Persian Manuscripts : Siyar al-mutaʼakhkhirīn

Siyar al-mutaʼakhkhirīn (Persian MS 875)

The second of an incomplete set of three volumes of the Siyar al-Mutaʼakhkhirīn (Review of Modern Times), together with Persian MS 874 (Vol. 1) and 876 (Vol. 4), with the third volume wanting.

The author, Ghulām Husain Khān Ṭabaṭāḅāī (b. 1727 or 8) , a son of Patna Vice-Regent Sayyid ‘Alī Khān and cousin of Alīvardī Khān, Nawwab of Bengal (b. 1676 r. 1740–1756), composed this text in circa 1780–1784, and dedicated it to Governor-General of Bengal, Warren Hastings.

A general history of India, the first part derives from earlier sources, while the second spans the death of the Mughal Emperor ‘Alamgīr I in 1707‏ until 1195 AH (1781 CE). Since the author relates many eyewitness accounts, historians regard it as a preeminent 18th-century source.

Delhi calligrapher Muḥammad Jān, son of Mughal treasurer Mīyan Muḥammad ‘Āshūrī, copied the volume in a bold nasta'liq hand in 1227 AH (1812 CE).

Information about this document

Physical Location: The John Rylands Library
Collection: Persian Manuscripts
Classmark: Persian MS 875
Alternative Identifier(s): Bibliotheca Lindesiana Shelf Mark: 1/B; Persian 81
Title: Siyar al-mutaʼakhkhirīn
Language(s): Persian
Subject(s): India--History--1526-1765; Mogul Empire--Kings and rulers--Biography; Mogul Empire--History; Mogul Empire--Politics and government; India--History--18th century
Author(s): Ghulām Husain Khān, Ṭabaṭāḅāī, b. 1727 or 8غلام حسين بن هدايت علی خان بن السيد عليم الله بن السيد فيض الله الطباطبائی الحسينی
Scribe(s): Muḥammad Jān محمد جان
Origin Place: Delhi
Date of Creation: 29 Sha‘bān 1227 AH (7 September 1812 CE)
Excerpts:
Incipit, basmalla: برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): ذکر نهضت نمودن مهابت جنگ بطرف کنک بعد تیاری فوج و آراستان سامان بارادد(؟) استخلاص برادر ازازهٔ خود صولت جنگ از دست باقر علیخان.
Explicit: برگ ۲۸۶ر (folio 286a): و چنین بزرگانرا سلامت نگاهدارد که باعث نزول برکات الهی و یادگار اسلاف کرام‌اند.
Colophon: برگ ۲۸۶ر (folio 286a): تمام شد جلد دویم از کتاب سیر المتاخرین من تصنیف منشی غلام حسین خان الکاتب ذره خاکسار فقیر محمد جان ولد محمد عاشوری تحویلدار توشکخانه سرکار والا شاگرد قبله الکتاب سید ابوالحسن رضوی عرف میر کلن سلمه ربه و ادام الله برکته بتاریخ دوازدهم شهر ربیع الثانی سنه ۱۲۲۷ یکهزار و دو صد و بیست و هفتم هجریه مقدسه علی صاحبهاالف الف تحیه و السلام و بر آل الحضرت باد مطابق سنه ۶ جلوس محمد اکبر شاه ثانی باد شاه خلد الله ملکه.
Colophon: Completed by Muḥammad Jān on 12 Rabī‘ II 1227 AH (25 April 1812 CE).
Note(s): Student of Delhi master Sayyid Abū-l-Ḥasan Raz̤avī, known as 'Mīr Kallan' (who copied Persian MS 572), Muḥammad Jān ultimately served as the munshī (secretary) to the last Mughal emperor, Muḥmammad Bahādur Shāh II (1775–1862, r. 1837–1857).
Format: Codex
Material(s): Paper
Extent: 288 folios, 4 flyleaves (ff. iii + 288 + i). Leaf height: 318 mm, width: 198 mm. Written height: 233 mm, width: 118 mm.
Foliation:
Modern pencilled Arabic folio numbers on the upper-left corners on the b sides that ends with the final historical flyleaves.
Collation:
Undetermined due to tight opening, but possibly quaternions throughout. Catchwords thoughout on the lower left corners of the b sides.
Condition: In good condition, with occasional tipping in the gutter that prevents that some pages from opening flat.
Layout: Written in a single column with 12 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Script:
Copied in clear large nasta‘līq script in black ink with subheaders in red.
Additions:
Inscription:folio1a bears the Persian title and volume number written in nasta‘līq script.
Bookplates:left paste-down: "Bibliotheca Lindesiana" with shelf mark "1/B", and "Persian 81".
Binding:
Resewn at four stations, probably on cord supports laced or frayed out onto the pasteboards. Twined Islamic-style chevron endbands in red and white. Covered in a later Indian style binding in full, tight backed, red goatskin leather over pasteboards, flush with the edges, and without a flap (type III binding per Déroche). Earlier endleaves of comparatively heavy paper handmade in India, and later flyleaves of European laid paper added when the volume was rebacked.
Gold-stamped onlays of either paper or leather featuring floral designs for the central mandorla, detached pendants, and corners. Boards decorated with a black border ~25 mm wide on the perimetres of the boards, outlined with ruled lines in yellow, with another single line in the centres. Pastedowns of vivid comb-patterned marbled paper manufactured in India. Spine rebacked in smooth, medium-brown goatskin leather, and the boards reattached with hinges of European "Spanish" wave-patterned marbled paper.

