[IO Islamic 133] شاهنامه

• Shâhnâma.
• This manuscript is now IO Islamic 863 in the India Office collections.
• [metadata: Hermann Ethé, Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, 2 vols. (Oxford: India Office, 1903): volume 1, number 133 here with notations and hyperlinks].

b. Copies of the Shâhnâma with the Bâisungharî preface.

863

Shâhnâma.

The Bâisungharî preface (dated A.H. 829= A.D. 1426, see on the rather fictitious character of the same, and the whole question of the so-called Bâisunghari recension, the excellent remarks of M. James Darmesteter in the ‘Revue Critique,’ October 20, 1890, pp. 215 and 216), on ff. 1^b-13^b, beginning : افتتاح سخن آن به كه كنند اهل كمال الخ. At the end: تمّت الديباجة الموسومة ببايسنغرى’

This preface is designated by Mohl as ‘préface No. 1,’ and is printed with a few omissions in Macan’s Introduction to the Shâhnâma, pp. 11-61.

Beginning of the poem, on fol. 13^b: بنام خداوند جان و خرد الخ.

The Shâhnâma is divided into two parts, the second of which begins with Lurâsp’s reign (headed: كتاب لهراسپ نامه), on fol. 270^b: چو لهراسپ بنشست بر تخت داد الخ. This splendid copy was made by Ḥasan bin Muḥamamd Aḥsan and finished at Shîrâz the 18th of Dhû-alḳa’dah, A.H. 967 (A.D. 1560, August 10); it was given as a present to Ḳâsimbeg the 1st of Dhû-alḥijjah, A.H. 971 (A.D. 1564, July 11), according to a note on fol. 1^a.

No. 133, ff. 538, 4 coll., each ll. 25; excellent Nasta’lîḳ; ff. 1^b and 2^a gorgeously illuminated in gold and blue arabesques, mixed with a variety of other colours; similar illuminations and an excellent frontispiece on ff. 270^b and 271^a; all the headings throughout neatly embellished; well-executed pictures on ff. 5^b, 16^b, 32^a, 54^a, 76^b, 96^a, 113^b, 127^b, 150^b, 184^b, 203^a, 227^b, 250^a, 270^b, 271^a, 304^a, 321^b, 349^b, 372^a, 389^a, 418^b, 445^b, 483^a, and 519^a; size, 14^3/4 in. by 8^3/4 in.