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| Imarat-i-Khurshid |
No sooner had the Mu’tamíd [Manuchihr Khan, the Governor]
been informed of the condemnation pronounced by the ‘ulamás of Isfáhán than he
determined, by a plan which he himself conceived, to nullify the effects of
that cruel verdict. He issued immediate instructions that towards the hour of
sunset the Báb, escorted by five hundred horsemen of the governor’s own mounted
bodyguard, should leave the gate of the city and proceed in the direction of
Tihrán. Imperative orders had been given that at the completion of each farsang
[about 3 to 4 miles] one hundred of this mounted escort should return directly
to Isfáhán. To the chief of the last remaining contingent, a man in whom he
placed implicit confidence, the Mu’tamíd confidentially intimated his desire
that at every maydán [a square or open place, a subdivision of farsang] twenty
of the remaining hundred should likewise be ordered by him to return to the
city. Of the twenty remaining horsemen, the Mu’tamíd directed that ten should
be despatched to Ardistán [a town north of Isfáhán] for the purpose of
collecting the taxes levied by the government, and that the rest, all of whom
should be of his tried and most reliable men, should, by an unfrequented route,
bring the Báb back in disguise to Isfáhán. [1] They were, moreover, instructed
so to regulate their march that before dawn of the ensuing day the Báb should
have arrived at Isfáhán and should have been delivered into his custody.
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| View of the ruins of the section the Bab occupied |
This
plan was immediately taken in hand and duly executed. At an unsuspected hour the
Báb re-entered the city, was directly conducted to the private residence of the
Mu’tamíd, known by the name of Imárat-i-Khurshíd, [2] and was introduced,
through a side entrance reserved for the Mu’tamíd himself, into his private
apartments. The governor waited in person on the Báb, served His meals, and
provided whatever was required for His comfort and safety. [3]
- Nabil (‘The
Dawn-Breakers’, chapter 10)
[1] According to “A Traveller’s Narrative” (p. 13), the
Mu’tamíd gave secret orders that when the Báb reached Murchih-Khar (the second
stage out from Isfáhán on the north road, distant about 35 miles therefrom), He
should return to Isfáhán.
[2] “Thus this room (in which I find myself) which has
neither doors nor definite limits, is today the highest of the dwellings of
Paradise, for the Tree of Truth lives herein. It would seem that all the atoms
of the room, all sing in one voice, ‘In truth, I am God! There is no other God
beside Me, the Lord of all things.’ And they sing above all the rooms of the
earth, even above those adorned with mirrors of gold. If, however, the Tree of
Truth abides in one of these ornamented rooms, then the atoms of their mirrors
sing that song as did and do the atoms of the mirrors of the Palace Sadrí, for
in the days of Sád (Isfáhán) he abided therein.” (“Le Bayán Persan,” vol. 1, p.
128.)
[3] According to “A Traveller’s Narrative,” p. 13, the Báb
remained four months in that house
