V. 60 (University Library, Cambridge University)

Summary of Contents: نامه باستان The Nama-i-Bastan, or Book of the Ancients," an imitation of the Sháhnáma, supposed to embody the researches of European savants and archaeologists into Persian antiquities, composed by Mírzá 'Abdu'l-Husayn Khán of Kirmán, better known as Mírzá Áqá Khán, during his detention in Trebizond in Ramadán, 1313 (Feb. March, 1896). He was put to death on July 17, 1896, at Tabriz, together with Shaykh Ahmad "Rúhí" of Kirmán and the Khabiru'l-Mulk, on suspicion of complicity in the assassination of Náşiru'd-Din Sháh on May 1, 1896. See my Persian Revolution, pp. xi, 10-12, 63-64, 93-96, 409-414, where an extract from this poem, suppressed in the lithographed edition published two years after the author's death, is given. Of his numerous writings he enumerates twenty on the last page (f. 82) of this MS. Several of these, such as the Hasht Bihisht (F. 53 and F. 54) and the Kitáb-i-Ridwán (X. II), are noticed elsewhere in this Catalogue. The full title of this poem, an autograph copy, is: نامه باستان مشتمل بر تاریخ راستین قدیم ایران از روی آثار عتیقه و خطوط قديمه که سیاحان اروپ درین عصر کشف نمودهاند اثر عبد الحسين كرماني الشهير بمیرزا آقا خان کرمانی هنگام توقف طرابزون في شهر رمضان ۱۳۱۳ Ff. 82 of 20'5 x 14'5 c. and 18 ll.; small, neat Persian ta'liq with rubrications. The book begins with a prose table of contents, enumerating eleven ancient Persian dynasties "according to the beliefs of European historians." These are entitled (1) Abadiyán; (2) Ajamiyán (or Pishdddiyán, Jamshidiyan, Gilshahiyan, or Jamsháspiyán); (3) Márdúshiyán (i.e. Daḥhák and his descendants, or the "Nimrods" of Babylon, or the "Shepherd Kings" who also subdued Egypt); (4) Ábtín and Firídún and their descendants; (5) the Pahlawání, or Heroic Epoch of Záb, Karshásp, Sám, Naríman and Rustam; (6) the Achaemenians; (7) the Medes; (8) the Shahinsháhs of Párs, of whom the first was Cyrus the Great (سیروس اعظم), whom the author identifies with Kay-Khusraw; (9) the Seleucidae; (10) the Ashkániyán, or Parthians; and (11) the Sásánians. This table is followed (on f. 3) by a note (افاده مخصوصه) setting forth how much greater European researches have shown the Persians to be than ever Firdawsí imagined. The actual poem, written, like the Sháhnáma, in the Mutaqárib metre, begins: سر نامه بر نام (زروان) پاكکه رخشید ازو (هرمز) تابناك There are copious footnotes explaining the archaic and obsolete words used in the poem, such words being placed in parentheses. in the text and written in red in the notes. The latter part of the poem, lamenting the departed glories of Persia and her present miserable condition, satirizing Náşiru'd-Din Sháh, and giving some account of the author's life (ff. 71-81), is the most interesting. The section last mentioned (ff. 76, l. 13-78, end in the MS.), entitled: در مقام اندرز و شرح حال خود گوید تو تا باشی ای خسرو نامور مرنجان کسی را که دارد هنر will be found printed in extenso (60 verses), with English translation, at the end of my Persian Revolution (pp. 409-411). As a further specimen, I here give the Conclusion (Khátima) of the poem: چو آمد به بن این کهن داستانبنامیدمش نامه باستان ز تاریخ هجرت ز بعد هزاریکی سیصد و سیزده بر شمار که پایان شد این نامبردار گنج بيك ماه بردم درین کار رنج سپاسم ز یزدان پیروزگر که این نامه نامی آمد بسر غرض بود تاریخ نی شاعری که طبع من از شعر بودی عریبویژه که بودم به بند اندرون چه لطف آید از طبع بندی بروندرین نامه از هر دری گفته شد گهرهای معنی بسی سفته شد ز گفتار فردوسی پاکزادبسی کرده ام اندرین نامه یاد نبود اندرین ره مرا توشههم از خرمن او شدم خوشه