[IO Islamic 454] Bayâḍ

Bayâḍ

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 1767 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 454 here with notations and hyperlinks].

1767

Bayâḍ (بياض ).

An album of Persian poetry and prose, containing miscellaneous pieces in a very confused order, many leaves being turned upside down. The principal contents are:

1.A ḳiṭ’ah by ‘Alî Ḥazîn (died A. H. 1180, see Nos. 1712-1714 above), reproaching Kashmîr (قطعه در مذمّت كشمير), on fol. 1a, and other miscellaneous lyric poems.

2.Mîr Najât’s دل كُشتى (a mathnawî on wrestling, composed A.H. 1112= A.D. 1700, 1701; Mîr ‘Abd-al’âl Najât died about A.H. 1126=A.D. 1714, see Bodleian Cat., Nos. 1162-1165; Rieu ii. p. 821; A. Sprenger, Catal., p. 512; W. Pertsch, Berlin Cat., p. 697, No. 10; lithographed at Lucknow (with commentary), A.H. 1258), on fol. 7b.

3.Mullâ Nau’î’s سوز و گداز (see No. 1485 above), on fol. 18a.

4.A ḳaṣîdah, by Hijrî (see Nos. 1440 and 1441 above), in homage of Nawwâb Âṣaf-aldaulah Bahâdur, on fol. 19b.

5.A tarjî’band, a mukhammas, and a short mathnawî, by Mîr Zain-al’âbidîn (see No. 20 below), on fol. 24b.

6.مناظرۀ سرما و گرما, a dispute between cold and heat, in prose, on fol. 30a.

7.Poems, by Mihrî (died about A.H. 1130), on fol. 35b.

8.Rubâ’iyyât.

9.On the tobacco-pipe (تعريف قليان تنباكو), in prose, on fol. 42b.

10.Several mukhammasât and other miscellaneous poems, on ff. 48b and 63a.

11.Admonitions, by ‘Abdallâh Anṣârî (نصائح عبد الله انصارى), the great mystic Shaikh, who died A.H. 481 (A.D. 1088), see No. 1778 sq. below, in prose, on fol. 68b.

12.A few poems, by Ḥazîn, on fol. 71a.

13.Ghazals, by Shaukat (died A.H. 1107, see Nos. 1628-1633), Mihrî, etc., on fol. 79a.

14.Historical incidents from Nâdirshâh’s time, beginning with A.H. 1149 (A.D. 1736), on fol. 80a.

15.A ḳaṣîdah by Nâṭiḳ (قصيدۀ ناطق ), and other poetry, on fol. 84a.

16.چار اندر چار, a prose-piece by ‘Ubaid Zâkânî (died A.H. 772), on fol. 89a, and another چار در چار, likewise in prose, by Maulânâ Mushfiḳî (of Bukhârâ, died A.H. 994), on fol. 87a.

17.Miscellaneous pieces in prose and verse.

18.قضا و قدر , a mathnawî on predestination, by Mirzâ Ṭâhir, on fol. 117b.

19.A ḳaṣîdah, by Mirzâ Ṭâhir, on fol. 119b.

20.Ḳaṣîdas, by Mîr Zain-al’abidîn, with the takhalluṣ Hijrî, on fol. 133b.

21.قضا و قدر, a second mathnawî of the same title, by Hijrî, on fol. 143b.

22.A short mathnawîقضا و قدر, by Muḥammad Salîm (see No. 1558, 5 above), on fol. 148b.

23.A fourth mathnawî قضا و قدر, by Ḥakîm Ruknâ (see No. 1572 above), on fol. 150b; a fifth mathnawî of the same title, by Amîrbeg Wâlih, is quoted in the Bodleian Cat., col. 768, e.

24.A mathnawî, by Mihrî, entitled سراپاى (description of the human figure, see Bodleian Cat., No. 1168), on fol. 153b.

25.Ḳaṣidas, rubâ’s, and fards, on fol. 164b.

It might have been better to page the MS. from the back, as most of the poems are running in that way.

Therefore in using this copy the reader must read backward. A short index of the more prominent pieces of this album is found twice, both on ff. 165b and 166b.

No. 454, ff. 166; written in Nasta’lîḳ and Shikasta; size 9¼ in. by 4½ in.