[IO Islamic 1408] بهار دانش

Bahâr-i-dânish.

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 806 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 1408 here with notations and hyperlinks].

806

Bahâr-i-dânish (بهار دانش).

A collection of tales, the framework of which is formed by the story of Jahândâr Sulṭân and Bahrawar Bânû, composed A.H. 1061 (A.D. 1651) by Shaikh ‘Inâyat-allâh Kanbû (see fol. 3a, l. 8), who died in Jumâdâ-alawwal, A.H. 1082 (A.D. 1671, September); see Bodleian Cat., Nos. 466-472, and No. 1976; Rieu ii. p. 765, and iii. p. 1093b; W. Pertsch, Berlin Cat., pp. 999 and 1000; J. Aumer, pp. 54 and 55; A.F. Mehren, p. 32. The collection is preceded by a preface of the author’s younger brother and pupil, Muḥammad Ṣâliḥ Kanbû, the author of the ‘Amal-i-Ṣâliḥ (see Nos. 332-336 in this Cat.) The present copy, although undated, appears upon the whole the best in the India Office collection.

Beginning:فاتحۀ كتاب مستطاب آفرينش و پيرايۀ صحيفۀ دانش و بينش حمد خداوند خرد بخش سخن آفرين الخ.

The work itself begins on fol. 6b. On complete editions of the text in Delhi, Lucknow, Bombay, etc., comp. Zenker ii. p. 627; Bodleian Cat., No. 1976; and Rieu, loc. cit. Part of the text has been published in the ‘Selections for the Use of the Students of the Persian Class,’ vol. ii, Calcutta, 1809, and in the ‘Classical Selections from some of the most esteemed Persian Writers,’ vol. i, Calcutta, 1828. English translations by Alexander Dow, London, 1768, and by Jonathan Scott, 3 vols., Shrewsbury, 1799; German translation, by A. Th. Hartmann, Leipzig, 1802. On a French translation by Lescallier, and the printed text which is found on the margin of Niżâmî’s Sikandarnâma, Bombay, A.H. 1261, see Zenker ii. p. 631, and W. Pertsch, loc. cit.

No. 1408, ff. 374, ll. 15; large and distinct Nasta’lîḳ; illuminated frontispieces on ff. 1b and 6b; pictures and drawings on ff. 10a, 12b, 13a, 17a, 21b, 25a, 32a, 32b, 37a, 40b, 41a, 42a, 45b, 57b, 67a, 69b, 72a, 74a, 75b, 76a, 79b, 81b, 83a, 84a, 85b, 87b, 88a, 90a, 91a, 93b, 97a, 99b, 101a, 104a, 104b, 106a, 110b, 111a, 112b, 113b, 114a, 114b, 117b, 118a, 120b, 121a, 124b, 126b, 127a, 129a, 129b, 133a, 133b,136a, 136b, 139a, 139b, 144a, 144b, 148a, 148b, 151a, 151b, 155a, 155b, 161a, 161b, 165a, 165b, 170a, 170b, 173b, 174a, 178a, 182a, 191a, 191b, 197a, 199a, 204a, 210b, 211a, 215b, 216a, 221b, 222a, 226a, 231b, 232a, 244b, 245a, 249b, 250a, 257b, 258a, 266b, 267a, 271a, 275b, 276a, 280a, 282b, 283a, 288b, 289a, 292a, 295b, 296b, 299a, 302a, 308b, 309a, 314a, 322a, 326a, 333b, 334a, 337a, 357b, 358a, 358b, 359a, 361b, 364b, 371b, and 372a ; size, 12 in. by 73/8 in.