Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World

Persian MS 820 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Contents

Summary of Contents: Narāyan Kaul, known as ʻAjīz, completed the Tārīkh-i Kashmīr, an abridged history of Kashmīr in 1122 AH (1710–1711 CE) on behalf of a Mughal nobleman, Nā'ib, and Dīwān of the Subah of Kashmir, ‘Ārif Khān. He apparently reviewed Sanskrit sources gathered by his patron, and consulted a comparatively abstruse work under the same title completed by Ḥaydar Malik between 1618 and 1621 CE, which derives turn partly derives from the Sanskrit Rājataraṅgiṇī (राजतरङ्गिणी, The River of Kings) composed by Kalhana in the twelfth century CE. Admired for its simple style, the topics include the author's motivation for writing the work, on the name Kashmīr and its origin, the Mahārājās of India, the Muslim kings, the governors, as well as the commodities of the region. A scribe named Narāyan Dās Pandit completed this volume for Mīrzā Muḥammad ‘Alī Khān Bahādur in Akbarābād (Agra) on 3 Rajab 1198 AH (23 May 1784 CE).
Author and Bibliographic antecedent: Kalhaṇa, fl. 12th century.;
कल्हणः;
Incipit: (basmalla) برگ ۱ر (Folio 1a): سپاس بیرون از مقیاس قباس سزاوار جناب پادشاه پادشاهی بخش پادشاهان فلک رخش است.
Explicit: برگ ۲۲۲پ (Folio 222b): احوال بایجاز تمام کشمیر
Colophon: برگ ۲۲۳ر (Folio 223a): بندهٔ عبدیت اساس نراین داس پندت بفرمایش امارت ایالت قریب شوکت حشمت منزلت میرزا محمد علیخان بهادر ⟨بتوجه(؟)⟩ مستقر الخلافت اکبرآباد تحریر نمود بتاریخ ⟨سیم شهر⟩ رجب المرجب سنه یکهزار و یکصد و نود و هشت هجری مطابق سال بیست و پنچم از جلوس سلطنت شاه عالم پادشاه غازی این ⟨نمود⟩ باتمام رسید العقبت بالخیر تم تم تم.
Colophon: Completed by Narāyan Dās Pandit for Mīrzā Muḥammad ‘Alī Khān Bahādur in Akbarābād (Agra) on 3 Rajab 1198 AH (23 May 1784 CE).
Language(s): Persian

For two other copies of this manuscript held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 158 and and 970.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Copied on medium-weight, straight and cross-grained, unevenly-formed, heavily flocked straw-coloured paper probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent with ~8 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines.
Extent: 223 folios, 4 flyleaves (ff. ii + 223 + ii).
Dimensions (leaf): 254 × 154 mm.
Dimensions (written): 211 × 102 mm.
Foliation: Unfoliated.

Collation

Undetermined. Catchwords throughout most of the lower-left corners of the b sides.

Condition

Text in fair but stable condition, with moderate water damage and stains throughout.

Layout

Written in 1 column with 9 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Written in clear black nasta‘līq with red subheaders by Narāyan Dās Pandit.

Decoration

Ruling: text margins ruled with double red lines surrounded by single blue lines, with occasional horizontal breaks .

Additions:
Inscriptions: The right pastedown numbered ‘D. F. 113’ and a price of ‘£2.2.’ both pertaining to former owner Duncan Forbes.
The second right flyleaf b side (f. iib), top, bears the date of completion and a subtraction calculation.
A in the margin by the colophon translates it.
The first left flyleaf b side (f. iiib) bears partly-legible Indic sīyāq numerals Bookplates: The left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ bookplate with pencilled shelfmark ‘2/F’, and an earlier Lindesiana label ‘Persian MSS No. 26’, with the number crossed out and ‘820’ written aside.

Binding

Probably rebound in London for Duncan Forbes.

Resewn on three recessed cords laced into pasteboards. Edges trimmed and spattered medium brown, with cloth headbands adhered at head and tail. Covered in half decorated calfskin leather, with predominantly red-brown shell-patterned marbled paper sides.

Spine panels palleted with double fillet lines, and a titled ‘Kashmir’ on a dark maroon skiver leather label in gold.

264 × 170 × 42 mm.

Handle binding with caution. Boards detached and spine cracked and delaminating. Tight sewing restricts opening to the gutter margins.

History

Origin: Completed by Narāyan Dās Pandit for Mīrzā Muḥammad ‘Alī Khān Bahādur in Akbarābād (Agra); 3 Rajab 1198 AH (23 May 1784 CE).

Provenance and Acquisition

While the circumstances under which this volume arrived in Britain remain unclear, orientalist Duncan Forbes (1798–1868) subsequently obtained from an unidentified source. Ultimately appointed King's College Professor of Oriental Languages, he described this volume in his 1866 catalogue, no. 205, valued at £3 3s (also inscribed on the right pastedown), before he sold his manuscript collection to his publisher W. H. Allen & Co. in exchange for an annuity.

Subsequently sold by W. H. Allen & Co. to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) in 1866 for his 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, Manchester.

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 2024 with reference to the manuscript 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

    E. G. Browne, A Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the Library of the University of Cambridge (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1896), p. 176, Nº CIII. [Cambridge University Library Add. 2669]
    H. Ethé, Catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the library of the India Office, Vol. 1 (London: Printed for the India Office by H. Hart, 1903), cols. 203–204, no. 511, [British Library IO Islamic 1100].
    D. Forbes, Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts, Chiefly Persian, Collected Within the Last Five and Thirty years (London: W. H. Allen., 1866), p. 37, no. 113 [Rylands Persian MS 820].
    D. N. Marshall, Mughals in India: A Bibliographical Survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1962), p. 369, no. 1375.
    S. Rafiee-Rad, 'Persian Manuscripts in Samuel Robinson’s Collection in The John Rylands Library', Manuscripta: A Journal for Manuscript Research, Vol. 61, No. 2 (2017): pp. 239–292 [Rylands Persian MS 970].
    F. Richard, 'Jean-Baptiste Gentil, collectionneur de manuscrits persans', Dix-Huitième Siècle, No. 28 (1996): pp. 91–110.
    C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. I (London: British Museum, 1879), p. 298–299 [British Library Add. 11631, Add. 24030, and Or. 186].
    E. Sachau and H. Ethé, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstânî, and Pushtû Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Vol I (1889) cols. 170–171, no. 318 [Bodleian Ouseley Add. 96].
    C. A. Storey, Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. 1, Pt. 2 (London: Luzac & Co., 1939), pp. 681–682, no. 877.

Funding of Cataloguing

Iran Heritage Foundation

The John Rylands Research Institute

The Soudavar Memorial Foundation


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