Qiran said to Saba Raftar, “O charming beloved,

  “You make my heart your dagger’s target

  Injure not yourself, it is but your own home.”

  Saba Raftar struck with her dagger like lightning, and replied,

  “There’s no remedy for the ill fated ones

  None may revoke with a plan what is destined.”

  Burq intoned as he confronted Shamima,

  “A thousand years later when you return

  ‘O Beloved! Greetings!’ My grave will call.”

  Shamima replied with a smile and a blow of her scimitar,

  “I wish my enemy to suffer the fate of a tent peg, ever

  Hammered, buried in earth with a noose around his neck.”

  In the middle of the skirmish, Jansoz addressed Sunubar thus:

  “The world lies undone but your alluring eyes still dart around

  A hundred doomsdays have passed but your beauty has yet

  begun.”

  Sunubar frowned and declaimed with great coquetry and vanity as she came near,

  “For my tribe a hundred calamities, for my harvest a thousands

  lightning bolts you are

  And yet so plainly still I call you the solace of my heart.”

  As Zargham fought with Tez Nigah, he proclaimed,

  “Are the rules of friendship to be now rewritten

  And friends not inquire after friends in love’s prison?”

  Tez Nigah laughed at his longing and said,

  “Don’t sing to me the song of your suffering

  From hearing this tale alone I burn, Ah! Ah!”

  In short, after exchanging these innuendos and hints, the tricksters and the trickster girls continued fighting with daggers and shields. The trickster girls threw the snare ropes at the tricksters and they coiled around their necks and waists but the tricksters leaped into the air as swiftly – like sight passes through the frame of spectacles. The nooses slid down their feet and fell to the ground. Even as the tricksters landed, they struck with their scimitars and the trickster girls leaped back ten feet in retreat.

  They soon spread out in a four mile wide expanse. They ran and chased each other, leaped and gambolled, rolled on the ground locked in combat, attacked each other with eggs of oblivion, ducked and dodged, parried with scimitars and struck with, and blocked daggers. The tricksters locked their swords with the trickster girls, jumped into their laps and tried to steal kisses. The trickster girls would let them come close then bite them.

  They fiercely fought each other for two hours until the trickster girls escaped, shouting, “O wretches, you will see how mercilessly we will kill you!”

  The tricksters retired to a mountain pass where Amar said to them, “My brothers, I wish to declare in your presence that I have chosen Sarsar as my charming beloved. If any of you kill her, he will have to answer to me.” Qiran said, “Yours truly is besotted with Saba Raftar and all tricksters are likewise duty bound to protect her.” Then Burq the Frank spoke of his love for Shamima, Jansoz of his passion for Sunubar, and Zargham exacted from the other tricksters a vow of protection for Tez Nigah. Thus, all five of them learned of each other’s beloveds.

  Amar said, “When Hoshruba is conquered and the trickster girls are arrested, Amir Hamza will have the power to send them to their deaths if they refuse to embrace the True Faith. But in the meanwhile, it would be improper for us to seriously harm them.”

  Thus the tricksters made a pact that in the battle with the trickster girls they would not harm each other’s beloveds. After this council they returned to guard their camp.

  The trickster girls also retired to a nook in the wilderness. Sarsar said to Saba Raftar the Quick, “I notice that you look preoccupied. You moisten your lips constantly, have a wan look on your face, walk with an uneven gait, and seem frenetic with your hair all dishevelled. Confess to me what all these signs signify!”

  Saba Raftar replied, “Your Honor asks me to confess? I did not open my mouth earlier for fear of sounding presumptuous. But now that Your Honor herself teases me, I must allow truth to trump deference: Pray regard your lovely face in the mirror and you will see how plainly love shines from your aspect. With your eyes all moist from desire and your senses in disarray it is little wonder that you search for your symptoms in others.” Sarsar answered, “God forbid! It’s you who has the habit of falling in love at the very sight of a man. You are indeed mad to suspect me of being in love. And even supposing I were in love, my lover is the Emperor of the Tricksters, the first minister of Hamza, his councillor and mind of reason. I can be excused. What are your reasons for falling in love? What makes you think your love compares at all to mine?”

  Saba Raftar replied with a little laugh, “Pray do not take offense if I say that the man attracted to me is none other than the favored one of the Conqueror of Conquerors, Ali. He is the Prince of Ethiopes besides, and the one whose labors have often granted Amar a new lease on life. I too, have my reasons as you can see. But I wonder why Shamima, Sunubar and Tez Nigah look love stricken.”

  Shamima replied, “How wonderful, Saba Raftar! Since y
ou could not reprimand Princess Sarsar, you try to hide your embarrassment by attacking us. I understand why you feel that way. I can see why you make this prattle. You really are a sly one! Well, to each her own! But what fault do you find with my lover? He is a prince from the land of the Franks and a worthy disciple of Amar Ayyar! If you must needs point finger at anyone, point it at Sunubar and Tez Nigah.”

  Sunubar took exception to this and retorted, “You have the bad habit, Shamima, of using others to say what’s in your heart. It is you who are lustful. Although my lover is far superior to yours, I think little of him. If Saba Raftar says Qiran is the favored one of Ali and the Prince of Ethiopes, let me tell you that my lover is Jansoz, his son. Yet, he may pine away for love of me all he wants; I will remain deaf to his entreaties. What of that, fourteen thousand men like him sigh and suffer for love of me! The charge you lay on me would stick only on Tez Nigah.”

  Tez Nigah answered, “For shame! You try to stick all kinds of blame on me. Everyone likes to speak well of their own. I have nothing to do with Zargham but if someone claims that he loves me, I would only say that he is better than all those whom you have just praised. First of all, like Qiran, he is also a favored one. Moreover, he is the personal trickster of the Conqueror of the Tilism, who will one day rule Hoshruba. If you ask me, anyone who resides in the tilism may be deemed his subject already.”

  Sarsar laughed uproariously at that and said, “Congratulations! May Your Honor live long! From today we must salute you since we are your lover’s humble subjects. With him as our lord and master, we need not fear a thing!”

  Tez Nigah broke into a sweat from embarrassment as everyone began teasing her. She replied, “Why do you think of me as the crazy one? All of you praised your swains but the moment I opened my mouth you started making fun of me. I am not good at dissimulation whereas all of you are loquacious and shameless. How you keep at it! And when I retort you make fun of me all over again!”