Persian MS 876 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
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Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Summary of Contents: Volume four of an incomplete set of three volumes of the Siyar al-Mutaʼakhkhirīn (Review of Modern Times), together with Persian MS 874 (Vol. 1) and 876 (Vol. 42), with the third volume wanting. The author, Ghulām Husain Khān Ṭabaṭāḅāī (b. 1727 or 8) , a son of Patna Vice-Regent Sayyid ‘Alī Khān and cousin of ‘Alīvardī Khān, Nawwab of Bengal (b. 1676 r. 1740–1756), composed this text in circa 1780–1784, and dedicated it to Governor-General of Bengal, Warren Hastings. A general history of India, it spans the death of the Mughal Emperor ‘Alamgīr I in 1707 until 1195 AH (1781 CE). Since the author relates many eyewitness accounts, historians regard it as a preeminent 18th-century source. Delhi calligrapher Muḥammad Jān, son of Mughal treasurer Mīyan Muḥammad ‘Āshūrī, copied the volume in a bold nasta'liq hand in 1227 AH (1812 CE).Scribe: Muḥammad Jān محمد جانTitle: Siyar al-mutaʼakhkhirīnTitle: سير المتأخرينIncipit: (basmalla) برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): ذکر کیفیت جنگ شدن از اسدالله خان و شمرو و افواج انگلیس و معلوب شدن اسدالله خان و شمرو و مظفر شدن فوج انگلیس.Explicit: برگ ۲۸۶ر (folio 305b): و چنین بزرگانرا سلامت نگاهدارد که باعث نزول برکات الهی و یادگار اسلاف کراماند.Colophon: برگهای ۳۰۵پ -۳۰۶ر (folios 305b–6a): الحمد لله الابه و الشکر علی نعمایه کما ـلق(؟) مکرمه و کیریا یه که این نامه نامی و صحیفه کرامی تصنیف منشی غلام حسین خان بخط بی نمط اضعف العباد بنده محمد جان شاگرد سید ابوالحسن رضوی عرف [برگ ۳۰۶ر] میر کلن غفر الله تعالی ذنوبه و ستر عیوبه و سلمه الله تعالی شانزدهم شهر جمادی الثانی سنه ۱۲۲۷ یکهزار و دو صد و بیست و هفتم هجره مقدسه علی صاحبهاالف الف تحیه و الثنا تحریر یافت.Colophon: Completed by Muḥammad Jān on 12 Rabī‘ II 1227 AH (25 April 1812 CE)..Student of Delhi master Sayyid Abū-l-Ḥasan Raz̤avī, known as 'Mīr Kallan' (who copied Persian MS 572), Muḥammad Jān ultimately served as the munshī (secretary) to the last Mughal emperor, Muḥmammad Bahādur Shāh II (1775–1862, r. 1837–1857).
Language(s): PersianPhysical Description
Form: codexSupport: Medium-weight, straight-grained ivory-coloured handmade paper, manufactured in India, with >1mm between the laid lines and no discernible chain lines.Extent: 308 folios (ff. iii + 308 + i)Dimensions (leaf): 313 × 208 mm.Dimensions (written): 236 × 115 mm.Foliation:Modern pencilled Arabic folio numbers on the upper-left corners on the b sides inclusive of the final historical flyleaves. Folio 120 mismarked 121, then crossed out, with the subsequent folios off by one
Collation
Undetermined due to tight opening, but possibly quaternions throughout. Catchwords thoughout on the lower left corners of the b sides.
Condition
Handle with caution. In poor condition, with degraded ink between folios 175a–275b. Severe insect damage along the fore-edge, with subsequent repairs. Occasional tipping in the gutters prevents some pages from fully opening.Layout
Written in a single column with 12 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Copied in clear large nasta‘līq script in black ink with subheaders in red.
Additions:- Inscription: folio1a bears the Persian title and volume number written in nasta‘līq script.
