Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World

Persian MS 679 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Contents

Summary of Contents: This defective copy of the Laṭāyif-i Ashrāfī (Noble Pleasantries) by Niẓām al-Dīn Yamanī (fl. mid-15th cent.) elucidates the mystical doctrines of the author's teacher of thirty years, Sufi master Mīr Sayyid Ashrāf Jahāngīr Simnānī (d. after 1436), who remains revered throughout the Indian subcontinent today. Simnānī was born and raised in Iran, and spent time with the poet Ḥāfiẓ before departing for India, where he ultimately passed away. Comprised of sixty laṭīfah, the work compiles various discourses and anecdotes of Simnāni that he personally reviewed and edited, as well as other events late in his life, added posthumously. It proved influential as many subsequent writers of Sufi biographies, such as Jāmī (d. 1492), references passages in his Nafaḥāt al-Uns. This manuscript completed by Sayyid Sulṭān valad-i Sayyid ‘Abd Allāh in 1021 AH (1612–13 CE) appears to not only be one of the earliest surviving copies of this work.
Editor:
Incipit: (basmalla) برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): ⟨Defective opening⟩ راجی من المحیب الغنی خاجی نظام[؟] ... فی العمل و القول و ال عتقاد که رد عنفوان جوانی و ریعان زندگانی که هنگامی غرور و ایام ثرور غلبات هوای و ترجیحات و آیای همون و ساوش نفسانی ...
Explicit: برگ ۵۳۲پ (folio 532b): خرامیده سوی حریم نگار(؟) * پردهٔ روان جان شیرین بیار
Colophon: برگ ۵۳۲پ (folio 532b): تمت هذا الکتاب بعون الله الملک الوهاب المسمی بلطایف اشدفیه ملفوظ حضرت مخدوم سید اشرف جهانگیر قدس سره حرره سید سلطان ولد سید عبد الله الملک خادم استاد (؟) تحریرا فی التاریخ (؟)... شهر سنه ۱۰۲۸
Colophon: Completed by Sayyid Sulṭān valad-i Sayyid ‘Abd Allāh in 1021 AH (1612–13 CE)

The volume clearly suffered severe damage before entering into the library of the Kings of Awadh where it was restored, then evidently suffered further damage during the looting of the Kasarbagh palace in 1858, after which former owner George William Hamilton had it restored again. As a result, some folios appear replaced at different times, with the end of part (sharaf) 7 to the beginning of 10 appearLaṭīfah 11, now missing. In his doctoral dissertation, S. W. Ashraf only references eighteenth and nineteenth-century manuscripts, while Raḍavī and Muqtadir describe one completed in 1108 AH. For an descriptive overview of the contents, see Ivanow.

Language(s): Persian

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Textblock of straight and cross-grained, straw-coloured paper probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent with ~7 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines. Completely remargined with in buff-coloured paper, also probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent, with ~10 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines.
Extent: 532 folios, 4 flyleaves (ff. ii + 532 + ii).
Dimensions (leaf): 271 × 188 mm.
Dimensions (written): 209 × 147 mm.
Foliation: Foliated in Hindu-Arabic numeral on the centres of the a sides throughout.

Collation

Undetermined, possibly originally quaternions throughout, but subsequently altered disrupted when repaired. Catchwords throughout most of the lower-left corners of the b sides.

Condition

Handle with caution. In fair condition, with extensive water and insect damage and historical repairs and remargining throughout.

Layout

Written in 1 column with 19 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Written in a hasty but legible black nasta‘līq with subheaders in red.

Decoration

Ruling: Margins ruled in with double red lines surrounded by single black lines.

Additions:
Table of Contents: Folios 4b to 6b, introduces each (Laṭīfah) along with a corresponding folio number.
Inscriptions:
  • The second right flyleaf a side (f. iia) bears the title and date of the volume's completion, likely in the hand of assistant to former owner Colonel George William Hamilton, Muhīn Dās.
  • Folios 1a bears an unidentified ghazal and an inspection notation dated 17 Rabī‘ I 1226 (11 Apr. 1811), during the reign of Wajid ‘Alī Shāh, underneath seal no. 4.
Bookplates: Left doublure: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘2/D’, and ‘Hamilton MSS No. 596’ with the name and number crossed out and ‘Persian’ and ‘679’ written aside.

Binding

Probably rebound in a hybrid British-Indian style in Multan for former owner Colonel George William Hamilton.

