Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World

Or 15874 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

Oriental Manuscripts

Treatises on farriery

Contents

Summary of Contents: A collection of treatises on farriery, together with various brief compilations of medicinal formulae for equine ailments. The first text in the manuscript, but probably the last to be copied, is in Urdu, as are parts of the third and fourth and some of the remedies elsewhere in the manuscript; the remainder is in Persian. The folios from 241 to the end are all of similar paper and most of the texts are copied by the same hand, probably during the 13th/19th century.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support:
Extent: 389 ff. with 11 blank leaves
Dimensions (leaf): 236 × 150 mm.

Condition

Hand(s)

Nastaʻlīq.

Decoration

Multiple text frames: black, gold, yellow, red, green and black. Gold and polychrome floral motifs and designs of Central Asian type on most folios.

One horse miniature, f. 275r, measuring 236 x 150 mm.; this depicts a gold-coloured horse with puce bridle etc. and gold bit against a blank background, with a strip of blue sky above and a hilly landscape dotted with bushes, not to scale and blue in colour.

Additions:

Binding

Red morocco binding with impressed medallions and borders, yellow lines, and spine label reading: D / Ṭibb / (17) / Duldul-nawāznāmah / qalamī.

History

Origin: 1750 - 1861 CE Partly copied at ; Vellore, Deccan. Colophons dated from 1798 to 1860/61

Provenance and Acquisition

2002-04-24

Purchased from Bonhams sale 24 April 2002, lot 120.

1

Contents

Language(s): Urdu

1. ff 1v-72v

A treatise in Urdu on equine diseases and their treatment. By ‘Abd al-Qādir of Vellore (Aylūr), composed in 1221/1806-7. The author states in the preface that his work is derived from various reliable sources.

Copied in 1277/1860-61 by Qāsim Khān ibn Aḥmad Khān ibn Ḥasan Khān Muhmand al-Nīknām'ābādī, for Ghulām Rasūl Khān Jam‘dār ibn ‘Abd Allāh Khān Jam‘dār ibn Ḥasan Khān Mandūza’ī.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Slightly grey and thin laid paper with crown watermark; ff. 1-3 and the preceding blank are green.
Extent: 72 ff.
Dimensions (leaf): 236 × 150 mm.
Dimensions (written): 175 × 130 mm.

Condition

Layout

11 lines.

Hand(s)

Spindly, rather large nasta‘līq script. Copied by Qāsim Khān ibn Aḥmad Khān ibn Ḥasan Khān Muhmand al-Nīknām'ābādī.

Decoration

Illuminated text openings on f. 1v-2r and 11v-12r. Illuminated poetical dā’irah, f. 9v. Red headings, overlinings, original pagination (139 p).

History

Origin: 1277 (1860 - 1861) AH ; India

2

Contents

Language(s): Persian

2. ff 74v-112v

A Persian treatise on farriery by Ḥāmid ibn ‘Alīm, in 60 chapters (bāb) of which only 58 have headings. The last two, however, are much the longest.

The chapters and their subjects, are listed on f. 74v-76r. Folios 106v-112v contain a chapter comprising medicinal formulae in verse; folios 113r-115v contain talismans.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Thick, cream-coloured laid paper.
Extent: folios
Dimensions (written): 195 × 109 mm.

Hand(s)

Angular inelegant nastaʻlīq.

History

Origin: 18th-19th centuries CE

3

Contents

Language(s): Urdu and Persian

3. ff 116r-120r

Miscellaneous texts, mainly in Urdu, containing remedies for aging and/or ailing horses.

The recipe for treating equine depression (f. 120r) is a later addition.

Title is supplied.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Beige paper of medium thickness.  

Layout

11 lines per page.

Hand(s)

Nastaʻlīq

History

Origin: 18th-19th centuries CE

4

Contents

Language(s): Urdu

4. ff. 120v-123v

Further medicinal formulae for treatment of horses, in Urdu.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Beige paper of medium thickness.  

Layout

15 lines.

Hand(s)

Nastaʻlīq.

History

Origin: 18th-19th centuries CE

5

Contents

5. ff. 124v-237v

A Persian treatise on farriery, translated from an Urdu version of the Sanskrit Salihotra by Khvājah Ḥasan valad-i Khvājah Maḥmūd, of the township (qaṣaba) of Antur, Nagpur. The translation was completed in Muḥarram of an unspecified regnal year: Sāl-i julūs-i humāyūn muṭābiq-i sana (sic).

The work comprises 9 chapters (bāb), which are listed on f. 125v-126r.

The lengthy colophon states that this work was composed at the behest of John Raven in the sūba of Arcot, and confusingly refers to it by the additional title Faras al-favā’id; but this work is very different from the rare illustrated text of that name by Dā’ūd Khān valad-i Yāsīn Khān (BL Or. 14256).

There are two spaces on each page for illustrations, which were never added.

Colophon, f. 237r-v. Copied by Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad ‘Aẓīm al-Dīn, and completed at Maḥmūd Bandar, known as Firangī-pattah, on 25 Jumādā l-ūlà 1221/10 August 1806.

Language(s): Persian
Colophon:

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Off-white paper, probably Indian.
Extent: folios
Dimensions (written): 195 × 108 mm.

Layout

13 lines.

Hand(s)

Good clear nastaʻlīq. Copyist: Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad ‘Aẓīm al-Dīn

Decoration

Red headings. Text frames: red, red, blue.

History

Origin: 25 Jumādā l 1221 AH; 10 August 1806 CE ; Maḥmūd Bandar.

6

Contents

6. ff. 277r-290r

A further collection of remedies for equine ailments. A sizeable number of words have been crossed through, a feature found in some other works in the present collection, rendering the text difficult to read.

Language(s): Persian
7. ff. 290r-330v

A summary of teachings in the Sanskrit text , Salihotra, a general treatise on horses and farriery.

The present text comprises eleven bābs, subdivided into faṣls, the contents of which are listed on f. 290r-291r.

Language(s): Persian
8. ff. 335v-340v

Treatise giving remedies for khūbak, another equine ailment. The title is derived from the opening words of the text.

Language(s): Persian
9. ff. 343r-385r

Another treatise on farriery, apparently based on the Sanskrit Salihotra. The actual title is found in the colophon.

Colophon, f. 385r. Completed on 15 Ṣafar 1213/29 July 1798.

Other contents: f. 74r, 113r-115v, 238v-240v, 331r-333r (headed Adviyah barā-yi chakaval va pushtāk), 334v, 335v-340v, 341r-342r, 385r-387r (headed Mutafarriqāt-i adviya házih), 387v-389r: miscellaneous medicines, Arabic talismanic formulae, etc.; those on f. 387r-v are in Urdu.

Language(s): Persian with some Urdu and Arabic

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Off-white paper of medium thickness

Layout

Mostly 15 lines

Hand(s)

Nastaʻlīq.

Decoration

History

Origin: 15 Ṣafar 1213 AH; 29 July 1798 CE ; India.

Additional Information

Record Sources

Based on unpublished description in M.I. Waley, Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts acquired 2000-2014.

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.

Funding of Cataloguing

BL


Comments

Comment on this record

Please fill out your details.

How are we using your feedback? See our privacy policy.

See the Availability section of this record for information on viewing the item in a reading room.

TO TOP