Petition of Bābū Dayāl Singh addressed to an unnamed ruler seeking a position in the government of Sulṭānpūr and Partābgadh (Pratapgarh), endorsed by Amīn al-Dawlah Bahādur and Mushīr al-Dawlah Bahādur

Not dated

Seal impression: Bābū Dayāl Singh 1229/1813-4

Illuminated frame around text

Transcript of an order or judgement in the name of Shīv Singh the muhtamim of the Guz̲arāt-i Gang (?) in relation to a petition from Khalīl Aḥmad the amīn

Content dated 2 Jum. II 1259/30 June 1843, equating to regnal year 2 (Amjad ʿAlī Shāh)

Dated seal impression absent

Official dated endorsements on verso: 1) 4 Jum. II [1259]/2 July 1843; 2) 9 Jum. II 1259/7 July 1843; 3) 26 Jum. II 1259/24 July 1843

Petition of Laʿl Bahādur addressed to an unnamed minister

Not dated

Seal impression: Laʿl Bahādur 12[??]

Petition of Mīr Sayyid ʿAlī addressed to an unnamed ruler, regarding his claim that one floor of his hereditary haveli in Ashraf'ābād, mortgaged to Shankar Lāl, has been misappropriated by Manī or Munī of the Rastūgī clan (Rastogi), who appealed for aid from the royal court

Not dated

Seal: Mīr Sayyid ʿAlī 1246/1830-1

Good nastaʿlīq over a ground of square-cut gold leaf arranged in horizontal bands

Petition of Sayyid Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn Mūsavī addressed to an unnamed ruler, describing the receipt of news that he had been removed from his post while participating in a Thursday maḥfil at the Makān-i Davāzdah Imām (imāmbārah), and replaced by Muḥammad Jaʿfar

Dated: 14 Rabīʿ I 1259/14 April 1843

Seal: Sayyid Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn Mūsavī 1248/1832-3

Petition submitted by Ḥasan ʿAlī Jaffār-i Rashtī to an unnamed ruler, beginning by relating his dedication to the sovereign of a treatise, the Risālah jafrīyah, sent with the present ʿarz̤ah dāsht through the mediation of Amīn al-Dawlah Bahādur; continues by describing in detail the difficulties of his family’s circumstances

Not dated and lacking seal impression

Nastaʿlīq over a ground of square-cut gold leaf arranged in horizontal bands

Petition describing desperate circumstances, but lacking the appellant’s name, date of transcription, or seal

Letter or nāmah from Navvāb Baygum addressed to an unnamed nawab, describing her alarm at the taunting remarks of a certain Ḥabash Pāsī attributing acts of fraud to an unidentified prince, and the nawab’s resolve to expel him from the city (Lucknow?)

Dated: 10 Rabīʿ II 1259/10 May 1843

Seal: Navvāb Baygum 1238/1822-3

Petition submitted by Nūr al-Dawlah Lays̲ al-Mulk Muḥammad Aḥsan Khān Bahādur Muḥkamjang to the ruler titled Sulṭān ʿĀlam, relating to the employment and payment of Sudhan Lal, formerly the messenger of Kishandut Pande, as well as debts owed to Sālik Rām the mahājan

Not dated, but mentions faṣlī date 1260 for the year approaching or sāl-i āyandah

Seal: Nūr al-Dawlah Lays̲ al-Mulk Muḥammad Aḥsan Khān Bahādur Muḥkamjang 1254/1838-9

Text framed by illuminated rulings and notable headpiece of 2 fish either side of regal chatr

Unusual petition submitted by Mukarram ʿAlī, beginning with a lengthy poem in ghazal form consisting of 59 bayt or couplets arranged in 4 columns, ending with a short prose summary

The appellant describes how at the age of seven his family's hereditary jāgīr in Bihar was misappropriated. Reduced to poverty, he travelled through Mathura and Shahjahanabad after consulting the Naṣrāniyān (i.e. EIC officials), rulers and ministers in search of an income. He failed to secure the post of sar'rishtah'dār, and expectations raised by a minister in bayt al-salṭanat (Lucknow) made him return there. Theft of his baggage and gold caused him difficulties, but eight months after arriving in the city, he is now in great hardship. He goes onto describe starvation among members of his family, as a result of being defrauded out of 50 rupees by market traders. He is himself now near death from hunger

The appellant speaks of presenting a work of his own, entitled Ḥamlah-'i shīrī, a titammah or completion of the Ḥamlah-'i Ḥaydarī

The appellant desires to be considered for the posts of ʿāmil or taḥṣīldār

Not dated and lacking seal impression

Nastaʿlīq; multiple polychrome ruled lines