198 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [N.S., XII, 



eastern banks of the river Volga. The city of 

 Bulghar is said to have perished in the loth cen- 

 tury a.d. when the modern Kazan took its place. 1 



10. 



My love who broke her vows of friendship to me 

 Went : and as shpi na.<»sArl T nan«Kf. Via* ob-j^f ;„ ™ 



think 



dreams 



The subject of this verse may be the Divine 

 Friend; but it is difficult to read such a refer- 

 ence into every one of Abu Sa'id's quatrains. Nor 

 is it necessary. Human, or "profane" love 

 ( isj^o &U ) had a place even in the Sufi's 



austere faith. It could not very well be ignored; 

 so it was justified, on logical grounds, by the 

 argument that poor though it was it might kindle 

 the true flame. "The false," says a hadilh, "is 

 the bridge which leads to the true . " One of the 

 lessons of Jami's poem Yusuf and Zuleikkdis 



that just as Zuleikha's beauty was "a singl 



from the garden of His beauty," so her love for 

 Joseph was the type of the divine love. 



Magdalen in Mary Cholmondeley's novel " Pri- 

 soners ' ' expresses the same idea : "The love of 

 you is the cup of water; and 'the love of God 

 the well it is taken from.' " 



11. 



An arrow sped from the curved bow of Thy eyebrow 



My heart fancied U saw a ray of union ; 



Gladly, gladly through my heart it passed, that arrow, and 

 coyly said 



1 cannot stay with one as unworthy as thee. 



12. 



^Wn? d6Stiny **?, numbe 'ed among the lovers 

 Is free of mosque and house of worship 



To h?m 1° 5! ?utr'\ l0Ve what is ™°n ov separation ? 

 To him who hath left Self, what is Heaven-what is Hell ? 



£a^rt79& er ' 8 "' Uediaeval Researches" (Treubuer's Orieatal 



