The Adventures of Amir Hamza

by Ghalib Lakhnavi

  Amir dismounted upon beholding the emperor’s throne, and came forward to present himself, kissing the legs of the emperor’s throne. Amir Hamza bore on his head the Throne of Kai-Khusrau,46 which the hellbound Hashsham had plundered from Ctesiphon, and submitted it into the emperor’s presence, along with the crown and other regalia of the empire. Amir had borne the throne on his head because when Emperor Kai-Khusrau had vanquished Turan47 and then occupied Iran, to render homage to the emperor, Rustam bin Zal had walked thirty steps bearing this throne on his head. In like manner Amir showed regard for Naushervan by carrying the throne on his head for forty steps—to declare that he was ten times more powerful than Rustam, the Champion Warrior of the World, and the Reigning Lord of the Powers of Time.

  Naushervan was mightily pleased by this deed of Amir Hamza, and signaled to his attendants and minions to transfer the burden from Amir’s head to their own. Then he himself dismounted and embraced him.

  OF AMIR HAMZA’S ENTRY INTO CTESIPHON AND HIS OCCUPYING OF RUSTAM’S THRONE48

  Narrators who illuminate the assembly of discourse, and storytellers who relate ancient tales, recount that Buzurjmehr then presented Khvaja Amar Ayyar before the emperor. Amar kissed the emperor’s feet and pressed the emperor’s hands, and with wonderful artistry slipped the signet ring from the emperor’s finger, and when he was introduced to Bakhtak, he quietly slipped the signet ring into Bakhtak’s pocket.

  The emperor then mounted his steed and, taking Hamza the Lord of the Auspicious Planetary Conjunction by his side, headed for Ctesiphon.

  When the emperor’s procession arrived at the city gates, he ordered that the army of the Lord of the Auspicious Planetary Conjunction might camp at Tal Shad-Kam.

  Then Hamza entered the city gates with the emperor. The whole populace had turned out to set eyes on the Lord of the Auspicious Planetary Conjunction, and young and old alike were rejoicing because Amir had secured their freedom and shown them great favor. They arrived in the royal court accompanied by the companions, counselors, and noble champions of both groups.

  The emperor ordered that the nobles belonging to the True Faith be seated to the right of his throne, and that the rest take their allotted stations. The emperor then addressed Hamza, saying, “Consider this your own house, and find a seat for yourself where you will!” Amir said in his heart, One must nip evil in the bud! I should set a lasting precedent by finding myself a station that will not be contested!

  By the throne was a chair inlaid with jewels, which traditionally had been the seat of Rustam. Amir made obeisance to the emperor and stepped thither. The moment he lifted the insignial covering of the chair and made to sit on it, a shaft of grief pierced the hearts of the Sassanids. But they held their tongues, realizing that it would be futile to contest this privilege that day.

  At a signal from the emperor, richly adorned, fairy-limbed, and sweet-lipped youths brought goblets of sherbet and offered cups of the rose and sugar concoction. Then the emperor requested Amar to sing.

  Producing the prophet Daud’s do-tara,49 Amar began to strum at it, and his music attracted the ears of all assembled, young and old alike. From every corner of the assembly rose cries of “Marvelous!” and “Well done!” Naushervan thought of conferring his signet ring on Amar as a token of royal praise for his gift of song. But finding his finger bereft of the ring, he asked in all surprise, “Who took Our ring? Has it fallen somewhere?”

  Amar responded with folded arms, “Your Honor! Except for those present in this assembly, no stranger has set foot here who could be suspected of this infraction. If you allow me, I shall search everyone present and recover the ring by the blessings of Your Honor’s glory!”

  Then at the emperor’s signal, Amar made a pretense of searching people and looking into their pockets. After Amar had finished searching the warriors and commanders, the emperor ordered Buzurjmehr to search all the philosophers and nobles. Following the emperor’s orders, Buzurjmehr searched well their robes, girdles, and mantles, and upon Bakhtak’s turn, discovered the signet ring in his pocket. Buzurjmehr was greatly surprised and all the nobles bit their fingers in astonishment. And Bakhtak was sunk into the mire of shame.

