Persian MS 75 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
For other unillustrated copies of this work, see Rylands Persian MS 189 and 190. Regarding the attribution of authorship for this work to Mīr Ẕū al-Fiqār ‘Alī al-Ḥusaynī Ardistānī, see Mojtabāʾī and Barzegar.
مشتمل بر چند (۱۵) نظر
Comprised of 15 naẓr.
مشتمل بر دوازده نظر
Comprised of 12 naẓr.
مشتمل بر یک نظر
Comprised of 1 naẓr
مشتمل بر دو نظر
Comprised of 2 naẓr.
مشتمل بر سه نظر
Comprised of 3 naẓr.
مشتمل بر دو نظر
Comprised of 2 naẓr.
Comprised of 1 naẓr.
مشتمل بر چهار نظر
Comprised of 4 naẓr.
مشتمل بر سه نظر
Comprised of 3 naẓr.
مشتمل بر چهار نظر
Comprised of 4 naẓr.
مشتمل بر سه نظر
Comprised of 3 naẓr.
مشتمل بر سه نظر
Comprised of 3 naẓr.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 17 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear black nasta‘līq with red subheaders by Munshī Ghulām Muḥammad bin Muḥammad Jamāl.
Decoration
Tinted drawings depict seven of nine Navagraha, Hindu planetary deities, all separately executed by an unidentifed artist on horizontal strips of paper then inserted into the gutter margins adjacent to blank spaces intended for them:
- Insert 1a:
Saturn (Planet)
Kayvan
کیوان
Zuḥal
زحل
Shanīchar
شنیچر
‘پیگر کیوان که بعربی زحل و بهندی سنچر گویند.’
‘Portrait of Kayvān (Saturn) who is called Zuḥal in Arabic and Shanichar in Hindi’
The accompanying text commences on the preceding folio, 9b. - Insert 1b:
Jupiter (Planet)
Hurmuz
هرمز
Mushtarī
مشتری
Bṛhaspati
بہرہسپتی
बृहस्पति
‘پیگر هرمز که بعربی مشتری و بهندی بہرہسپتی گویند’.
‘Portrait of Hurmuz (Jupiter) who is called Mushtarī in Arabic and Bṛhaspati in Hindi.’
The accompanying text commences on the succeeding folio, 10a. - Insert 2a:
Mars (Planet)
Bahrām
بهرام
Mirīkh
مریخ
Mushtarī
مشتری
Maṅgala
منگل
मङ्गल
‘پیگر بهرام که بعربی مریخ و بهندی منگل گویند’.
‘Portrait of Bahrām (Mars) who is called Mirīkh in Arabic and Maṅgala in Hindi.’
The accompanying text commences on the preceeding folio, 10b. - Insert 2b:
Sun (Planet)
Aftāb (Mihr)
افتاب
Shams
شمس
Sūryā
سوریا
सूर्य
‘پیگر افتاب که بعربی شمس و بهندی سوریا گویند.’
‘Portrait of Aftāb (Sun) who is called Shams in Arabic and Sūryā in Hindi’.
The accompanying text commences on the succeeding folio, 11a. - Insert 3a:
Venus (Planet)
Zuhrah
زهره
Nāhīd (Ānāhīd) ناهید
Śukra
شُکّر
शुक्र
‘پیگر ناهید که بعربی زهره و بهندی شُکّرَ گویند.’
‘Portrait of Nāhīd (Venus) who is called Zuḥrah in Arabic and Śukra in Hindi.’
The accompanying text commences on the preceeding folio, 11b. - Insert 3b:
Mercury (Planet)
Tīr
تیر
‘Uṭārid
عطارد
Budda (Budha)
بدّ
बुध
‘پیگر تیر که بهندی بد و بعربی عطارد ّ گویند’.
‘Portrait of Tīr (Saturn) who is called Budda in Hindi and ‘Uṭārid in Arabic.’
