Persian MS 882 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Summary of Contents: This popular illustrated miscellany, probably completed in India in the late 18th century, features three works. The first, Kursīnāmah-'i Mahāwat-garī (Genealogy of Elephant-keeping), relates a mythical history of elephant-keepers, or mahouts, posed as a series of questions and answers. The author, Sayyid Aḥmad Kabīr, claims he descends from the Prophet Noah, whom he describes as the first mahout. A second, anonymous text comprises the bulk of the volume, here entitled Savāniḥāt-i Afyāl (Mishaps of Elephants); however, it often appears under the title Mu‘ālajāt-i Afyāl (Remedies for Elephants) in other surviving copies. It discusses elephant husbandry together with various diseases and remedies in seventeen chapters. Finally, a brief, multilingual veterinary glossary of Arabic and Persian terms with Hindustani equivalents appends the manuscript.