[IO Islamic 1900] مجموعۀ اشعار

Poem-Collection

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 1753 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 1900 here with notations and hyperlinks].

1753

A short, but very curious collection of Ṣûfic poetry, beginning with a series of short poems in honour of God, Muḥammad, the Tâbi’în, etc., arranged in the following manner: each part or hymn opens with a certain number of short mathnawîs (each comprising two baits), arranged alphabetically according to the end-rhyme; after that follows a مثنوئ مطلق which falls out of the alphabetical order (also comprising two baits), and then an equal number of strophes, each of which contains just as many hemistichs as there are mathnawîs belonging to that particular hymn; for instance, the first hymn on the unity of God consists of three mathnawîs, rhyming in ا, ب, and ت respectively, of an intermediate مثنوى مطلق, and three muthallathât; the second hymn on the Prophet contains four mathnawîs, rhyming in ث,ج,ح, and خ, and of four murabba’ât, separated from the mathnawîs again by the مثنوى مطلق, as is the case in all the following hymns; the third hymn has five mathnawîs, rhyming in د,ذ,ر,ز, and س, and five mukhammasât; the fourth has six mathnawîs, rhyming in ش,ص,ض,ط,ظ and ع, and six musaddasât; the fifth has seven mathnawîs, rhyming in غ,ف,ق,ك,ل,م, and ن, and seven musabba’ât; the sixth (and last) has three mathnawîs, rhyming in و, ه, and ى, but no corresponding strophes. This series of hymns is followed by a variety of other poems on spiritual and pantheistic matters, ghazals, mathnawîs, rubâ’îs, ḳiṭ’as, and one ḳaṣidah.

Beginning: الحمد لله ربّ العالمين ...... اسم الله ذات رحمانرا – اسم اعظم صفات سبحانرا المثنويّات المُقيّد فى الالف و الباى و التاى فى التّوحيد بالحمد و الثّناء و المناجات العرفانى الخ.

No date. Collated.

No. 1900, ff. 17, coll., each ll. 19; clear Nasta’lîḳ; size, 97/8 in. by 51/2 in.