Or 16171 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

A commentary upon Būstān, the renowned didactic masnavī poem by Saʿdī of Shiraz (d. 691/1292 or 694/1295) which was apparently completed in 655/1257. The author is Tekchand Bahār. This is the autograph, completed at Delhi on Wednesday 21 Rabīʿ al-ākhir 1165/8 March 1752.

There is one other recorded manuscript of Bahār-i Būstān, in Punjab Public Library, Lahore; it is acephalous and dates from the 14th/20th century. See FNKhF V, p. 3442. Munzavī, op. cit., V, pp. 3454-5, lists four other commentaries on the Būstān, two being by Ottoman Turkish authors (Surūrī and Shamʿī). According to Munzavī, Bahār-i Būstān was published for the fourth time in 1929. Edwards’s British Museum catalogue and Arberry’s India Office Library catalogue record only the 1301/1884 Delhi lithograph. Tekchand also composed Bahār-i ʿAjam, a lexicon of Persian words used by poets, and Khulāṣa-'i Bahār-i ʿAjam, an abridgment of the same, both of which have been published.

On Saʿdī and his works see, for example, J. Rypka in Cambridge History of Iran, V, pp. 594-600. For manuscripts of Būstān, see FNKhF IV, pp. 2663-8 (118 mss.); other copies are to be found in manuscripts of Saʿdī’s Kulliyyāt: see FNKhF III, pp. 1861-70 (144 mss).

On f. 1v-2r of the present manuscript Tekchand wrote the beginning of the preface; then, perhaps because he found that there were many alterations to be made, he broke off, beginning from the incipit again on f. 2v. The margins contain numerous annotations and corrections in the author's hand throughout the volume.

Begins: ‘Basmalah... va bih nastaʿīn... Īn gulbun-i dānish kih nāmīst ba-Bahār-i Būstān sayrash naṣīb-i yārān va dūstān... Ba-nām-i Jahāndār-i jahān-āfarīn / Ḥakīmī, sukhan bar zabān āfarīn... Baḥr-i mutāqarib-i musamman-i maqṣūr vazn-i ān dū bār fuʿūlun fuʿūlun fuʿūlun fuʿūl...’

Ends: ‘Murād az bizāʿat ṭāʿat va īn mustas̲nī munqaṭiʿ ast chirā kih umīd dākhil-i ṭāʿat nīst. Al-Ḥamd li-Allāh va al-minnah kih ba-itmām rasīd kitāb-i Bahār-i Būstān Sharḥ-i Būstān ba-tārīkh-i rūz-i chahār'shanbah bīst va yakum-i Rabīʿ al-ukhrà sāl-i hazār va yak'ṣad va shast (sic) va panj...’

Other contents: the author’s corrections are present on many folios throughout; inside front cover, pencilled description: ‘Behar Bustan / Pundit Tek Chand / (‘Bostan of Sadi’ del.) / tutor of Dara Shikuh / 1065 / Author M.S. / Iran / Comm. on Bostan’; f. 144r, written upside down in the same hand: ‘No. 32 / Bahari Bostan /Authors M.S. / Author was Tutor / to Dara Shukoh’; typewritten slip of paper, tipped in, with note: ‘Persian Mauscript (sic) / Tekchand Bahar / Bahari Bostan / Commentary on Sadis poem / dated 1065 a.h. / large 8vo / Oriental calf.’

Delhi. Wednesday 21 Rabīʿ al-ākhir 1165/8 March 1752.

Small, very neat nastaʿlīq. 27 lines. Red headings; overlinings in black or red. Beige paper, probably Indian. Very light worming throughout; numerous old patch repairs, mainly small. Smudging of ink on top three lines of text owing to water spillage, f. 123-144. 144 folios. 250 x 162 mm.; text area variable, 195-200 x 100-103 mm. Maroon leather binding, plain.

Purchased from Probsthain, London.