L. 4 (University Library, Cambridge University)
E. G. Browne Collection
Contents
Summary of Contents: Two volumes of fictitious letters about the ancient glories and present misery
of Persia, supposed to have been written by an imaginary Prince of India named
Kamálu'd-Dawla to an equally imaginary Prince of Persia named Jalálu'd-Dawla,
but really composed by Mírzá Áqá Khán of Kirmán, who was secretly put to death
at Tabriz with Shaykh Ahmad Rúbí of Kirmán and the Khabiru'l-Mulk on July
15, 1896. See Colonel D. C. Phillott's English Introduction to the Persian transla-
tion of Morier's Haji Baba (Calcutta, 1905, pp. vii-viii), and my Persian
Revolution, pp. 93–96. Both these volumes were transcribed for me in A.D. 1911 by the Bábí scribe
Mirza Mustafà, who supplied me with so many Bábí MSS. They are uniform in
size (21'8 x 14'5 c. and 18 ll.) and script (a clear but not very graceful naskh), and
were received by me together in October, 1912. L. 4 comprises 160 ff., and is incomplete, for of the hundred letters or addresses
(khilala) to Jalalu'd-Din which it should contain it actually contains only forty-two, It is headed: بنام ایزد یکتا صورت یکصد خطابه است که شاهزاده آزاده كمال الدوله دهلوی که پدرش در زمان شاه تیمور از
ایران بمرز و بوم هندوستان هجرت کرده بدوست محترم خود نواب جلال الدوله شاهزاده ایران
نوشته است و شرح خرابی آنرا نگاشته The imaginary writer, Kamálu'd-Dawla, begins by expressing his regret that,
contrary to the advice of his friend Jalálu'd-Dawla, he returned from his travels in
Europe to India by way of Persia, the condition of which caused him the deepest mortification: خطابه اوّل دوست عزیز من جلال الدوله عاقبت سخن ترا نشنیده در مراجعت از فرنگستان از راه
تبریز وارد بخاک اندوهناك ایران شدم ایکاش نیآمده و هموطنان قدیم و خویشان کهن و وطن
اصلی پر بلا و محن خود را ندیده بودم و از احوال و عادات و اخلاق و روش و کیش و مذهب
و آئین ایشان مطلع ،نمیگشتم دلم خون و آب و جگرم پارچه پارچه و کباب شد The leading motive of the book is the glorification of ancient and the disparage-
ment of modern Persia. The Arabs are denounced as barbarians, and Islám,
especially the Shí'a doctrine, is sharply criticized, while not only Zoroaster but even
the communist Mazdak (f. 65') is applauded. The author makes a great display of
his knowledge of European, especially French, words, and constantly puts forward
the most absurd popular etymologies. Thus he detects the Persian word núr or
khar (sun) in such place names as Europe, Urús (Russia), Urúm (Rúm, Asia
Minor), Arman (Armenia), and Arnawd (Albania), and deduces from this a Persian
origin or suzerainty for all these people. He derives Khidiw (Khedive) from
Mahádíw; Astronomy from Sitára-náma; Mábadán from Mah-ábádiyán (a mythical
ancient dynasty of Persian kings mentioned in the spurious Dasátír); 'Ibrání
(Hebrew) from 'abara, "to cross over," because they crossed over the Euphrates to
go into Egypt. He praises the open antagonism to Islám of the Carmathians,
Ismá flís and Assassins (ff. 86-88), but condemns the later 'ulamá, philosophers,
and heresiarchs of Persia, including Mullá Sadrá, Shaykh Murtada, Shaykh Ahmad
al-Aḥsá'í and the Báb, whose ignorance, he says (f. 53'), is such that "not one of
them has hitherto uttered two words calculated to benefit Persia," while the Súffs
and mystics are also held up to contempt (f. 95), as well as poets like Qa'áni.
