Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World

Delhi Persian 911A (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

India Office Library

Tuḥfat al-Mulūk, on ethics

Contents

A short treatise on ethics in 40 short chapters giving advice for rulers by an unnamed author.

Title: تحفة الملوک
Incipit: الحمد لله رب العالمین و الصلوات و السلام علی محمد و آله اجمعین اما بعد این رساله مشتمل است بر آنکه حکما از کتاب قدما اختیار کرده‌اند
Explicit: چهار چیز اصل سعادتست : فرمان‌برداری از خدا و رسول خشنود داشتن پدر و مادر را خدمت کردن علما را شفقت نمودن خلق خدا را
Colophon:
Colophon: (f. 9r) توفیق رفیق باد خاکسار مظفر حسین

This work appears to be identical with British Library Or. 15598.

Language(s): Persian

Physical Description

Form: codex
Extent: i+9+i ff.
Dimensions (leaf): 219 × 134 mm.
Dimensions (written): 136 × 74 mm.
Foliation:

Stamped romanised and hand-written Persian foliation.

Collation

Catchwords on the bottom left of the verso.

Condition

Slightly worm-eaten and damp-stained.

Layout

7 lines per page.

Hand(s)

Calligraphic nastaʻlīq; copied in black ink with headings in blue.

Decoration

Illuminated polychrome headpiece (f. 1v); polychrome ruled text-frames; gold-sprinkled margins.

Additions:
Inscriptions:
  • Folio 1r contains a number of inscriptions, and the seal of Sayyid Saʻīd ʻAlī Khān dated 1117 (1705/6). These include:
    • a note introducing the work as Tuḥfat al-Mulūk dar Arkān-i Salṭanat, Fārsī;
    • Yā kabīkaj, a talismanic phrase to fend off insects;
    • a description of the manuscript and its calligraphy as Risālah-i naṣīḥat-i khvushkhaṭṭ;
    • a valuation of Rs 2;
    • inspection dated 4 Ẕī Ḥijjah 1103 (17 August 1692).
  • Folio 9v contains an illegible oval seal and what appears to be a list of commodities.

Binding

17th or 18th century red leather Indian binding with outer band in a darker leather. Gold-painted rulings.

Seal(s):

Rectangular seal of former owner Sayyid Saʻīd ʻAlī Khān, 1117 (1705/6) (f. 1r).

Illegible oval seal (f. 9v).

Black Government of India Delhi MSS oval stamp (ff. 1r, 9v).

History

Origin: Undated but possibly 16th century; CE ; possibly from Central Asia.

Provenance and Acquisition

Owned by various owners including Sayyid Saʻīd ʻAlī Khān (his seal dated 1117/1705-6).

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 description in Drafts for Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the India Office Library, vol. III, Mss Eur E207/33, f. 16. Revised by Ali Shapouran

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


Comments

Comment on this record

Please fill out your details.

How are we using your feedback? See our privacy policy.

See the Availability section of this record for information on viewing the item in a reading room.

TO TOP