[IO Islamic 3346] Mathnawîs

Mathnawîs.

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 914 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 3346 here with notations and hyperlinks].

Sanâ’î (Nos. 914-928).

914

Seven mathnawîs by Sanâ’î.

This is the fullest collection, as yet met with, of the mystical and didactic mathnawîs of Ḥakim Sanâ’i of Ghazna, with his full name, Abû-almajd Majdûd bin Âdam Sanâ’î, who probably died A.H. 545 (A.D. 1150), the date given Taḳî Kâshî and the Âtashkada (the latter stating, that Sanâ’î wrote an elegy on the death of Amîr Mu’izzî, who died A.H. 542=A.D. 1147, 1148, comp. Bodleian Cat., col. 287, No. 744); how to reconcile this date with Muḥammad bin ‘Alî al-Raffâ’s and Jâmi’s statement, that the poet died in A.H. 525 (A.D. 1131), is not clear, but as the second mathnawî of this collection was composed A.H. 528 (A.D. 1134), and as many good copies of the حديقه give A.H. 534 or 535 (A.D. 1139-1141) as the date of composition for that mathnawî, there seems to be very good evidence for the correctness of the view taken by the two above-mentioned tadhkiras. Another, still later date for the poet’s death, is given by Daulatshâh and Ḥ. Khalfa in his chronological tables, viz. A.H. 576 (A.D. 1180, 1181); compare on these conflicting statements, and on the life and works of Sanâ’î in general, Bodleian Cat., Nos. 528-537; Rieu ii. p. 549 sq.; W. Pertsch, Berlin Cat., p. 747 sq.; Ouseley, Biogr. Notices, p. 184; Ḥ. Khalfa iii. p. 40; A. Sprenger, Catal., p. 557 sq.; G. Flügel i.p. 498; Cat. des MSS. et Xylographes, p. 326; J. Aumer, p. 9; Haft Iḳlîm, No. 333, etc.

The seven mathnawîs contained in this collection are:

1.Ḥadîḳat-alḥaḳîḳah wa Sharî’at-alṭariḳah ( حديقة الحقيقة و شريعة الطريقة), usually called Ḥadîḳah, in ten bâbs (a detailed statement about the contents of which is given in the Bodleian Cat. and in W. Pertsch, loc. cit.).

As date of composition appears generally A.H. 525 (A.D. 1131); other copies give A.H. 534 or 535, see above; another title of this mathnawî is Kitâb-alfakhrî, or alkitâb-alfakhrî, also Fakhrînâma, see W. Pertsch, loc. cit. Beginning of Bâb I, on fol. 1b:

اى درون پرور برون آراى

وى خرد بخش بيخرد بخشاى

Bâb II, on fol. 54b; III, on fol. 65a; IV and V, not marked; VI, on fol. 143b; VII, on fol. 168a; VIII, on fol. 189a; IX, not marked; X, on fol. 264b.

2.Ṭarîḳ-altaḥḳiḳ (طريق التحقیق), composed A.H. 528 (A.D. 1134), see No. 926 below. It begins on fol. 278b:

ابتداى سخن بنام خداست

آنكه بى مثل و شبه و بى همتاست

3.Another mathnawî, without title, which may be the Gharibnâma (غريبنامه), mentioned on col. 498, l. 4 ab infra. It begins on fol. 302b:

(= همه دان) اينچنین گفت راوئ همدان

كه بعهد قديم در همدان

4.Sair-al’ubbâd ilâ alma’âd (سير العباد الى المعاد), also styled كنوز الرمرز, see No. 927 below (both titles therefore designating one mathnawî only, see A. Sprenger, Catal., p. 558). It begins, on fol. 326b:

مرحبا اى بريد سلطان وش

تختت از آب و تاجت از آتش

Portions of this mathnawî are also found in Elliott 108 of the Bodleian Library (Bodleian Cat., No. 537, fol. 282b sq.).

5.Kârnâma (كارنامه), here without a title, but identified by comparison with Nos. 916 and 927 below.

It begins, on fol. 347b:

ويحك اى نقشبند بر خامه – قاصد رايگان بى نامه

6.’Ishḳnâma (عشقنامه), beginning, on fol. 360b:

عشق مرغ نشيمن قدم است

قُوت او گه وجود و گه عدم است

7.’Aḳlnâma (عقلنامه), here without a title, but identified by comparison with No. 915 below. According to No. 927 below it has the additional title of سنائى آباد. It begins, on fol. 377b:

ابتدا ميكنم بنام خدا

آنكه هست از صفات نقص جدا

No date. The first nine leaves supplied later.

No. 3346, olim 13. J. 24, ff. 392, 2 coll., each ll. 19; small Nasta’lîḳ; illuminated frontispiece at the beginning of each of the last six mathnawîs; size, 63/8 in. by 31/4 in.