Nishapur

“ Nishapur stood twelve days’ journey distant from Merv and in attacking it Tului was preparing to avenge Togachar, his sister’s husband, killed at Nessa. The Nishapur people had done what they could to the harm of the Mongols, and had prepared to defend themselves with all the strength of their souls and their bodies. They had mounted three thousand ballistas on the walls, and five hundred catapults. ”

“ TEACHING, CONVERSION, AND RETIREMENT
With the death of the Imam in A. H. 478 a great change came into the life of Al-Ghazali. He left Nishapur to seek his fortune and it brought him to the camp court of the great Vizier Nizam Al-Mulk. Here Al-Ghazali sought advancement and the honours of learning.
The camp court was the travelling capital of the Seljuk Sultans. This imperial camp was laid out into squares and streets. We read how in a few hours a city, as if built by enchantment, would rise on the uninhabited plain. ”

“ By an act of atrocious treachery the Mongols gained possession of the city, and, after their manner, sacked and burnt the town. From Merv Tulē marched upon Nishapur, where he met with a most determined resistance. ”

“ The poems in praise of scenery again offer a strong contrast to modern treatment of the same theme. The only aspects of nature noticed by Omar are such as affect the senses agreeably—the bright flowers, the song of the nightingale, the grassy bank of the stream, and the shady garden associated in his mind with his convivial parties. The geographer translated by Sir W. Ouseley says of Nishapur, "The city is watered by a subterranean canal, which is conveyed to the fields and gardens, and there is a considerable stream that waters the city and the villages about it—this stream is named Saka. ”

“ The plain about Nishapur, which is in length from eighty to ninety miles, and in width from forty to sixty, boasts a still greater fertility.
The flat country along the southern base of the mountains, which ancient writers regard as Parthia, par excellence, is A strip of territory about 300 miles long, varying in width ac cording to the labor and the skill applied by its inhabitants to the perfecting of a system of irrigation. At present the kanats, or underground water-courses, are seldom carried to a distance of more than a mile or two from the foot of the hills ”

“ If cities which resisted were weak, they were stormed; if strong, they were left till a later occasion, since the work then on hand was to capture Mohammed.
When the Shah learned that the enemy had entered Khorassan he left Nishapur with a small escort under pretext of hunting. Consternation filled that place when the truth grew apparent. After the Shah deserted the city the vizir with the mufti and the cadi ruled, pending the arrival of a governor, who was on the way from Urgendj, the Kwaresmian capital. ”

“ It has beautiful monuments that date from the time of Islam, such as the house of Hamid, son of Kahtabah, the tomb of Ali, son of Musa, and that of Rashid in the environs (lit. gardens) of the town.” Istakhri (951 A. D.) , writing ten years later, speaks of Tus as a dependency with four large towns or settlements. He says: “Taking Tus as a dependency of the province of Nishapur, its towns are Radkan, Tabaran, Bazdghur, and Naukan, in which (latter) is the tomb of Ali, son of Musa ar-Riza (may the peace of God be upon him) , and the tomb of Haroun ar-Rashîd.... ”

“ Church, 144; character of the doctrines, 148 Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, 143; his doctrines, 144 Nicolai founds the village of Khusrava, 51 Nimrud or Kalah, ruins of, 99 Nineveh, 86, 89, 99; battle of, 111 Niphates, Mount, 53, 54, 369 Nishapur, 115 Nisibis, bishopric of, 150 note Nurullah Bey, 156 Nushirvan, the Just, Shah of Persia, 145; his relations with the Christians, 145; persecution of the Mazdaks, 145, 146; death, 147 Osman Pasha, 156 418Osrhœne, 47 Panjwin, 223, 239 Parthia, 32, 48 Parthians, the, 360 note Passport, procuring a, 16 ”

“ In the meantime the king died also; I took this faithful dog and all my jewels and money with me, and came to Naishapur, in order that no one should know the story of my brothers. I have become well-known as the dog-worshipper; and owing to this evil fame, I to this day pay double taxes into the exchequer of the king of Persia.
"It so happened that this young merchant went to Naishapur, and owing to him I have had the honour to kiss your majesty's feet." I asked [357] the khwaja Is not this [young merchant] your son? He answered, "Mighty sire, he is not my son ”

