Ovation, Intoduction and Summary of Omar Khayyam’s life:
Ovation
To Thee I tender Thine and honour gain,
Tho’ humble, happy at Thy feet remain,
O Guide ! to Thee I owe my all in plain,
But saying “I and mine” is only vain.
We offer here but really favours call –
Why should then seek a favour which is small ?
Give us Thyself in sole Thy Truth in Soul
And except Thee we should have naught at all.
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Introduction
[Swami Govinda Tirtha explaining how he started on this work]
How this work began:
” The Lord’s beloved ones abide in Him and He is found in their heart. All of one heart, they have imparted to the world, through all ages, the same light and life”
Thus remarked my Sri Guru on hearing some quatrains of ‘Omar Khayyam, and desired a Marathi translation of all quatrains in 1917. The best edition that I then found was Hw, printed in Hyderabad in 1311 H. containing 1030 quatrains. I turned in Marathi verse 1061 [omitting the repetitions]. The work was set to print in 1933 when I added 51 quatrains selected from other editions which had appeared after 1311 H. I named this Marathi translation as “Guru Karunamritha” ” The Nectar of Grace” because it was done through His Grace for which Omar Khayyam craved in many of quatrains. Friends then required from me an English version with the Persian quatrains. To meet their demand I dressed the said quatrains in English verse and submitted for perusal to my patron and patron of learning, the Right Honourable Sir Akbar Hydari, Nawab Hydar Nawaz Jung Bahadur, Kt., L.L.D., P.C., who considered the work worth publishing and promised to grace it with his foreword.
As I prepared the work for the press, I unearthed in Hyrderabad 26 MSS. of ‘Omar Khayyam’s quatrains and obtained copies of 10 MSS. elsewhere in India; and photographs of important MSS. in the Libraries of India Office, British Museum, Paris, Berlin and Vienna ; I corresponded with Prof. Mahfuz-ul-Haq [ Calcutta], Sayid Sulaiman Nadawi [ Azamgarh ], Mr. J. E. Saklatwala [ Bombay ] Mr. A. G. Potter compiler of ‘Omariana Biblography [ London ] and Dr. C. H. Rempis [ Tubingen ] who was engaged on the same task as myself. To Dr. C. H. Rempis I communicated the particulars of the MSS. I had unearhed and he has brought then to the notice of scholars in his books ” ‘ Omar Chajjam und Seine Vierzeiler” [ Tubingen 1935 ] and Beitraje Zur Khayyam Forschung [ Leipzig 1937 ]. I profited considerably by exchange of views with Dr. C. H. Rempis who helped me also in obtaining copies of Omar Khayyam’s quatrains which he had discovered in Istanbul and elsewhere.
The present Persian- English version of ‘Omarian quatrains arranged subjectionally and concorded with the important MSS. in India and Europe is submitted to his lovers in token of affection, by a Hyderabadi, a humble subject of His Exalted Highness Nawab Sir Mir ‘Osman Ali Khan Bahadur, G.C.S.I., G.B.E., Nizam of Hyderabad and Berar whose benign reign has uplifted education and created several facilities for oriental research in Hyderabad.
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Summary of ‘ Omar Khayyam’s Life.
Ghiyath ud Din Abu’l Fatah ‘Omar bin Ibrahim was from a family of Khayyam or Khyammi well known for literary occupations. He was born at Nishapur at Sunrise on Wednesday 18 May 1048. Endowed by nature with a healthy constitution, quick intelligence and strong memory he attained proficiency in all branches of leaning at the age of 17 under a scholar named Rayis ul Hukama Abu Hamid Nasir ud Din Muhammad bin Mansur [ d. 497 H. (1104) ]. His early years while under training were spent in Balkh. He lost his father probably at the age of 18 and was in great trouble. He had to find the means of livelihood which interrupted his studies. Thus he was in search of a patron when he wrote a small tract on the solution of an algebraic problem. He may have written at this time a tract on the Extension of the Indian Method of extracting square roots and cube roots for extracting the roots of higher order.* These his early researches brought him to the notice of Qadi of Qadis Abu Tahir ‘Abd ur Rahaman bin Ahmad ‘Alak Saria a rich and influential Shaf’I Doctor at Samarqand. This gentleman patronized and placed ‘Omar in a position to continue his researches. In gratitude ‘Omar dedicated his Treatise on the Solution of Algebraic Equations to his first patron, who had brought him out of obscurity and probably introduced him to Khaqan Shamsul Mulk an ‘ Ailak Kahni prince who rule d Bukhara [1068-1079]as a vassal of Saljuq Kings and who was allied to Sultan Malik Shah through his queen Turkan Khatun. This Khaqan Shams ul Mulk used to respect ‘Omar Khayyam greatly and probably introduced him to Sultan Malik Shah. Like the great Mathematicians and Astronomers in the West [viz., Newton, Lalande, Lagrange, Laplace, Leverier, Newcomb] who came to prominence at an age between 25 and 30 years, ‘Omar was at the head of observatory in Ispahan in 1074, at an age of 26 years. He wrote a tract on the corollaries of Euclid and fair- copied it in his own handwriting on the last day of Jamadi- ul- awwal 470 H. [ 20 November 1077]. He is said to have written a treatise on Physics. His Calendar Reform came into effect from Friday 10th Ramadan 471 H. [15 Masrch 5079].
