Delhi Persian 1118 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

India Office Library

Mishkāt al-asrār by Sayyid ʻAlī ibn Muḥammad Ḥusaynī al-Ḥusaynī al-Qādirī

Summary of Contents: A summary of Sufi doctrines composed in 1254 (1838/9) by ʻAlī ibn Muḥammad Ḥasanī Ḥusaynī Qādirī, also called Ḥaz̤rat Jī or better known as the poet Ghamgīn, written for Munshī Mawlavī Jaʻfar ʻAli Ṣāḥib. It includes rubāʻī s composed by the author in Persian and Urdu.

Author: Ghamgīn, Sayyid ʻAlī ibn Muḥammad Ḥasanī al-Ḥusaynī al-Qādirī غمگین، سید علی بن سید محمد حسنی الحسینی القادری

Title: Mishkāt al-asrār

Title: مشکات الاسرار

Incipit: بعد حمد کسی که وجود عالم حمد اوست... سیدعلی بن سید محمد حسینی الحسینی القادری عرف حضرت جی متخلص به غمگین متوطن دهلی می گوید چون که از دیوان غزلیات فارغ شدم در دلم افتاد که یک دیوان رباعیات نیز نویسم.

Explicit: و تجلیات علمی و صوری و معنوی و ذوقی و وجدانی و نوری و ناری نیز منحصر در تجلیات صفاتی و افعالی است به تامل دریاب و همچنین اگر استعداد

The title is a chronogram for the date of composition, 1254 AH (1838/9 CE).

This copy is incomplete and ends with an unfinished sentence half-way down f. 149r.

Language(s): Persian with some rubāʻīs in Urdu.

Physical Description

Form: codex

Extent: ff. i+149+i

Dimensions (leaf): 201 × 140 mm.

Dimensions (written): 157 × 80 mm.

Foliation:

India Office stamped foliation. Persian foliation on some folios.

Collation

Catchwords.

Condition

Good condition.

Layout

15 lines per page.

Hand(s)

Nastaʻlīq; copied in black, with headings, overlinings and punctuation marks in red. Some verses of Qurʻān are written in naskh.

Additions:

Comment in the margin on folio 84v.

Binding

Marbled half-leather binding dating from the 19th century.

Seal(s):

Black Government of India Delhi MSS oval stamp (ff. 1r, 149v).

History

Origin: Undated, most probably 19th century; India

Provenance and Acquisition

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 E207/3, f. 91r and R. Levy's description, Mss Eur E207/13, f. 59r. 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.

Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World