Polygamy is condemned, the miserable position of Persian women deplored, and the Persian character disparaged to such a point that the author says (f. 139) that
though, except the Arabs and savages of Africa, there are no people more filthy and
unclean than the Persians, the Jews resident in Persia, and the Hindús, these are
the very people who regard everyone else as unclean. The evil effects of the
rawda-khwáns and Muharram mournings, especially on women and their unborn
offspring, are also emphasised. These rawa-kwáns, says the author (f. 155").
ought to be publicly flayed alive as a warning to others: حق روضه خوان این است که او را زنده در ملاء عام پوست کنند و عبرت دیگران سازند تا دیگر
کسی بندگان خدارا باین جرئت دعوت بر هدم ارکان شریعت و خرق پرده دیانت ننماید کمان
ندارم آنقدر ظلمیکه بر اولاد و احفاد و جنینهای رحم زنان ایران و نطفهای کمر مردان از روضه
خوانان میشود از فرعون که هزاران طفل سر بریده شده باشد زیراکه ما از پیش نوشتیم که حالات
البته خو و طبیعت اصلی میشود
عارضی مادران در اطفال رحم L. 5, the companion volume, comprises 170 ff., and is described as containing
three letters from the same Indian Prince Kamálu'd-Dawla to his Persian friend
Jalálu'd-Dawla, but only the title of the first letter, supposed to have been written
from Tabriz in Ramadán, 1282/Jan.-Feb., 1866, appears (on f. 8") in the text.
The book begins: هو الله تعالى تا خوابت نکند صحبت رندانی چند
زاهد از کوچه رندان بسلامت بگذر
صورت سه طغرا مکتوبی است که شاهزاده آزاده کمال الدوله هندوستانی در جواب جلال الدوله
ایرانی مرقوم داشته The writer begins by explaining some score of European words and expressions
which, he says, cannot be properly rendered in Persian, and which he therefore
proposes to use in the course of his book. These include the words Despot,
Civilization, Fanatic, Philosopher, Revolution, Progress, Poetry (Poésie), Patriot,
Change (Changement), Politics, Protestant, Free (Libre), Electric, Charlatan,
Parliament, Petrarch, Voltaire, Chemistry (Chimie), etc. The contents of this
volume closely resemble the preceding one; the same abuse of the Arabs; the same
absurd popular etymologies (Shaytan derived from Scythian; the magical word
badúḥ, written on letters to ensure their arrival, from bi-daw, "run," etc.); the
same condemnation of the 'ulamá, especially the Shi'a 'ulamá, of Islám; the same
glorification of Zoroastrianism and pre-Islamic Persia; and the same denunciations
of her later theologians, philosophers, darwishes and rawḍa-khwáns. Some account
of the great persecution of the Bábís in the summer of A.D. 1852 is given on
ff. 109-115. An imaginary dialogue between a tyrannical governor entitled
Súsmáru d-Dawla ("the Lizard of the State") and the Kalántar occupies ff. 120-
155, while almost at the end of the book an attempt is made to prove on etymo-
logical grounds (jeune jwain; mort-murd; père-pidar; porté-burda; apporté = áwurda; entrez = andar á; dent = dindán; lèvre=lab; genou=zánú; ville=bi
in Ardabil, etc.) the close affinity between the French and the Persians. Perhaps the most interesting passage in either of these depressing volumes is
an account of an observance of the Zoroastrians of Yazd and Kirmán entitled
Sufra-sabzi and "the entertainment of the Daughter of the King of the Fairies"
(L. 4, ff. 20-22b). The transcription of L. 5 was completed on the 8th of Dhu'l-Hijja, 1329 (Nov.