Binding height: 325 mm, width: 218 mm, depth: 39 mm.
Origin: Delhi completed on 29 Sha‘bān 1227 AH (7 September 1812 CE) by Muḥammad Jān.
Provenance:
Subsequently acquired by Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) possibly from London bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) .
Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (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
Data Source(s):
Bibliographical description based on an index created by Reza Navabpour circa 1993, derived from a manuscript catalogue 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.
Funding: Iran Heritage Foundation and The John Rylands Research Institute
Author(s) of the Record: Jake Benson, Julian Cook, Andrew Morrison, James Cummings
Bibliography:
See the record for this manuscript on Fihrist.
Persian MS 874 (Vol. 1).
Persian MS 876 (Vol. 4).
A. F. L. Beeston, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstânî, and Pushtû Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Part III (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1954), p. 7 no. 2471 [Bodl.. Ms. Ind. Inst. Pers. 25-26].
E. G. Browne, A Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Library of the University of Cambridge, (Cambridge: Cambridge University press, 1896), p. 176, no. 101 [Camb. Add. 408].
H. M. Elliot and John Dowson, The History of India, As Told by Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, Vol. VIII (London: Trübner & Co., 1877), pp. 194–198, no. CXII.
H. Ethé, Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, Vol. I (Oxford: Printed for the India Office by H. Hart, 1903) col. 157, no. 416 [BL IO Islamic 3319].
Ghulām Muḥammad Haft Qalamī Dihlavī, Tad̲h̲kira-i-k̲h̲us̲h̲navīsān of Mawlānā G̲h̲ulām Muḥammad Dihlavī. Edited by M. Hidayet Husain. (Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal) 1910), p. 74.
Gholam Hussein-Khan, The Siyar-ul-Mutakherin: A History of the Mahomedan Power in India During the Last Century. Revised translation by John Briggs. London: Oriental translation fund, 1832.
Ghulam Husain Khan, A Translation of the Sëir Mutaqherin; or View of Modern Times, Being an History of India, from the Year 1118 to Year 1194 (This Year Answers to the Christian Year 1781-82) of the Hidjrah, Containing, in General, the Reigns of the Seven Last Emperors of Hindostan, and in Particular, an Account of the English Wars in Bengal ... To Which the Author Has Added Critical Examination of the English Government and Policy in Those Countries, Down to the Year 1783. Translated by 'Nota-Manus' [pseudonym of M. Raymond, a.k.a. 'Haji Mustapha']. Calcutta: Printed by J. White, 1789.
D. S. Margoliouth, Catalogue of the Oriental Manuscripts in the Library of Eton College (Oxford: Horace Hart, Printer to the University, 1904, p. 24, no. 199 (shelf/item: 16/14) [Eton Pote 436].
D. N. Marshall, Mughals in India: A Bibliographical Survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1962), pp. 157–158, no. 517.
W. H. Morley, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Historical Manuscripts in the Arabic and Persian Languages (London: John W. Parker & Son, 1854), pp. 105–108, nos. CV–CIII [RAS Persian 110–113].
C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. I (London: British Museum, 1879), p. 280 [BL Add. 6577-6578].
E. Sachau and H. Ethé, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstani, and Pushtû manuscripts in the Bodleian Library Vol I. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889), col. 133, no. 254 [Bodl. Ouseley 330/3].
C. A. Storey, Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. 2, Pt. 3 (London: Luzac & Co., 1939), pp. 625–639, no. 802.
Robert Travers, 'The connected worlds of Haji Mustapha (c. 1730–91): A Eurasian cosmopolitan in eighteenth-century Bengal, The Indian Economic & Social History Review Vol. 52, No. 3 (2015): pp. 297–333.

