[IO Islamic 3243] عجائب المخلوقات و غرائب الموجودات

‘Ajâ’ib-almakhlûḳât wa gharâ’ib almaujûdât .

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 714 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 3243 here with notations and hyperlinks].

714

‘Ajâ’ib-almakhlûḳât wa gharâ’ib-almaujûdât ( عجائب المخلوقات و غرائب الموجودات).

One of the finest specimens of modern India calligraphy and illuminating art, written at the request of Mr. Charles Raikes, Commissioner and Superintendent of Lâhûr, under the supervision of Muftî ‘Alî-aldîn of Lâhûr, by Faḍl-aldîn bin Muḥammad Bakhsh Ṣaḥḥâf of Lâhûr, and completed the 21st of September, A.D. 1854 (see the title-page, fol. 1a). According to a note by Mr. Raikes himself, fastened to the first fly-leaf, this MS. was sent to the Imperial Exhibition at Paris, for works of art and industry, by the Punjab Committee at Lahore. The India Office Library received it from Dr. Royale, July, 1856.

The Persian translation of the first part of Ḳazwînî’s cosmography, contained in this copy, is the more modernized one, which was made under Abû-almużaffar Ibrâhîm ‘Âdilshâh I (see fol. 5a, l. 6), who reigned from A.H. 941 to 965 (A.D. 1534-1558), and completed in the beginning of Sha’bân, A.H. 954 (see ff. 8b, last line, and 9a, l. 1)= A.D. 1547, second half of September; it is described in Rieu ii. p. 464b. This version has been lithographed at Lucknow, A.H. 1283 (A.D. 1866).

Beginning like the Arabic original, on fol.3b: العظمة لك و الكبرياء لجلالك اللهمّ يا قائم الذات و مفيض الخيرات واجب الوجود الخ.

Beginning of the translator’s preface, on fol.4b:امّا بعد در عهد خلافت و ايّام سلطنت پادشاه عاليجاه عالم پناه گردون سلطنت و خلافت دستگاه الخ.

The name of the author of the Arabic original appears on fol.5b, ll. 2 and 3, in this form: عماد الدين زكريّا بن محمّد بن محمود الكمونى القرونى (؟ القزوينى)، .

The four muḳaddimas appear here on ff. 9a ( در عجب و معنئ آن), 19b ( در تقسيم مخلوقات ), 21b (درمعنئ غريب ), and 26a ( فى تقسيم الموجودات). A complete index on ff. 27a-30a.

Beginning of the main portion of the work on fol. 30b, corresponding to the Arabic original, p. ١٥, of Wüstenfeld’s edition: الحمد لله خالق الاشياء مدبّر الكلّ الخ.

First maḳâlah, on fol. 31a; second maḳâlah, on fol. 145a.

It is profusely illustrated throughout with first-class drawings. The greater part of the margin is covered partly with short explanatory glosses or tracts closely related to the text of Ḳazwînî’s work,-as for instance a زكى نامه on lucky and unlucky days, on fol.33b ; اختيارات قمرى, on fol. 35b; تسخير كواكب , on ff. 36a and 36b ; a روزنامچۀ ستارها, on fol. 42b ; دعاء بر كشتى نشستن ,on fol. 70a; روزنامه , on fol. 109b ; اختيارات ساعات, on fol. 112a, etc. ; كيفيّت تقسيم زمين , on fol. 229b sq.; تركيب برس , on fol. 293a ; عمل زعفران, on fol. 296a sq.; عمل تنگار (borax), on fol. 302a ;خواص گل ارمنى, on fol. 304a ; صاف مرواريد and خواصّ مرواريد, on fol. 313a ; and a great number of other explanations of mineral and botanical matters; a botanical glossary, on fol. 378a sq.; خواصّ جغرات, on fol.481a; خواصّ شيرهاء جانوران , on fol. 481b, etc.; نرم گردن دندان فيل and تسخير فيل مست, on fol. 510a, etc. etc. (talismans in great variety being scattered throughout the margin), -- partly with independent treatises of various kinds, in a smaller, but equally neat hand. The larger sections of these marginal additions are as follows:

1.Ff. 4b-17a : A treatise on simple drugs ( رساله در كلّيّات تحقيقات ادويهاى مفرده ) in nine faṣls (not eight as is stated in the beginning, since there appears on fol. 10b a فصل نهم در حاجتمندئ طبيبان بساختن ادويۀ مركب ) . Fol. 10b of this tract must be immediately followed by fol. 12a, since ff. 11a and 11b are mere repetitions of ff. 10a and 10b. Beginning: امّا بعد حمد خدا و نعت محمّد مصطفى صلّى الله عليه و سلّم اين رساله ايست در كلّيّات ....... فصل اوّل بدانكه ادويهاى مفرده سه جاى مبدى ميشود معدنى و نباتى و حيوانى الخ . This treatise is followed on ff. 13a-15a by an appendix on the names of all the diseases of the various part of the human body, and on ff. 15a-17a by a series of mystic mathnawî-baits, taken for the greater part from theگلشن راز.

