Stephanov | 263realities of sultanic power in the capital. As the sultan proceeded quietly, how-
ever, he showed none of his ancestors’ restrained head movements and fixed
sideway gaze, avoiding eye contact. Instead, Abdülmecid constantly turned his
head in observation of the crowds.
Clearly, a new mechanism for ceremonial interaction between the ruler and
the ruled was already taking shape in 1846. In the ensuing years, Abdülmecid
undertook other tours of different imperial regions. Direct encounters of this
type facilitated an individual mental connection from subject to sultan, which
the annual ruler celebrations perpetuated further.
The Trope of Love for the Ruler and Modernity
The poems, songs, and prayers composed for the sultan in 1846 did not die out af-
ter the tour’s conclusion. On the contrary, they evolved over time in the direction
of more intense adoration of the ruler, with a correspondingly intense exhorta-
tion of each subject to properly serve his or her imperial lord. Here is an example
of an 1851 Bulgar poem, “Love for the Sultan by His Subjects,” which carries a call
for individual mobilization in the name of the ruler:
Whoever loves the sultan,
Runs to him,
Loves him from the heart,
Expends labor for him,
Exhausts life,
Does not leave the Tsar,
Does not spare one’s health,
Always praises the Sultan,
For the smallest need
Summons all the strength
Serves him faithfully,
And remembers him.
Prays for the Tsar,
And slaughters kurban,
Rams and rams,
And fattened oxen
So good-loving
He is God-loving,
As he does not reject [the tsar]
So the tsar loves him,
[And] whoever hates the sultan,
He enters into sin
[And] whoever thinks ill of him
May God destroy him.