Delhi Persian 615 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

Delhi Persian 615 a.

Fragment from the Persian translation by Z̤iyāʾ al-Dīn Baranī of an Arabic historical account ascribed to Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad Ṭāʾifī, describing the lives of members of the Iranian Āl-i Barmak or the Barmakid Dynasty of scribes and ministers serving the early 'Abbasid Caliphs, set out in a series of anecdotes related to the Ghurid Sulṭān [Ghiyās al-Dīn] Maḥmūd Ghāzī, as recorded in the author’s work, Maʾās̲ir-i Maḥmūdī. Determining that these edifying accounts were of moral benefit made accessible through translation, the author dedicated it in the preface or dībāchah to the Tughluq ruler, Sulṭān Fīrūz Shāh(d. 790/1388).

This copy is defective at the end, having lost almost the terminating eighth portion of text.

Not dated at end; datable to the mid sixteenth century.

Occasional annotations and corrections in margins and interlinear spaces.

Neat scribal nastaʿlīq occasionally tending toward shikastah āmīz on alternating tinted papers (range of browns, buff, pale pink, pale orange, cream), now slightly faded.

Delhi Persian 615 b.

Substantial fragment from a collection of quatrains or rubāʿīyāt by the polymath and poet, Abū al-Fatḥ Ghiyās̲ al-Dīn ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Nayshāpūrī takhalluṣ Khayyām(d. 516/1122), otherwise known as Omar Khayyam.

This copy, defective at beginning, commences by with a preface, of which only concluding passages survives.

Colophon not dated (f. 100v): completed by Ḥusayn Muḥammad; datable to the mid sixteenth century.

Occasional annotations and corrections in margins and interlinear spaces.

Neat scribal nastaʿlīq occasionally tending toward shikastah āmīz on alternating tinted papers (range of browns, buff, pale pink, pale orange, cream), now slightly faded.