  Then Amar declared with folded arms before the emperor in a loud voice: “Ayyars have been known to play such capers, but until today we neither saw or heard of a vizier thieving. Yet now that Bakhtak’s example is before us, we can assume that viziers, too, are embezzlers. Indeed he is a worthy grandson of Alqash, and molded in his cast.”

  Naushervan blazed into a rage against Bakhtak, and heaped rebuke on his head before the whole assembly. Then Amar said, “The just punishment for a thief is to cut off his hands.” Bakhtak said in his heart, Confound this trickster! He clamors to have my hands severed! What retribution he has served me!

  At Buzurjmehr’s interceding, Bakhtak’s hands were not severed, and the infliction of that punishment was removed from his head. But ever more abuse and defamation was bestowed on him. That very moment Bakhtak was shamed before the court, and thrown out.

  After some time had passed, Amir Hamza told the emperor that Bakhtak was innocent of the theft and that it was Amar’s roguery. The emperor was astonished at this display of Amar’s sleight of hand and, at Amir’s intercession, Bakhtak was allowed into the court as before. The emperor conferred the ring on Amar, and was mightily pleased by his sharpness and deceit.

  OF GUSTHAM’S ENTRY INTO CTESIPHON ALONG WITH BAHRAM GURD, EMPEROR OF CHINA

  The writing finger of the storyteller shows its might and exerts itself in the arena of the paper in this majestic manner, relating that while Amir returned from the court to Tal Shad-Kam, there arrived a note addressed to Khvaja Amar from Bakhtak. It read:

  I hereby send an offering of five hundred tomans, and a promissory note for an equal amount. Other offerings will be made in the future at all suitable occasions in the hope that you shall never again play such jokes on me that threaten to condemn me to grievous insults.

  Upon receiving this money and promissory note, Amar rejoiced greatly, and said in his heart, God be praised that a little fortune has come my way of itself. Amar wrote out an apology to Bakhtak, and sent with it the receipt for the money and the note.

  The next day Amir Hamza presented himself in the court with his companions, and as before seated himself at the same station. The Sassanid nobles prickled with jealousy at this gesture, and schemed to reduce Hamza in the emperor’s esteem.

  One day Amir Hamza was seated at this spot when a towering youth presented himself before the emperor, clad all in armor. He made an obeisance to the emperor and after he sat down, he regarded Hamza with a sideways glance and submitted to the emperor: “Your Honor sent my father on a campaign to Zabul, and in his absence seated an Arab lad in his chair. Is this fair consideration of my father’s estimation in the emperor’s eyes? Soon, when my father returns in all triumph, it will be seen how this contumacy bodes for this Arab’s merriment!”

  Amir could not abide listening to this idle swagger, and said to the emperor, “What is the name and rank of this youth? His words smell of rebelliousness and sedition!” Naushervan said, “He is Faulad bin Gustham. I sent his father to chastise the rebellious emperor of China, Bahram Gurd, and he will soon return successful from having captured Bahram Gurd. The chair in which you are seated belongs to him.”

  Amir replied: “I am desirous, then, that his father test his mettle against mine. And may the vanquished then forever pledge obedience to the victor!”

  Upon hearing this, Faulad entered a wild rage and said with knitted brow, “O Arab! Wrestle my father later, when you have first wrestled down the hand of his son!” Amir responded, “As you please!” Then Faulad sat alongside Hamza and they interlocked their hands and exerted their strength. Before long Amir wrestled the boy’s arm down, and Faulad fell from his seat. Embarrassed beyond measure, he drew his dagger and came rushing at Hamza. When Amir then wrested the dagger from his hands, Prince Hurmuz said to Faulad, �
�O Faulad! Do you wish to disrupt the royal court? You have been suitably humiliated and yet you remain relentless in your conceit. Take yourself quietly to a seat, and then do not stir or say a word.”

  Some ten or twelve days had passed when news reached the emperor that Gustham was nearing Ctesiphon, with Emperor of China Bahram Gurd and four thousand of his Uzbek warriors as captives, and had halted four leagues from the city. Now, Bakhtak’s heart was full of rancor toward Hamza, and he was always seeking a pretext to abase Amir. The emperor had gone in person to welcome Hamza, and this fact rankled Bakhtak’s heart and he resolved to use the precedent to Gustham’s advantage.

