[IO Islamic 1421] Three Short Persian Romances

<strong>Short Persian Romances.</strong> <strong>This manuscript is now IO Islamic 803 in the India Office collections.</strong> <strong>[metadata:</strong> <strong>Hermann Ethé</strong><strong><em>, </em></strong><strong><em>Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office,</em></strong> <strong>2 vols. (Oxford: India Office, 1903): volume 1,</strong> <strong>number 1421 here with notations and hyperlinks].</strong> 803 Three short Persian romances. 1.Ḳiṣṣ-i-Fîrûzshâh (قصّۀ فيروزشاه), on fol. 1^b, different from the حكايت فيروزشاه in the Maḥbûb-alḳulûb (No. 800 above), and beginning: راويان اخبار حاكيان اسمار در نقل چنين آورده اند كه در شهر بدخشان پادشاه بود الخ. This story of the son of the king of Badakhshân is ascribed on the fly-leaf of the following copy (No. 804) to ‘Alî Naurûzkhân (who might be identical with Naurûz ‘Alîbeg Shâmlû, one of the more modern poets quoted in the Makhzan-algharâ’ib, Bodl. Cat., col. 388, No. 2830, and in the Ṣuḥuf-i-Ibrâhîm in W. Pertsch, Berlin Cat., p. 663, No. 205). 2.Ḳiṣṣa-i-Ḥusnârâ (قصّۀ حسن آرا), on fol. 30^b, beginning: بعد از حمد و ثناى حضرت ذوالجلال و قادر قدرت بى شبه و بى مثال الخ. 3.Ḳiṣṣa-i-Madhumâlat (قصّۀ مدهمالت), on fol. 49^b, beginning: جواهر زواهر محمدت ولآلئ لوالئ منقبت نثارمر جناب تقدّس الخ. The love-story of princess Madhumâlat or Madhûmâlat is stated to have been taken from a poetical version of the same subject, which may be either ‘Âḳilkhân Râzî’s مهر و ماه, composed A.H. 1065 (A.D. 1655), see Rieu ii. p. 699^a, or the قصّۀ منوهر و مدهومالت, the Persian version of a Hindû poem, completed A.H. 1059 (A.D. 1649), see Rieu ii. pp. 700^a and 803^b. Stories nearly related to this are ميكا و منوهر, see further below, No. 824, and the mathnawî پدماوتى و منوهر, described in W. Pertsch, Berlin Cat., p. 929. The proper order of ff. 1-16 is: 1-9, 12, 10, 11, 14, 15, 13, and 16. No. 1421, ff. 79, ll. 17; large Nasta’lîḳ; size, 11 in. by 7^8/8 in.