“ Nixie, in German folk-lore a water-sprite of a mischievous disposition, believed to have been suggested to the imagination by the reflection of the stars in the water.
Nizam, the name given to a viceroy or administrator of justice in the Mogul Empire of India.
Nizam's Dominions, The, or Hyderabad (11,537) , in the heart of the Deccan, situated between the Central Provinces and the Presidency of Madras; it is highly fertile, and the largest of the native States in India. See Hyderabad. ”

“ We may pass on, then, to the site from which our new material has been obtained—the ancient city of Nippur, in central Babylonia. Though the place has been deserted for at least nine hundred years, its ancient name still lingers on in local tradition, and to this day Niffer or Nuffar is the name the Arabs give the mounds which cover its extensive ruins. No modern town or village has been built upon them or in their immediate neighbourhood. The nearest considerable town is Dîwânîyah, on the left bank of the Hillah branch of the Euphrates, twenty miles to the south-west ”

“ The dominions of the Nizam, of which Hyderabad is the capital, are situated in the southern part of Central India, and are of considerable extent—nearly five hundred miles from north-east to south-west, and about three hundred and fifty in breadth. The Nizam holds a very high place among the native sovereigns of India; his revenue is a large one, and is yearly increasing, greatly owing to the wise administration of the present prime-minister, Sir Salar Jung, a man of singularly intelligent and enlightened views, with a remarkable capacity for government. ”

“ When he was worshipping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer slew him, and fled into the land of Ararat, and his son Esarhaddon became king in his stead. With regard to נסרך, Nisroch, all that seems to be firmly established is that he was an eagle-deity, and represented by the eagle-or vulture-headed human figure with wings, which is frequently depicted upon the Assyrian monuments, “not only in colossal proportions upon the walls and watching the portals of the rooms, but also constantly in the groups upon the embroidered robes. ”

“ As will presently appear, in the days of the Just King Anushirwán, the Persians possessed Southern Arabia and East Africa south of Cape Guardafui (Jird Háfún.) On the other hand, supposing the word to be a corruption of Maharaj, Sindbad may allude to the famous Narsinga kingdom in Mid-south India whose capital was Vijayanagar; or to any great Indian Rajah even he of Kachch (Cutch) , famous in Moslem story as the Balhará (Ballaba Rais, who founded the Ballabhi era; or the Zamorin of Camoens, the Samdry Rajah of Malabar) . ”

“ Fortunately the road improves rapidly, developing beyond the Nishapoor Valley into smooth, upland camel-trails that afford quite excellent wheeling. The Nishapoor Valley impresses me as about the finest area of cultivation seen in Persia, except, perhaps, the Tabreez Plain; and toward Gadamgah the country gets positively beautiful—at least, beautiful in comparison. ”

“ The beasts look very imposing with their gaudy trappings; and as we rode through Hyderabad we were most cordially greeted by all. The houses were flat, something like those of Damascus; and the streets were broad and spanned by high arches, whose bold simplicity was very striking. The Nizam's palace, at least a mile long, was covered with delicate tracery; and many a mosque, like lacework, rose here and there. But the cachet of all in Hyderabad was size, boldness, and simplicity.
After inspecting the town we proceeded to the palace of Sir Salar Jung. ”

“ We followed the banks of the river through the valley, and came to another mountain, difficult to pass, although [357] cars and carts do go over it. We then arrived at an agreeable valley, still watered by the Nissave, which having crossed by a bridge, we entered Nissa. This town had a handsome castle that belonged to the despot of Servia. The Turk took it, five years ago, by storm, and entirely destroyed it. The situation is in a delightful country, abounding in rice. I continued to follow the river from Nissa, through a country equally pleasant, and well filled with villages. ”