2.Ff. 18b-19a :Two فالنامه, the first styled فالنامۀ حضرت شاه شرف الدين احمد بن يحيى منيرى (see the Maṭlûb-alṭâlibîn,16th maṭlab, No. 41 in the list of pupils); the second فالنامۀ حضرت امير المؤمنين على.

3.Ff. 19b-20b: A story of Nîmrûd, and some metaphysical maxims, styled معتقدات حكما.

4.Ff. 21b-22a: ديباچه مجمل الحكمة, beginning : سپاس و منّت موجوديرا كه واجب الوجود است و هر چه جزويست ممكن الوجود است الخ.

5.Ff. 48a-51b: Two treatises on music, the first (در علم موسيقى ) being an abstract of a work مفتاح السرور ( probably مفتاح السرود, a work on Indian music by Ḳâḍî Ḥusain, composed A.H. 1084 = A.D. 1673, 1674, see W. Pertsch, Berlin Cat., p. 84); the second (on fol. 49a) simply styledدر موسيقى, and beginning: بدانكه موسيقى تأليف است و وضع حكماست و نهاد آن روحست الخ.

6.Ff. 73b-75b: Mathnawî-baits (simply styled منظوم), by Shâh Faḍl Ni’matî, beginning: هر چه در آفاق بود ايجوان – هست ورا نقش چو بينى عيان , followed, on fol. 75a, by short extracts from Dârâ Shukûh’s مجمع البحرين (the confluence of the two seas, composed A.H. 1065 = A.D. 1655, see Bodleian Cat., No. 1241, 13).

7.Ff.87a-93b: رساله در حقيقت عالم, a cosmographical tract, beginning: بايد دانست كه جملۀ عالم که موجود است یازده گروهست و آفتاب در میانست الخ.

The metaphysical part of it begins o fol. 90a, with a مقدّمۀ روح, followed by a مقدّمۀ نفس, etc. and concluding with an علامت قيامت (on fol. 92a); appended to it are a short chapter: خواصّ دابّة الارض (with reference, as it seems, to a verse of the Ḳurân, Sûrah 34, 13), a series of mathnawî-baits, headed در بيان حقيقت روح, and some further lines in prose on the same subject.

8.Ff. 96b-100b: Short tracts on mystical and religious matters in general, viz. رسالۀ فقر, مقدّمۀ معراج , مقدّمۀ بهشت و دوزخ (twice), احوال دوزخ, در مفاصلۀ سنين در ميان پيغمبران, در حقيقت خلفاى راشدين, در بيان ايمان, در بيان مذاهب, (Sûrah 82, 11 ) مقدّمۀ كراماً كاتبين در بيان توبه, and مقدّمۀ صراط ميزان و سؤال.

9.Ff. 101a-102a and 103a-109a: Prayers, invocations, and Ḳurân-verses.

10.Ff. 123b-126a and 128b: Two other فالنامه.

11.Ff. 137a-140b: A treatise on the peculiarities of special months and days.

12.Ff. 143a-148b, 141a-142b, and 149a-154a: Three night-discourses ( سمر, so to be read instead of شمر ; the only correct spelling is found on fol. 145a, l. 3), properly beginning on fol. 144a, since fol. 143a is merely a repetition of this; a treatise on the foreboding palpitation of the limbs, on fol. 145a ; a tract on physiognomy (رسالۀ قيافه ), on fol. 146a; a longer treatise on health, abridged from a work of Sayyid Ismâ’îl Ḥusainî Jurjânî ( the author of the ذخيرۀ خوارزمشاهى , see Bodleian Cat., Nos. 1576-1578, died A.H. 531=A.D. 1136, 1137), styled حفظ الصحّة (on hygiene), in sixteen bâbs, viz. 1. در تدبير هوا , on fol. 147b; 2. در تدبير فصلهاى سال, on fol. 148a; 3. در تدبير شهر و خانه و مسكن, on fol. 148b; 4. در تدبير پارچۀ جامه پوشیدن , ib.; 5. در تدبير غذا , ib.; 6. در تدبير آب , on fol. 141a (the order of the margins is wrong here, although that of the centre-column is quite correct); 7. در تدبير شراب , on fol. 141b; 8. در خواب و بيدارى , on fol. 142a ; 9. در حركت و سكون , ib.; 10. در تدبير استفراغ طبعيّت يعنى دواى مسهل خوردن , on fol. 142b; 11. Here styled by mistake باب پنجم , to conceal the confusion of the margins : در تدبيرقى كردن , on fol. 149a; 12. در تدبير فصد, on fol. 149b; 13. در تدبير استفراغها, on fol. 150a; 14. در انقراض نفسانى, on fol. 151a; 15. در تدبير پيران, on fol.152a; 16. اندر ترتيب و تدبير مسافران, on fol. 152b; and some mathnawî baits on hygienic matters, on ff. 152b-154a, divided into the following sections:

