[IO Islamic 483] Miscellaneous-Poetry

Miscellaneous-Poetry

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 1763 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 483 here with notations and hyperlinks].

1763

A large collection of miscellaneous works in prose and verse.

This collection of treatises, loosely bound together, contains:

1.An anonymous treatise in prose, not even specified in the index on the fly-leaf, beginning, on fol. 1a:

.... و سپاس مصوّرى كه ارژنگ آسمان را بنقوش انجم پرداخته الخ ; ll. 25; written in careless Nasta’lîḳ and Shikasta.

2.Another short anonymous treatise, likewise not marked in the index, beginning, on fol. 9b: آب و رنگ بهارستان سخن ثناى چمن سرائيست كه به نسيم هدايتش طفل الخ ; 12-13; rude handwritings in careless Nasta’lîḳ.

3.دستان, according to the index, by Muḥyî-aldîn Ghulâm, with the takhalluṣ Khushdil, comprising letters, notes, short stories, etc. beginning, on fol. 14a:منّت منّانى كه معنى آشنايان حقيقت انديش امراى عالى و قارش و حمد سلطانى الخ ; ll. 21-24; careless Nasta’lîḳ and Shikasta, very much resembling the handwriting of No. 1.

4.نسخۀ خطّ و سواد , a treatise on the style of writing, called Naskhu Ta’lîḳ and their respective character, by Majnûn bin Maḥmûd alrafîḳî (see fol. 38a, l. 6), beginning, on fol. 36b: حمد و سپاس استادى را كه كاتب لوح و قلم بيچون و حافظ نون و القلم الخ. Another copy of the same is noticed in Bodleian Cat., No. 1369, and Rieu ii. 531b; Majnûn was the takhalluṣ of the great penman and Nasta’lîḳ-writer, Mîr ‘Alî-alkâtib of Mashhad, who lived at the court of ‘Abdallâhkhân Uzbeg in Bukhârâ, and died about A.H. 950 (A.D. 1543, 1544). He wrote besides a رسم الخطّ in verse and a رسالۀ وضع نسخ و تعليق , likewise in mathnawî-baits, both on the same topics, see Bodleian Cat., loc. cit., and No. 1370; Rieu, loc. cit., and p. 532a; see also iii. p. 1089; ll. 15; Nasta’lîḳ.

5.مثنوئ ناصر على, the same religious mathnawî, by Nâṣir ‘Alî of Sirhind (who died A.H. 1108), which is found in Nos. 1646-1648 above, beginning, on fol. 50a: الهى ذرّۀ دردى بجان ريز الخ ; usually seventeen baits in a page; clear, but small Nasta’lîḳ.

6.Some scattered pieces in prose, on ff. 71a-75b, written in Shikasta.

7.انشاء امان الله حسينى, a collection of letters by Amân-allâh Ḥusainî, on fol. 76b, beginning: حمد وافر مر خداى را كه ياقوت قوّت ناطقۀ بى بها در عقد انشاى كبرياى او بى بهاست الخ. Amân-allâh Ḥusainî, with the epithets of Khânazâdkhân Fîrûzjang and later on of Khânzamân, was the son of Mahâbatkhân Zamânbeg and greatly distinguished himself under Jahângîr and Shâhjahân; he died A.H. 1044 or 1046 (A.D. 1634-1637), and left besides a dîwân, in which he uses Amânî as takhalluṣ (a copy is described in the Bodleian Cat., No. 1095, see also A. Sprenger, Catal., p. 330) and a general history, an Arabic and Persian dictionary, styled چهار عنصر دانش (see Rieu ii. pp. 509 and 510); a گنج باداوارد on Indian agriculture (ib. p. 489b), an امّ العلاج on purgatives (ib., p. 794a, No. III), and the same انشا (ib., p. 877a, No. II), of which a considerable portion is found here; the انشا (or رقعات) has been printed in Calcutta, and lithographed in Lucknow, A.H. 1269, see also W. Pertsch, Berlin Cat., p. 129, No. 14, and a complete copy further down in this Cat.; ll. 13, large rude Nasta’lîḳ, sometimes plain Shikasta.

It comprises ff. 76b-99b and 119a-139a, dated the 10th of Shawwâl, A.H. 1075 (A.D. 1665, April 26), at Lâhûr, and written by Sayyid ‘Abd-allaṭîf.