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 875
Alternative Identifier(s): Bibliotheca Lindesiana Shelf Mark: 1/B; Persian 81
Title: Siyar al-mutaʼakhkhirīn
Language(s): Persian
Subject(s): India--History--1526-1765; Mogul Empire--Kings and rulers--Biography; Mogul Empire--History; Mogul Empire--Politics and government; India--History--18th century
Author(s): Ghulām Husain Khān, Ṭabaṭāḅāī, b. 1727 or 8غلام حسين بن هدايت علی خان بن السيد عليم الله بن السيد فيض الله الطباطبائی الحسينی
Scribe(s): Muḥammad Jān محمد جان
Origin Place: Delhi
Date of Creation: 29 Sha‘bān 1227 AH (7 September 1812 CE)
Excerpts:
Incipit, basmalla: برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): ذکر نهضت نمودن مهابت جنگ بطرف کنک بعد تیاری فوج و آراستان سامان بارادد(؟) استخلاص برادر ازازهٔ خود صولت جنگ از دست باقر علیخان.
Explicit: برگ ۲۸۶ر (folio 286a): و چنین بزرگانرا سلامت نگاهدارد که باعث نزول برکات الهی و یادگار اسلاف کرام‌اند.
Colophon: برگ ۲۸۶ر (folio 286a): تمام شد جلد دویم از کتاب سیر المتاخرین من تصنیف منشی غلام حسین خان الکاتب ذره خاکسار فقیر محمد جان ولد محمد عاشوری تحویلدار توشکخانه سرکار والا شاگرد قبله الکتاب سید ابوالحسن رضوی عرف میر کلن سلمه ربه و ادام الله برکته بتاریخ دوازدهم شهر ربیع الثانی سنه ۱۲۲۷ یکهزار و دو صد و بیست و هفتم هجریه مقدسه علی صاحبهاالف الف تحیه و السلام و بر آل الحضرت باد مطابق سنه ۶ جلوس محمد اکبر شاه ثانی باد شاه خلد الله ملکه.
Colophon: Completed by Muḥammad Jān on 12 Rabī‘ II 1227 AH (25 April 1812 CE).
Note(s): Student of Delhi master Sayyid Abū-l-Ḥasan Raz̤avī, known as 'Mīr Kallan' (who copied Persian MS 572), Muḥammad Jān ultimately served as the munshī (secretary) to the last Mughal emperor, Muḥmammad Bahādur Shāh II (1775–1862, r. 1837–1857).
Format: Codex
Material(s): Paper
Extent: 288 folios, 4 flyleaves (ff. iii + 288 + i). Leaf height: 318 mm, width: 198 mm. Written height: 233 mm, width: 118 mm.
Foliation:
Modern pencilled Arabic folio numbers on the upper-left corners on the b sides that ends with the final historical flyleaves.
Collation:
Undetermined due to tight opening, but possibly quaternions throughout. Catchwords thoughout on the lower left corners of the b sides.
Condition: In good condition, with occasional tipping in the gutter that prevents that some pages from opening flat.
Layout: Written in a single column with 12 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Script:
Copied in clear large nasta‘līq script in black ink with subheaders in red.
Additions:
Inscription:folio1a bears the Persian title and volume number written in nasta‘līq script.
Bookplates:left paste-down: "Bibliotheca Lindesiana" with shelf mark "1/B", and "Persian 81".
Binding:
Resewn at four stations, probably on cord supports laced or frayed out onto the pasteboards. Twined Islamic-style chevron endbands in red and white. Covered in a later Indian style binding in full, tight backed, red goatskin leather over pasteboards, flush with the edges, and without a flap (type III binding per Déroche). Earlier endleaves of comparatively heavy paper handmade in India, and later flyleaves of European laid paper added when the volume was rebacked.
Gold-stamped onlays of either paper or leather featuring floral designs for the central mandorla, detached pendants, and corners. Boards decorated with a black border ~25 mm wide on the perimetres of the boards, outlined with ruled lines in yellow, with another single line in the centres. Pastedowns of vivid comb-patterned marbled paper manufactured in India. Spine rebacked in smooth, medium-brown goatskin leather, and the boards reattached with hinges of European "Spanish" wave-patterned marbled paper.

