[IO Islamic 1064] لطيفۀ فيّاضى

Laṭîfa-i-Fayyâḍî.

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 1479 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 1064 here with notations and hyperlinks].

1479

Laṭîfa-i-Fayyâḍî(لطيفۀ فيّاضى ).

The correspondence of Faiḍî, collected by Nûr-aldîn Muḥammad, the son of Ḥakîm ‘Ain-almulk and nephew of the poet (see fol. 3b, l. 13 sq.), A.H. 1035 (A.D. 1625, 1626), see Rieu ii. p. 792, iii. p. 984, etc.; Elliot, History of India, vi. pp. 147-149. It is styled here simply انشاء فيضى ; the proper title, as given above, is a chronogram for the date of the collection.

Ḥakîm ‘Ain-almulk of Shîrâz, the father of the collector, died the 27th of Dhû-alḥijjah, A.H. 1003 (A.D. 1595, Sept. 2), see his biography in Blochmann, Â’în-i-Akbarî, pp. 480 and 481; he had married a sister of Faiḍî and Abû-alfaḍl.

The work is divided into five chapters, called لطيفه, viz.:

1.Letters addressed to the Emperor Akbar (عرائض فيّاضى بوالا درگاه خلائق پناه ظلّ الهى شاهنشاه جلال الدّين و الدّنيا اكبر پادشاه), on fol. 7b.

2.Letters addressed to ‘Ulamâs and Ṣûfic Shaikhs (مفاوضات فيضى بشرفاى عظام و علماى علاّم و عرفاى معرفت انتظام ), on fol. 51b.

3.Letters addressed to contemporary physicians (مفاوضات كه بحكماء معاصر قلمى شده), on fol. 93b.

4.Letters addressed to Amîrs, Khâns, etc. ( بامراء عظام و خوانين الكرام), on fol. 116a.

5.Letters addressed to his father, brothers, and other relatives ( رقائمى كه بوالد بزرگوار و اخوان و اقارب قلمى شده), on fol. 129a; the last letters are all addressed to his brother Abû-alfaḍl. Another brother of his was Abû-alkhair. The five laṭîfas are preceded by Faiḍi’s preface to his diwân (see No. 1464 above), beginning here with the initial bait of the first ḳaṣîdah: يا ازلىّ الظّهور يا ابدىّ الخفا الخ .

The three manṭûḳas and the khâtimah which, according to Faiḍi’s own statement, were to follow after the five laṭîfas, are wanting in this copy, just as in Rieu’s.

Dated the 22nd of Shawwâl, in the fourth year of ‘Âlamgîr’s reign (=A.H. 1072, A.D. 1662, June 10).

No. 1064, ff. 136, ll. 17; Nasta’lîḳ; size, 77/8 in. by 41/4 in.