He was reckoned in this time as second to Avicenna in Sciences. But he combined in himself other qualifications. He was the most informed Qur’an reader and expounder of Hadith Tradition * proficient in history and languages, a combined astronomer and astrologer, skilled in mechanics and clay modeling. These versatile qualifications combined with staunch observance of faith raised him to the position of a Nadim and the family physician to Malik Shah, His occupations at the observatory, duties of the Nadim and Royal Physician kept him secluded from the general public, so his disciples are very few. We know only four of them : Nizami Urudi, author of Chahar Maqala ‘Abd ullah Mayanji author of Zubdatul Haqaiq Hakim Sharfu Zaman Muhammad Ilaqi and Ali bin Muhammad Hajjazi al Qaini a physician. On the whole he preferred to learn than teach.
At the age of thirty he turned his attention to Metaphysics. In 472 H.( 1079), when at Ispahan, he translated Avicenna’s sermon and in 473 H. (1080) and thereafter wrote Arabic tracts in reply to difficult metaphysical questions raised by Abu Nasr bin Abdur Rahim an Nasawi. At the age of thirty he had developed poetical talents, Thus he says in qn. No. 102 : X 35. Bad namiyi man.
My evil fame has soared above the skies,
My joyless life above its thirty flies;
But if I could, I’d drink a hundred toasts
For life so safe and freed from wedlock ties.
His adherence to Avicenna’s school of philosophy had created opponents in Ash’ari school who were gaining ground at the courts, But he satired them freely almost in the same strain as Nasir Khusraw.
It is said that he obtained a mystic impulse when he visited the tomb of Khwaja Muhammad bin Ismail of Bukhara to whom he acknowledges his indebtedness in qn. No. 88. v. 9.
Though safe during the wise ministry of Nizam ul Mulk, he was not needed by Malik Shah’s queen Turkan Khatun and her accomplices in the conspiracy against that minister, *
Unripes, Alas ! can taste the ripest fruit,
To rule the realm now comes the raw recruit.
The Turkish lady’s glance, a sport of hearts,
Is won by lackies, slaves who follow suit!
After Malik Shah’s death ( 1092} ‘Omar lost all support at the court. Neither Turkan Khatun nor Sultan Sanjar required him. He was however retained by Fakhr ul Mulk son of Nizam ul Mulk, the Vazier of Barkiyaruq ( 1095-1105), for whom he wrote in Persian a tract on Metaphysics called Kulliat-I Wajud, or Taudat ul Qulub, In this tract he prefers Sufis to Mutakallamins ( Traditionists) the Hakims ( Philosophers) , the Ta’limis
(Ismaills).
The position he held under Fakr ul Mulk and his satires against the Traditionists offered a pretext to his enemies to spread scandals about his religious views.
You slander me, in spite of your assaults,
I thank you for I wake, and see my faults;
I admit all my faults, but I think awhile,
It seems you store this malice in your vaults!
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My foe, in slander, has a jolly trade,
A fool is he, I call a spade a spade;
In mind his mirror when he scans his face
That carcass knoweth not he sees his shade!
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They call me Philsuf, foes will so opine,
But Lord! Thou knowest really Thy malign;
For since I entered this Thy Shrine of love.
I know not what I am, but I am Thine !
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What care I if one slanders me to fleece,
No flaw I have he whispers thousand fleas;
I am a mirror, he who looks in me
All good or bad, ’tis all his own he sees.
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His own friends had turned against him.
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Friendship, the book proscribed, we should not hold,
“Affection”- “Valour” “Friend” are myths of old;
“Tis meet to keep aloof fron all in world,
Adieu from far Miss Pearl and Mister Gold.
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He gave up writing and speaking.
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I see this world and her wild affairs;
And find all creatures full of useless cares;
Alas! Thro’ ev’ry door I try to peep
I find dejection waits for me, and stares.
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A swan I was, I flew from regions deep,
I sought to soar to summits with a sweep;
But I found no mate who could my secrets keep,
So, through the door I entered, out I leap.
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I never advertise the truths in veil.
In spinning longest yarns my flax may fail;
I live in plains where words are never found,
His scared trust I never could retail.
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How can I speak when I have no friend to hear?
My moan alone as constant friend is near;
My eyes are never free of flowing tears,
I’ll stake my life till He may come and cheer.
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He was threatened with being killed.
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The secrets which my book of love has bred,
Cannot be told for fear of loss of head;
Since none is fit to learn, or cares to know,
‘Tis better all my thoughts remain unsaid.
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Probably in 1100 A.D. he went to Hajj.
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This haggard time has banished me from fold,
On plans and actions mow I lost my hold;
And thus enchained, the bailiff Fate perforce
Is driving me from town to town, behold!
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After returning from pilgrimage probably in 1103 A.D. he retired from public life and remained in seclusion.*
Seclusion is the only friend I find,
To good or bad if folk my eyes are blind;
First, I must see how I shall fare at last,
Then think of others, if I’m so inclined.
In 501 H. and 508 H. (1114) ‘Omar was consulted by Sultan Mahmud bin Malik Shah on astrological matters. In 507 H. (1113) the Baihaqis ( father and son ) saw him. He foresaw his death and place of grave in 512 H. (1118) when Nizami Urudi solicited his blessings before proceeding to Haj. He was healthy to the last. On the morning of his last day in life, he was reading Avicenna’s book Ashshafa. When he came to the chapter of “the One and the Many” he placed his toothpick between the pages, called for pious persons, bequeathed his property, fasted the whole day. After his last prayers in the night, with head bent to the ground his last words were :
“O Lord Thou knowest I perceive Thee to the utmost of my capacity. Forgive me because my acquaintance with Thee is my Mediator to Thee”
His tomb is in the yard of Imam Muhruq at Nishapur. The year of his demise engraved on this tomb is 516 H. The date and month cited by Tabrizi is Thursday 12th Moharram. As 12th Moharram 516 H. falls on Thursday we may accept this as the date of his demise.