Persian MS 1017 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Summary of Contents: A copy of the Bahār-i Dānish (Spring of Wisdom) by ʻInāyat Allāh (d. ca. 1671), relates the romantic adventures of Jahāndār Sulṭān and Bahravar Bānū, which serves as a frame story interwoven with other tales. One of six copies held in the Rylands, this redaction features the preface by the author's younger brother and pupil Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ followed by his own introduction in which he explains how he adapted the tale from one that he heard a young Brahmin recite.
Title: Bahār-i Dānish
Title: بهار دانش
Incipit: (basmala) برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): فاتحه کتاب مستطاب افرینش و پیرایهٔ صحیفهٔ دانش و بینش حمد خداوند خردبخش سخن آفرین و صورت نمای معنی ایجاد و تکوین است که بر لطایف ابداع و صنایع اختراع قدرت کامله پس از ماهتاب...
Language(s): Persian
S. H. Qasemi documents 244 manuscripts and printed editions of this work. C. A. Storey also notes various manuscripts and translations into English, German, French, Turkish, and Urdu. For other copies of this work held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 88, 199, 463, 919, and 991. For a glossary of terms found in this work entitled Rang-i Bahār by ‘Abd al-Bāqī, see Persian MS 477.
Physical Description
Form: codex
Layout
Hand(s)
Written in clear black nasta‘līq with red subheaders.
Additions:
Inscriptions:
‘Bahar Danush, or Garden of Knowledge; a translation has been done by Scott under the title Orientalium Literatura.
Einaiut Oollah of Dhely.
Bahār-i dānish.’
Inscriptions:
‘Bahar Danush, or Garden of Knowledge; a translation has been done by Scott under the title Orientalium Literatura.
Einaiut Oollah of Dhely.
Bahār-i dānish.’
History
Origin:
Provenance and Acquisition
Previously held in the Chetham Library, Manchester.
Purchased in 1981 by the John Rylands Library, together with other oriental manuscripts for £2000 .
Record Sources
Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2023 with reference to the volume in hand.
Availability
To book an in-person or online appointment to consult the manuscript, visit Using the Special Collections Reading Rooms. For any other enquiries please email uml.special-collections@manchester.ac.uk.
Bibliography
A. S. Bazmee Ansari, 'ʿInāyat Allāh Kanbū' Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., Vol. III (Leiden: Brill, 1971), pp. 1203–1204.
‘Abd al-Muqtadir, Catalogue of the Arabic and Persian Manuscripts in the Oriental Public Library at (Bankipore) Patna, Vol. VIII (Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press, 1925), p. 182, nos. 741–742.
A. Ashraf, A Catalogue of the Persian Books and Manuscripts in the Library of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press, 1890), p. 48, nos. E 34–36.
M. Dirāyatī and M. Dirāyatī, Fihristgān: Nuskhahʹhā-yi Khaṭṭī-i Īrān (Fankhā) (Union catalogue of Iran manuscripts), Vol. 6 (Tehran: Sāzmān-i Asnād va Kitābkhānah-i Millī-i Jumhūrī-i Islāmī-i Īrān, 1391 SH [2012–13 CE]), pp. 155–158 [Mashhad Maybudī MS no. 137, &c.].
H. Ethé, Catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the library of the India Office, Vol. 1 (London: Printed for the India Office by H. Hart, 1903), cols. 529–532, nos. 806–817 [British Library, IO Islamic 1408, etc.].
G. P. Greswell, Bibliotheca Chethamensis: Sive Bibliothecæ Publicæ Mancuniensis Ab Humfredo Chetham Armigero Fundatæ Catalogus, Vol. III (Mancunii: Henricus Smith, 1826), p. 164, no. 7994
M. A. Hukk, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Arabic and Persian Manuscripts in Edinburgh University Library (Hertford: Printed for the University of Edinburgh by S. Austin & Sons, 1925) pp. 106–107, nos. 121–122 [University of Edinburgh Or. Ms. 357].
ʻInāyat Allāh, Tales, translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi. In two volumes. [Translated by Alexander Dow] Dublin: Printed for P. and W. Wilson, H. Saunders, W. Sleater, B. Grierson, D. Chamberlaine, J. Potts, J. Williams, and C. Ingham, 1769.
ʻInāyat Allāh Kanbū Lāhūrī, Bahar-Danush; or, Garden of Knowledge. An Oriental Romance. Translated by Jonathan Scott. Shrewsbury: Printed by J. and W. Eddowes, 1799.
ʻInāyat Allāh Kanbū Lāhūrī, Bahār-i Dānish. Edited by Ḥasan Z̲ū al-Faqārī and ʿAbbās Saʿīdī. Tehran: Rushdʹāvarān, 1392 SH (2013 CE)
D. N. Marshall, Mughals in India: A Bibliographical Survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1962), pp. 203–204, no. 715(ii).
[Matthew Lumsden], Selections for the use of the students of the Persian Class, Vol. II: Comprising a portion of the Bahaure Daunish and the Deewaune Saudee (Calcutta: Persian Press of the College of Fort William, 1809), pp. 1–176.
‘A. Nawshāhī, Fihrist-i Nuskhahā-yi Khaṭṭi-yi Fārsi-yi Pākistān (Fihrist-i 8000 nuskha-yi khaṭṭi-yi kitābkhānahā-yi shakhṣī va dawlatī), Vol. 3 (Tehran: Mīrās̱-i Maktūb, 1398 SH [2017 CE]), pp. 1529–1532.
S. H. Qasemi, A Descriptive Catalogue of Persian Translations of Indian Works (New Delhi: National Mission for Manuscripts, 2014), pp. 189–201, nos. 1955-2203.
S. Rafiee-Rad, 'Persian Manuscripts in Samuel Robinson’s Collection in The John Rylands Library', Manuscripta: A Journal for Manuscript Research, Vol. 61, No. 2 (2017): pp. 289–291 [Rylands Persian MS 991].
C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. II (London: British Museum, 1881), pp. 765–766 [British Library Add. 18409].
E. Sachau and H. Ethé, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstani, and Pushtû manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Vol. I (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889), cols. 434–435, nos. 466–472 [Bodleian Ouseley 233, etc.].
C. A. Storey [Online] (2021), Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. III, Pt. 3 Tales no. 728.
P.P. Subrahmanya, A descriptive catalogue of the Islamic manuscripts in the Government Oriental manuscripts library, Madras, Vol. I (Madras: Government Press, 1939), pp. 394–397, nos. 323–326
Ḥ. Z̲ū al-Faqārī, 'Bahār-i Dānish' Dā'irat al-Ma‘ārif-i Buzurg-i Islāmī, Vol. 13 (Tehran: Dā'irat al-Ma‘ārif Buzug-i Islāmī, 1383 SH (2004-05 CE), p. 93.
Funding of Cataloguing
The John Rylands Research Institute and Library
The Soudavar Memorial Foundation
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