[IO Islamic 2722] اشعار سنائى

Ash’âr-i-Sanâ’î.

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 927 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 2722 here with notations and hyperlinks].

927

Ash’âr-i-Sanâ’î( اشعار سنائى).

A large collection of Sanâ’î’s poetical works, but arranged in a somewhat confusing manner.

Contents:

A prose preface (ديباچه), which is apparently that of Muḥammad bin ‘Alî al-Raffâ (or bin ‘Alî Raḳḳâm, see above in No. 921), as the beginning is the usual one of that preface, viz.: الحمد لله الخبير بخفيّات الضمائر العليم بحقّيّات ( بخبيّات Rieu) السرائر المنزّه عن الامثال و النظائر المتعالى عن العشيرة و العشائر الخ; but at the end of this preface, on fol. 7a, the following statement appears, that this collection of Sanâ’i’s poetical works is entitled: كتاب الحدائق فى الحقائق , and consists of ten ḳisms, viz.:

قسم اوّل در نامها و جوابها كه وى نوشته است.

قسم دويم در توحيد ربّ العالمين جلّ جلاله.

قسم سيوم در نعت پيغمبر محمّد مصطفا صلوات الله و سلامه.

قسم چهارم اندر موعظه وزهد و حكمت.

قسم پنجم در مدحيّات و مراثى.

قسم ششم در غزلّيات.

قسم هفتم فى المقطّعات و المراثى و الهزليّات.

قسم هشتم در رباعياّت.

قسم نهم در مراتب حال انسانى كه آنرا كنوز الرموز خوانند و سير العبّاد الى المعاد نيز خوانند.

قسم دهم در كارنامه كه ببلخ نوشته بود و سنائى آباد فى الزهد و الموعظة و السلوك و العشق‘

In the collection itself these separate ḳisms are not forthcoming, except the first, ninth, and tenth. The first (in prose) begins, on fol. 7b, l. 1: پيش از آنكه لطف ديموميّت و حكمت ربوبيّت الخ.

Then follows a large series of ḳaṣîdas, ḳiṭ’as, ghazals, and rubâ’îs, mixed together without any order, on fol. 23b, beginning:

قد شهد الله جلّ ذكراه – بأنّه لا اله الاّ هو

At the end of this series is written: تمّت الكتاب (!sic)الحدائق فى الحدائق الخ ; and it is dated the 17th of Ṣafar, A.H. 1000 and ( the second number is missing). On fol. 244a there is found a ḳaṣîdah in honour of Shaikh Abû-almafâkhir Muḥammad bin Manṣûr; on fol. 245a a new series of ḳaṣîdas begins, the first bait of which runs thus: اى نهاده پاى همّت بر سر اوج سما الخ, followed by ḳiṭ’as, on fol. 283b, and a string of ghazals in alphabetical order, except the first six, on fol. 295a.

Beginning of the first alphabetical ghazal, on fol. 296a:

اى همه خوشى در آغوش شما

قبلۀ جانها بُناگوش شما

The ninth ḳism begins on fol. 365a and contains, quite in agreement with the above index, the mystical mathnawî كنوز الرموز, otherwise styled سير العبّاد الى المعاد ( see No. 914 above).

The tenth ḳism begins on fol. 380a and contains the second mathnawî mentioned in the index, the كارنامه (see Nos. 914 and 916 above), the heading of which runs here thus: آغاز كارنامه كه خواجه سنائى از بلخ بفرنين ( بغزنين read) فرستاد بجماعت دوستان و ياران مذكور الخ.

At the end of the copy, on ff. 393b-411, a third mathnawî is found, viz. the عقلنامه (see Nos. 914 and 915 above), introduced by a short preface in prose, beginning: الحمد لله حمدًا بكافى نعمه الخ; this mathnawî is, according to the index and the colophon on fol. 411a, also styled سنائى آباد.

No. 2722, ff. 411, 2 coll., each ll. 15-24; written by different hands in various forms of Nasta’lîḳ; some of the last pages injured; size, 93/8 in. by 6-63/8 in.