[IO Islamic 133] شاهنامه

Shâhnâma.

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 863 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 133 here with notations and hyperlinks].

b. Copies of the Shâhnâma with the Bâisungharî preface.

863

Shâhnâma.

The Bâisungharî preface (dated A.H. 829= A.D. 1426, see on the rather fictitious character of the same, and the whole question of the so-called Bâisunghari recension, the excellent remarks of M. James Darmesteter in the ‘Revue Critique,’ October 20, 1890, pp. 215 and 216), on ff. 1b-13b, beginning : افتتاح سخن آن به كه كنند اهل كمال الخ. At the end: تمّت الديباجة الموسومة ببايسنغرى’

This preface is designated by Mohl as ‘préface No. 1,’ and is printed with a few omissions in Macan’s Introduction to the Shâhnâma, pp. 11-61.

Beginning of the poem, on fol. 13b: بنام خداوند جان و خرد الخ.

The Shâhnâma is divided into two parts, the second of which begins with Lurâsp’s reign (headed: كتاب لهراسپ نامه), on fol. 270b: چو لهراسپ بنشست بر تخت داد الخ. This splendid copy was made by Ḥasan bin Muḥamamd Aḥsan and finished at Shîrâz the 18th of Dhû-alḳa’dah, A.H. 967 (A.D. 1560, August 10); it was given as a present to Ḳâsimbeg the 1st of Dhû-alḥijjah, A.H. 971 (A.D. 1564, July 11), according to a note on fol. 1a.

No. 133, ff. 538, 4 coll., each ll. 25; excellent Nasta’lîḳ; ff. 1b and 2a gorgeously illuminated in gold and blue arabesques, mixed with a variety of other colours; similar illuminations and an excellent frontispiece on ff. 270b and 271a; all the headings throughout neatly embellished; well-executed pictures on ff. 5b, 16b, 32a, 54a, 76b, 96a, 113b, 127b, 150b, 184b, 203a, 227b, 250a, 270b, 271a, 304a, 321b, 349b, 372a, 389a, 418b, 445b, 483a, and 519a; size, 143/4 in. by 83/4 in.