Manuscript. Persian. Each work has separate title ; title of first work fol. 1b; title for second work, fol. 82a. Each section has different date: Makhzan al-asrār dated 28 Rajab 954 [9 September 1547]; second section dated 4 Shaʻbān 954 [19 September 1547]. Name of scribe not indicated. Probably written in Iran or India. Paper: thick, cream color Oriental paper; text in columns in black ink with section headings and some marginal notes in red ink; second work has some section headings in gold ink ; text is surrounded by many marginal notes; no catchwords. Pasted label on page 2 of cover: "(1) Makhzan-al-asrār. (2) Ṣubḥat-al-asrār. (3) K̲h̲ulāṣat-al-khamsa. by Niẓāmī 945/1547. 22.3 c. 29.3 cms. 14 lines per page. 2 columns. Nastaʻlīḳ. Marginal notes." Nastaʻlīq; 14 lines in written area 10.5 x 6 cm. Folios 1b-121a. Library of Congress. Persian manuscript, [number]. Binding in dark blue leather with embossed diamond pattern front and back. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website. Incipit: كتاب مخزن الاسرس حضرت شيخ نظامي عليه الرحمة. Explicit/Colophon: تمت الكتاب بعون الله الوهاب تاريخ 4 شهر شعبان 954.
An ethico-mystico-philosophical narrative poem, the first of the author's five epic poems which are collectively referred to as the Khamsah or "quintet."
Memoirs of Timur originally written in Chagatay, now lost, translated into Persian by the Mughal scholar Abū Ṭālib al-Ḥusaynī. The 14th-century Turkic-Mongol ruler Timur (Tamerlane) wrote a memoir in Chagatai Turkish, the original of which is now lost. The work was intended as a book of advice for princes and rulers and has been given various titles over the years, including, as in this manuscript, Malfūẓāt (Utterances). The memoir was translated into Persian by Abu Talib al-Husayni, who appears to have been a Shia scholar-official from Khorasan in the service of the Mughal rulers in India in the 1630s. Al-Husayni discovered a Turkish version of the manuscript in the library of an Ottoman governor in Yemen, which he used as the basis for his translation. Al-Husayni dedicated his translation to Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (1628-58), who apparently disliked it and demanded revisions, which were done by Muhammad Afzal Bakhtiyari. This copy of al-Husayni's translation was probably produced somewhere in India in the mid-19th century. The manuscript contains only one of the many versions of Timur's memoir to have been written and revised over the centuries. It begins with a preface (folios 1-4) in which Bakhtiyari offers a note of praise to God, Muhammad, the four Rightly-Guided Caliphs, and the Timurid sultans. The preface also contains the title of the manuscript; a brief mention of the story of its discovery, translation into Persian, and revision; and remarks on its usefulness for future princes and statesmen, along with a commentary on the childhood and kingly life of Timur. This is followed by a brief section entitled "Divinely-Inspired Twelve Principles of Timur" (folios 4-5). Among the 12 principles by which Timur was said to have been inspired are "Just Rule," "Differentiation between Truth and Falsehood," and "Following God's Laws." The bulk of the manuscript (folios 5-653) covers events in the life of Timur. The narrative is in the first person, and begins with the appointment of the four viziers. Some of the events are titled with red subheadings, while others are not. A final section (folios 653-55) describes Timur being on the road to conquer China, the illness he contracts on the way, his wasiyat (will), and death. The manuscript is written in thick nastaʻliq script, although not in one hand, indicating that it was copied by one or more persons at different times. Turkish Chagatai quotations with Persian translations appear in various places in the text. Pagination is in Arabic numerals. There are numerous repetitions, tautologies, and obscurities throughout the text, reflecting the influence of the many official and unofficial biographies and memoirs of Timur that have been copied and recopied into various languages over the centuries by different individuals and for different purposes. These "Books of Timur," of different genres and titles, were patronized and popularized mainly by Mughal rulers of India in the 17th and 18th centuries. World Digital Library.
Manuscript. Persian. Marginalia dated 1827. Title from final section (daftar 7). Name of scribe not indicated. Probably written in India. Paper; (main section) light cream color unpolished laid paper; no visible chain lines or watermarks; unwans in gold, blue and green had the head of each daftar; text inclosed in ruled border of three lines in blue and red; black ink with rubrication; page divided into two colums with surrounding commentary; catchwords on rectos; (introduction and daftar 7) coarse laid paper with no visible chain lines or watermarks; 15 lines; no borders; black ink with some rubrication. Nastaʻliq; main section, 18 lines in written area 18.5 x 8.2 cm, introductory and daftar 7 15 lines in written area 15.5 x 9 cm. Introduction folios 1b-8a; main section 8b-387b; final section (daftar 7) 388b-449b. Library of Congress. Persian manuscript, M71. Nineteenth century red morocco leather binding with small gold medallions front and back; on spine: Nawab Babu, Mumtazum Nissa, Begum sahbah. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website.
