[IO Islamic 3480] ديوان بيدل

Dîwân-i-Bîdil

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 1676 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 3480 here with notations and hyperlinks].

Bîdil (Nos. 1676-1686).

1676

Dîwân-i-Bîdil (ديوان بيدل).

The lyrical poems of Mirzâ ‘Abd-alḳâdir Bîdil, the greatest of the Persian poets in India during the last century, who was born at Akbarâbâd A.H. 1054 (A.D. 1644), and died at Dihlî the 4th of Ṣafar, A.H. 1133 (A.D. 1720, Dec. 5), see Bodleian Cat., Nos. 1169 and 1170, and the Khulâṣat-alkalâm, No. 11(ib., col. 296); Rieu ii. pp. 706 and 707; A. Sprenger, Catal., pp. 119, 213, and 378-380; W. Pertsch, p. 80, and Berlin Cat., pp. 938-941; Rosen, Persian MSS., p. 167. Only Garcin de Tassy, in his Histoire de la littér. Hindouie etc. i. p. 312 sq. (see also W. Pertsch, p. 80), fixes his death, four years later, in A. H. 1137 (A.D. 1724, 1725).

Besides his lyrical poems he composed several mathnawîs, viz. the محيط اعظم (see below, Nos. 1682 and 1683); the طلسم حيرت (Nos. 1684 and 1685); the طور معرفت (No. 1686) ; گلگشت حقيقت (A. Sprenger, Catal., p. 380); the عرفان (Rieu ii. p. 707a); a mystical poem without title, dealing with love, the lover, and the beloved, in the metre رمل (W. Pertsch, Berlin Cat., p. 940); and smaller poems of the same kind (see ib., p. 698, No. 20); also several important prose-works, for instance, the بياض or anthology of Persian poetry (Rieu ii. p. 737b sq.), the نكات or subtle thoughts (ib., p. 745b sq.), the رقعات or private letters (W. Pertsch, Berlin Cat., p. 147, No. 2; see also Rieu ii. p. 811a, and iii. pp. 1006b and 1068a), and the چهار عنصر (A. Sprenger, Catal., p.119, l. 9). The present copy contains, according to the colophon, the ديوان قديم مرزاى بيدل, the old or first dîwân of the poet, with the following subdivisions:

Preface in prose, on fol. 1b, beginning: حمد مبدعى كه تردّد انفاس هستئ موجودات تحريكيست الخ.

Ghazals, in alphabetical order, on fol. 4b, beginning:

نفس آشفته ميدارد چو گل جمعيّت مارا

پريشان مى نويسد كلك موج احوال دريارا

A few ḳaṣîdas, on fol. 336b, beginning:

در حريم خاك مارا موى پيرى رهبر است الخ

Rubâ’îs, in alphabetical order, on fol. 343b, beginning:

حمد دو جهان سزاست سبحانى را الخ

This copy was made by Khwâjah Bâbar Ḳalandar Ḳâdirî in Shâhjahânâbâd, at the request of Mirzâ Sa’îd, and finished the 15th of Dhû-alḳa’dah, A.H. 1106 (A.D. 1695, June 27), twenty-seven years before the poet’s death. Some pages injured; fol. 206b almost entirely effaced. This dîwân, together with the نكات , رقعات, and چهار عنصر, has been lithographed, A.H. 1287, at Lucknow, under the title كلّيّات بيدل.

No. 3480, olim 13. J. 26, ff. 358, 2 coll., each ll. 16; clear and distinct Nasta’lîḳ; size, 9½ in. by 5 in.