- Bookplates:left paste-down: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with shelf mark ‘1/B’, and ‘Persian 81’.
Binding
Resewn at four stations, probably on cord supports laced or frayed out onto the pasteboards. Twined Islamic-style chevron endbands in red and white. Covered in a later Indian style binding in full, tight backed, red goatskin leather over pasteboards, flush with the edges, and without a flap (type III binding per Déroche). Earlier endleaves of comparatively heavy handmade paper manufactured in India, and later flyleaves of European laid paper added during restoration.
Gold-stamped onlays of either paper or leather featuring floral designs for the central mandorla, detached pendants, and corners. Boards decorated with a black border ~25 mm wide on the perimeters of the boards, outlined with ruled lines in yellow, with another single line in the centres. Pastedowns of vivid comb-patterned marbled paper manufactured in India. Spine rebacked in smooth, medium-brown goatskin leather, and the boards reattached with hinges of European "Spanish" waved-patterned marbled paper.
320 × 216 × 38 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Subsequently acquired by Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880).
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 and his Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.
Manuscript description 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
A. F. L. Beeston, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstânî, and Pushtû Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Part III (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1954), p. 7 no. 2471 [Bodl.. Ms. Ind. Inst. Pers. 25-26].E. G. Browne, A Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Library of the University of Cambridge (Cambridge: Cambridge University press, 1896), p. 176, no. 101 [Camb. Add. 408].H. M. Elliot and John Dowson, The History of India, As Told by Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, Vol. VIII (London: Trübner & Co., 1877), pp. 194–198, no. CXII.H. Ethé, Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, Vol. I (Oxford: Printed for the India Office by H. Hart, 1903) col. 157, no. 416 [BL IO Islamic 3319].Ghulām Muḥammad Haft Qalamī Dihlavī, Tad̲h̲kira-i-k̲h̲us̲h̲navīsān of Mawlānā G̲h̲ulām Muḥammad Dihlavī. Edited by M. Hidayet Husain. (Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal) 1910), p. 74.Gholam Hussein-Khan, The Siyar-ul-Mutakherin: A History of the Mahomedan Power in India During the Last Century. Revised translation by John Briggs. London: Oriental translation fund, 1832.Ghulam Husain Khan, A Translation of the Sëir Mutaqherin; or View of Modern Times, Being an History of India, from the Year 1118 to Year 1194 (This Year Answers to the Christian Year 1781-82) of the Hidjrah, Containing, in General, the Reigns of the Seven Last Emperors of Hindostan, and in Particular, an Account of the English Wars in Bengal ... To Which the Author Has Added Critical Examination of the English Government and Policy in Those Countries, Down to the Year 1783. Translated by 'Nota-Manus' [pseudonym of M. Raymond, a.k.a. 'Haji Mustapha']. Calcutta: Printed by J. White, 1789.D. S. Margoliouth, Catalogue of the Oriental Manuscripts in the Library of Eton College (Oxford: Horace Hart, Printer to the University, 1904, p. 24, no. 199 (shelf/item: 16/14) [Eton Pote 436].D. N. Marshall, Mughals in India: A Bibliographical Survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1962), pp. 157–158, no. 517.W. H. Morley, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Historical Manuscripts in the Arabic and Persian Languages (London: John W. Parker & Son, 1854), pp. 105–108, nos. CV–CIII [RAS Persian 110–113].C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. I (London: British Museum, 1879), p. 280 [BL Add. 6577-6578].E. Sachau and H. Ethé, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstani, and Pushtû manuscripts in the Bodleian Library Vol I. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889), col. 133, no. 254 [Bodl. Ouseley 330/3].C. A. Storey, Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. 2 Pt. 3 (London: Luzac & Co., 1939), pp. 635–639.Robert Travers, 'The connected worlds of Haji Mustapha (c. 1730–91): A Eurasian cosmopolitan in eighteenth-century Bengal, The Indian Economic & Social History Review Vol. 52, No. 3 (2015): pp. 297–333.Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
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