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MSS Avestan 17

Record Id:
032-003460406
Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
032-003460406
MDARK:
ark:/81055/vdc_100085511935.0x000001
LARK:
ark:/81055/vdc_100113993998.0x000001
SLARK:
Format:
ISAD(G)
Reference (shelfmark):
MSS Avestan 17
Title:

Yasna sādah

Scope & Content:

One of the oldest copies of the Yasna Sādah (the simple text of the Yasna ritual without any commentary). Completed, according to the Persian colophon (f. 198v), on the day Bahram (20th) of the month Avan 925 AY (1556), by Herbad Ardashir Mobed Jiva who traces his genealogy via Ardashir Ram Kamdin Shahriyar Nairyosangh back to Hormazdyar Ramyar.

Ritual directions are given in Gujarati written in upturned devanagari script.

A note in Gujarati on the front endpaper describes this copy as being very old, ie. 300-350 yrs. Another note (f. 1r) says that the manuscript was sold by its owner Burjurji Kavasji Sanjamnam to Mancherji Framji for Rs. 3 on the fifth day of the first month, Samvat 1847 (1790)

No. 378 of Samuel Guise's collection

Decorated throughout with floral and geometrical patterned section dividers

Collection Area:
Oriental Manuscripts
Hierarchy Tree:
[{ "id" : "032-003460406", "parent" : "#", "text" : "MSS Avestan 17: Yasna sādah" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
Hierarchy Record Ids:
032-003460406
Is part of:
not applicable
Hierarchy:
032-003460406
Container:
not applicable
Record Type (Level):
Fonds
Extent:

Codex; ff. i+198+i

Digitised Content:
http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100113993998.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
Thumbnail:
Languages:
Avestan
Gujarati
Scripts:
Avestan
Devanagari
Start Date:
1556
End Date:
1556
Date Range:
1556
Era:
CE
Place of Origin:
India
Access:

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User Conditions:
Physical Characteristics:

Material: locally made paper for main text block with European endpapers

Dimensions: 225 x 162 mm leaf

Foliation: 1-198 in Gujarati

Layout: 15 lines per page

Script: avestan and devanagari; copied by Herbad Ardshir ibn Mobad Jiva

Ink: black, with rubrications

Decoration: floral and geometric decorations

Binding: Red leather islamic binding without flap, attached upside down; embossed gold-painted paper onlays: central floral medallion, pendants, four corners and borders. Green paper doublure.

Custodial History:
  • Sold by Burjorji Kavasji Ṣanjamnam to Mancherji Framji for Rs. 3 on 5.1.1847 Samvat (1790);

  • Acquired by Samuel Guise (1751-1811), Head Surgeon at the East-India Company’s Factory in Surat 1788-1795;

  • Purchased by the East India Company at Leigh and Sotheby’s auction house, London, 3 July 1812

Source of Acquisition:

East India Company Library, its stamp (ff. 1r and 198v)

Finding Aids:

Dhalla, M. N., "Iranian manuscripts in the Library of the India Office," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1912), pp. 393-94

Publications:

Unvala, Jamsedji Maneckji, Collection of Colophons of Manuscripts Bearing on Zoroastrianism in Some Libraries of Europe (Bombay, 1940). pp. 94-95

Stewart, Sarah, Firoza Punthakey Mistree, and Ursula Sims-Williams, The Everlasting Flame: Zoroastrianism in History and Imagination (London, 2013), p. 82

Sims-Williams, Ursula, "Zoroastrian Manuscripts in the British Library, London". In The Transmission of the Avesta, ed. by A. Cantera (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2012), pp. 173-94

Exhibitions:
The Everlasting Flame, SOAS, October 2013 - December 2013
The Everlasting Flame: Zoroastrianism in History and Imagination, National Museum, New Delhi, 19 March 2016 - 29 May 2016
Material Type:
Archives and Manuscripts
Legal Status:
Not Public Record(s)