[IO Islamic 573] ديوان سيف اسفرنگ

<ul> <li><strong>D&icirc;w&acirc;n-i-Saif-i-Isfarang.</strong></li> <li><strong>This manuscript is now IO Islamic 1059&nbsp;in the India Office collections.</strong></li> <li><strong>[metadata:</strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Hermann_Eth%C3%A9"><strong>Hermann Eth&eacute;</strong></a><strong><em>,&nbsp;</em></strong><a href="http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1323681"><strong><em>Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office,</em></strong>&nbsp;</a><a href="http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1323681"><strong>2 vols. (Oxford: India Office, 1903): volume 1,</strong></a>&nbsp;<strong>number 573 here with notations and hyperlinks].</strong></li> </ul> <p>1059</p> <p>D&icirc;w&acirc;n-i-Saif-i-Isfarang (ديوان سيف اسفرنگ).</p> <p>The lyrical poems of Saif-ald&icirc;n A&rsquo;raj of Isfara or Isfarang, nine farsangs south of Margh&icirc;n&acirc;n in Transoxania, see Haft Iḳl&icirc;m, No. 1524, col. 494 above in this Cat. But the dates given there about his lifetime fall about a hundred years short of the correct ones; the same remark applies to the short preface in this copy, where his death is fixed in A.H. 558 or even 552 (!), and the Khul&acirc;ṣat-alafk&acirc;r, No. 126 (Bodleian Cat., coll. 306 and 307), where he is stated to have died A.H. 583 (!); according to the most trustworthy sources he was born A.H. 581 (A.D. 1185, 1186) and died A.H. 666 (A.D. 1267, 1268); see &Acirc;tashkada, No. 711 (Bodleian Cat., col. 286), and Taḳ&icirc; K&acirc;sh&icirc;, No. 37 (A. Sprenger, Catal., p. 17). The Butkh&acirc;na , No. 43 (Bodleian Cat., col. 200), also fixes his death at a similar period, viz. in A.H. 652 or 660 (A.D. 1254 or 1262); other copies of this d&icirc;w&acirc;n are described in Bodleian Cat., Nos. 644 and 645; Rieu ii. p. 581; A. Sprenger, Catal., p. 561; W. Pertsch, Berlin Cat., p. 782; Cat. des MSS. et Xylographes, p. 330; J. Aumer, p. 9.</p> <p>This d&icirc;w&acirc;n contains:</p> <p>Ḳaṣ&icirc;das, in alphabetical order, except the first; beginning of the initial poem, on fol. 1^b: شب چو بر دارد حجاب از هودج اسرار من الخ.</p> <p>Tarji&rsquo;bands, on fol. 151^b, beginning:</p> <p>سدّ فلك چو صبح بیکدم گشاده ایم</p> <p>وز قوت روح روزۀ مریم گشاده ایم</p> <p>Muḳaṭṭa&rsquo;&acirc;t, on fol. 174^a, beginning: رضى الملك اى ديدار شومت الخ.</p> <p>Ghazals, in alphabetical order, on fol. 212^a, beginning: با تو حكايتى كنم صورت حال خويش را الخ.</p> <p>Rub&acirc;&rsquo;&icirc;s, on fol. 240^a, beginning:</p> <p>اى خطّ تو دستور قلم گیران را</p> <p>رايت رهبر صواب تدبيران را</p> <p>This copy, which is dated in the preface A.H. 1026 (A.D. 1617), is in a very bad state; many pages are severely injured, especially ff. 1-40 and 210-254. A short preface in prose on fol. 1^a.</p> <p>No. 573, ff. 254, 2 coll., each ll. 19; clear and distinct Nasta&rsquo;l&icirc;ḳ; illuminated frontispiece on fol. 1^b; size, 11^1/4 in. by 6^1/8 in.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>