Persian Manuscripts : Bahāristān-i Mawlānā Jāmī

Bahāristān-i Mawlānā Jāmī (Persian MS 599)

The Timurid court poet and renowned Sufi ‘Abd al-Raḥman Jāmī (1414–1492) originally composed the Bahāristān (Spring Garden) in 892 AH (1487 CE). Modelled upon the Gulistān (Rose Garden) of Saʻdī, he divided the work into eight chapters or 'gardens' (rawz̤ah) devoted to Sufi saints and philosophers, the topics of justice, generosity, love, and comedy, as well as a highly esteemed section on poetic literature, and the last regarding animals.

This manuscript, probably completed in India in 1260 AH (1844 CE) contains nine illustrations and appears to be the latest copy of this work held in the Rylands' collections.

Information about this document

Physical Location: The John Rylands Library
Collection: Persian Manuscripts
Classmark: Persian MS 599
Alternative Identifier(s): Bibliotheca Lindesiana Shelf Mark: F/6; Hamilton 516
Title: Bahāristān-i Mawlānā Jāmī
Alternative Title(s): Bahāristān-i Jāmī; بهارستان جامی
Subject(s): Persian poetry--747-1500; Sufi poetry, Persian; Persian poetry--747-1500--History and criticism
Author(s): Jāmī, 1414-1492جامی
Origin Place: Indian subcontinent
Date of Creation: 28 Rabī‘ I 1260 (15 June 1844)
Language(s): Persian
Extent: 56 folios, 2 flyleaves (ff. i + 56 + i). Leaf height: 238 mm, width: 151 mm. Written height: 115 mm, width: 187 mm.
Collation: Unusual, alternating binions and quinternions: 1V(10)1II(14)1V(25)1II(28)1V(38)1II(42)1V(52)1II(56). Catchwords throughout on the b sides.
Material(s): Handmade paper; Handmade paper
Format: Codex
Condition: In good condition, with some recent paper repairs executed on the margins.
Binding:
Sewn at four stations without supports. Bound in full, tight backed, semi-limp red goatskin leather without a flap (Type III binding per Déroche), without endbands.
Cover decorated with gilt leather onlays with a central mandorla featuring a lily design and detached palmette pendants (note only the bottom pendant remains on the right cover). Blind tooled margins and cross-cross vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines through the centres. Thick and thin ruled lines in grayish-white paint frame the perimeters of the boards, with additional radiating lines in the same paint.
Binding height: 237 mm, width: 158 mm, depth: 11 mm.
Binding in good condition.
Script:
Copied in a hasty nasta‘līq script in black ink, with verse markers and subheaders marked in red.
Foliation:
Modern foliation in Arabic numerals in pencil on the upper-right corners of the a sides.
Layout: Single column, 13 lines per page. The written surface area varies in height. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Decoration: Illumination: Headpiece on folio 1b, hastily rendered in blue, orange, pink, green, and gold. Marginal ruling throughout, with a wide rule painted in pale ochre imitating gold that is outlined on both sides with thin black single and double lines, surrounded by single lines of red and blue.
Illustrations: Nine illustrations, with space for another one never completed, hastily rendered in bright colours and embellished in gold by an unknown artist in the mid-19th-century. Perhaps completed in Kashimir, the depictions recall popular portraits of the last Mughal rulers Akbar Shāh II (b. 1760 r. 1806–1837) and Muhammad Bahadur Shah II (1775-1862; r. 1837–1857). Unfortunatley, a bookbinder trimmed off many captions written vertically on the fore-edge when binding the volume.
Folio 14a: Iskandar and his troops approach Jahāngīr Shāh in his fortress.
Illustration height: 90 mm, width: 100 mm.
Folio 17b: Ruler seated against a yellow cushion on a raised throne set on a veranda with two standing attendants, one before him bearing a dish, and the other fanning him from behind.
Illustration height: 78 mm, width: 101 mm.
Folio 19a: Ruler seated against a pink cushion set on a veranda with two men seated before him, while a guard stands in the foreground.
