Delhi Persian 490 a.

Treatise on Persian literary aesthetics and principles or qāʿidah of formal correspondence in refined prose or inshāʾ, by Javāhir Mal, one of the sons of Ānand Laʿl ibn Rām Rāy Kāyath Saksīnah (Saksena), the resident qānūngū of qaṣbah Akbarābād (Agra) in sarkār Badāʾūn, in the environs of dār al-khilāfah Shāhjahānābād (Delhi).

The work is erroneously entitled Dastūr al-ʿamal in the colophon.

The work is divided into four sections termed qāʿidah, of which only the first is indicated.

The author indicates in the preface that he composed other works on inshāʾ or epistolary, poetry, and tales, including the Inshā-yi Javāhir, Chahār bahār, Qiṣṣah-'i Makhzan al-Javāhir, Inshā-yi rangīn, Inshā-yi nafāʾis al-Javāhir, Nuskhah-'i nigāristān, Inshā-yi Javāhir al-faz̤āʾil, Nigār-i dānish, Lāmiʿ al-kamāl, and the Dastūr al-ʿamal, as well as poetic works, including a Dīvānof ghazalīyāt, Maṭlaʿ al-saʿdayn, Mas̲navī-yi dil'āshūb, Bahādur'nāmah, Gyān mālā, Qaṣāʾid-i qurrat al-kamāl, Qaṣāʾid-i duvvum-i ṭurrah al-kamāl, Ḥamzah'nāmah, Mas̲navī-yi kuḥl al-abṣār, and most of the Mas̲navī-yi afsānah[-‘ii] afsūn.

The work was patronised by ʿAz̤ud al-Dawlah Shīr Afgan Khān Bahādur Ṣafdarjang, of dār al-amān Multān, and composed in RY 6 of Emperor Muḥammad Shāh, that is, 1136/1723-4, at qaṣbah Sūnī Pat (Sonipat) in the environs of dār al-khilāfah Shāhjahānābād.

Dated colophon (f. 7r): completed on the eve before Thursday, 20 Rabīʿ al-S̲ānī, 1241/2 December 1825.

Transcribed in awkward shikastah āmīz in diagonal and horizontal orientations on alternating folios.

Delhi Persian 490 b.

Essay in highly refined prose and verse celebrating the market built for the use and economic operation of élite women of Bījāpūr (covering the establishments of jewellers, mercers, florists, confectioners, perfumiers, fruitiers, tobacconists, pān sellers, and grocers), written by the poet Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad Turshīzī Khurāsānī takhalluṣ Ẓuhūrī(d. 1025/1616), who emigrated to India and found patronage at the court of Ibrāhīm II ʿĀdil Khān/ʿĀdil Shāh at Bījāpūr.

The work is conventionally entitled Mīnā bāzār, which is mentioned in the colophon, but not in the text itself.

The colophon erroneously attributes authorship to Irādat Khān takhalluṣ Vāz̤iḥ, although many prose stylists imitated Ẓuhūrīwith their own versions appropriate to their period and location.

Dated colophon (f. 26v): completed by Tahavvur ʿAlī, 11 Shaʿbān 1241/21 March 1826.

Nastaʿlīq and shikastah āmīz.

Delhi Persian 490 c.

Collection of five allegorical essays in highly refined prose and verse on varied subjects, written by the poet Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad Turshīzī Khurāsānī takhalluṣ Ẓuhūrī (d. 1025/1616), who emigrated to India and found patronage at the court of Ibrāhīm II ʿĀdil Khān/ʿĀdil Shāh at Bījāpūr.

The work is conventionally entitled Panj maqālah, of which the colophon records the variation Panj ruqʿah.

Partially dated colophon (f. 40r): completed Sunday, 2 Shaʿbān [1241]/12 March 1826.

Awkward nastaʿlīq.

Delhi Persian 490 d.

Untitled collection of two essays briefly described in the concluding subscription as an addendum or z̲ayl to the larger Panj ruqʿahcollection (see Delhi Persian 490, item c) of five allegorical essays in highly refined prose and verse on varied subjects, written by the poet Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad Turshīzī Khurāsānī takhalluṣ Ẓuhūrī (d. 1025/1616), who emigrated to India and found patronage at the court of Ibrāhīm II ʿĀdil Khān/ʿĀdil Shāh at Bījāpūr.

Not dated at end.

Delhi Persian 490 e.

Untitled preface in highly refined prose and verse written by the poet Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad Turshīzī Khurāsānī takhalluṣ Ẓuhūrī (d. 1025/1616) as an independent work prefixed to the Kitāb-i nawras, a treatise on Indian music and Hindavī poetry (or rather the Dakhinī Urdu dialect) by the author’s patron, Ibrāhīm II ʿĀdil Khān/ʿĀdil Shāh of Bījāpūr.

