R.10.2 (Wren Library, Trinity College Cambridge)

Oriental Manuscripts

Summary of Contents: The ʻĀlamgīr′nāmah extends from the deposition of Shāh Jehān in 1067, and the accession, in the following year, of Aurungzeb, to the eleventh year of that monarch’s reign, when general peace was established throughout the Mogul Empire. It was composed in the thirty-second year of his reign, but Aurungzeb’s aversion to literature prevented its completion.

Author: Muḥammad Kāẓim ibn Muḥammad Amīn Munshī محمد كاظم بن محمد أمين منشي

Title: ʻĀlamgīr′nāmah

Title: عالمگیرنامه

The present copy is imperfect, concluding abruptly on page 214, in the middle of an account of the appointment of Moḥammad Amīn Khān as general of the army sent to repress the Afghan invasion of the Punjab, in the tenth year of Aurungzeb’s reign. At this point the copyist appears to have relinquished his task, as several pages have been ruled for writing, but left blank. Page 135 is reversed; it is merely a spoilt leaf inserted by mistake.

Incipit: ای داده بعقل پر تو آکاهی شاهان زتو کامیاب شاهنشاهی آنرا کاینات برتر خواهی برسر نهیش افسر ظل الهی اورنگ نشینان کشور بیان را تیغ زبان اقبال شاه بی همتای عالم گیر است که افراختن لواء دولت سلاطین دین پرور شریعت امین باوج نصرت وفیروزی از آیات جهان فروزی قدرت اوست

Language(s): Persian

References

no. 851

Palmer, p. 5

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Glazed paper, slightly stained

Extent: 216 ff.

Hand(s)

Nastaʿlīq - well written in a current Persian hand

Additions: Pasted to the fly-leaf

Pasted leaf ‘Tis conjectured ye MS was tied up in two parcels; ye one directed by Sir William Norris’s own hand; For ye library of Trin. Coll. ye other not and being in an unknown character as well as language, ye Executor of Sir William imagined that only weh was so directed was all what was to be delivered;But this Part having some years ago been put into the hands of Mr Sale ye learned translator of ye Koran, he said it was a history of some of ye great Moguls, but imperfect. By which means it came to be known what it was and to what it belonged. It appears by ye book of ye Ambassadour’s accts yt ye MS cost Him in India 380 Roupees. This account of the MS was written and sent with it by Dr. Hopwood, physician, at Manchester, who is executor to Mr. Richard Norris, brother to the late Sir William Norris here mentioned, October 29, 1754.

History

Origin: Undated - mid 18th century CE

Provenance and Acquisition

Presented to Trinity College Library in 1754.

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 A Descriptive Catalogue of the Arabic, Persian and Turkish Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, London 1870".

Availability

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card. (For admissions procedures contact Wren Library Admissions). Contact wren.library@trin.cam.ac.uk for further information on the availability of this manuscript.

Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World

R.10.2 (Wren Library, Trinity College Cambridge)

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