“ Two days and one night of steady flying over the ocean of sand, with but an occasional oasis or caravan to break the appalling wastes of emptiness, brought Nissr to the Valley of the Nile. The river of hoar antiquity came to view in a quivering heat-haze, far to eastward. In anticipation of possible attack, Nissr was forced to her best altitude, of now forty-seven hundred feet, all gun-stations were manned and the engines were driven to their limit. ”

“ At the period of which we are treating, the plains must have been covered by an almost continuous series of towns. At either end lay a group of fortresses. The southern was the ancient capital of Assyria, Kalchu, now Nimrud, about six miles to the north of the confluence of the Greater Zab and the Tigris. The northern, close by the present town of Khorsabad, was the great fortress and palace of Sargon, Dur-Sargina: [257] it covered the roads upon Niniveh from the north, and standing upon the upper reaches of the Choser protected Niniveh’s water supply. ”

“ The northern invaders did not succeed in establishing themselves firmly in Berar and the Ahmadnagar kingdom until early in the reign of Shahjahan, when, in 1633, Daulatabad was captured/ and Husain II, the last titular king of the Nizam Shahi dynasty, and Fath Khan, the son of Malik Ambar, were made prisoners. ”

“ Hyderabad is a feudal country, with many of the customs that prevailed in France under the old feudal régime. The Nizam is the overlord. His feudal princes when possessing a pretty daughter are always anxious to give her as wife to the Nizam. He perhaps may accept her and send her to his women’s quarters, never seeing her again. But her people are satisfied, as they have the honour of having a daughter in the Imperial zenana, consequently a friend at Court, as she will naturally remember her family when Imperial offices or gifts are being distributed. ”

“ I believe I am correct in saying that the Newar race, the original owners of the Nepal Valley, are not enlisted in the combatant ranks of the army, or at least not in any numbers. This seems strange, as they fought splendidly and for long against the Goorkha kings, and for a great number of years quite held their own against all comers. They are the main representatives of the industrial part of the country. All the wonderful temples, brass work, and carving as seen in the big towns are due to them. ”

“ If ever in time to come the men of Gishkhu should break out across the frontier-ditch of Ningirsu, or the frontier-ditch of Ninâ, in order to seize or lay waste the lands of Shirpurla, whether they be men of the city of Gishkhu itself or men of the mountains, he prays that Enlil may destroy them and that Ningirsu may lay his curse upon them; and if ever the warriors of his own city should be called upon to defend it, he prays that they may be full of courage and ardour for their task. ”

“ Inhabitants of other parts of the Nepal kingdom would almost invariably, if asked where they came from, name the district in which their village is situated, the reason for this being that historically the only part of the Nepal kingdom which can lay claim to the name is the actual valley which was the home of the Newars. The owners of the valley before this were conquered by the King of Goorkha and his followers some two hundred years ago, and to this day the greater number of the present inhabitants are of the Newar race. ”

“ Further treaties were made between the Nizam and the British in 1768, in 1790, and in 1798, when the subsidiary troops were augmented and the Ceded Districts of Madras were made over to the English by the Nizam for the payment of the troops, including the famous Hyderabad Contingent, which had been formed in 1709 by Mir Alum. ”

“ As the friend and admirer of England, Nawab Faridoon Jung is an Imperial asset; and the link he makes between the Mahomedans and the English in Hyderabad and Secunderabad prevents friction or misunderstanding. In recognition of his valuable services to the Hyderabad State, the British Government has conferred on him the distinction of being a Companion of the Order of the Star of India and of the Indian Empire. He is at present one of the most trusted councillors of the Nizam, and the leading statesman in Hyderabad, as well as the most influential of His Highness the Nizam's subjects. ”

“ Mecca the Unattainable now lay directly beneath, its dun roofs, packed streets, ivory minarets all open to the heretics' gaze from portholes, from the forward observation pit and from the lower gallery. As Nissr eased herself down to about one thousand feet, the plan of the city became visible as on a map. The radiating streets all started from the Haram. White mobs were working themselves into frenzy, trampling the pilgrims' shrouds that had been dipped in the waters of the well, Zem Zem, and laid out to dry. ”