[IO Islamic 3443] خاورنامه

Khâwarnâma.

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 897 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 3443 here with notations and hyperlinks].

897

Another copy of the same.

This most magnificent copy of the Khâwarnâma is about 200 years old (undated) and illustrated with 156 gorgeous pictures, most of them nearly full-sized, in the richest variety of colours.

Beginning as usual:

نخستين برين نامۀ دلگشای

سخن نقش بستم بنام خداى

One leaf is missing between ff. 206 and 207 (the lacuna corresponding to fol. 104a, margin-column, l. 12 ab infra, to fol. 104b, margin-column, l. 5 in the preceding copy). On one of the fly-leaves at the end of the MS. a Persian note, written by ‘Alî Ibrâhîmkhân in 1789, gives the title and author’s name of this poem, fixes correctly his death in A.H. 875, in the reign of Shaikh ‘Umar Mîrzâ ibn Amîr Tîmûr, and alleges two peculiar reasons why it was styled خاورنامه, viz. (I) because خاوران is a place in Khurâsân, and the author, Ibn Ḥusâm, lived in Khurâsân, namely in Ḳuhistân; (2) because خاوران means ‘east and west’ (مشرق و مغرب), and the wonderful exploits of the hero of this poem are said to have taken place in the west (مغرب) ! He further states, that this poem is especially renowned in Iṣfahân and Khurâsân, although the stories related are devoid of historical truth, that it contains 23,735 baits and 157 illustrations on 362 folios. He adds, that it must have been copied for a king or Amîr. An English translation of this Persian note by H. T. Prinsep, Esq., is affixed to a fly-leaf in the beginning of the MS. Another English note, but by a different hand and without signature, is stuck to one of the fly-leaves at the end, and runs thus:

‘I am not skilful in ascertaining the age and value of a Persian manuscript, but I should think, as well from the handwriting as from the pictures, that this copy was made in the north Of India, and not in Persia, and that the artists were natives of India who have taken old Persian paintings for their-models. I should therefore place this MS. in the third or fourth rank as a mere work of art. But it appears, from the little that I have had time to look into, to be very correct, and the handwriting is very distinct, which give it additional value: and I have no doubt but it was made with great care and a vast expense. I know nothing of the character of the work; for this is the first copy I have ever met with: nor have I found any reference to the author in other works. He has used the measure and seems to have copied the style of Firdūsī in his celebrated Shâh-Nâmah, but I am not sufficiently acquainted with the two works to make any further comparison.’

No. 3443, ff. 361, 4 coll., each ll. 19; large and distinct Nasta’lîḳ; each column is separated from the other by a large gold stripe; splendid frontispieces on ff. 1b and 35b ; ff. 1b, 2a, 35b, and 36a richly illuminated; pictures on ff. 4a, 7a, 8a, 12a, 13a, 14b, 15b, 17b, 19b, 22b, 26a, 28a, 29a, 30b, 32b, 35a, 37a, 39a, 41a, 43a, 46a, 47b, 49a, 51b, 52b, 54b, 57b, 59b, 62b, 64b, 66b, 69b, 73a, 75a, 77a, 79b, 81a, 82b, 84a, 85b, 87a, 89a, 90b, 93a, 94b, 96b, 99a, 102a, 104b, 107b, 110a, 113b, 115b, 118a, 121a, 123b, 127a, 128b, 130b, 132b, 136a, 138a, 140b, 142a, 145a, 146b, 147b, 150a, 152b, 154b, 156b, 159a, 161a, 163a, 164b, 166b, 168a, 170a, 172b, 174b, 176a, 178a, 180a, 184b, 187a, 190a, 192b, 194b, 198b, 201b, 204a, 206a, 208a, 210a, 212a, 215a, 216b, 219a, 223b, 226b, 228a, 230a, 231b, 233b, 236b, 237b, 240b, 243a, 245a, 247a, 249a, 251b, 252b, 253b, 254b, 258a, 261a, 263a, 264a, 267a, 270a, 272b, 275a, 279a, 282a, 285b, 287a, 288b, 290a, 292b, 296a, 298b, 301b, 304a, 306b, 309a, 312b, 313b, 316b, 318b, 321b, 324a, 327a, 330a, 331b, 332b, 334a, 336b, 339a, 341a, 345a, 348a, 351b, 358a, 359a, and 361a; solid eastern binding; size, 133/4 in. by 105/8 in.