در علامات ، در مقدّمۀ قاروره ، در مقدّمۀ نبض شناختن در تدبير احكام پیران ، خير و شر, and در تدبير صحّت.

13. Ff. 163a-187b : A series of longer and shorter tracts on various interesting points of Ṣûfism, as عشق, طريق, etc., mostly without any heading; the few sections which bear a distinct title, are: رساله در شرح بيت مولوئ روم ; commentary on a verse of Jalâl-aldîn Rûmî, on fol. 164b, beginning :

بيزارم از آنكنه خدائى كه تو دارى

هر لحظه مرا تازه خدائى دگرست

من رموزات شيخ عبدالجامل لكنوى, on fol. 172b, beginning: بعد حمد خدا ودرود مصطفى وآله و اصحابه بدانكه نزديك صوفيۀ محقّقين در راه خدا چهار منزلست شريعت و طريقت و حقيقت و معرفت الخ.

رسالۀ طریقۀ نقشبنديّه, on fol. 180a, beginning:

سررشتۀ دولت اى برادر بكف آر

وين عمر كرامى بخسارت مگذار

چند سؤال و جواب, on fol. 181b, and

رسالۀ حضرت خواجه عبدالله انصارى (invocations to God, by the famous Shaikh ‘Abdallâh Anṣârî of Harât, who died A.H. 481=A.D. 1088, comp. the Safînat-alauliyâ, No. 300), on fol. 185a, beginning: اى كريمى كه بخشندۀ عطائى – واى حكيمى كه پوشندۀ خطائى .

14.Ff. 193a-196a: Extracts from Niżâmî’s خسرو و شيرين , beginning with سؤال و جواب چند خسرو پرويز با بزرگ امید ،.

15.Ff. 196a-199a: رساله در ورد ماهيّت هر چیز , a kind of metaphysical tract in form of a vocabulary, beginning: بدانكه اين رسالت ايست در تحقيقات معنئ چیزها كه حكماء غور نموده برآوردند شروع از عقل نموده شد بدانكه عقل اسميست مشترك الخ.

16.Fol. 208a: تورايخ حضرتان, a few chronological dates about great Shaikhs, beginning with Bâyazîd Bisṭâmî (died A.H. 261 = A.D. 875) and ending with Aḥmad-i-Jâm (died A.H. 536=A.D. 1141, 1142), see the Safînat-alauliyâ, Nos. 66 and 308.

17.Ff. 227b-229b: Extracts from Niżâmî’s اسكندر نامۀ بحرى , beginning with سؤال سكندر ذو القرنين از حكما در مقدّمۀ پيدايش خلقت اوّل آسمان و زمين و بيان نمودن هر يك موافق علم خود ،.

18.Ff. 239a-246a: A treatise on the peculiarities of women (رساله در خاصّيّت زنان ), beginning : ببايد دانست كه زنان بر چهار نوع اند الخ, with a special chapter, entitled : در معرفت كيفيّت رحم و شناختن اوقات, on fol. 240b sq.; after this treatise there follow, on fol. 243a sq., several traditions and a great number of charms.

19.Ff. 246b-248a: An arithmetical tract, styled بعضى قواعد علم تكسير , beginning : قاعده ، بدانكه مربّع دو قسم است الخ.

20.Ff. 248a-255a: A short medical tract, ascribed to Avicenna (رسالۀ بو على سينا در امراض بعضى دوا), and a number of arithmetical pieces, one of which is headed (on fol. 249b) : مقدّمات حساب هندسه, or introduction to astronomical calculations. The rest are without special headings.

21.Ff. 255b-266b: Arts and games, consisting of – (a) A kind of game, in which any possible combination of two letters of the Persian alphabet is explained by a Persian fard, for instance, ش ا : در كف دست خويش زر دارى , on fol. 255b.

