Persian MS 89 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Summary of Contents: Poet Amīr Khusraw Dihlavī (ca. 1253–1325) completed his first mas̱navī (couplet) poem entitled Qirān al-Saʻdayn (Conjunction of Two Auspicious Stars) in three months in Ramadan 688 AH (Sep.–Oct. 1289 CE). It concerns hostilities and subsequent reconciliation of Khusraw's patron, Sultān Mu'izz al-Dīn Kayqubād, 10th Sultan of Delhi (b. 1269, r. 1287–1290), with his father, Nāṣir al-Dīn Bughrā Khān, Sultan of Bengal (r. 1287–1291), and their armies encamped on opposite banks of the Sarju (Saryu) in Awadh (Oudh) earlier that same year. The poem vividly recounts the opulent celebrations, gift exchanges, and lavish meals that ensued. An unidentified scribe probably completed this undated albeit complete volume in the 18th century CE.

Author: Amīr Khusraw Dihlavī, approximately 1253-1325 أمير خسرو دهلوي

Title: Qirān al-Saʻdayn

Title: قران السعدين

Incipit: (basmalla) برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): شکر گویم که بتوفیق خداوند جهان * بر سر‌نامه ز توحید نوشتم عنوان | نام این نمهٔ والا است قران السعدین * کز بلندیش بعدین شهر است قران.

Explicit: دردا که رل ز خسرو و بیچاره میرود * و آگاه نی ز بردن دل آن که میبرد.

Colophon: شد سخن ختم قبولی که خدایش داد است *‌تا آبد بادش پایان و مبادش پایان.

Colophon: Uninformative colophon.

For two other copies of this work held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 71 and 256.

Language(s): Persian

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Textblock of medium-weight, straight-grained, externally sized and polished, ivory-coloured paper probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent with ~7 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines.

Extent: iii folios, 2 flyleaves (ff. iii + ? + iii).

Dimensions (leaf): 291 × 208 mm.

Dimensions (written): 217 × 128 mm.

Foliation: Unfoliated.

Collation

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

Condition

Text in fair condition, with moderate water and insect damage.

Layout

Written in 1 to 2 columns with 16 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Written in clear black nasta‘līq with red subheaders.

Additions:
Inscriptions: The first right flyleaf a side (f. ia) numbered ‘Nº 40’ at top.
The third right flyleaf a side (f. iiib) inscribed by former owner Sir Gore Ouseley ‘Nº 21’, with an adjacent unsigned penciled note in the hand of Samuel Hawtayne Lewin, describing it as ex-Ouseley.
Bookplates: The left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘2/C’, and ‘Bland MSS No. 311’, with the name and number crossed out and ‘Persian’ and ‘89’ written aside.

Binding

Probably bound in a British style binding in the Indian subcontinent for former owner Sir Gore Ouseley.

Sewn on 4 cord supports, laced into pasteboards. Edges trimmed, coloured yellow, and fron-bead decorative endbands of white and red threads sewn at head and tail.

Spine titled ‘KIRAN SAADAIN’.

295 × 221 × 24 mm.

Handle binding with caution. Extensive abrasion on the exterior and upper endband now lost

History

Origin: Possibly completed in Awadh; undated, but probably 18th century CE.

Provenance and Acquisition

Subsequently acquired, possibly in Awadh (Oudh), by Sir Gore Ouseley (1770–1844), who then returned with it to Britain, then afterwards apparently sold it.

Thereafter obtained by Chancery Court Clerk and Royal Asiatic Society member Samuel Hawtayne Lewin (1795-1840).

After Lewin's death, obtained by scholar Nathaniel Bland (1803-1865) from an unidentified sourcefor 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, 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 2025 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

A. F. L. Beeston, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstânî, and Pushtû Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Part III (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1954), p. 32, no. 2597 [Bodleian Ms. Pers. d. 55].

E. G. Browne, A Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Library of the University of Cambridge, (Cambridge: Cambridge University press, 1896), p. 343, no. 254 [Cambridge. Dd. 12.7].

H. Ethé, Catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the library of the India Office, Vol. I (London: Printed for the India Office by H. Hart, 1903), col. 690, no 1186/5 [British Library IO Islamic 51].

C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. II (London: British Museum, 1881), p. 611 [British Library Add. 21104/12].

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.563, no. 773 [Bodleian MS Ouseley 14].

C. A. Storey, Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. I Pt. 1 (London: Luzac & Co., 1927), pp. 499–501, no. 665(1).

Funding of Cataloguing

Iran Heritage Foundation

The Soudavar Memorial Foundation

The John Rylands Research Institute

Subjects

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