[IO Islamic 3163] Hamîsha Bahâr

<strong>Hamîsha Bahâr.</strong> <strong>This manuscript is now IO Islamic 675 in the India Office collections.</strong> <strong>[metadata:</strong> <strong>Hermann Ethé</strong><strong><em>, </em></strong><strong><em>Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office,</em></strong> <strong>2 vols. (Oxford: India Office, 1903): volume 1,</strong> <strong>number 3163 here with notations and hyperlinks]</strong>. 675 Hamîsha Bahâr (هميشه بهار ) . Eternal Spring, a tadhkirah of Persian poets who flourished in India from the time of Jahângîr to the accession of Muḥammadshâh (A.H. 1131=A.D. 1719), by a Khatrî Kishanćand Ikhlâṣ, who completed this work in A.H. 1136 (A.D. 1723, 1724), see fol. 7^b, ll. Penult. and ultim. Compare the complete list of poets in this tadhkirah in A. Sprenger, Catal., p. 117 sq.; see also Rieu iii. p. 1086^b. Beginning, on fol. 5^b: اى ذكر تو گلفروش بازار سخن الخ . The first poet mentioned in this copy is Mîr Ilâhî (see above in No. 670), on fol.8^a, not, as in Sprenger’s list, Amîrkhân Anjâm, who follows here as second, on fol. 9^b; the last is Aḥmad Yârkhân Yaktâ, as in Sprenger. This copy is dated A.H. 1139 (ninth year of Muḥammadshâh’s reign), the 9th of Dhû-alḳa’dah (A.D. 1727, June 28), by Muḥammad Majid, at Shâhjânâbâd. The remark on the fly-leaf, that it was copied A.H. 1231 (A.D. 1816) , is consequently wrong; there are besides seals of former owners, for instance, of Mîr Ghulâm, bearing the date A.H. 1222 (A.D. 1807, 1808). The Hamîsha Bahâr fills ff. 5-173; the first leaves, ff. 1-4, and the last, ff. 174-191, contain various specimens of Persian poetry, mostly in oblique or diagonal lines . On the margin of ff. 5-29 there are additional verses also. A former owner of this copy was Mr. Hall (Benares, 1851); see, besides, the remark of A. Sprenger, Catal., p. 117, note. No. 3163, ff. 191, ll. 11 (in the main portion); Shikasta; size, 9^3/4in. by 5^1/4 in.