IO Islamic 3770 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

India Office Library

Extracts on Afghanistan

Summary of Contents: Miscellaneous extracts and tracts in Persian relating to the history of Afghanistan, also covering Baluchistan, parts of which are attibuted to the scribes, Yaḥyá Munshī and Ḥusayn ʻAlī.

Contents include:

March from Kandahar to Qalat ‘Huseer’ by Yaḥyā [Mīrzā Yaḥyā Munshī]
Baloch tribes of Quetta, by ʻĀshiq ʻAlī
Memoir on Baluchistan given to Anderson by Major Luck [General Sir George Luck, G.C.B., Colonel of the 15th Hussars], written by one of his employees
Account of the fort of Khilat, by Yaḥyā
Baloch tribes, by Yaḥyā
Account of the Ghilzay tribes, provided by Major Luck
Notes on various tribes by Valī Muḥammad
Route from Kandahar towards Dera Ismail Khan by Amīr Allāh Shāh given to Anderson by Major Luck
Leading men of Herat and Kandahar by Hasan Ali [ie Mīrzā Ḥusayn ʿAlī Khān Hiravī ibn Rajab ʿAlī Khān]
Rare treatise with graphic diagrams (ff. 228v-242v) on coins excavated from Kandahar, entitled Z̤arb al-buldān and composed by Mīrzā Ḥusayn ʿAlī Hiravī for ‘Andarsan Ṣāḥib’, the master of Shāh Shujāʿ al-Mulk's cannonade (tūp khānah). Prefixed with a note in English (f. 228r): ‘Transcripts of a few coins found at Kundahar copied by Husun Alee, 1841’.

IOL stamp: 19 Mar 1909

Language(s): Persian & English

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Watermarks: 1) ФKHL (f. 192); 2) VIGO (f. 226); 3) erect bear with axe in ornamented oval frame (f. 228)

Extent: 244 ff.

Some variation in dimensions of individual tracts

Hand(s)

Cursive nastaʻlīq in black ink.

Additions:

Notes by Anderson throughout including note of contents on f. 244v.

Binding

Late 19th or early 20th century half-leather European binding with marbled boards.

History

Origin: 19th century CE ; Kandahar, Afghanistan

Provenance and Acquisition

Previously owned by Lieutenant-Colonel William Anderson (1803-1858)

Acquired by the India Office Library on 19 March 1909, one of 25 vols. purchased at a sale of Sotheby, Wilkins and Hodge for £7.0.6 on 16 March 1909 (ref. IOR/L/R/6/309 no 546).

Availability

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card for admissions procedures contact British Library, Registering for a Reader Pass. Contact apac-enquiries@bl.uk for further information on the availability of this manuscript. For information on catalogues and ordering manuscripts see Finding and ordering Persian manuscripts in the British Library.

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