[IO Islamic 356] كلّيّات امير خسرو

Kulliyyât-i-Amîr Khusrau.

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 1190 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 356 here with notations and hyperlinks].

1190

Another copy of the same four dîwâns.

Contents:

1.Tuḥfat-alṣighar, the first dîwân, preceded by the usual prose-preface of the second, beginning, on fol.1b: بفضل الله قد سطرت هذه الصفحات الخ. Beginning of the poetry, on fol. 4b: خداى عزّ و جل الخ.

The first poem has the following introductory quatrain (or first instalment of the ‘Silsilah’):

لوحى كه بر صحيفۀ گردون مصوّرست

توقيع آن بنام خداوند اكبرست

شد تحفة الصغر چو خطاب اين سواد را

از ذكر ذوالجلال سوادى منوّرست

The dîwân consists here of ḳaṣîdas, ḳiṭ’as, the usual short mathnawî (beginning, on fol. 33a: هى هى اى تيره راى الخ ), ghazals (which begin, on fol. 35b margin: (اى آفتاب تافته از روى انورت الخ), and rubâ’îs (on fol. 52b margin).

2.Baḳiyya-i-naḳiyyah, the fourth dîwân, without a preface. It consists of ḳaṣîdas and ghazals, begins, on fol. 65b, زبان كه بر در معنى الخ , and is incomplete at the end, in consequence of a lacuna after fol. 91.

3.Wasaṭ-alḥayât, the second dîwân, defective at the beginning, in consequence of the same lacuna; it opens on fol. 92a in the middle of the same prose-preface, which in No. 1950 (1188 in this Cat.) is prefixed to the second dîwân, and which differs entirely from the usual one; the first words, ميان چندين غوّاصان گوهر سخنم بروى آب الخ , correspond to No. 1950, fol. 53b, l. 4 ab infra. Fol. 95 must be placed before fol. 94. Beginning of the poetry, on fol. 94b: حمد رانم بر زبان الخ .

This dîwân consists here of ḳaṣîdas, ghazals, ḳiṭ’as, short mathnawîs (the first of which begins, on fol. 142b: (چون همای زایتش پرواز کرد الخ, a second large collection of ghazals (beginning, on fol. 151b margin: اى بدرماندگى پناه همه الخ, see Bodleian Cat., top of col. 554), and rubâ’îs (beginning on fol. 223b: صانع ملكى كه ملك هستى پرداخت الخ , see Bodleian Cat., loc. cit.).

4.Ghurrat-alkamâl, the third dîwân; beginning of the preface, on fol. 232b: الله اطلع الغرر من مطلع الخ.

Beginning of the poetry, on fol. 264a: چه زهره خاك مسكين را الخ

This ḳaṣîdah is preceded by the same two initial baits of the ‘Silsilah’ as in No. 1186, 2: چون آفتاب روشن الخ . This dîwân consists here of ḳaṣîdas, tarkîbbands, ḳiṭ’as, mathnawîs (the first of which, on fol. 343a, is the مفتاح الفتوح, see Nos. 1186, 11; 1187, 13; and 1188, 14; the second, on fol. 355b, agrees with the first short mathnawi in No. 1187, 14), ghazals (the first of which, on fol. 369b margin, begins : اى زخيال ما برون الخ, see the remarks in Nos. 1187. 4, and 1188, 5), and rubâ’îs (beginning, on fol. 403a:پاكست خداوند الخ, see ibidem).

No date; but a seal from A.H. 1167 and an entry from A.H. 1168 (A.D. 1753-1755) are found on fol. 1a.

The title given to this copy, كلّيّات امير خسرو, is incorrect, as it only contains the four dîwâns.

No. 356, ff. 418, 2 centre-coll., each ll. 17, and a third on the margin ll. 26; Nasta’lîḳ; an illuminated frontispiece at the beginning of the first, second, and third dîwân; size 107/8 in. by 65/8 in.