(b) Two treatises on archery, the first (on fol. 256a), styled: خواصّ چند مقدّمۀ تيراندازى, and beginning: اوّل بدانكه ابتداى نزول تير و كمان آنست كه چون آدم الخ ; the second ( on fol. 258b): رقعه بر (تير) اندازى .

(c) An introduction into geomancy (در مقدّمۀ رمل ), on fol. 259b.

(d) Introduction to card-playing and chess ( مقدّمۀ گنجفه and مقدّمۀ شطرنج ), on fol. 263b.

(e) Various forms of chirography ( در بيان انواع خطّها ), on fol. 264a.

(f) A tract styled تركيب سياهى و روشنائى, on fol. 265a.

22.Ff. 267a-275b : خلاصۀ تورایخ, an abridgment of a general history in various ṭâ’ifas, from the creation down to the emperor Bahâdurshâh, beginning: منتخب’ در تواريخ و مشاهير سير از احوال ابوالبشر آدم صفى الله صلوات الله عليه تا خير البشر محمدّ رسول الله الخ.

The comparatively more detailed portion ends, on fol. 273b, with the seventh ṭâ’ifah, on the descendants of Ćingîzkhân; the remainder consists of mere lists of the Indian Râjahs, taken from the راجاولى (so to be read instead of the wrong spelling راجاونى, see Nos. 205 and 206 in this Cat.), and of the emperors of Dihlî. As a sort of appendix a list of all the battles is added (on fol. 275a) which Muḥammad fought against the unbelievers; they are sixty-five altogether; twenty-seven he conducted personally; in thirty-eight only his army was engaged.

23.Ff. 403a-404a: Luḳmân’s advice to his son ( پند نامۀ لقمان حكيم بفرزند خود), beginning: بعد از حمد ملك ملك علاّم و درود بر محمّد عليه السّلام و متابعت اهل اسلام چند پند سودمند است كه لقمان حكيم بفرزند خود فرمود ‘ اى فرزند خدا شناس و هر چه از پند و نصیحت گوئى الخ. Comp. on this little tract the Bodleian Cat., No. 1241, 44.

24.Ff. 404a-410b: Short stories and traditions, beginning with a حكايات اعرابى, which opens thus: در خبر است كه روزى حضرت محمّد رسول الله صلعم با صحابۀ كرام نشسته بودند الخ . On fol. 408a, a نظم در اخبار حميده, beginning: تقوى و خوف حسب اخلاص زهد و علم الخ. On fol. 409a, a short tract: نكات بزرگان.

25.Ff. 410b-417a: A series of نصائح or good advices, and other tracts of practical philosophy, beginning with رسالۀ نصائح حكما, which opens thus: الحمد لله .... امّا بعد اين رساله ايست مشتمل بر آنكه حكما از كتب قديم اختيار كرده اند و فوائد بسيار الخ. On fol. 412a, a مقولۀ ميان محمّد و عمر ; on fol. 413a, نصائح درويشى ; on fol. 415b, بعضى قول حكما.

26.Ff. 417b-418b: كنيز الرموز, a collection of philosophic maxims, in ten faṣls, beginning: اين رساله ايست مشتمل بر ده فصل قول حكما كه كنيز الرموز نام دارد الخ.

27.Ff. 423b-438a, 441a-450a, 451b-453a, and 457a-461b: Medical prescriptions against all kinds of diseases, and tracts of a similar kind.

28.Ff. 462a-464b: Mystical tracts, on the Ḳiblah, on fol. 462a; on the terminology of Ṣûfis (در اصطلاحات اهل تصوّف ), on fol. 462b; طريقهاء اذكار فقرا, on fol. 463a; من رشحات طريق , on fol.464a; طريقۀ اهل هند, on fol. 464b.

29.Ff. 473a-479a: Another series of medical prescriptions.

30.Ff. 526a-530a, 534b-535a, and 538a. Prescription for making the elixir of life (تركيب كيميا ) and a series of small tracts on sexual intercourse, usually headed قوّت باه.

31.Ff. 549b-550a, 552a-554a, 555b-559a, 564a-566a, 570a and 570b, and 572b-574a: A third series of medical prescriptions.

No.3243, ff. 588, ll. 15; very large and distinct Nasta’lîḳ; four grandly embellished stars on ff. 1b, 2a, 587b, and 588a; four full-sized pictures on. ff. 2b, 3a, 586b, and 587a; three splendidly illuminated frontispieces on ff. 3b, 4a (the pages themselves adorned in magnificent colours), and 30b, a smaller one besides, on fol.27b; the lines of the title-page (fol.1a) surrounded by broad stripes of gold; size, 153/8 in. by 91/4 in.