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MSS Avestan 15

Record Id:

032-003719694

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

032-003719694

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100110518270.0x000001

LARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100146744773.0x000001

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

MSS Avestan 15

Title:

Miscellaneous Zoroastrian texts in Pahlavi

Scope & Content:

Miscellany in Pahlavi and Pazand, including a work on the Dron ritual, the Mādayān ī haft amahraspand (‘Particulars of the seven Ameshaspands’), Patīt in Pazand (ff. 59v-79r) and an incomplete copy of the Shikand gumānīg wizār (‘Doubt-dispelling exposition’), an apologetic treatise by Mardan Farrokh composed in the ninth century AD (ff. 83r-116r).

A Persian colophon to the Pazand Patīt (f. 79r) is dated on the day Isfandarmad (5th) of the month Day (10th) but without a year and the scribe’s name has been obliterated. The copyist of the other works is unnamed but may be the same scribe as of MSS Avestan 23 and MSS Avestan 26 which is dated 1737.

A list of contents is given at the beginning in Gujarati (prelim. verso) and in Persian (f. 1r), followed by an extended description of the volume in French.

Collection Area:

Oriental Manuscripts

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "032-003719694", "parent" : "#", "text" : "MSS Avestan 15: Miscellaneous Zoroastrian texts in Pahlavi" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-003719694

Is part of:

not applicable

Hierarchy:

032-003719694

Container:

not applicable

Record Type (Level):

Fonds

Extent:

Codex; ff. i+118

Digitised Content:

http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100146744773.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)

Thumbnail:

Languages:

Pahlavi

Scripts:

Avestan
Book Pahlavi

Start Date:

1700

End Date:

1799

Date Range:

18th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Dimensions: 203 x 149 mm.

Foliation: ff. i+118, foliated in Gujarati. Blank folios on ff. 57v-58v, 79v-82v, 116v-118v.

Layout: 10-13 lines per page; catch words.

Script: Book Pahlavi and Pazand.

Ink: black; some verse dividers and headings in the Pazand Patīt are in red.

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

Condition: Fair.

Custodial History:

Former numbers:

No. 397 of Samuel Guise's collection; Guise's catalogue 57; Z&P XV.

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, 18th century

Finding Aids:

M.N. Dhalla, “Iranian manuscripts in the Library of the India Office.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1912), p. 392. 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:

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.

E.W. West, “Pahlavi Literature,” in Grundriss Der Iranischen Philologie, edited by W. Geiger and E. Kuhn, vol 2 (Strassburg: Trübner, 1896-1904), pp. 75-129, §63, §87, and §91.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)