Persian MS 666 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
ولد میان عمر ابن خافظ محمد
پنڈت لچہمین نرائن سہای جیو
Since the date of completion occured while George William Hamilton served as Deputy Commissioner of Jhung (now Jhang) between 1850 to 1853, Pandit Lachhmī Narāyan S'hāī Jīv may have commissioned this manuscript on his behalf or as a gift. The manuscript commences comparable to another held in the Asiatic Society of Bengal, for which see Ivanow's catalogue. For another redaction of this romance by Qābil Rām Lahūrī held in the Rylands, See Persian MS 896. At least sixty Persian versions of the story survive, for which see Qasemi.
Physical Description
Collation
Catchwords present on the lower-left corners of the b sides throughout.
Condition
Handle text with care. In fair but stable condition with extensive insect damage throughout.
Layout
Written in 1 column, with 15 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear but hasty black nast‘liq, with subheaders, verse markers, and underscores in red.
Inscriptions: Folio via: bears the title and author and date of completion in Persian
‘قصهٔ هير و رنجها تصنيف منشى منسا رام عرف ككر کہتری محرره پنجم ذی الحجه سنه ۱۲۶۷ هجری’
Folio vib: signed by former owner George William Hamilton.
Bookplates: Left paste-down, ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with shelf mark ‘2/G’, and ‘Hamilton MSS No. 583’ with the name and number crossed out, and ‘Persian’ and ‘666’ written aside.
Binding
Probably bound in Jhang Sī'āl for patron Lachhmī Narāyan S'hāī Jīv.
Triternions added to the beginning and end as endpapers. Sewn at two stations, unsupported. Edges trimmed and chevron endbands of red and green threads twined at head and tail. Covered in claret-coloured polished goatskin leather in two pieces adhered over pasteboards which overlap on the spine. Interior doublures of ochre-painted paper, with internal hinges of the same leather connecting the cover to the textblock.
Spine bears an octagonal paper label with the title and author's name written in nasta‘līq. Board edges and spine dyed dark brown outline with white ruled lines on either side. bands decorated with hasty scroll work. Boards decorated with central scalloped mandorlas and detached pendants, connected by vertical white lines with perpendicular with painted flourishes, and a inner single ruled margin with hasty foliate decoration.
249 × 178 × 34 mm.
Handle with caution. Binding in poor but stable condition with extensive insect damage and left board upper corner deteriorated. Sewing loose.
History
Completed by an unnamed son of Unnamed son of Mīyan ‘Umar ibn Ḥafiẓ Muḥammad from a family of dyers, for Lachhmī Narāyan S'hāī Jīv in Jhang Sī'āl on 5 Ẕī-al-Ḥajj [al-Ḥijjah] 1267 (29 Sept. 1851 CE) AH.
Provenance and Acquisition
Possibly given by Lachhmī Narāyan S'hāī Jīv to Colonel George William Hamilton (1807-1868), who served in Jhang Sī'āl as Deputy Commissioner from 1850 to 1853. Ultimately appointed Commissioner of Delhi, in 1862, he amassed nearly twelve hundred South Asian and Persian manuscripts, from which the British Museum purchased 352 from his widow, Charlotte Logie Hamilton (1817–1893), now held in the British Library.
Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880), purchased the remainder in 1868 for Bibliotheca Lindesiana at Haigh Hall, Wigan.
Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913).
Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1908 to the John Rylands Library, Manchester.
Record Sources
Bibliographical description based on an index created by Reza Navabpour circa 1993, derived from a manuscript catalogue by Michael Kerney, circa 1890s, concisely published as Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.
Manuscript description and corrections by Jake Benson in 2025 with reference to the manuscript 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
Funding of Cataloguing
The Soudavar Memorial Foundation
Please fill out your details.