[IO Islamic 141] خمسۀ نظامى

Khamsa-i-Niżâmî.

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 973 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 141 here with notations and hyperlinks].

973

Another copy of the same.

Contents:

1.Makhzan-alasrâr, on fol. 1b. 2. Khusrau u Shîrîn on fol. 33b (date of composition, A.H. 576, on fol. 119a, lin. penult.). 3.Lailâ u Majnûn, on fol. 122b. 4. Haft Paikar, on fol. 180b. 5a. The first part of the Iskandarnâma, styled اقبالنامۀ سكندرى, on fol. 241b. 5b. The second part of the Iskandarnâma, styled شرفنامۀ سكندرى, on fol. 324b.

Dated in the month Rabî’-althânî, A.H. 975=A.D. 1567, October (on fol. 241a there is written by mistake سنۀ سبع خمسين الخ instead of خمس و سبعين الخ).

Some small lacunas at the beginning of several pages.

Ff. 39-42 are misplaced, the right order of the leaves is: 39, 41, 40, 42. On fol. 369a, l. 2, the same rhymed epilogue on Niżâmî’s death appears, which has been noticed in Rieu ii. pp. 564b and 565a; it is styled انجامش روزگار نظامى, and states that the poet’s life extended to 63 years and six months.

No. 141, ff. 370, 4 coll., each ll. 20; Nasta’lîḳ; an illuminated frontispiece at the beginning of each mathnawî; illuminated headings throughout the copy; the first two pages luxuriously embellished; miniature paintings on ff. 4b, 15a, 32a, 42a, 49a, 57a, 62b, 76b, 105a, 162b, 171a, 211a, 214a, 217b, 221b, 227a, and 271b; size, 12¼ in. by 7½ in.