[IO Islamic 38] مجموعۀ اشعار

Majmû’a-i-ash’âr

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 1741 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 38 here with notations and hyperlinks].

1741

Majmû’a-i-ash’âr (مجموعۀ اشعار).

A large collection of poetical extracts, consisting of ghazals, selections from mathnawîs, ḳaṣîdas, ḳiṭ’as, rubâ’îs, mukhammasât, riddles, etc., incomplete at the end.

Contents:

1.Ghazals, in alphabetical order, on ff. 1b-188b, beginning:

اين نسخه كه گلفروش هر انجمن است

در هر ورقش مايۀ چندين چمن است

The chief poets, from whose dîwâns extracts are given, are : Ṣâ’ib (died A.H. 1088), on ff. 1b, 7b, 10b, 14a, 20a, etc.; Nâṣir ‘Alî (died A.H. 1108), on fol. 3a; Himmat (perhaps Khwâjah Muḥammad Mirzâ Himmat, under Shâh ‘Abbâs II), on fol. 6a; Sanjar Kâshî (died A.H. 1021), and Fighânî (died A.H. 922 or 925), on fol. 7a ; Ghanî (of Kashmîr, died A.H. 1079), on ff. 8b, 19b, etc.; Shâpûr (died about A.H. 1020), and Sâbiḳ (under ‘Âlamgîr), on fol. 11b; Adham (Ibrâhîm Adham, died A.H. 1060), on fol. 12a; Khâliṣ (died A.H. 1122), on ff. 13a, 15b, etc.; Tamannâ, on fol. 16b; Istighnâ, on fol. 17a; Jâmî (died A.H. 898), and Ṭâlib Âmulî (died A.H. 1035 or 1036), on fol. 18a; Raḍî (i.e. Raḍî Artîmânî, under Shâh ‘Abbâs I), on fol. 18b; Fiṭrat (died A.H. 1106), on ff. 19b, 20b, etc.; Jam (Muḥammad Sharîf Jam of Mashhad, or Mîr ‘Abd-alkarîm Jam, both under Jahângîr), on fol. 19b; Shaukat (died A.H. 1107), on fol. 21a; Ḥâfiż (died A.H. 791), on fol. 180a, etc. etc. A large lacuna after fol.65.

2.Mathnawî-baits (for instance, from Firdausî), tarkîbbands, mukhammasât, and other specimens of poetry, on ff. 188b-200a, beginning:

حكيم اين جهان را چو دريا نهاد

بر انگيخت موج اندرو تند باد

3.Riddles (معمّا), on ff. 200b-204b, beginning:

گر دست دهد بپايت افگندن سر الخ

4.Another series of ghazals, ḳiṭ’as, mathnawî-baits, etc., in alphabetical order, on ff. 206b-242a, concluded by rubâ’îs , on ff. 242a-248a, beginning:

از دورئ او گر نكنم ناله عجب نيست

خاموش كند فرقت گل مرغ چمن را

5.Selections from Niżâmî’s Khamsah (see above, No. 972 sq.), on ff. 249b-298b, beginning:

اى همه هستى زتو پيدا شده

خاك ضعيف از تو توانا شده

6.Mirât-aljamâl (مرآة الجمال), ‘the mirror of beauty,’ containing poetical descriptions (تعريفات) of the human form and its charms (see a similar work by Ṣâ’ib, No. 1618, col. 885 above), on ff. 299b-310b, beginning:

گر من زچشم خلق نهان دارم اين بياض

عيبم مكن كه هيچ ندارم درين گناه

7.Some ḳaṣîdas and short mathnawîs, on ff. 311b-323b, beginning: پر شد زعطر خوشدلى از بسكه روزگار الخ.

A lacuna after fol. 313.

8.Another series of short mathnawîs, defective at the end, on ff. 324b-327.

No. 38, ff. 327, 2 coll., each ll. 19; Nasta’lîḳ; size, 103/8 in. by 61/4 in.