30, 1911).
of Persia, supposed to have been written by an imaginary Prince of India named
Kamálu'd-Dawla to an equally imaginary Prince of Persia named Jalálu'd-Dawla,
but really composed by Mírzá Áqá Khán of Kirmán, who was secretly put to death
at Tabriz with Shaykh Ahmad Rúbí of Kirmán and the Khabiru'l-Mulk on July
15, 1896. See Colonel D. C. Phillott's English Introduction to the Persian transla-
tion of Morier's Haji Baba (Calcutta, 1905, pp. vii-viii), and my Persian
Revolution, pp. 93–96. Both these volumes were transcribed for me in A.D. 1911 by the Bábí scribe
Mirza Mustafà, who supplied me with so many Bábí MSS. They are uniform in
size (21'8 x 14'5 c. and 18 ll.) and script (a clear but not very graceful naskh), and
were received by me together in October, 1912. L. 4 comprises 160 ff., and is incomplete, for of the hundred letters or addresses
(khilala) to Jalalu'd-Din which it should contain it actually contains only forty-two, It is headed: بنام ایزد یکتا صورت یکصد خطابه است که شاهزاده آزاده كمال الدوله دهلوی که پدرش در زمان شاه تیمور از
ایران بمرز و بوم هندوستان هجرت کرده بدوست محترم خود نواب جلال الدوله شاهزاده ایران
نوشته است و شرح خرابی آنرا نگاشته The imaginary writer, Kamálu'd-Dawla, begins by expressing his regret that,
contrary to the advice of his friend Jalálu'd-Dawla, he returned from his travels in
Europe to India by way of Persia, the condition of which caused him the deepest mortification: خطابه اوّل دوست عزیز من جلال الدوله عاقبت سخن ترا نشنیده در مراجعت از فرنگستان از راه
تبریز وارد بخاک اندوهناك ایران شدم ایکاش نیآمده و هموطنان قدیم و خویشان کهن و وطن
اصلی پر بلا و محن خود را ندیده بودم و از احوال و عادات و اخلاق و روش و کیش و مذهب
و آئین ایشان مطلع ،نمیگشتم دلم خون و آب و جگرم پارچه پارچه و کباب شد The leading motive of the book is the glorification of ancient and the disparage-
ment of modern Persia. The Arabs are denounced as barbarians, and Islám,
especially the Shí'a doctrine, is sharply criticized, while not only Zoroaster but even
the communist Mazdak (f. 65') is applauded. The author makes a great display of
his knowledge of European, especially French, words, and constantly puts forward
the most absurd popular etymologies. Thus he detects the Persian word núr or
khar (sun) in such place names as Europe, Urús (Russia), Urúm (Rúm, Asia
Minor), Arman (Armenia), and Arnawd (Albania), and deduces from this a Persian
origin or suzerainty for all these people. He derives Khidiw (Khedive) from
Mahádíw; Astronomy from Sitára-náma; Mábadán from Mah-ábádiyán (a mythical
ancient dynasty of Persian kings mentioned in the spurious Dasátír); 'Ibrání
(Hebrew) from 'abara, "to cross over," because they crossed over the Euphrates to
go into Egypt. He praises the open antagonism to Islám of the Carmathians,
Ismá flís and Assassins (ff. 86-88), but condemns the later 'ulamá, philosophers,
and heresiarchs of Persia, including Mullá Sadrá, Shaykh Murtada, Shaykh Ahmad
al-Aḥsá'í and the Báb, whose ignorance, he says (f. 53'), is such that "not one of
them has hitherto uttered two words calculated to benefit Persia," while the Súffs
and mystics are also held up to contempt (f. 95), as well as poets like Qa'áni.