Binding height: 325 mm, width: 218 mm, depth: 39 mm.
Origin: Delhi completed on 29 Sha‘bān 1227 AH (7 September 1812 CE) by Muḥammad Jān.
Provenance:
Subsequently acquired by Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) possibly from London bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) .
Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (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
Data Source(s):
Bibliographical description based on an index created by Reza Navabpour circa 1993, derived from a manuscript catalogue 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.
Funding: Iran Heritage Foundation and The John Rylands Research Institute
Author(s) of the Record: Jake Benson, Julian Cook, Andrew Morrison, James Cummings
Bibliography:
See the record for this manuscript on Fihrist.
Persian MS 874 (Vol. 1).
Persian MS 876 (Vol. 4).
A. F. L. Beeston, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstânî, and Pushtû Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Part III (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1954), p. 7 no. 2471 [Bodl.. Ms. Ind. Inst. Pers. 25-26].
E. G. Browne, A Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Library of the University of Cambridge, (Cambridge: Cambridge University press, 1896), p. 176, no. 101 [Camb. Add. 408].
H. M. Elliot and John Dowson, The History of India, As Told by Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, Vol. VIII (London: Trübner & Co., 1877), pp. 194–198, no. CXII.
H. Ethé, Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, Vol. I (Oxford: Printed for the India Office by H. Hart, 1903) col. 157, no. 416 [BL IO Islamic 3319].
Ghulām Muḥammad Haft Qalamī Dihlavī, Tad̲h̲kira-i-k̲h̲us̲h̲navīsān of Mawlānā G̲h̲ulām Muḥammad Dihlavī. Edited by M. Hidayet Husain. (Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal) 1910), p. 74.
Gholam Hussein-Khan, The Siyar-ul-Mutakherin: A History of the Mahomedan Power in India During the Last Century. Revised translation by John Briggs. London: Oriental translation fund, 1832.
Ghulam Husain Khan, A Translation of the Sëir Mutaqherin; or View of Modern Times, Being an History of India, from the Year 1118 to Year 1194 (This Year Answers to the Christian Year 1781-82) of the Hidjrah, Containing, in General, the Reigns of the Seven Last Emperors of Hindostan, and in Particular, an Account of the English Wars in Bengal ... To Which the Author Has Added Critical Examination of the English Government and Policy in Those Countries, Down to the Year 1783. Translated by 'Nota-Manus' [pseudonym of M. Raymond, a.k.a. 'Haji Mustapha']. Calcutta: Printed by J. White, 1789.
D. S. Margoliouth, Catalogue of the Oriental Manuscripts in the Library of Eton College (Oxford: Horace Hart, Printer to the University, 1904, p. 24, no. 199 (shelf/item: 16/14) [Eton Pote 436].
D. N. Marshall, Mughals in India: A Bibliographical Survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1962), pp. 157–158, no. 517.
W. H. Morley, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Historical Manuscripts in the Arabic and Persian Languages (London: John W. Parker & Son, 1854), pp. 105–108, nos. CV–CIII [RAS Persian 110–113].
C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. I (London: British Museum, 1879), p. 280 [BL Add. 6577-6578].
E. Sachau and H. Ethé, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstani, and Pushtû manuscripts in the Bodleian Library Vol I. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889), col. 133, no. 254 [Bodl. Ouseley 330/3].
C. A. Storey, Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. 2, Pt. 3 (London: Luzac & Co., 1939), pp. 625–639, no. 802.
Robert Travers, 'The connected worlds of Haji Mustapha (c. 1730–91): A Eurasian cosmopolitan in eighteenth-century Bengal, The Indian Economic & Social History Review Vol. 52, No. 3 (2015): pp. 297–333.