Delhi Persian 1343A (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

Delhi Persian 1343Aa.

Compendious variorum dīvān containing the collected lyrics or ghazals in alphabetical order by the Naqshbandī Sufi mystic and poet, Shaykh Saʿd Allāh Shāh Naqshbandī takhalluṣ Gulshan (d. 1140/1728), once patronised by Princess Zīb al-Nisāʾ Baygum bint [Emperor] ʿĀlamgīr I takhalluṣ Makhfī (d. 1113/1702).

This copy has be split in the course of rebinding, with ghazals alif-shīn in volume 1 (ff. 1v-304v), and shīn-yāʾ continuing in volume 2 (ff. 305r-505r).

The work was partially copied from and checked against the author’s holograph, with compositions specified in rubrication. See colophon to Delhi Persian 1343Ab.

The purpose of the collection is alluded to in a prefacing ghazal (f. 1r).

The text continues in margins in parts.

Not dated at end. See colophon to Delhi Persian 1343Ab.

Delhi Persian 1343Ab.

Collection of quatrains or rubāʿīyāt in alphabetical order by the Naqshbandī Sufi mystic and poet, Shaykh Saʿd Allāh Shāh Naqshbandī takhalluṣ Gulshan (d. 1140/1728), once patronised by of Princess Zīb al-Nisāʾ Baygum bint [Emperor] ʿĀlamgīr I takhalluṣ Makhfī (d. 1113/1702).

The text continues in margins in parts.

Lengthy dated colophon (ff. 518v-520r): completed by Muḥammad ʿAlī Riz̤āʾ ibn Sayyid Muḥammad Riz̤āʾ Shīrāzī (takhalluṣ) Turābī, based on three manuscripts, 1) the author’s holograph, 2) a copy in the hand of a confidante, and 3) a copy in the present scribe’s hand, written at the request of Rafīʿ al-Dīn Ḥabīb Allāh, Thursday, 8 Jumādá al-Ūlá in RY 17 of Emperor Muḥammad Shāh, 1147/6 October 1734, in Shāhjahānābād, at the house of (mostly obliterated) Khvājah… Khān, son of (mostly obliterated) the Qāz̤ī al-Quz̤āt… Khān.

Two medicinal preparations ascribed to the late Mawlavī ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ṣāḥib and a certain Mawlavī ṣāḥib follow in rough annotations on folio 521r.

Delhi Persian 1343Ac.

Introductory portion of a rare anthology compiled by Muḥammad Afz̤al Lāhawrī takhalluṣ Sarkhvush (d. 1127/1714) selecting poems from the poets Mīr Muʿīzz [al-Dīn Qummī] Mūsavī Khān takhalluṣ Fiṭrat/Mūsavī (d. 1101/1689), Mīrzā Muḥammad takhalluṣ Māhir, Mīr Muḥammad Zamān Lāhawrī takhalluṣ Rāsikh (d. 1107/1695), Nāṣir ʿAlī takhalluṣ Nāṣir (d. 1108/1697), and Sarkhvush himself. The treatise continues over items d-f.

The treatise was intended as a research aid in the midst of literary contests and submitted for the inspection of Mīrzā ʿAbd al-Qādir Bīdil, who indicated his preferred verses by prefixing the letter ṣād.

Not dated at end.

Delhi Persian 1343Ad.

Collection of imitative poetic compositions in mixed genres satirising Sufism and Sufis, comprised of numerous ḥikāyāt, partially in mas̲navī, qiṭʿah, and rubāʿī forms, by a poet who does not reveal his takhalluṣ.

The collection is part of the larger work, Delhi Persian 1343Ac-f.

Not dated at end.

Delhi Persian 1343Ae.

Untitled collection of forty rubāʿīyāt on Sunnī religious and Sufi themes by Muḥammad Afz̤al Lāhawrī takhalluṣ Sarkhvush (d. 1127/1714).

The treatise, a munājāt, was completed on Friday, 14 Ramaz̤ān 1122/6 November 1710, was written as penance in the desire to view heaven after a dream in which the author had been thrown in hell.

The collection is part of the larger work, Delhi Persian 1343Ac-f.

Not dated at end.

Delhi Persian 1343Af.

Untitled collection of rubāʿīyāt by a poet or poets who takhalluṣ are not clear.

The collection is the concluding section of the Guldastah-'i maʿānī treatise continuing from Delhi Persian 1343Ac-e.

Lengthy dated colophon (ff. 593r-594v): Guldastah-'i maʿānī copied after twelve troubled years by the “ruined” Muḥammad ʿAlī Riz̤āʾ takhalluṣ Turābī, from [manuscripts] penned by Mīrzā Muḥammad, son of Mīrzā Sarkhvush, and another annotated copy with ṣād marks by Mīrzā ʿAbd al-Qādir takhalluṣ Bīdil, since RY 16 of Emperor Muḥammad Shāh, 1146/1733-4, in Shāhjahānābād at the house of Khvājah Muḥammad Amān Khān Aḥrārī, written for Muḥammad Rafīʿ al-Dīn Ḥabīb Allāh. It was completed Friday, 21 Ramaz̤ān RY 5 of Emperor [Aḥmad] Bahādur Shāh, that is, Aḥmad Shāh (1165)/2 August 1752.

Ownership inscription torn away, large circular seal intact.