Hard-coded id of currently selected item: . JSON version of its record is available from Blacklight on e.g. ??


Metadata associated with selected item should appear here...

MSS Avestan 12

Record Id:
032-003719690
Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
032-003719690
MDARK:
ark:/81055/vdc_100110518266.0x000001
LARK:
ark:/81055/vdc_100146744495.0x000001
SLARK:
Format:
ISAD(G)
Reference (shelfmark):
MSS Avestan 12
Title:

Khordah Avesta

Scope & Content:

A copy of the Khordah Avesta comprising the introductory prayers, the Khurshid, Mah and Atish nyayishes, the Hormazd and two Srosh yashts, and two Sirozahs.

Includes occasional explanatory glosses in Persian. Folio 21v has been copied upside down.

Persian colophon (f. 99v) dated Day (15th day) of the month Tir, [11]24 AY corresponding to 1170 AH (1756 AD), but the scribe’s name has been blotted out.

Collection Area:
Oriental Manuscripts
Hierarchy Tree:
[{ "id" : "032-003719690", "parent" : "#", "text" : "MSS Avestan 12: Khordah Avesta" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
Hierarchy Record Ids:
032-003719690
Is part of:
not applicable
Hierarchy:
032-003719690
Container:
not applicable
Record Type (Level):
Fonds
Extent:

Codex; ff. iv+117+v

Digitised Content:
http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100146744495.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
Thumbnail:
Languages:
Avestan
Pahlavi
Scripts:
Arabic
Avestan
Start Date:
1756
End Date:
1756
Date Range:
1756
Era:
CE
Access:

Please request the physical items you need using the online collection item request form.

Digitised items can be viewed online by clicking the thumbnail image or digitised content link.

Readers who have registered or renewed their pass since 21 March 2024 can request physical items prior to visiting the Library by completing
this request form.
Please enter the Reference (shelfmark) above on the request form.

If your Reader Pass was issued before this date, you will need to visit the Library in London or Yorkshire to renew it before you can request items online. All manuscripts and archives must be consulted at the Library in London.

This catalogue record may describe a collection of items which cannot all be requested together. Please use the hierarchy viewer to navigate to individual items. Some items may be in use or restricted for other reasons. If you would like to check the availability, contact our Reference Services team, quoting the Reference (shelfmark) above.

User Conditions:
Physical Characteristics:

Dimensions: 187 x 136 mm.

Foliation: ff. iv+117+v; marked in Gujarati, ff. 83v, 115v-116v are blank.

Layout: 11-14 lines per page; catch words.

Script: Avestan, and Persian.

Ink: black; verse dividers and headings are in red.

Decoration: some floral section dividers.

Binding: half-leather India Office binding; the original islamic leather boards with polychrome central medallion, pendants and corners have been bound in as prelims and at the end.

Condition: Good

Custodial History:

Former numbers:

no. 362 of Samuel Guise's collection; Guise's catalogue 53; Z&P XII.

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.
Administrative Context:
India; dated Day (15th day) of the month Tir, [11]24 AY corresponding to 1170 AH (1756 AD)
Finding Aids:
M.N. Dhalla, “Iranian manuscripts in the Library of the India Office.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1912), p. 391. Samuel Guise. A Catalogue and Detailed Account of a Very Valuable and Curious Collection of Manuscripts, Collected in Hindostan. By Samuel Guise Esq. Late Head Surgeon to the General Hospital at Surat: Including All Those That Were Procured by Monsieur Anquetil du Perron, Relative to the Religion and History of the Parsis, and Many Which He Could Not Procure (London: Printed by John Nichols, 1800).
Publications:

M.N. Dhalla, "Iranian manuscripts in the Library of the India Office", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1912), pp. 387-98.

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.

J.M. Unvala, Collection of Colophons of Manuscripts Bearing on Zoroastrianism in Some Libraries of Europe (Bombay: Parsi Punchayet, 1940).

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)