[IO Islamic 3226] مجموعۀ تصنيفات آخوند سيّد سيف الدّين كشميرى

Majmû’a-i-taṣnîfât-i-Âkhund Sayyid Saif-aldîn Kashmirî

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 1733 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 3226 here with notations and hyperlinks].

1733

Majmû’a-i-taṣnîfât-i-Âkhund Sayyid Saif-aldîn Kashmirî (مجموعۀ تصنيفات آخوند سيّد سيف الدّين كشميرى).

The complete poetical and prose works of a modern Kashmîrian poet, Mîr Saif-aldîn Âkhund, with the takhalluṣ Saif (fol. 11a, l. 2), who lived at the time of writing this collection (i.e. A.H. 1270=A.D. 1854, see ff. 10b, 78a, etc.), in Lûdiyâna (لوديانه), in the province of Dihlî, one of the principal stations of the British territory on the north-western frontier. The poems are partly in Persian, partly in the modern Kashmîrian dialect, considerably mixed with Persian.

Contents:

1.قطعات سلاميّه با صنائع و رموز حروف سلام, on fol. 1b, a number of twenty-three highly artificial Persian ḳiṭ’as setting forth the hidden meaning and the secret qualities of the letters in the words سلام (ḳiṭ’as 1-19), تحيّة (ḳiṭ’as 20 and 21), دعا (ḳiṭ’ah 22), and الهى (ḳiṭ’ah 23), with a detailed commentary on the margin and numerous interlinear paraphrases and glosses. It is concluded by a short epilogue in prose (on fol. 11a), in which the author state that he composed the first eleven ḳiṭ’as during a severe fever, and the last twelve as a token of gratitude for his recovery. Beginning of the first ḳiṭ’ah:

سلام تافته انوار بسم از سينش

خواصّ اللّهش از لام بر زده اعلام

Written by the author himself in the month Shawwâl, A.H. 1270 (July, 1854), see fol. 10b.

2.شرح منظوم چيستان مُغْلَق , on fol. 12b, a Persian poetical commentary on an intricate riddle, beginning:

حمد حق را كه بى همال بود – لطف او حلّ هر شكال بود

It is in form of a lengthy ḳaṣîdah with the radîf بود , just as the baits of the riddle (چيستان) itself, which begins, on fol. 13a (distinguished by red ink):

چيست آن جانور كه هيأت او

گاه بدر و گهى هلال بود

The riddle is in form of a ḳiṭ’ah; the metre is the same in both, viz.خفيف. A Persian prose-commentary on the margin and interlinear paraphrases as in the first part.

3.نظم و نثر غير منقوط كه براى شاه جمجاه شجاع الملك شاه مرحوم ساخته شده بود, on fol. 17b, most artificial Persian pieces in prose and poetry, in two distinct sections, the first of which (on ff. 17b-25a) is headed in the index (on the fly-leaves) thus: عبارات منثور و منظوم در صنعت تجريد يعنى بى نقطه بزبان عربى و فارسى معه دو بيت در صنعت منقوط التّمام يعنى تمام نقطه دار, i.e. all letters employed are مجرّد (stripped), that is to say, have no diacritical points whatever, except the last two baits (on fol. 25a), in which only letters with diacritical points are used; the second section (ff. 25a-29b) is headed in the index :

قصيدة مشتمل بر صنائع نادره يعنى تجريد و توصيل يعنى اوّلا جملۀ حروف متفرّقه بعد از آن دو دو بهم پيوسته , پس سه سه تا ده ده تا موصّل التّمام يعنى بيت متّصل , i.e. the whole section consists of one lengthy ḳaṣîdah with numerous subdivisions, each of which exhibits a special kind of تجريد and توصيل, that is to say, some of the first contain only words with unconnected letters (حروف متفرّقه), partly with, partly without diacritical points ; the two divisions give then gradually words with two, three, and more connected letters up to ten, and the last piece (on fol. 29b) contains exclusively connected letters, so that each hemistich appears as one unseparated word, having a strong resemblance to long Sanskirt composita. The whole part was composed for Shujâ’-almulk, king of Afghânistân, who died A.H. 1258 (A.D. 1842), see Rieu iii. p. 905b.

Beginning of the first prose-piece, on fol. 17b:الحمد لله الواحد الاحد الملك الودود الصّمد لا ملك الاّ له و لا اله الاّ هو الخ. Commentary on the margin and interlinear paraphrases.

4.قصائد و غزلها, ḳaṣîdas and ghazals of the most subtle description, in Persian, on fol. 30b. The first is addressed to the same Shujâ’-almulk, and begins:

حمد خداست مطلع ديوان اختراع

نعت نبيست مقصد انشا و ابتداع

Commentary and paraphrases as before.

5.ابياتيكه بطريق رقعات و تهنيت نامجات بزرگان و عزيزان نوشته, on fol. 46a, poetical epistles, congratulations, etc., composed for certain festive occasions in the form of ḳiṭ’as; the first is headed در تهنيت عيد براى بزرگى, and begins:

اين عيد سعيد سعيد خوش مواعيد

بر بخت مبارك مبارك

Occasional explanation and glosses.

6.قصّۀ وامق و عذرا بزبان كشميرى كه با فارسى مختلط است, on fol. 55b, a mathnawî, ‘Wâmiḳ and ‘Adhrâ,’ in the modern Kashmîrian dialect, which is considerably mixed with Persian. Saif-aldîn composed it, according to the colophon (on fol. 78a), in his youth, when still living in Kashmîr, and completed this transcript in Lûdiyâna the 11th of Dhû-alḥijjah, A.H. 1270 (A.D. 1854, Sept. 4). He says, with the common conceit of all Eastern poets, that this mathnawî is the finest poem ever written in the idiom of Kashmîr. Beginning:

خداوندا بكن شيداى عشقم

بگردان وامق عذراى عشقم

7.قواعد زبان كشميرى, on fol. 79b, grammatical tablets, paradigms, glossary of the modern Kashmîrian dialect, beginning: حمد بيحدّ مر خداى سخن بر زبان آفرين را كه السنۀ مختلفه و لغات گوناگون آدميان را دليلى الخ.

An index of the whole collection on the fly-leaves.

The copy was received from Dr. Royle, July, 1856. Saif-aldîn states himself at the end of the work in Kashmîrian, that he wrote it at the request of the Deputy Commissioner.

No. 3226, ff. 93, ll. 12-13, the first ten leaves in diagonal lines; large Nasta’lîḳ; size, 107/8 in. by 6 in.