[IO Islamic 1757] شكرستان

Shakaristân.

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 823 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 1757 here with notations and hyperlinks].

823

Shakaristân (شكرستان).

The sugar-chest, an imitation of Sa’dî’s Gulistân and Jâmî’s Bahâristân, containing moral stories and anecdotes frequently mixed with verses, see the title on fol. 6a, l. 4. The author is the well-known poet and calligrapher Mîr Muḥammad Mu’min, with the takhalluṣ ‘Arshî (عرشى), son of Jahângîr’s famous calligrapher Amîr ‘Abdallâh Mushkînḳalam alḥusaini altirmidhî, see fol. 6b, l. 7; comp. Rieu i. p. 154, and ii. p. 782a , where the poet’s death is fixed in A.H. 1091 (A.D. 1680); A. Sprenger, Catal., p. 335 sq., and W. Pertsch, Berlin Cat., p. 928.

This work must have been one of the first literary attempts of ‘Arshî, since the date of composition (contained in the title) is A.H. 1031 (A.D. 1622), and his other poetical works which are mentioned in A. Sprenger and W. Pertsch, loc. cit. (شاهد عرشى, مهر و وفا, etc.), are written at a much later period, the latter A.H. 1053 (A.D. 1643, 1644), the former A.H. 1069 (A.D. 1658, 1659). He was, moreover, according to Ârzû, panegyrist of Shâhjahân’s eldest son, prince Dârâ Shukûh.

The book is divided into the following six bâbs:

1.در بيان احوال اجداد و مرشدان پاك نهاد, on fol. 9a.

2.در سيرت پادشاهان و سريرت وزيران, on fol. 22a.

3.در تربيت فرزندان پادشاهان عالیشان که خلیفة الاسلام اند, on fol. 42b.

4.در بيان عارفان حقّ و عاشقان شاهد مطلق, on fol. 56a.

5.در بيان آداب و حكايات فقرا, on fol. 61b.

6.در بيان لطائف و ظرائف و خاتمه, on fol. 70b.

The index found on fol. 7a differs a little from the arrangement in the book itself, in so far as the fifth bâb appears there as fourth and is headed: در آداب صحبت با عزيزان از ايّام شباب تا شيب. We conclude from this fact and also from the whole aspect of the copy, that it is the author’s autograph and probably the first sketch of the work.

Beginning: بنام آنكه نامش بر زبانهاست – بوصف نام او شيرين بيانهاست الخ.

On fol. 6a, l. 7, the mystical mathnawî نان و حلوا, by Bahâ-aldîn Muḥammad ‘Âmilî, with the takhalluṣ Bahâ’î (who died A.H. 1030=A.D. 1620, 1621), is mentioned, comp. on that poem Bodleian Cat., Nos. 1085-1088.

No. 1757, ff. 82, ll. 13; Nasta’lîḳ; worm-eaten throughout and spoiled in many places; size, 8 in. by 43/8 in.