Persian MS 301 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
The author references himself on folios 23v and again on 31v:
بگیتی و بمینو دار نیکو * دل زرتشت بن بهرام پژدو
زفانش از کرم کردی نو گویا * نمودی دین فرستادی اوستا
زرتشت بن بهرام پژدو * بیاور شرح حال قصه بر گو
He also describes his other works, the Mawlud-i Zartusht (مولود زرتشت) on folio 29b and his metrical translation of the the Ardā-yī vīrāf (اردای ویراف) on folio 30a:
کتابی بود زان مولود زرتشت * درو چیزی که بد مقصود زرتشت
پس این دیگر کتابی برگزیده * ز دل بروی گشادم هر دو دیده
درو بد قصۀ اردای ویراف * بدو در نیک و بدها کرده اوصاف.
On folio 7a–b the author declares how he felt compelled to versify the story, and thus reveal a hidden 'treasure' for the benefit of others, the same rationale for his composition of the Zartushtnāmah (compare with Persian MS 300, folio 2a):
همه هم گفت گفتند ای سخن دان * بکن جهدی درین از بهر یزدان
که این قصه بزرگ و ارجمند است * همه گفتار او اندرز و پند است
نبرد اندران دانندگان رنج * نهفته لاجرم ماندست آن گنج
سخن چون نظم شد هم خوشترآید * بگوش آواز هم بهتر سر آید
همی بینی این قصه‌های کهن * کزو یاد نارد کسی اصل و بن
همان به که این را بنظم آوردی * بپاکیزه گفتار خط دری
مگر نو شود این سخن در جهان * بخواند همه کس از این داستان
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 15 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in a plain Indian hand approaching nasta‘līq primarily in black with subheaders in red.
Inscriptions:
- The right pastedown bears a pasted paper inscribed ‘Chenghrenghachah Nameh’, above Hindley's bookplate.
- Folio 1a bears the title ‘داستان جنگهر نکهاجه’ nasta‘liq, ‘Tchenghrénghâtchan Namah’ in sepia with a note ‘From Guise's collection’ and ‘V. Antiquil du Perron’, unsigned, but very likely in the hand of Samuel Hawtayne Lewin, as it comports with inscriptions in other volumes that he previously owned (see Rylands Persian MS 41, 93, 287, and 300.
- Folio 1a also inscribed in Gujarati: ‘દાશતાંન ચંગરંગાચ નાંમે તા. દાશતાંન બાંનુ ગોશસપની લખી શહી’ (‘Dāśtān caṃgaregāc nāme tā. dāstān bānu gośaspnī lakhī [che sahī (smudged)]’, ‘The story of the Changranghachanama and the story of Banu Goshasp [Bānūgushasbnāmah]are written’). Note that despite this notation, this volume lacks the second title.
- Folio 26b bears the word ‘اهریمن’ (‘ahrīman’, ‘devil’) written upside-down.
- Right pastedown: ‘John Haddon Hindley’.
- Left pastedown: ‘Bibilotheca Lindesiana’ with shelf mark ‘2/J’, and ‘Bland MSS No. 521’.
Binding
Probably bound in Surat for former owner Samuel Guise. Sewn at three stations, possibly laced or bridled into the pasteboards, cut flush with the edges of the textblock and back-cornered, with defined exterior joints. Covered in an Indian-style binding in full, tight backed, red goatskin leather, without a flap (Type III binding per Déroche).
Boards decorated with blind stamped silver paper onlays (now darkly tarnished), with a scalloped central mandorla with quintafoil scrollwork, detached quatrefoil floral pendants, floral scrollwork scalloped corners. The perimeters of the boards are framed in a wide floral scrollwork band embossed with a decorative roll on pink paper. Thin yellow ruled single lines criss-cross the central decoration, surround the corners, and both sides of the embossed pink paper border. with the same blocked designs as on Rylands Persian MS 41, 300, and 926. Titled Chenghrenghachah Nameh in gold on the spine.
212 × 126 × 12 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Probably acquired by Samuel Guise (1751–1811) in Surat where he served as a surgeon until 1795, possibly from the widow of Dastūr Darab (d. 1772), Parsi preceptor of Indologist M. Anquetil du Perron between 1758 to 1760. Listed for sale in the second 1793 of Guise's collection, p. 29, no. 354. Since Guise omits this manuscript in his first catalogue published in 1792, but William Ouseley notes the title in his Oriental Collections in 1798, Guise likely acquired it after he returned to India.
Subsequently sold by Leigh and Sotheby, London, on 3 July 1812, where Manchester librarian John Haddon Hindley (1765–1827) purchased it for 3 shillings and sixpence.
After Hindley's death, London antiquarian dealers Howell and Stewart offered it for sale, from whom legal clerk Samuel Hawtayne Lewin (1795-1840) probably purchased it in Feb. 1828 as per his pencilled note on folio 1a.
Subsequently acquired by Persian scholar Nathaniel Bland (1803–1865), after whose death London antiquarian dealer Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) sold his oriental manuscripts to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) in 1866.
Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913).
Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1908 to the John Rylands Library.
Record Sources
Provenance description based on an essay by Ursula Sims-Williams, 'The Strange Story of Samuel Guise: An 18th-Century Collection of Zoroastrian Manuscripts'.
Bibliographical description based on an index created by Reza Navabpour circa 1993, derived from a manuscript handlist by Michael Kerney, circa 1890s and his Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.
Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2022 with reference to the volume in hand, and in consultation with both Ursula Sims-Williams, British Library, and Prof Daniel Sheffield, Princeton University, whom transliterated and translated the Gujarati inscriptions and deciphered the date in the colophon.
Availability
To book an in-person or online appointment to consult the manuscript, visit Using the Special Collections Reading Rooms. For any other enquiries please email uml.special-collections@manchester.ac.uk.
Digital Images
Manchester Digital Collections (full digital facsimile)
Bibliography
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
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