Illustration height: 90 mm, width: 102 mm.
Folio 21a: Ruler seated against a pink cushion on a raised throne set on a veranda with a man seated before him while an attendant fans him from behind.
Illustration height: 90 mm, width: 102 mm.
Folio 28b: Ruler wearing a turban seated against a pink cushion on a raised throne set on a veranda with two standing men, one before him while another is behind him with his arm raised (perhaps missing his fan?).
Illustration height: 90 mm, width: 102 mm.
Folio 30a: [Unpainted, but captioned].
Illustration height: 65 mm, width: 102 mm.
Folio 32a: A bearded sage wears a yellow turban and sits against a pink cushion by a door converses with young man seated before him.
Illustration height: 75 mm, width: 104 mm.
Folio 40b: Man enters a door before a seated female figure. Uncaptioned.
Illustration height: 80 mm, width: 102 mm.
Folio 49a: Man seated before a seated ruler on a veranda with a male attendant fanning the latter from behind.
Illustration height: 90 mm, width: 100 mm.
Folio 51a: Man seated before a seated female on a veranda. Caption states that it depicts a dervish.
Illustration height: 76 mm, width: 102 mm.
Additions:
Bookplates:Left paste-down,"Bibliotheca Lindesiana" with shelf mark "F/6", and "Hamilton MSS No. 516".
Origin: Completed either by or for one ‘Abd Allāh Shāh, probably in the Indian subcontinent28 Rabī‘ I 1260 (15 June 1844).
Provenance:
Subsequently acquired by Colonel George William Hamilton (1807-1868) who served in India from 1823 to 1867, latterly as Commissioner in Delhi. He acquired over a thousand Indian and Persian manuscripts from which the British Museum selected 352 after his death, now held in the British Library.
Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880), purchased the remainder in 1868.
Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) (1843–1908) in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913).
Acquisition:
Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1908 to the John Rylands Library.
Date of Acquisition: 1908
Funding: Iran Heritage Foundation and The John Rylands Research Institute
Data Source(s):
Bibliographical description based on an index created by Reza Navabpour circa 1993, derived from a manuscript handlist by Michael Kerney, circa 1890s and his Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.
Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2021 with reference to the volume.
Author(s) of the Record: Julian Cook, Jake Benson, Andrew Morrison, James Cummings, Yasmin Faghihi
Excerpts:
Incipit, basmalla: برگ ۲پ (folio 2b): چو مرغ امر ذی بالی ز آغاز * نه از نیروی حمد آید به پرواز
Explicit: برگ ۵۴پ (folio 54b): بوقت شد آخر که تاریخ هجرت * شود هفتدار همچون(؟) هشت بروی فزایی
Colophon: برگ ۵۴پ (folio 54b): تحریر بتاریخ ۲۸ ماه ربیع [ا]لوال سنه ۱۲٦۰ یوم جمعه تحریر یافت. این کتاب بهارستان بنام عبد الله شاه تحریر یاف(؟)
Colophon: Completed "in the name of ‘Abd Allāh Shāh", possibly the patron or scribe, on 28 Rabī‘ I 1260 (15 June 1844).
Bibliography:
See the record for this manuscript on Fihrist
E. G. Browne, A History of Persian Literature Vol. 3 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1920), p. 515.
Jāmī, Der frühlingsgarten. Edited and translated by Ottokar-Maria von Schlechta-Wssehrd. Wien: Kaiserlich-königlichen hof- und staats-druckerei, 1846.
Jāmī, The Behâristân (Abode of Spring) by Jâmi: A Literal Translation from the Persian. [Translated by Edward Rehatsek]. Benares: Kama Shastra Society, 1887.
Jāmī, The Behàristan-i-Jàmi, or Abode of Spring by Jàmi. Translated by Sorabji Fardunji Mulla. Bombay: Meher Printing Works, 1899.
Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature. (Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1968), p. 287.
G. M. Wickens, 'Bahārestān (1)', Encyclopædia Iranica Vol. 3, Fasc. 5 (1988): pp. 479–480.

