Persian MS 878 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Summary of Contents: The Aḥvāl-i Bānū Baygum Mumtāz Maḥal (Life of Lady Mumtāz Maḥal Baygum), an anonymous account of the death of Mumtāz Maḥal, wife of the Mughal ruler Shāh Jahān in 17 Ẕū-al-Ḥijjah 1040 (7 July 1631 CE), and the building of the Taj Mahal as her tomb. The work documents the Mughal family members to the children of ‘Ālamgīr I, and then provides a detailed account of the tomb, its appearance, dimensions, expenses paid for materials, including inlays of precious stones, and payments to architects and skilled labourers. An unidentified scribe probably completed this manuscript in the Indian subcontinent in the mid-19th century.

Author: anonymous

Title: Aḥvāl-i khulāṣat Bānū Baygum Mumtāz Maḥall

Title: Khulāṣah-ʼi aḥvāl-i Bānū Bagum mukhāṭab ba-Mumtāz Maḥall

Title: حوال خلاصۀ بانو بيكم ممتاز محل

Title: خلاصۀ احوال بانو بيكم مخاطب بممتاز محل

Incipit: برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): احوال حلاصهٔ بانو بیگوم مخاطب ممتاز محل عدف تاج بی‌ بی اهلیه شاهجهان بادشاه غازی... آورده‌اند که شاهچهان بادشاه غازی کشور‌ستانی تالیجاه بلند بار گاه و فیاضرمان غریب پرور مستمدان سبحانی خلیف الرحمانی مالک ممالک ...

Explicit: برگ ۶۵پ (folio 65b): ...مبر الکل بابت مذپپدی کاد بیگدان ملا زمان روضه منور مقدسه متبرک صرف شدند ....

Colophon: No colophon

Language(s): Persian

For another variant copy of this same work, see Persian MS 351.

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Textblock of very thin, straight and cross-grained, externally sized and highly polished, ivory-coloured wove paper possibly handmade in the Indian subcontinent.

Dimensions (leaf): 215 × 125 mm.

Dimensions (written): 144 × 80 mm.

Foliation: Partial pencilled Arabic numerals upper-left corners of the a sides.

Collation

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

Condition

Text in good condition.

Layout

Written in 1 column with 7 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Written in clear black nasta‘līq with Indic siyāq numbers and red passages and subheaders.

Additions:
Inscription: The first right flyleaf a side (f. ia) bears a note describing the work, probably in the hand of former owner Alexander Lindsay.
Bookplates: Left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with shelfmark ‘2/I’, and class mark ‘Persian MSS 84’ with the number crossed out and ‘878’ written aside.

Binding

Probably rebound in Britain in the mid 19th-centiry.

Resewn on three recessed cords, with comparatively thin, buff-coloured stock added as endpapers. Edges trimmed and chevron endbands twined in yellow and silk threads over round cores as head and tail. Covereed in half crimson-coloured, straight-grained morocco goatskin leather over pasteboards, with 'Spanish' wave-patterened marbled paper sides.

Boards decoated with serrated lines in gold along the paper, and spine panels palleted with double fillet lines.

226 × 137 × 15 mm.

Binding in good condition with minor abrasion to the exterior.

History

Origin: Probably completed in the Indian subcontinent undated, but probably mid-19th century given the use of wove paper

Provenance and Acquisition

While the circumstances under which this volume arrived in Britain remain unclear, Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) eventually acquire it from an unidentified source 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 2023 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

D. N. Marshall, Mughals in India: A Bibliographical Survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1962), pp. 352–353, no. 1313.

C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. II (London: British Museum, 1881), pp. 430–431 [British Library Add. 8910, Or 194–195].

C. A. Storey, Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. I Pt. 2 (London: Luzac & Co., 1939), pp. 761–762.

C. A. Storey, Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. II, Pt. 1 (London: Luzac & Co., 1972), pp. 143–144, no. 1643(1).

Funding of Cataloguing

Iran Heritage Foundation

The John Rylands Research Institute

Subjects

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