King's Pote 42 (King's College Library, King's College Cambridge)

Pote Collection

Summary of Contents: 1 copy of Āʾīnah-yi Bakht (“Mirror of Fortune”).

Title: Āʾīnah-yi Bakht (“Mirror of Fortune”)

Language(s): Persian

Colophon details: Date: Undated Scribe: Anonymous.

Colophon further notes: F.125v undated.

Note concerning work: A historical and biographical work, composed, apparently, in 1068/1657-8. This is possibly the work of this title which forms part of Mirʾāt-i Ālam either by Muḥammad Bakhtāvar Khān (d.1685) or by Shaykh Muḥammad Baqā, See Marshall, Mughals in India, p.103 and p.106.

References

Browne no. 145

Palmer no. 42.1

Persian Literature: a bio-bibliographical survey C. A. Storey 1927–39 I.1 p.132

Mughals in India: a bibliographical survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts D.N. Marshall 1962 p.106; p.103 (a work by Shaykh Muhammad Baqa with this title)

Physical Description

Form: codex

Extent: 125 folios.

Dimensions (leaf): 21 × 13 cm.

Dimensions (written): 18 × 9 cm.

Foliation: Foliated.

Layout

15 lines per page.

Not ruled.

Hand(s)

Script: Indian nastaʿlīq. Scribe: Anonymous.

Additions:

Flyleaf: A note in neat nastaʿlīq provides a description of the content: the biography of 34 Indian rulers, beginning from Sulṭān Muʿiz al-dīn Sām, known as Shihāb al-dīn Ghūrī to Bābur Shāh, biographies of Mughal dynasty rulers from Ẓahīr al-dīn Bābur Pādshāh up to the enthronement of Aurangzeb, biographies of rulers of Kashmir, Sind, Bengal, Jaunpur, Gujarat and Deccan, which are classified in four groups: first Bahmani, Nizam al-mulki, Adil Khani, Qutb al-mulki; at the end there is a section on the lives of poets.

Binding

Marbled paper on suede binding, European style. Plain European paper doublures. Dimensions: 21.4 × 13 × 2.8 cm. Boxed. Polier's number: 47.

History

Origin: Undated.

Provenance and Acquisition

The "Pote Collection" arrived in England from India in 1790 and was divided between the Colleges of Eton and King's, Cambridge, with the first half alphabetically going to King's. Both halves of the collection are now housed in Cambridge University Library on permanent loan. Most if not all of the manuscripts had previously been owned by Colonel Antoine-Louis Henri Polier (1741–1795).

Gift of Edward Ephraim Pote (d.1832) in 1788.

Record Sources

Manuscript description based on E. G. Browne, "A supplementary hand-list of the Muhammadan manuscripts, including all those written in the Arabic character, preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge", Cambridge, 1922 and E. H. Palmer, "Catalogue of the oriental manuscripts in the library of King's College, Cambridge", J.R.A.S. v.3 (1867), pp.105-131 enhanced with additional descriptions and corrections by Shiva Mihan.

Availability

All manuscripts of the Pote Collection are on permanent loan at Cambridge University Library. Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card for admissions procedures consult Cambridge University Library. Contact near_eastern@lib.cam.ac.uk for further information on the availability of this manuscript

Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World