RSPA 4 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

India Office Library

Jones Collection

Royal Society Arabic and Persian

1 copy of Farayiz̤-i Muḥammadī by Muḥammad Vālī

Language(s): Persian

F35v and f36r are both numerical tables and are after the textblock with no title. They both depict multiplication tables but in slightly different formats. There are tables and mathematical diagrams drawn throughout the textblock as well (e.g. f25r).

The text is based on the Sirājiyyah, written by Sirāj al-Dīn al-Sajāwandī.

It is composed for Muḥammad Afāz̤ al-Dīn al-Ḥasanī, after whom the book is named. He also commissioned MS RSPA 95. Very little is known about him.

Incipit: بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم. ستایش ونیایش مر خدایرا که بقدر ومنزلت

Explicit: گویم چهار سبع از ربع گشت

Colophon: وهو المطلوب اعطا حفظ الفرایض وجمیع المامور وحول احوالنا الی الصحاح وارفع عنا جيش الكور ثم يعولنا على الله الوهاب نرجو منه تقسيم الحساب يوم الحساب حصول الصواب ووصول الثواب.

Author: Muḥammad Vālī محمد والی

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Thin white woven paper.

Extent: ff.iv+36+viii

Dimensions (leaf): 205 × 150 mm.

Dimensions (written): 160 × 100 mm.

Foliation:

European numerals in pencil.

Condition

Poor condition. Lots of worm damage. Some of the repairs obscure text, as do stains. Loose folio.

Layout

Irregular layout depending on whether the page has footnotes and diagrams or not.

Hand(s)

The script is a fairly rough and, at times, difficult to read nastaʿlīq. It is the same script as MS RSPA 95.

Decoration

Additions:

There are lots of marginal comments in Persian, which appear to be in the same hand as the textblock. Jones has written some numbers out on the loose folio.

Binding

Standard India Office half leather binding with wine-coloured marbled endpapers.

Accompanying Material

History

Origin: 1700 - 1792 CE ; India

Provenance and Acquisition

RSPA 1-118 were presented to the Royal Society in January 1792 by Sir William and Lady Jones.

The Royal Society's collection of 280 Persian and Arabic, and 86 Sanskrit manuscripts were transferred to the India Office Library in 1876.

1876

India Office Library

Record Sources

Manuscript description based on E. Denison Ross and E. G. Browne, Catalogue of two collections of Persian and Arabic manuscripts preserved in the India Office Library (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1902), p. 2-3 no. IV

Availability

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card for admissions procedures contact British Library, Registering for a Reader Pass. Contact apac-enquiries@bl.uk for further information on the availability of this manuscript. For information on catalogues and ordering manuscripts see Finding and ordering Persian manuscripts in the British Library.

Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World