Delhi Persian 309 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)
India Office Library
Contents
Collection of Shiʻa and Sunni polemical treatises relating to the taʻziyah ritual (a-d)
A Shiʻa tract by an unnamed author compiled from Sunni authorities legitimising the practice of tearing clothes and beating the face during the taʻzīyah ritual.
The title is taken from the heading.
Microfilm: IOL Neg 393
References
An untitled Sunni response to Delhi Persian 309a by an author identified in a note on f. 4r as Mawlavī Rashīd al-Dīn Khān who can presumably be identified with Rashīd al-Dīn Dihlavī, known for his anti-Shiʻa works.
Microfilm: IOL Neg 393.
References
A Shiʻa refutation of Delhi Persian 309b on the subject of mourning at taʻziyahs by the author of Kashf al-ghimām ʻan taʻzīyah al-imām, ie. Abū ʻAlī al-Ḥusaynī.
The work is divided into an introduction, four discourses (maqālah) and a conclusion.
Each line is numbered 1-17 in the margin.
Microfilm: IOL Neg 394.
References
A Sunni reply by an unnamed author to the controversy over practices at Shiʻa taʻziyas. It is prefaced by an introduction in five parts (faṣl).
Microfilm: IOL Neg 395.
References
Physical Description
India Office stamped foliation.
Collation
Catchwords.
Condition
Fair; remargined at time of binding; binding now detached.
Layout
17 lines per page.
Hand(s)
Nastaʻlīq; copied in black ink with headings in red.
A note on f. 4r describes the author, Muḥammad Rashīd al-Dīn Dihlavī in adulatory terms and as deceased, indicating that the writer, perhaps a former owner, was a firm Sunni, writing after 1243/1827-8, the year of Rashīd al-Dīn's death.
Some marginal notes.
Contents note listing 3 works on f. i recto.
Binding
Three-quarter leather 19th century binding with marbled boards.
Black Government of India Delhi MSS oval stamp (ff. 1r, 3v, 4r, 12v. 13r, 42v, 43r, 140v).
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Belonged to a Sunni owner some time after 1827 (note on f. 4r).
Purchased by the Government of India at sale organised by Delhi Prize Agents, 1859; administrative deposit India Office Library, 1876.
Acquired by the Government of India in 1876
Record Sources
Based on R. Levy's descriptions in Drafts for Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the India Office Library, vol. III referred to above. Revised by Ursula Sims-Williams
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. For information on catalogues and ordering manuscripts see Finding and ordering Persian manuscripts in the British Library.
Funding of Cataloguing
BL
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