The first volume of a two volume work which in all covers 170 years. The first volume covers the years from the birth of the last Mongol ruler of Persia Abū Saʻīd (704/1304/5) until the death of Abū S aʻīd, the granson of Tīmūr (807/1405). This manuscript is volume one of Matla us-Sadain wa Majma ul-Baahrain (The rising of the propitious twin stars and the amalgamation of the oceans) by 'Abd al-Razzāq Kamāl al-Dīn ibn Isḥāq al-Samarqandī (1413-82). The book offers a semi-official account of the political history of the late Mongol khanates and Timurid polities in the Caucasus, Iran, Khorasan, and Mawarannahr. Volume one documents the period from 1316, when Abu Said Bahadur Khan, the last great Mongol khan, came to power in Persia, to the death in 1405 of Timur, founder of the Timurid line. This period is central to the history of the region as a time of important social and political transitions. The work recounts how the Mongol khanates disintegrated, various local Mongol and non-Mongol lineages competed for supremacy, and the Timurid lineage established itself as the dominant political and social group. This volume describes Timur, his rise to power, and his immediate descendants. Timur was succeeded by his son Shahrukh, under whom Razzaq prospered as a legal courtier, trustee, and ambassador. Razzaq's ambassadorial missions took him to various places in Eurasia, for example to Calicut in the southwest of India in 1442. The major figures and events described in volume one of Razzaq's work are also described in other contemporary texts. Volume two recounts the reigns of Shahrukh and his descendants, and covers the accession to the throne of Sultan Ḥusain Bāyqarā Chorasan and other events to which the author was eyewitness. The descriptive preface praises God, Muhammad, and the four guided caliphs in Islam. It explains that Razzaq long had wanted to write a history but was prevented from doing so by political instability and other problems. However, one year at Nowruz (New Year) his old friend Shikh Maza al-Din Husain encouraged him to finish writing his text. The events are described chronologically, using the Islamic calendar. The title of each event, verses from Qur'an, and poems all are rubricated. Events usually start with one of the following phrases: "mention of," "the event of," and "sending of." Pages are numbered but numbers do not show on some early pages because of water damage; folio 11 is missing. World Digital Library.
Lithographed. A collection of chronograms and historical observations on the dates of birth, death, etc., etc., of Muslim kings and other eminent men; also inscriptions and descriptions of ancient buildings; from Adam to A.H. 1265, i.e. 1848. In Persian.
Historical account of Afghan wars, 1838-1919, between the states of Kabul and Kandahar against the British invaders, written by Munshī ʻAbd al-Karīm, a companion of Shāh Shujāʻ al-Mulk, the Amir of Afghanistan. Muḥārabah-ʼi Kābul va Qandahar (The war of Kabul and Kandahar) is an account of the First Afghan War (1839-42) by Munshi ʻAbd al-Karīm, an associate of Shāh Shujāʻ, the emir of Afghanistan. Mawlawī Muḥammad ʻAbd al-Karīm was an Indo-Persian historian from Lucknow, India, who was active in the mid-19th century. He was a prolific munshi (writer, secretary, and language teacher) and translator. He rendered into Persian from Arabic such works as Tārīkh al-Khulafā (History of the Caliphs), by al-Sūyūtī (1445-1505) and a history of Egypt by Ibn Iyās (1448-circa 1524). He also completed an abridged translation of the biographical dictionary, Wafayāt al-aʻyān wa anbāʾ abnāʾ az-zamān (Deaths of eminent men and history of the sons of the epoch) by Ibn Khallikān (1211-82). Muḥārabah was written some time between 1848 and 1850. It discusses the war of the states of Kabul and Kandahar against the British East India Company and specifically against the British expedition of 1842 headed by General Pollock. Munshi ʻAbd al-Karīm later revised the original composition and added information from Akbarnāmah (Book of Akbar, a history of the third Mughal emperor) to produce the final version shown here, which was published in India in 1850. This book and the munshi's other contemporary historiographical text, Tārīkh-i Ahmadshāhī (History of the sultans of Delhi, in which he narrates the history of the Abdālīs, ancestors of the Durranis) were two of the major sources of the better known text of the Afghan history, Sirāj al-Tawārīkh (Lamp of history) by Fayz̤ Muḥammad (died 1931). Of Mawlawī ʻAbd al-Karīm's extensive oeuvre, three books exist in lithographic prints, including Muḥārabah. Lithographic printing was invented in Europe in the late 18th century and spread widely on the Indian subcontinent from the early 19th century onward, its popularity stemming from the relative ease with which it could be used to reproduce different scripts not based on the Latin alphabet. The new technology was so successful during the Raj that many more Persian lithographic books were printed in India than in Iran. World Digital Library.