8.Two other prose-tracts, one treating of rhetorics and tropical figures, inserted into the two halves of the preceding work, on ff. 100a-118a, very rudely written in Shikasta.

9.مثنوئ محيط اعظم (the great ocean), by ‘Abd-alḳâdir Bîdil (died A.H. 1133), in eight دور , only six of which are found in this incomplete copy, beginning with a preface in prose, on fol. 141b: حمد نشاء آفرينى كه ميخانۀ حقيقت انسانى الخ. The first دور begins on fol. 143b: خوش آندم كه در بزمگاه قدم الخ , see two other copies of the same in Nos. 1682 and 1683 above; 2 columns, each ll. 17; Shikasta. The last leaves extremely damaged. The two pages before it are filled with a رقعۀ محمّد قلى سليم , that is, the prose-story of the ‘Complaint of the mouse and request of the cat.’ noticed above in the complete works of Salim (who died A.H. 1057), No. 1558, 3; it begins: صاحب سليم سلامت فرياد الخ.

10.Scattered pieces in prose and verse.

11.A fragment of Shaikh Muḥammad Murâd’s writtengs, incomplete at the beginning, on fol. 188a.

12.بحر طويل محمّد بيك , beginning, on fol. 216a:ابتدا ميكنم اين نامه بر درد بنام ملك قادر قيّوم الخ.

Other treatises with the same title بحر طويل, by Mir Sayyid ‘Alî Mihrî (under Shâh Sulṭân Ḥusain A.H. 1105-1135), and by Muḥammad Ḳâsim bin ‘Abd-alḳâdir Tûnî, are noticed in Rieu ii. p. 796a, No. VII, and p. 833b, No. IV (the latter in praise of Muḥammad and ‘Alî), see also W. Pertsch, Berlin Cat., pp. 119, No. 13, and 175, No. 3.

13.Another fragment of only two pages (fol. 218), taken from Żuhûrî’s مينا بازار (see above, No. 1509, 6; and Rieu ii. p. 742a, No. IV). All three pieces, 11-13, written by the same hand in Shikasta, ll. 20-21.

14.Mirzâ Muḥammad Taḳî Munshî’s description of Banâras, etc, تعريف بنارس و درياى كنك , beginning, on fol. 219a: ديباچه از ميرزا محمّد تقى حمدى كه طرّاحان بناء اذكار الخ.

15.The same Muḥammad Taḳî’s contest between ‘mirror and target’ (مناظرۀ آئينه و نشانه ), on fol. 237a.

16.Naubâwa (نوباوه), a collection of letters and notes, by Abû-albarakât Munîr of Lâhûr (died A.H. 1054), compiled A.H. 1051 (A.D. 1641, 1642), beginning on fol. 240a : اين منتخب از بخت نكو فرجامش الخ.

17.Żuhûrî’s preface to the نورس (see No. 16 in the preceding copy), on fol. 264b, and some other treatises without any heading, the last dated A.H. 1104 (A.D. 1692, 1693). This tract and the preceding ones are all written in the same style of Shikasta, ll. 20-21.

18.انوار المشارق, by Ṭughrâ (see No. 1586, XVIII, above), incomplete at the beginning, on fol. 291a; ll. 15; careless Nasta’lîḳ.

19.رساله در فنّ انشاء, beginning, on fol. 299b:

الا اى دوستان نكته پرداز – قدردان سخنهاى سرافراز

ll. 13; Nasta’lîḳ.

20.Letters, notes, and other fragmentary prose-pieces, on fol. 306a sq. (خطوط و رقعات متفرّقه).

21.خطبۀ ديوان حكيم شفائى , i.e. Mirzâ Jalâl-aldîn Muḥammad Ṭabâṭabâ’î’s preface to the dîwân of Shifâ’î (died A.H. 1037); the same Ṭabâṭabâ’î wrote a preface to Ḳudsî’s dîwân (see above, Nos. 1531-1533 and Nos. 1552-1557), on fol. 312a, and other scattered prose-pieces; ll. 21-25; careless Nasta’lîḳ and Shikasta.

No. 483, ff. 345; written by many different hands in the most various styles of Nasta’lîḳ and Shikasta; size, 8½ in. by 53/8 in.