Delhi Persian 1116 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

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India Office Library

Maʻdin al-maʻānī by Zayn Badr ʻArabī

Summary of Contents: An incomplete copy of a collection of discources delivered by the saint Aḥmad Yaḥyā Munīrī compiled by his pupil, Zayn Badr ʻArabī. The work originally consisted of 63 chapters of which chapter 63 began on f. 220. This copy, however, lacks the final 11 chapters, ending part of the way through chapter 52.

Author: Zayn Badr ʻArabī زین بدر عربی

Title: Maʻdin al-maʻānī

Title: معدن المعانی

Incipit: بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم... اما بعد... می گوید بنده درویشان و خاک در ایشان جامع این ملفوظ چون در سلک بندگان آستانه شیخ بزرگوار...احمد یحیی منیری... بنده درویشان خاک در ایشان جامع این در معانی و سامع این گوهر لامکانی بیچاره زین بدر عربی... منسلک و مندرج گشت.

Explicit: در دوزخ و در اهل آن اختلاف کرده اند بعضی گفته اند که بچگان کفار

A note on folio 1r states this is the first part of the work, and that its owner and the copyist is Ḥāfiẓ Khayr Allah.

Language(s): Persian

Physical Description

Form: codex

Extent: ff. iv+185+wrapper, with an extra leaf inserted between ff. 117 and 118.

Dimensions (leaf): 246 × 140 mm.

Dimensions (written): 193 × 97 mm.

Foliation:

India Office stamped foliation. Persian foliation.

Collation

Catchwords.

Condition

Worm-eaten and damp-stained. Loose leaves. Without binding, encased in a wrapper. End-defective.

Layout

15 lines per page.

Hand(s)

Nastaʻlīq with some taʻlīq features. Copied in black, with headings and overlinings in red. Copied, according to f.1, by Ḥafiẓ Khayr Allah.

Decoration

Margins ruled in red.

Additions:

Some corrections in the margins.

Folios iii and iv contain a prayer and an instruction on how to seek divine good (istikhārah).

Folios ii and iii contain a table of contents listing all 63 chapters with page references.

Seal(s):

Illegible black defective circular seal, presumably that of the former owner (f. 1r).

Black Government of India Delhi MSS oval stamp (ff. ii recto, 185v).

Accompanying Material

Wrapper: East India Company formal regulation dated 1793.

History

Origin: Undated, probably 18th century; India

Provenance and Acquisition

Belonged to the copyist Ḥafiẓ Khayr Allah (f. 1r).

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 in1876.

Record Sources

Based on A.J. Arberry's description in Drafts for Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the India Office Library, vol. III, Mss Eur E207/2, f. 21r and R. Levy's description, Mss Eur E207/13, f. 57r. Revised by Sheida Heydarishovir

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

Subjects

Sufism

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