King's Pote 57 (King's College Library, King's College Cambridge)

Pote Collection

Summary of Contents: 1 copy of Bhāgavad Bhūpatī (verse translation into Hindustani).

Title: Bhāgavad Bhūpatī (verse translation into Hindustani)

Language(s): Hindi

Colophon details: Date: Undated Scribe: Anonymous.

Colophon further notes: F.307v: a colophon within the text layed out as a tree provides a brief date: year 27. That would mean c.1157/1744 if it were the reign of Muḥammad Shāh. The date, beginning of Dhū al-Qaʿdah 1178, on the final folio (in a later hand) relates to the birth of a son.

Note concerning manuscript: F.307r-v (2 folios from the end) has text written in two columns in the form of three trees.

References

Browne no. 199

Palmer no. 57

Physical Description

Form: codex

Extent: 309 folios.

Dimensions (leaf): 19.9 × 13.8 cm.

Dimensions (written): 15.5 × 9 cm.

Foliation: Foliated.

Layout

15 lines per page.

Not ruled. Two columns (verse).

Hand(s)

Script: Indian nastaʿlīq. Scribe: Anonymous.

Binding

Brown leather binding, Indian style. Plain paper doublures. Decorations: Pressure moulded turanj with two pendants. Dimensions: 19.8 × 13.6 × 4 cm. Boxed. Polier's number: 100.

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