Polygamy is condemned, the miserable position of Persian women deplored, and the Persian character disparaged to such a point that the author says (f. 139) that
though, except the Arabs and savages of Africa, there are no people more filthy and
unclean than the Persians, the Jews resident in Persia, and the Hindús, these are
the very people who regard everyone else as unclean. The evil effects of the
rawda-khwáns and Muharram mournings, especially on women and their unborn
offspring, are also emphasised. These rawa-kwáns, says the author (f. 155").
ought to be publicly flayed alive as a warning to others: حق روضه خوان این است که او را زنده در ملاء عام پوست کنند و عبرت دیگران سازند تا دیگر
کسی بندگان خدارا باین جرئت دعوت بر هدم ارکان شریعت و خرق پرده دیانت ننماید کمان
ندارم آنقدر ظلمیکه بر اولاد و احفاد و جنینهای رحم زنان ایران و نطفهای کمر مردان از روضه
خوانان میشود از فرعون که هزاران طفل سر بریده شده باشد زیراکه ما از پیش نوشتیم که حالات
البته خو و طبیعت اصلی میشود
عارضی مادران در اطفال رحم L. 5, the companion volume, comprises 170 ff., and is described as containing
three letters from the same Indian Prince Kamálu'd-Dawla to his Persian friend
Jalálu'd-Dawla, but only the title of the first letter, supposed to have been written
from Tabriz in Ramadán, 1282/Jan.-Feb., 1866, appears (on f. 8") in the text.
The book begins: هو الله تعالى تا خوابت نکند صحبت رندانی چند
زاهد از کوچه رندان بسلامت بگذر
صورت سه طغرا مکتوبی است که شاهزاده آزاده کمال الدوله هندوستانی در جواب جلال الدوله
ایرانی مرقوم داشته The writer begins by explaining some score of European words and expressions
which, he says, cannot be properly rendered in Persian, and which he therefore
proposes to use in the course of his book. These include the words Despot,
Civilization, Fanatic, Philosopher, Revolution, Progress, Poetry (Poésie), Patriot,
Change (Changement), Politics, Protestant, Free (Libre), Electric, Charlatan,
Parliament, Petrarch, Voltaire, Chemistry (Chimie), etc. The contents of this
volume closely resemble the preceding one; the same abuse of the Arabs; the same
absurd popular etymologies (Shaytan derived from Scythian; the magical word
badúḥ, written on letters to ensure their arrival, from bi-daw, "run," etc.); the
same condemnation of the 'ulamá, especially the Shi'a 'ulamá, of Islám; the same
glorification of Zoroastrianism and pre-Islamic Persia; and the same denunciations
of her later theologians, philosophers, darwishes and rawḍa-khwáns. Some account
of the great persecution of the Bábís in the summer of A.D. 1852 is given on
ff. 109-115. An imaginary dialogue between a tyrannical governor entitled
Súsmáru d-Dawla ("the Lizard of the State") and the Kalántar occupies ff. 120-
155, while almost at the end of the book an attempt is made to prove on etymo-
logical grounds (jeune jwain; mort-murd; père-pidar; porté-burda; apporté = áwurda; entrez = andar á; dent = dindán; lèvre=lab; genou=zánú; ville=bi
in Ardabil, etc.) the close affinity between the French and the Persians. Perhaps the most interesting passage in either of these depressing volumes is
an account of an observance of the Zoroastrians of Yazd and Kirmán entitled
Sufra-sabzi and "the entertainment of the Daughter of the King of the Fairies"
(L. 4, ff. 20-22b). The transcription of L. 5 was completed on the 8th of Dhu'l-Hijja, 1329 (Nov.
30, 1911).
Vol. 1
Language(s): Persian
Physical Description
Form: codex
Support: Paper
Extent: Ff. 160 and 170
Dimensions: 21.8 × 14.5 cm.
Layout
18 lines
Hand(s)
A clear but not very graceful naskh script
History
Origin: 1329 AH; 1911 CE
Record Sources
Summary, physical description and provenance copied from R. A. Nicholson: A descriptive catalogue of the Oriental MSS belonging to the late E.G. Browne. Cambridge, 1932.
Availability
Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card for admissions procedures contact Cambridge University Library Admissions). Contact near_eastern@lib.cam.ac.uk for further information on the availability of this manuscript
Bibliography
Work in two volumes bearing the class-marks: L. 4 and L. 5
Funding of Cataloguing
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