King's Pote 50 (King's College Library, King's College Cambridge)

Pote Collection

Summary of Contents: 1 copy of Bīch Ganit (Persian translation), part of the Līlavatī.

Translator: ʿAṭāʾ Allāh Rashīdī ibn Ustād Aḥmad Miʿmār عطاء الله رشيدى ابن استاد احمد معمار

Note concerning author: Marshall (p.87 and p.540) identifies the Sanskrit author and the Persian translator (translating in 1044/1634-5).

Title: Bīch Ganit (Persian translation), part of the Līlavatī

Title: بيچ گَنِتْ

Language(s): Persian

Colophon details: Date: Undated Scribe: Anonymous.

Colophon further notes: From an ownership note it is known that the manuscript was copied less than two decades after the translation was made.

Note concerning work: The translator's preface states that the work written by Lilavati was translated into Persian in 1034, 8th year, and this Preface was written for Shah Jahan. There is a similar sounding work in RAS Persian 194.

References

Browne no. 208

Palmer no. 50

Persian Literature: a bio-bibliographical survey C. A. Storey 1927–39 II.1 p.5

Mughals in India: a bibliographical survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts D.N. Marshall 1962 p.540; p.87

Physical Description

Form: codex

Extent: 72 folios.

Dimensions (leaf): 20.9 × 12 cm.

Dimensions (written): 17.5 × 8.5 cm.

Foliation: Foliated.

Layout

17 lines per page.

Not ruled.

Hand(s)

Script: Indian nastaʿlīq. Scribe: Anonymous.

Additions:

F.1r: the seal of ʿAbd al-Shakūr, 1049 (and the same seal appears on the final page); also, an ownership note in the hand of ʿAbd al-Shakūr Turābī Ijmīrī, 1052 (less than two decades after the translation was made).

Note on the flyleaf states that the manuscript has been repeatedly collated.

Binding

Cardboard with leather spine, Indian style. Green paper doublures. Condition: Bad condition. Severe worm and rodent damage. Dimensions: 21.4 × 12.2 × 1.4 cm. Boxed. Polier's number: 107.

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