Delhi Persian 1289 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

Commentary by Kharak Rāy with the takhalluṣ Gharīb, classifying the qaṣāʾid or eulogies of the poet, Sayyid Jamāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥusayn ibn Zayn al-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Jamāl al-Dīn Shīrāzī, with the takhalluṣ ʿUrfī(d. 999/1591), patronised at the court of the Timurid (Mughal) Emperor Akbar I (d. 1114/1605).

According to the preface and concluding chronogrammatic verses, the treatise was completed in 1139/1726 under the liberal patronage of Emperor Muḥammad Shāh, at the suggestion of the author’s literary associate, Mawlānā Muḥammad Saʿd ʿAẓīm, who lamented the lack of commentary on difficult verses in ʿUrfī’s qaṣāʾid, and corrected by Muḥammad ʿĀrif.

The work is divided into eight sections termed chaman in accordance with the author’s classification.

Dated colophon (f. 303r): completed 12 Rajab 1245/7 January 1830.

Pencil foliation.

Rough nastaʿlīq and shikastah āmīz by multiple hands.

Lacking original binding.

Fragment of a paper dust wrapper (EIC legal publication, printed by G. H. Huttmann, at the Bengal Military Orphan Press, Calcutta 1840); partial watermark (rampant lion in [crowned] oval frame); torn, creased, stains; labels.

Folios unbound; stained, wormholes, cropped.

Condition fragile.