1871.] Notes on several Arabic and Persian Inscriptions. 253 
tlie Mutawallis in charge of the tomb, and that the Government 
pays Its. 40 per mensem for the same purpose. 
Bahrain Saqqa is one of the best poets of Akbar’s reign. Abul- 
fazl mentions him in the Ain (text, p. 250). He was of Turkish 
extraction, and belonged to the Biyat tribe, which is chiefly 
found in Erivan, and scattered over Azarbaijan, Tahran, Nishapur, 
and Ears.* He pretended to have seen the prophet Kliizr (Elias), 
and wandered about as a water-carrier {saqqa), supplying the poor 
with water. Badaoni (III, 243) says — u He belongs to the fol¬ 
lowers of Shaikh Jami Muhammad of Khabdshan (near Nishapur), 
and was majzub, i. e. attracted by God. He wandered about in the 
streets of Agrah with several of his pupils, and distributed water 
gratis among the poor, composing at the same time verses ‘ as pure 
as water.’ Once a descendant of his spiritual guide came to India, 
and he gave him all he possessed. He was fond of independence, 
and went to Ceylon, but died on the road. It is said that in that 
land of infidelity (Ceylon), there was a man to whom the Prophet 
appeared in a dream ordering him to shroud and bury Bahrain, 
which was done. He composed several diwans ; but when he was 
in religious ecstacy, he washed the ink off his papers, one after 
the other ; but the collection of poems still extant is by no means 
small.” 
The author of the Ilaft Iqlim says that when Bahrain was lying 
dead on his charpai, a person appeared and said to Bahrain’s com¬ 
panion that he had received orders from the Prophet to bury him. 
According to the Mir at id A'lam, it was his pupils that collected 
his poems, and saved the Diwan which still exists; else he would 
have destroyed his whole collection. He died in A. H. 1000, on his 
way to Ceylon. 
I am doubtful as to the correct year in which Bahrain died; for 
in the above inscription the word buivad, according to the rules 
of tdrikhs , does not belong to the chronogram itself, and this 
would give 970 A. H., or 1562-63, A. D., as the year of his death. 
But the Mutawallis of the Dargah declare that he died in A. H. 
982, or A. D., 1574. 
* Notes on Persia, by Lt. Col. Monteith, Madras Journal, Yol. IY, for 1836, 
p. 28. 