  In short, Bakhtak managed to prevail upon the emperor to ride out and welcome Gustham, and Bakhtak, too, went riding alongside. On the way Buzurjmehr said to the emperor, “Amir Hamza must needs ride in the royal cortege, too, as the escort of such a noble, valorous, and renowned champion would augment the prestige of Your Highness’s retinue no end!” The emperor immediately sent word to Hamza’s camp.

  The emperor’s procession had gone a league outside the city when they saw Gustham bin Ashk Zarrin Kafsh approach, clad in mail and armor, twirling his whiskers, and riding a rhinoceros under the shadow of a wolf-shaped standard.

  Upon coming close, Gustham dismounted, kissed the leg of the royal throne, and with great eloquence narrated the account of his bravery in taking captive Bahram Gurd and of the skirmishes of the battle. The emperor then made a gratuitous prostration to his one hundred and seventy-five gods, and turned back toward the city. But Gustham lagged behind at a sign from Bakhtak. On his return the emperor crossed paths with Hamza and said to him, “Go forth and meet Gustham, and please yourself for a while listening to his adventures!”

  Now we turn to Bakhtak, who bitterly complained to Gustham about Amir, and said, “Besides committing other misdemeanors that Arab lad had such pride and haughtiness in his valor that he committed the grave disrespect of couching himself in your chair. Then he grossly humiliated and disgraced Faulad before the whole court. But God be thanked that now you are finally here! When embracing him, press him in your grasp so that all his bones are set out of joint and he learns to reckon with your strength, and does not commit any further acts of pride and contumacy in your presence.” Gustham replied, “I shall see to it!”

  In the meanwhile Amir’s party arrived. As he embraced Amir, Gustham pressed him with his arms for all he was worth, offering him sweet words of welcome expressing his pleasure and delight. Amir returned his compliments and pressed him back so powerfully that Gustham’s rear trumpeted many a note from an abundant release of wind. Greatly confounded by this mishap, Gustham whispered in Amir’s ear, “O Amir! I trust to your chivalry never to breathe word of this to anyone. Let that forever remain a secret between us!” Amir said, “Have no fear in this regard.”

  Then Gustham returned to the fort with his army in train, and Amir occupied himself with admiring the scenery with his friends. Amir noticed a chest being brought forward, heavily secured with chains, with four thousand menacing troops marching in the rear. When he inquired of the guards about the contents of the chest, they replied, “Within is enclosed Bahram Gurd, the emperor of China, whose chivalry and valor are famous to the whole world!” Amir exclaimed, “Who has ever heard of champions and kings transporting a prisoner in this manner?”

  He ordered the chest put on the ground, and when his attendants opened it they beheld within a beautiful youth wrapped in chains and lying in a faint. Amir had him taken out of the chest, released him from his prison.

  When the youth regained consciousness, Amir asked him, “Who might you be, O brave one?” He replied, “I shall give a detailed account once I have reached your camp. At present my strength fails me from speaking a single word.” Amir forthwith provided a horse for him and released his imprisoned men, and brought them all with great honor to his camp.

  When Bahram Gurd regained the command of his faculties, he said to Amir, “Your auspicious aspect betokens nobility and majesty. I request that you tell your pedigree and lineage and satisfy me regarding the title and station of the one whose hand warded off certain death from my head. Many a day I lay entombed in that coffin without food or drink, and had all but resigned myself to death when God put my destiny in your path and showed me this happy day!”

  When Amir had satisfied Bahram regarding his particulars, Bahram rejoiced exceedingly and exclaimed, “Oh, happy hour! That I incurred a debt of gratitude toward one peerless in the Seven Climes!” Then Amir asked him, “O Bahram, how did Gustham manage to overwhelm you?”

  Bahram replied, “After I had overpowered him in the battle, ravaged and destroyed his army, and taken him prisoner, he vowed fidelity to me, and for four whole years he remained constant in his devotion and servitude. On a hunt one day, I rode far away from my army and, as I was dying of thirst, I asked him for some water. He found the opportunity to drug it, and offered it to me. When I fell unconscious, he sent for his companions and abettors in my army, who had until now kept up the pretense of loyalty to me. They put me in irons, shut me in that chest, and inflicted all manner of torture and suffering upon me!”

  Upon hearing this, Amir Hamza offered Bahram Gurd many words of consolation and solace.