The accompanying text commences on the succeeding folio, 12a. - Insert 4a:
Moon (Planet)
Māh
ماه
َQamar
قمر
Sūma (Chandra)
سُوم
सोम
‘پیگرست ماه در هندی سُوم گویند.’
‘Portrait of Māh (Moon) in Hindi Sūma.’
The accompanying text commences on the preceeding folio, 12b.
Marginalia: Notations written in the margins throughout.
Inscriptions:
- The right flyleaf a side (f. ia) bears an encircled pencilled bookseller's number ‘149’.
- Folio 1a bears:
- Top: Signed by former owner Sir Graves Champney Haughton, subsequently scribbled out that partly reads:
‘G C Haughton
Feb 1818’
For similar inscriptions that Haughton recorded on other volumes he purchased at the same sale, see Rylands Persian MS 173 to 179. - Unsigned title and description of the work, likely in the hand of Jonathan Duncan:
‘Dabistan
A correct Copy
The name is a contraction of
Dubeeristan
The term Dubeer
importing a
writer
&
wise man’. - Inscribed again underneath by Sir Graves Champney Haughton:
‘One of Jonathan Duncan's books, Bombay’
- Top: Signed by former owner Sir Graves Champney Haughton, subsequently scribbled out that partly reads:
- The right pastedown: Catalogue entry from an unidentified firm with the price crossed out in pencil:
‘340. دبستان Dabistan.
A work giving a fuller account then could be obtained, at least from any other Oriental sauce, of the various religions or forms of worship prevailing in the world, as known to the writer. This copy is neatly written in small Taalik, on polished silk paper. The work is illustrated in the beginning by paintings of the planets, the sun and moon, or rather the symbolical representations of them in the Hindu mythology : the paintings are upon slips of paper, about half the height of the leaves, and a blank is left on the leaf opposite to each.
Folio, native binding, 458 pp. 6l. 16s. 6d.’ - The left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘2/F’, and ‘Bland MSS No. 297’, with the name and number crossed out and ‘Persian’ and ‘75’ written aside.
Binding
Possibly rebound in a hybrid British-Indian style in the Bombay Presidency for former owner Jonathan Duncan .
British-made spot marbled endpapers added at front and back, with the flyleaves subsequently crudely cut out. Resewn on five cord supports, with three laced into pasteboards. Edges trimmed and chevron endbands twined in white and black threads over round cores at head and tail. Covered in full polished red goatskin leather over pasteboards, tight-backed with five raised bands on the spine, squares slightly protruding along the head only, and defined joints, and without a flap (Type III binding per Déroche).
Spine titled ‘DABISTAN’
265 × 188 × 44 mm.
Handle binding with caution. In poor condition, with headcap breaking, joints cracking, and internal flyleaves cut out.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Subsequently acquired by Jonathan Duncan (1756–1811), who governed the Bombay Presidency for 16 years from 1795 until his death.
After Duncan's death, his surviving family inherited then sold his library through the London firm of Samuel Leigh Sotheby (1805–1861) where Sir Graves Champney Haughton (1788–1849), purchased it for £12, as per his unsigned inscription on folio 1a. An early student at Fort William College, Haughton excelled in the study of several oriental languages and eventually taught them at East India College, Haileybury.
Haughton passed away in Paris, but his library sale catalogue omits this manuscript; therefore, he evidently sold it before moving there. A catalogue entry pasted on the right pastedown likely pertains to the subsequent sale of the volume by an unidentified London firm.
Subsequently acquired by by scholar Nathaniel Bland (1803–1865) for his library at Randalls Park, Leatherhead.
After Bland's death, London bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) sold his oriental manuscripts to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) in June, 1866, paid in two instalments of £450 and £400, and then moved to Bibliotheca Lindesiana at Haigh Hall, Wigan.
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.
Digital Images
Manchester Digital Collections (full digital facsimile)
Bibliography
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
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