Persian MS 645 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 2 columns, with 14 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in black nasta’līq script with shikastah ligatures and subheaders in red.
Decoration
Vertical columns divided into horizontal rectangles for verses ruled in gold outlined in thin black single lines, with marginal ruling in also gold, outlined with thin doule-ruled black lines, and surrounded by a comparatively thick single lines in vermilion and blue.
Inscriptions: The First right flyleaves (ff. ia–iib) features several poems and and notes in several hands:
- The first right flyleaf a side (f. ia) bears several poems, including one in praise of the holy month of Ramaz̤ān and the following feast of ‘Īd al-Fiṭr, as well as an elegy dated 1150 AH (1737 CE) written on the death of the Mughal governor of Punjab, Nawwāb ‘Abd al-Ṣamad Khān (d. 1737).
- The first right flyleaf b side (f. ib) quotes poems by Khvājah ‘Abd al-Nabī Khān and Ḥāfiẓ.
- The second right flyleaf a side (f. ia) bears a poem regarding ‘Āqil Khān's meeting of Samsam al-Dawlah Bahādur and Nādir Shāh, and another that quotes lines by Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (d. 1273).
- The second right flyleaf b side (f. ib) features lines by an unidientified poet, followed by an Arabic prayer.
- Inspection notices on folio 3b dated 20 Ẕī-l-Qa‘dah 1261 AH (3 Dec. 1851 CE) and 8 Ṣafar 1263 (6 Jan. 1847 CE):
‘ بتاریخ بیستم شهر ذی قعده الحرام سنه ۱۲۶۱ هجری [؟] رسید ’
‘بتاریخ و هشتم صفر ۱۲۶۸ هجری(؟) ’
- Left paste-down: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with shelfmark ‘1/I’, ‘Hamilton MSS No. 562’.
Binding
Probably rebound in a hydrid British-Indian style in Multan for former owner George William Hamilton between 1858 and 1862.
Sewn on a single support, without endbands, put down onto the pasteboards. Covered in half medium-brown goatskin leather with finely speckled black and blue decorated paper sides, with squares at the edges and defined joints (type III binding per Déroche).
232 × 144 × 11 mm.
Binding in good condition.
1: Rectangular library seal of Nāṣir al-Dīn Ḥaydar Shāh (b. 1803, r. 1827–1837), double-ruled and dated 1244 AH (1828–29 CE), inscribed with his title Sulaymān Jāh, and double-ruled:
‘ خوش است مهر کتبخانه سلیمان جاه * بهر کتاب مزین چو نقش بسم الله، ١٢۴۴’
‘Khvush ast muhur-i kitābkhānah-'i Sulaymān Jāh bahr-i kitāb; muzayyin chaw naqsh-i basmallah, 1244 ’ (‘The seal of the library of Sulaymān Jāh is good; it embellishes the book like the design of a basmallah, 1244’).
17 × 37 mm.
2: Octagonal library seal, surmounted by the royal emblem of Awadh, of Muḥammad ‘Alī Shāh (b. 1777, r. 1837–1842), dotted-ruled, wreathed, and dated 1253 AH (1837–38 CE):
‘ و هی مهر سلطان والا جناب * که زیبا بود بر چنین کتاب، ١٢۵۳ ’
‘Va hay muhur-i Sulṭān Vālā Janāb; kih zībā buvad bar chunīn-i kitāb, 1253’ (‘And O the seal of the Sultan of Exalted Majesty; which was thus beautiful on the book, 1253 AH [1837–38 CE]’).
68 × ~70 mm.
3: Rectangular library seal, surmounted by the royal emblem of Awadh, of Amjad ‘Alī Shāh (b. 1801, r. 1842–1847), dotted-ruled and dated 1260 AH (1844–45 CE):
‘ناسخ هر مهر شد چون شد مزین بر کتاب * خاتم امجد علی شاه زمان عالیجناب، ١٢٦٠’
‘Nāsukh har muhur shud chun shud muzayyin bar kitāb; khātim-i Amjad ‘Alī Shāh zamān-i ‘Ālījanāb, 1260’ (‘Every [prior] seal became cancelled since the book became embellished by the seal of Amjad ‘Alī Shāh in the era of his Sublime Majesty, 1260’).
53 × 45 mm.
4: Library seal, surmounted by the royal emblem Awadh, of Wājid ‘Alī Shāh (b. 1822, r. 1847–1856), single-ruled and dated 1262 AH (1846–47 CE):
‘ خاتم واجد علی سلطان عالم بر کتاب * ثابت و پر نور بادا تا فروغ آفتاب، ١٢۶۲ ’
‘Khātim-i Wājid ‘Alī, Sulṭān-i ‘Ālam bar kitāb, s̄abit va pur nūr bādā tā farūgh-i āftāb, 1262’ (‘The seal of Wājid ‘Alī, Sulṭān of the World, upon the book shall be permanent and as bright as sunlight, 1262 AH [1847 CE]’).
41 × 26 mm.
4: Black oval seal impression, intaglio-carved in two stacked lines, double-ruled, of a former owner or associate named Khvajah Bābā possibly dated regnal year ‘30’:
‘ ۳۰ خواجه بابا مرید ظل مولی ’
10 × 20 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Previously owned or inspected by an unidentified person named Khvājah Bābā, as per his seal impressions on folios 3a and 77a.
Previously held in the royal library of Awadh in Awadh (Oude), as indicated by dated library notations on folio 3a, and seal impressions of the Kings of Awadh Nāṣir al-Dīn Ḥaydar Shāh (b. 1803, r. 1827–1837), Muḥammad ‘Alī Shāh (b. 1777, r. 1837–1842), Amjad ‘Alī Shāh (b. 1801, r. 1842–1847), and Wājid ‘Alī Shāh (b. 1822, r. 1847–1856), then presumably looted during India's First War of Independence, when British soldiers ransacked the Qaisarbagh palace and library on 15 March 1858 (see Wolseley's memoir).
Subsequently acquired by Colonel George William Hamilton (1807-1868) who served in India from 1823 to 1867, latterly as Commissioner in Delhi. He acquired over a thousand Indian and Persian manuscripts from which the British Museum selected 352 after his death, now held in the British Library.
Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880), purchased the remainder in 1868.
Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) (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
Bibliographical description based on an index created by Reza Navabpour circa 1993, derived from a manuscript catalogue by Michael Kerney, circa 1890s and his Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.
Manuscript description completed by James White in 2017.
Subsequently amended and enhanced by Jake Benson in 2021 with reference to the volume.
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, and the Soudavar Foundation
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