First released on Fihrist in 2014. Expanded version with digital facsimilie released on MDC

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Information about this document

Physical Location: The John Rylands Library
Collection: Persian Manuscripts
Classmark: Persian MS 599
Alternative Identifier(s): Bibliotheca Lindesiana Shelf Mark: F/6; Hamilton 516
Title: Bahāristān-i Mawlānā Jāmī
Alternative Title(s): Bahāristān-i Jāmī; بهارستان جامی
Subject(s): Persian poetry--747-1500; Sufi poetry, Persian; Persian poetry--747-1500--History and criticism
Author(s): Jāmī, 1414-1492جامی
Origin Place: Indian subcontinent
Date of Creation: 28 Rabī‘ I 1260 (15 June 1844)
Language(s): Persian
Extent: 56 folios, 2 flyleaves (ff. i + 56 + i). Leaf height: 238 mm, width: 151 mm. Written height: 115 mm, width: 187 mm.
Collation: Unusual, alternating binions and quinternions: 1V(10)1II(14)1V(25)1II(28)1V(38)1II(42)1V(52)1II(56). Catchwords throughout on the b sides.
Material(s): Handmade paper; Handmade paper
Format: Codex
Condition: In good condition, with some recent paper repairs executed on the margins.
Binding:
Sewn at four stations without supports. Bound in full, tight backed, semi-limp red goatskin leather without a flap (Type III binding per Déroche), without endbands.
Cover decorated with gilt leather onlays with a central mandorla featuring a lily design and detached palmette pendants (note only the bottom pendant remains on the right cover). Blind tooled margins and cross-cross vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines through the centres. Thick and thin ruled lines in grayish-white paint frame the perimeters of the boards, with additional radiating lines in the same paint.
Binding height: 237 mm, width: 158 mm, depth: 11 mm.
Binding in good condition.
Script:
Copied in a hasty nasta‘līq script in black ink, with verse markers and subheaders marked in red.
Foliation:
Modern foliation in Arabic numerals in pencil on the upper-right corners of the a sides.
Layout: Single column, 13 lines per page. The written surface area varies in height. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Decoration: Illumination: Headpiece on folio 1b, hastily rendered in blue, orange, pink, green, and gold. Marginal ruling throughout, with a wide rule painted in pale ochre imitating gold that is outlined on both sides with thin black single and double lines, surrounded by single lines of red and blue.
Illustrations: Nine illustrations, with space for another one never completed, hastily rendered in bright colours and embellished in gold by an unknown artist in the mid-19th-century. Perhaps completed in Kashimir, the depictions recall popular portraits of the last Mughal rulers Akbar Shāh II (b. 1760 r. 1806–1837) and Muhammad Bahadur Shah II (1775-1862; r. 1837–1857). Unfortunatley, a bookbinder trimmed off many captions written vertically on the fore-edge when binding the volume.
Folio 14a: Iskandar and his troops approach Jahāngīr Shāh in his fortress.
Illustration height: 90 mm, width: 100 mm.
Folio 17b: Ruler seated against a yellow cushion on a raised throne set on a veranda with two standing attendants, one before him bearing a dish, and the other fanning him from behind.
Illustration height: 78 mm, width: 101 mm.
Folio 19a: Ruler seated against a pink cushion set on a veranda with two men seated before him, while a guard stands in the foreground.
Illustration height: 90 mm, width: 102 mm.
Folio 21a: Ruler seated against a pink cushion on a raised throne set on a veranda with a man seated before him while an attendant fans him from behind.
Illustration height: 90 mm, width: 102 mm.
Folio 28b: Ruler wearing a turban seated against a pink cushion on a raised throne set on a veranda with two standing men, one before him while another is behind him with his arm raised (perhaps missing his fan?).
Illustration height: 90 mm, width: 102 mm.
Folio 30a: [Unpainted, but captioned].
Illustration height: 65 mm, width: 102 mm.
Folio 32a: A bearded sage wears a yellow turban and sits against a pink cushion by a door converses with young man seated before him.
Illustration height: 75 mm, width: 104 mm.
Folio 40b: Man enters a door before a seated female figure. Uncaptioned.
Illustration height: 80 mm, width: 102 mm.
Folio 49a: Man seated before a seated ruler on a veranda with a male attendant fanning the latter from behind.
Illustration height: 90 mm, width: 100 mm.
Folio 51a: Man seated before a seated female on a veranda. Caption states that it depicts a dervish.
Illustration height: 76 mm, width: 102 mm.
Additions:
Bookplates:Left paste-down,"Bibliotheca Lindesiana" with shelf mark "F/6", and "Hamilton MSS No. 516".
Origin: Completed either by or for one ‘Abd Allāh Shāh, probably in the Indian subcontinent28 Rabī‘ I 1260 (15 June 1844).
Provenance:
Subsequently acquired by Colonel George William Hamilton (1807-1868) who served in India from 1823 to 1867, latterly as Commissioner in Delhi. He acquired over a thousand Indian and Persian manuscripts from which the British Museum selected 352 after his death, now held in the British Library.
Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880), purchased the remainder in 1868.
Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) (1843–1908) in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913).
Acquisition:
Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1908 to the John Rylands Library.
Date of Acquisition: 1908
Funding: Iran Heritage Foundation and The John Rylands Research Institute
Data Source(s):
Bibliographical description based on an index created by Reza Navabpour circa 1993, derived from a manuscript handlist by Michael Kerney, circa 1890s and his Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.
Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2021 with reference to the volume.
Author(s) of the Record: Julian Cook, Jake Benson, Andrew Morrison, James Cummings, Yasmin Faghihi
Excerpts:
Incipit, basmalla: برگ ۲پ (folio 2b): چو مرغ امر ذی بالی ز آغاز * نه از نیروی حمد آید به پرواز
Explicit: برگ ۵۴پ (folio 54b): بوقت شد آخر که تاریخ هجرت * شود هفتدار همچون(؟) هشت بروی فزایی
Colophon: برگ ۵۴پ (folio 54b): تحریر بتاریخ ۲۸ ماه ربیع [ا]لوال سنه ۱۲٦۰ یوم جمعه تحریر یافت. این کتاب بهارستان بنام عبد الله شاه تحریر یاف(؟)
Colophon: Completed "in the name of ‘Abd Allāh Shāh", possibly the patron or scribe, on 28 Rabī‘ I 1260 (15 June 1844).
Bibliography:
See the record for this manuscript on Fihrist
E. G. Browne, A History of Persian Literature Vol. 3 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1920), p. 515.
Jāmī, Der frühlingsgarten. Edited and translated by Ottokar-Maria von Schlechta-Wssehrd. Wien: Kaiserlich-königlichen hof- und staats-druckerei, 1846.
Jāmī, The Behâristân (Abode of Spring) by Jâmi: A Literal Translation from the Persian. [Translated by Edward Rehatsek]. Benares: Kama Shastra Society, 1887.
Jāmī, The Behàristan-i-Jàmi, or Abode of Spring by Jàmi. Translated by Sorabji Fardunji Mulla. Bombay: Meher Printing Works, 1899.
Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature. (Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1968), p. 287.
G. M. Wickens, 'Bahārestān (1)', Encyclopædia Iranica Vol. 3, Fasc. 5 (1988): pp. 479–480.