[IO Islamic 2601] ديوان محتشم

Dîwân-i-Muḥtasham.

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 1447 in the India Office collections.

[metadata: Hermann Ethé, Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, 2 vols. (Oxford: India Office, 1903): volume 1, number 2601 here with notations and hyperlinks].

1447

Dîwân-i-Muḥtasham (ديوان محتشم).

A defective copy of the complete lyrical poems of Maulânâ Muḥtasham Kâshî, the teacher and friend of Taḳî-aldîn Kâshî, the author of the famous tadhkirah; he flourished under the Shâhs Ṭahmâsp, Isma’îl II, and Muḥammad Khudâbanda, and died A.H. 996 (A.D. 1588), see Rieu ii. pp. 665 and 666; G. Flügel i. p. 591; A. Sprenger, Catal., pp. 23 and 500; Bodleian Cat., Nos. 1050 and 1239. 45; W. Pertsch, Berlin Cat., p. 35, No. 13 (where a تأريخ on the accession of Shâh Isma’îl II is noticed), pp. 101, No. 12, and 543 (a مرثيّه on the death of Ḥasan and Ḥusain), p. 723, No. 8 (Ḳaṣîdas), and p. 724, No. 10 (another مرثيّه); and Ḥ. Khalfa iii. p. 312, No. 5655. The Khulâṣat-alafkâr, No. 250 (col. 311 in the Bodleian Cat.), fixes the poet’s death wrongly in A.H. 1000 (A.D. 1591, 1592).

This copy contains:

Ḳaṣîdas, on fol.1a, beginning:

نفير مرغ سحر خوان چو شد بلند صدا

پرید زاغ شب از روی بیضۀ بیضا

Ghazals, first series, in alphabetical order, on fol. 43b, beginning:

اى گوهر نام تو تاج سر دیوانها

ذكر تو بصد عنوان آرايش عنوانها

This series breaks off in the letter م, on fol. 87b, in consequence of a large lacuna after fol. 87; the last bait appearing here, corresponds to fol. 114b, l. 4 ab infra, margin-column, in the following copy, being there the last bait but one of the ghazal in question.

Ghazals, second series, likewise in alphabetical order, on fol. 88a, beginning: تا همّتم بدست طلب زد در بلا الخ.

This second series breaks off in the letter د, on fol. 116b, in consequence of another large lacuna.

Risâla-i-Jalâliyyah (رسالۀ جلاليّه), on fol. 117a, defective at the beginning; comp. on this series of sixty-four ghazals with a preface in prose and aesthetic remarks at the head of each, Bodleian Cat., No. 1050, and A. Sprenger, Catal., p. 500. The remarks in the latter work, that this series was composed A.H. 997, must be an error, as the poet died A.H. 996. The first ghazal here begins:بودى در چمن ای كعبۀ حاجتمندان الخ.

No date. The copy was received into the Library Oct. 29, 1838, presented by Mr. Hawkins.

No. 2601, ff. 139. 2 coll., each ll. 14; clear Nasta’lîḳ; size, 97/8 in. by 63/8 in.