Unsupported resewing at two stations. Edges trimmed and twined chevron endbands worked in red and green silk threads over round cores at head and tail. Covered in full maroon goatskin leather, tight-backed, with squares at the edges, defined joints, but without a flap (type III binding per Déroche). Internal doublures lined with the same leather, with the excess width adhered to the first and last flyleaves, with strips of paper serrated along one edge adhered over top to disguise the overlap.

Boards margins ruled with double yellow lines and again about 12 mm in from the edges. Handwritten title on the spine, now abraded.

285 × 206 × 84 mm.

Handle binding with caution. In fair condition, with insect damage and exterior scuffing, with white salts on the interior doublres due to prolonged exposure to moisture..

Seal(s):
Five types of seal impressions: three types of rectangular vermilion library seals, intaglio-carved in nasta‘līq script in two stacked lines, of the kings of Awadh (Oude) on the first and last folios of the volume, 1a–1b and 532b, as well as two black impressions on folio 1a.

1: A library seal impression of Nāṣir al-Dīn Ḥaydar Shāh (b. 1803, r. 1827–1837) dated 1244 AH (1828–29 CE), inscribed with his title Sulaymān Jāh within two stacked, single-ruled cartouches:
‘ 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: A library seal impression surmounted by the royal emblem of Awadh of Amjad ‘Alī Shāh (b. 1801, r. 1842–1847), with beaded ruling 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.

3: A library seal impression, 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: Folio 1a, bottom, a large partial circular black seal impression, intaglio carved in nasta‘līq script, stacked in two lines, single-ruled, of former owner or associate possibly Qābil Khān dated 1097 AH (1685–86 CE):
~28

5: Folio 1a, a black oval seal impression, intaglio carved in nasta‘līq script, stacked in two lines, single-ruled, with the name of former owner, possibly the Mughal prince Murād Bakhsh (d. 1661).
10 × 14 mm.

History

Origin: Completed by Sayyid Sulṭān valad-i Sayyid ‘Abd Allāh, probably in the ; 1028 AH (1618 CE)

Provenance and Acquisition

Formerly owned by Mughal prince Murād Bakhsh (d. 1661) and Mughal-era author possibly the fourth sonQābil Khān Khān, as per his seal dated 1097 AH (1685–86 CE) cent.) as per their seal impressions on folio 1a.

Subsequently acquired by the royal library of the kings of Awadh (Oude) in Lucknow, as indicated by their seal impressions on folios 1a–1b and 532b. Probably initially held in the Moti Mahal Palace, then later transferred to the Qaisarbagh Palace. Presumably looted from the latter 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, now held in the British Library.

Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) purchased the remainder of Hamilton's collection in 1868.

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

Bibliographical description based on an index created by Reza Navabpour circa 1993, derived from a manuscript catalogue by Michael Kerney, circa 1890s, concisely published as 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.

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.

Bibliography

    ‘Abd al-Muqtadir, Catalogue of the Arabic and Persian Manuscripts in the Oriental Public Library at (Bankipore) Patna, Vol. VIII (Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press, 1925), p. 182, nos. 741–742.
    M. Dirāyatī and M. Dirāyatī, Fihristgān: Nuskhahʹhā-yi Khaṭṭī-i Īrān (Fankhā) (Union catalogue of Iran manuscripts), Vol. 27 (Tehran: Sāzmān-i Asnād va Kitābkhānah-i Millī-i Jumhūrī-i Islāmī-i Īrān, 1391 S. H. [2012–13 CE]), pp. 324–325 [Mashhad Āstān-i Quds Raz̤aavī, MS no. 35221, &c.].
    N. Hanif, Biographical Encyclopaedia of Sufis (South Asia) (New Delhi: Sarup & Sons, 2010), pp. 28–32.
    V. Ivanow, Concise descriptive catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the collection of the Asiatic society of Bengal, Vol. 1 (: , 1924), pp. 577–581, no. 1214 [Asiatic Society of Bengal, E. 166].
    Q. H. Radavi and ‘Abd al-Muqtadir, Catalogue Raisonné of the Būhār Library: Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts, Vol. I (Calcutta: Imperial Library, 1921), pp. 135–136, no. 175.
    Charles Rathbone Low, A Memoir of Lieutenant-General Sir Garnet J. Wolseley (London: R. Bentley, 1878), pp. 168–169.
    C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. III (London: British Museum, 1881), p. 1042a [British Library Or. 2014/2].
    Niẓām al-Dīn Yamanī, Lat̤āʼif-i Ashrafī fī Bayān Tavāʼif-i Ṣūfī. New Dehli: Nuṣrat al-Mat̤ābiʻ, 1298 AH (1880–81 CE).

Funding of Cataloguing

Iran Heritage Foundation

The John Rylands Research Institute


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