  When the news reached Gustham, he hurried before the emperor with rage blazing in his breast and detailed the whole episode to him. The emperor was also greatly vexed upon hearing Hamza’s conduct in this matter, and forthwith sent for him, and said to Amir, “O Abul-Ala! You knew well that in the Seven Climes I have no greater enemy than Bahram Gurd, yet you showed no regard for this consideration. Why did you grant him his freedom?”

  Amir said, “Your Majesty being the Emperor of the Seven Concentric Circles, if champions and brave men are to be taken captive by wile in your time, there will be no stopping people from uttering inauspicious words about you. History will bear witness and to all eternity it will be mentioned in the assembly of Kings that Naushervan was such a coward that champions were subdued with guile in his reign—and that his retainers and ministers and warriors were ever skillful with the weapons of chicanery and fraud! When was Bahram Gurd ever such a mighty champion that he could not have been subdued in fair combat or prevailed against and vanquished by a valiant warrior?”

  Hearing this the emperor said, “Where is Bahram Gurd? Send for him forthwith and bring him into my presence so that I may verify the circumstances of his capture and hear his account with my own ears!”

  Amir had left Bahram in Naushervan’s antechamber and immediately sent for him. Addressing Bahram, the emperor asked, “Did Gustham take you prisoner in the traditions of valor, or were you captured and imprisoned by treachery?” Bahram replied, “Your Honor will judge the facts with your own eyes, and will weigh the veracity of my account when I say that I have been kept on starvation rations for four months and have been denied food and water until today. If Amir was any later in securing my release from those confines, that chest would have served me for a bier. But were I to encounter Gustham even in these reduced circumstances, I could still wrest the sword from his hand, or else I should gladly forfeit my head to the executioner’s sword!”

  Gustham was present in the court with the Sassanid army. The emperor turned to him and said, “Do you hear what he states?” Embarrassed, Gustham hung his head and made no reply for his shame. The emperor then said to Bahram, “Would you be ready to wrestle with Hamza?” Bahram answered, “Most willingly! Once I have proclaimed myself a champion, I cannot disregard a challenge.”

  Then Amir said to the emperor, “O Guide of the World! At the moment he lacks any real vigor and strength. But were he to be plied with nourishment for forty days, it would afford some joy to see a display of his strength against mine.”

  The emperor highly commended Hamza’s suggestion and said, “O Hamza, I trust Bahram to your care. You may then wrestle together and we shall judge the power and skill of both of you!”

  Amir returned safe and hap
py to his camp with Bahram, and fed him on choice food for forty days. On the forty-first day, with Bahram alongside, Amir presented himself before the emperor, and said, “I am ready now to be matched with Bahram, as he is now well nourished and restored to his previous strength.”

  Both Amir and Bahram clad themselves in loincloths and caps of lion skin and girded themselves. Striking their arms with their hands in challenging postures, they were soon locked in combat.

  Clasping each other’s necks, they butted so mightily that a mound of steel would have turned to powder from the impact, but neither one even shed a hair. For a full three hours they wrestled together, without either having any success in lifting the other over the shoulder, to say nothing of stretching the adversary on his back.

  Finally, Amir yelled out “God is Mighty!” and lifted Bahram over his head. Bahram cried, “O Amir! You are clearly endowed with a might that is divinely gifted. I surrender and vow submission.”

  Amir set Bahram lightly on ground. Then Amir said to Bahram, “Now, O Bahram, enter into the folds of the emperor’s service, and ennoble yourself with the prestige found in his servitude.” Bahram replied, “I shall never commit myself to anyone’s service save yours!” The emperor said to Hamza, “To be admitted into your service is the same as to be brought into Ours!” He then conferred robes of honor on both Amir Hamza and Bahram.

  Now to the Sassanids, who in Bakhtak’s company went to visit Gustham, lamenting and clamoring for redress. They related how the emperor conferred increasing honors upon Hamza, and how with every passing hour their esteem and worth diminished as a result.

  Gustham said to them, “Nobody can best Hamza in strength. But soon I will work a stratagem in the guise of amity and concord, and will put paid to Hamza and erase all vestiges of his name from this land!” The next morning Gustham rode out to present himself before Amir, and ingratiated himself with great deeds of flattery. That day they both rode side-by-side to the court, with many words of conciliation and friendship exchanged between them.