Short versified description of calligraphers of Bukhoro (Uzbekistan). Taz̲kirat al-khaṭṭāṭīn (Memorial of calligraphers) is a book of verse in the mathnawi form. This type of poetry is based on a scheme of individually rhyming couplets and is used in many important works of Persian literature. The author, Muhammad Idris Khvajah Raji Bukhari (died 1919 or 1920), was a literary figure in the fabled city of Bukhara (in present-day Uzbekistan), capital of the Emirate of Bukhara. As the title of the book suggests, the work belongs to the tazkira (memorial) genre, and Raji Bukhari includes in it the names of the Bukharan calligraphers of his day and short accounts of their life and work. These miniature biographical sketches are preceded by an extended and whimsical description of the art of calligraphy itself, and of the various proportions and shapes of the Persian alphabet. Raji Bukhari concludes his work with a list of short references to various branches of knowledge, including logic and grammar. The manuscript, in a nastaʻliq script, was copied in 1908-9, possibly in Afghanistan. The scribe, Katib Kuchak Bukhari, notes that he based his text on the divan (or collected works) of Raji Bukhari. Bukhara came under the control of the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th century. In 1920, following the Russian Revolution of 1917, it was declared the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic. It subsequently became part of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. World Digital Library.
Manuscript is incomplete; text breaks off abruptly at second word of line 5, leaf 257a. Tārīkh-i Nādirī (The history of Nadir) is a historical work that chronicles the political and military career of Nadir Shah, who was born in 1688 and rose to power in Iran during the 1720s; he became shah in 1736. (This work is also known as Jahāngushāy-i Nādirī in reference to the celebrated history of Genghis Khan, whom Nadir Shah admired.) Nadir Shah is known as a military warrior famous for his campaigns in Iran, Afghanistan, northern India, and Central Asia. He was assassinated by his officers in June 1747. The name of the author of this work, Muhammad Mahdi Munshi' ibn Muhammad Nasir (also seen as Mahdi Khan Astarabadi), appears on page four. Mahdi Khan was a court secretary, historian, and close confidante of Nadir Shah, whom he accompanied on many of his campaigns, so the work is an important historical source. The manuscript is organized chronologically and recounts about 100 military and political events. The preliminary pages contain a preface outlining the political developments in Iran and Qandahar (or Kandahar) that led to the Afghan invasion of Persia in 1722 and the emergence of Nadir Shah as a ruler who would confront and eventually defeat the Afghans and other enemies. The manuscript is incomplete, with the scribe having stopped mid-sentence after completing several lines from the penultimate section of the work, "On the end of the [Nadir Shah] and the manner of his murder...". Virtually all of this penultimate section (chronicling the cruel and bloody final years of Nadir's reign) and the final section (on the rule of ʻAli Quli Khan and Ibrahim Khan, nephews of Nadir, who each claimed the throne for a brief period after the assassination of their uncle) are therefore missing from the manuscript. The missing parts correspond roughly to six pages of text. In the manner typical of Persian court historiography, the author emphasizes throughout the restoration of order, the introduction of justice, and the defeat of the enemies of the state. Various poems and verses from the Qur'an appear throughout the text. The manuscript is written by a single hand in a uniform nastaliq, the calligraphic Persian script. All of the events recounted have a rubricated title. The first word of every other page is repeated as a "catchword" in the bottom margin of the previous page to ensure the proper order of the pages prior to binding, as was common practice in Persia and elsewhere. World Digital Library.
Historical study of Iran and Afghanistan during the reign of Nādir Shāh, 1688-1747. Waqiat-i Nadiri (literally "Events of Nadir") is a historical manuscript that chronicles the political and military career of Nādir Shāh, who was born in 1688 and rose to power in Iran during the 1720s; he became shah in 1736. He is known as a military warrior famous for his campaigns in Iran, Afghanistan, northern India, and Central Asia. He was assassinated by his officers in June 1747. The name of the author of this work, Muḥammad Mahdī Munshi' ibn Muḥammad Naṣīr (also seen as Mahdī Khān Astarābādī), appears on page four. Mahdi Khan was a court secretary, historian, and close confidante of Nādir Shāh, whom he accompanied on many of his campaigns, so the work is an important historical source. The manuscript is organized chronologically and recounts about 100 military and political events. The preliminary pages contain a preface outlining the political events in Iran and Qandahar (or Kandahar) that led to the Afghan invasion of Isfahan in 1722 and the emergence of Nādir Shāh as a ruler who would confront and eventually defeat the Afghans and other enemies. The preface is followed by a biography of Mahmud Hotaki, an Afghan commander who defeated the Safavids and briefly ruled in Isfahan. The last part of the manuscript covers the reigns of Ali Shah and Ebrahim Shah, nephews of Nādir Shāh, each of whom claimed the throne in Isfahan for brief times in the aftermath of Nādir Shāh's assassination. In the manner typical of Persian court historiography, the author emphasizes throughout the restoration of order, the introduction of justice, and the defeat of the enemies of the state. The margins contain notes, probably by anonymous readers. Various poems and verses from the Qur'an appear throughout the text. The manuscript is written in different styles of broken nastaliq, the calligraphic Persian script. All of the events recounted have a rubricated title and are organized and described in terms of their outcomes or final causes, usually in a page or a half page. The manuscript is numbered in pencil in the Indo-Arabic numeral style, probably by an anonymous reader. World Digital Library.
Manuscript. Persian. Title from colophon. Name of scribe not indicated. Written in India. Paper; dark cream-color unpolished, coarse laid paper with no visible chain-lines or watermarks; severely worm damaged; no borders; black ink with some rubrication. Nastaʻliq; 15 lines in written area 18 x 11 cm. Folio 1b-136b. Library of Congress. Persian manuscript, M40. Dark brown leather binding; text partially disbound; poor condition. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website.
Manuscript. Persian. Title supplied by cataloger. Written by Mīrzā Muḥammad Shīrāzī. Gift of Amir Jafar and Parvindokt Hasheminejad, donated by their son, Mehdi Hasheminejad, item belonged to Amir Jafar Hasheminejad's collection and originated from Qajar era minister, Mehdi Lahooti, Badaye Negar's holdings. May 31, 2019. Written in Iran. Paper; polished, cream color commercial paper with no visible watermarks; black ink with rubrication; catchwords. Naskh; 15 lines in written area 12 x 5.5 cm. Fol. 1b-51b. Library of Congress. Persian manuscript, [unnumbered]. Binding; cloth reinforced lavender and black marbled paper.