The work is named in the concluding subscription as Nas̲r-i avval.

Not dated at end.

Awkward nastaʿlīq.

Densely annotated in margins and interlinear spaces concentrated mostly in earlier sections.

Delhi Persian 490 f.

Essay in highly refined prose and verse by the poet Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad Turshīzī Khurāsānī takhalluṣ Ẓuhūrī (d. 1025/1616), commencing the author’s work conventionally entitled Gulzār-i Ibrāhīm, written in honour of his patron, Ibrāhīm II ʿĀdil Khān/ʿĀdil Shāh of Bījāpūr.

The work deals with multiple facets of the patron’s rule and personal character.

The work is named in the concluding subscription as Nas̲r-i dūyum.

Not dated at end.

Awkward nastaʿlīq.

Frequently annotated in margins and interlinear spaces concentrated mostly in earlier sections.

Delhi Persian 490 g.

Preface in highly refined prose and verse by the poet Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad Turshīzī Khurāsānī takhalluṣ Ẓuhūrī (d. 1025/1616), commencing the author’s work entitled Khvān-i Khalīl, celebrating the literary and artistic figures (including Malik Qummī the malik al-kullām, Shāh Khalīl Allāh the calligrapher, Farrukh Ḥusayn the painter, Mullā Ḥaydar Z̲ahabī, and Ẓuhūrī) at the court of his patron, Ibrāhīm II ʿĀdil Khān/ʿĀdil Shāh of Bījāpūr.

The work is named in the concluding subscription as Nas̲r-i sīvum.

Not dated at end.

Awkward nastaʿlīq.

Delhi Persian 490 h.

Allegorical Sufi essay in refined prose and poetry satirising the marriage of (spiritual) beauty and love, with numerous sections treating individual nuptial gifts and ceremonies by the by the physician, historian, litterateur, prose stylist, and poet, Mīrzā Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ḥakīm Fatḥ al-Dīn Shīrāzī entitled Niʿmat Khān, Muqarrab Khān, and Dānishmand Khān, takhalluṣ ʿĀlī (d. 1121/1710), who worked under the patronage of the Timurid (Mughal) Emperors Shāh Jahān I, ʿĀlamgīr I, and Bahādur Shāh I.

Not dated at end.

Awkward nastaʿlīq.

Frequently annotated in margins and interlinear spaces throughout.

Delhi Persian 490 i.

Untitled allegorical essay in the form of a congratulatory address (sometimes called, after the opening words, Shabnam-i shādāb) in highly refined prose and verse by the poet Ẓahīrā or rather Ẓahīr al-Dīn Tafrishī( Tafrāshī[sic]) presented to a minister during the reign of the Timurid (Mughal) Emperor Farrukh Siyar (d. 1131/1719).

Dated colophon (f. 92v): completed Tuesday, 8 Jumādá al-S̲ānī 1241/18 January 1826.

Awkward nastaʿlīq.

Annotations.

Delhi Persian 490 j.

Historical account written in a satirical style, in refined prose and poetry, describing the Timurid (Mughal) Emperor ʿĀlamgīr I’s campaign besieging and finally overrunning the capital of the Deccani Quṭb Khānī/Quṭb Shāhī Sultanate, Ḥaydarābād (formerly Gulkundah), in RY 30 or 1097/1686, composed by the physician, historian, litterateur, prose stylist, and poet, Mīrzā Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ḥakīm Fatḥ al-Dīn Shīrāzī entitled Niʿmat Khān, Muqarrab Khān, and Dānishmand Khān, takhalluṣ ʿĀlī (d. 1121/1710), whose career began earlier under the patronage of Emperor Shāh Jahān I, finally ending under Emperor Bahādur Shāh I.

Dated colophon (f. 135v): completed by Tahavvur ʿAlī at Madrassah Ghāzī al-Dīn Khān(Delhi), afternoon of 10 Rabīʿ al-S̲ānī 1240/2 December 1824.

Awkward nastaʿlīq.

Frequently annotated in margins and interlinear spaces throughout.

Diagrams in margins.

Delhi Persian 490 k. 

Fragment from an untitled collection of late Safavid, Timurid (Mughal), and Ottoman diplomatic and official correspondence and ordinances, resembling the collection assembled by the munshīʾ al-mamālik to Shāh ʿAbbās Ṣafavī II, Mīrzā Muḥammad Ṭāhir Vaḥīd ibn Ḥusayn Qazvīnī known as the Vaḥīd al-Zamān(d. 1112/1700).

Defective at the end.

Not dated at end.

Clear to awkward nastaʿlīq by at least two hands.

Annotations in margins.