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MSS Avestan 9

Record Id:
032-003719687
Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
032-003719687
MDARK:
ark:/81055/vdc_100110518262.0x000001
LARK:
ark:/81055/vdc_100158352409.0x000001
SLARK:
Format:
ISAD(G)
Reference (shelfmark):
MSS Avestan 9
Title:

Khordah Avesta

Scope & Content:
A copy of the Khordah Avesta (‘little Avesta’) which includes the introductory prayers, five Nyayish, the Hormazd yasht, Patets, Nerangs, three Afrinagan (Dahman, Ardafravash, and Gahanbar); and Pazand and Sanskrit Ashirvads. Gujarati version in in Devanagari upturned script. No colophon, but the Pazand and Sanskrit Ashirvads give the year 1012 AY and Samvat 1701 (1644 AD). A short note in Gujarati on the first page mentions that this is a very good and rare copy. There appear to be seven leaves missing after folio 1
Collection Area:
Oriental Manuscripts
Hierarchy Tree:
[{ "id" : "032-003719687", "parent" : "#", "text" : "MSS Avestan 9: Khordah Avesta" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
Hierarchy Record Ids:
032-003719687
Is part of:
not applicable
Hierarchy:
032-003719687
Container:
not applicable
Record Type (Level):
Fonds
Extent:

214 folios

Digitised Content:
http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100158352409.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
Thumbnail:
Languages:
Avestan
Gujarati
Scripts:
Avestan
Gujarati
Start Date:
1600
End Date:
1699
Date Range:
17th century
Era:
CE
Place of Origin:
India
Access:

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User Conditions:
Physical Characteristics:

Dimensions: 201 x 111 mm.

Foliation: iii+207+ii ff., marked in Gujarati. Foliation jumps from 2-9 after f. 1. One leaf of interleaving between ff. 1 and 2.

Layout: 13 lines per page; catch words.

Script: Avestan, and Gujarati.

Ink: black; occasional headings in red.

Binding: leather islamic binding with hatched pattern, without flap; gilt central polychrome stamped medallion, pendants, four corners and borders.

Condition: Good condition. Recently rebacked.

Custodial History:

Former numbers: no. 363 of Samuel Guise's collection; Guise's catalogue 50; Z&P IX.

Provenance:

This manuscript belonged previously to Samuel Guise (1751-1811), Head Surgeon at the East India Company's Factory in Surat 1788-95 and was acquired by him in India, possibly from the widow of Dastur Darab.

Source of Acquisition:
Samuel Guise collection, acquired by the East India Company Library at Sotheby's sale 3 July 1812.
Finding Aids:
M.N. Dhalla, "Iranian manuscripts in the Library of the India Office," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1912), p. 390.J.M. Unvala, Collection of Colophons of Manuscripts Bearing on Zoroastrianism in Some Libraries of Europe (Bombay: Parsi Punchayet, 1940), p. 92
Publications:

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

U. Sims-Williams, "The Strange Story of Samuel Guise: An 18th-Century Collection of Zoroastrian Manuscripts," in Bulletin of the Asia Institute. New series, v. 19, 2005 [2009], pp. 199-209

Material Type:
Archives and Manuscripts
Legal Status:
Not Public Record(s)