Sl. Junaid Barlās was another;[1094] in his latter days he went to Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā’s presence.[1095] He is the father of the Sl. Junaid Barlās on whom at the present time[1096] the joint-government of Jaunpūr depends.
Shaikh Abū-sa‘īd Khān Dar-miyān (In-between) was another. It is not known whether he got the name of Dar-miyān because he took a horse to the Mīrzā in the middle of a fight, or whether because he put himself in between the Mīrzā and some-one designing on his life.[1097]
Bih-būd Beg was another. He had served in the pages’ circle (chuhra jīrgasī) during the guerilla times and gave suchFol. 174. satisfaction by his service that the Mīrzā did him the favour of putting his name on the stamp (tamghā) and the coin (sikka).[1098]
Shaikhīm Beg was another.[1099] People used to call him Shaikhīm Suhailī because Suhailī was his pen-name. He wrote all sorts of verse, bringing in terrifying words and mental images. Here is a couplet of his:—
In the anguish of my nights, the whirlpool of my sighs engulphs the firmament;
Like a dragon, the torrent of my tears swallows the quarters of the world.
Well-known it is that when he once recited that couplet in Maulānā ‘Abdu’r-raḥmān Jāmī’s presence, the honoured Mullā asked him whether he was reciting verse or frightening people. He put a dīwān together; mas̤nawīs of his are also in existence.
Muḥammad-i-walī Beg was another, the son of the Walī Beg already mentioned. Latterly he became one of the Mīrzā’s great begs but, great beg though he was, he never neglected his service and used to recline (yāstānīb) day and night in the Gate. Through doing this, his free meals and open table were always set just outside the Gate. Quite certainly a man who was so constantly in waiting, would receive the favour he received! It is an evil noticeable today that effort must be made before the man, dubbed Beg because he has five or six of the bald and blind at his back, can be got into the Gate at all! Where this sort of service is, it must be to their own misfortune! Muḥammad-i-walī Beg’s public table and free meals were good; he kept his servants neat and well-dressed and with his own hands gaveFol. 174b. ample portion to the poor and destitute, but he was foul-mouthed and evil-spoken. He and also Darwīsh-i-‘alī the librarian were in my service when I took Samarkand in 917 AH. (Oct. 1511 AD.); he was palsied then; his talk lacked salt; his former claim to favour was gone. His assiduous waiting appears to have been the cause of his promotion.