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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2022
This article will focus on a Persian manuscript of Central Asian origin of exceptional literary, historical, and artistic importance. It is a selection of poetry, which was composed in Herat and written in 1531–32 in Bukhara and now belongs to King's College, Cambridge (King's Pote 186). It is the second part of my research on this manuscript, and I shall concentrate mainly on its textual and artistic peculiarities. The first part, which was published recently, was dedicated to its provenance as well as its historical and religious setting.1 The studies also reflect the political, social, and cultural processes in a contemporary turbulent world. Among these are the Shaybanid and Safavid conquests of sixteenth-century Central Asia, Shah Jahan's literary preferences, the colonial ambitions of the former Cambridge graduate Ephraim Pote, East India Company agent-turned-scholar Antoine Polier, and expertise of the crème de la crème of Victorian Cambridge academia.
I am grateful to Adel Adamova, Manijeh Bayani, Barbara Brend, Sheila Canby, Hamid-Reza Ghelichkhani, Alexandre Jumaev, Rosie Llewellyn-Jones, Jean-Marie Lafont, Olga Vasilyeva, Friederike Weis, and Olga Yastrebova for sharing with me their very helpful comments, and of course to Alison Ohta, Emily Shovelton, and Mehreen Chida-Razvi for inviting me to contribute and their thorough reading of my text. I would also like to thank Alla Sizova, Kathryn MacGee, Domniki Papadimitriou, Jayanta Sengupta, and Jenny Greiner for their help with supplying the images from their collections.
1 Melville, F., “Hilali and Mir ‘Ali: Sunnis among the Shi‘is, or Shi‘is among the Sunnis between the Shaybanids, Safavids and the Mughals”, Iran 59.2 (2021), pp. 245–262CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The research was triggered in 2017 when I was commissioned to prepare a series of catalogues of Central Asian art in British collections for the international project on the cultural legacy of Uzbekistan. The first volume in the series was published last year: F. Melville (ed.) with the preface by Luke Syson and contributions by Popescu, Adrian, Melville, Firuza, Rienjang, Wannaporn, Gibson, Melanie and Gyul, Elmira, Central Asian Heritage in the Collections of Cambridge University. Part I: Central Asian Art in the Fitzwilliam Museum (Tashkent, 2020)Google Scholar.
2 Y. Bregel, “Abu'l-Khayrids”, in Encyclopædia Iranica online: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abul-khayrids-dynasty (accessed 16 October 2022).
3 А. Н. Болдырев, Зайнаддин Васифи—таджикскийписатель XVI в. опыт творческой биографии) (Сталинабад, 1957), c. 153 (A. N. Boldyrev, Zaynaddin Vasifi, Tajik Writer of the 16th Century (An Attempted Creative Biography) (Stalinabad, 1957), p.153); M. Subtelny, “The Timurid legacy: a reaffirmation and a reassessment”, Cahiers d'Asie Centrale 3–4 (1997), p. 11. L'Héritage timouride Iran-Asie Centrale-Inde XV–XVIIIe siècles (Tashkent-Aix-en-Provence, 2004), p. 11; Л. Н. Додхудоева, “Труды Бадр ад-Дина Кашмири в контексте развития исторической культуры мусульманского средневековья”, Марказий Осиё тарихи замонавий медиевистика талкинида (Ташкент, 2013), с. 308 (Dodkhudoeva, L., “Works of Badr al-Din Kashmiri in the context of the development of the historical culture of the Muslim Middle Ages”, in Markaziy Osiyo tarikhi zamonaviy medievistika talkinida (Tashkent, 2013), p. 308)Google Scholar; Djumaev, A., Najm al-Din Kawkabi Bukhari, Poet, Musician, Scholar of the 15th–16th Centuries. Life and Creative Work. Studies and Translations (Tashkent, 2016,) p. 35Google Scholar.
4 Gruber, C., “The Gulbenkian Baharistan: ‘Abd al-‘Aziz and the Bihzadian tradition in 16th-century Bukhara”, in Conference Collected Essays 1: Kamal al-Din Bihzad (Tehran, 2005), pp. 255–287Google Scholar, esp. pp. 262–267.
5 Browne, E. G., A Supplementary Hand-list of the Muhammadan Manuscripts, including all those written in the Arabic character, preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge (Cambridge, 1922), p. 102Google Scholar; Palmer, E. H., ‘Catalogue of the Oriental manuscripts in the Library of King's College, Cambridge’, JRAS 3 (1867), p. 14CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
6 S. Nafisi (ed.), Divan-i Hilali Chaghataʾi ba Shah-u darvish va Sifat al-ʿAshiqin-i u (Tehran, 1958); Badriddin Hiloli, Osori muntakhab, (ed.) K. Ayni (Stalinabad, 1958); Хилоли, Газалиёт, мураттиби китоб ва муаллифи сарсухан Камол Айни, Душанбе (Ирфон, 1970) (Hiloli, Ghazals, edited with a preface by Kamol Ayni (Dushanbe, 1970).)
7 Adolat Mirzoalieva identified 422 ghazals as written by Hilali: Адолат Мирзоалиева, Поэтика газелей Бадриддина Хилоли (диссертация на звание кандидата филологических наук) (Душанбе, 2004), c. 7, http://cheloveknauka.com/poetika-gazeley-badriddina-hiloli and http://cheloveknauka.com/poetika-gazeley-badriddina-hiloli (accessed 16 June 2022). A. Mirzoalieva, “The Poetics of Badriddin Hiloli”, (unpublished PhD dissertation, Dushanbe University, 2004), p. 7.
8 Mir ‘Ali was also ascribed a treatise on calligraphy entitled Midad al-Khutut (“The Instrument of Scripts”), which later was identified as part of the book called Khatt-u Savad (“Writing and Literacy”), written by Majnun Rafiqi Haravi.
9 О.Ф. Акимушкин, “Лицевая рукопись из собрания Института Народов Азии АН СССР”, Средневековый Иран. Культура, история, филология, С-Петербург (Наука, 2004), сc. 32–40; originally published in Ближний и Средний Восток: Памяти проф. Б.И. Заходера, М., 1962, сс. 76–82. (Akimushkin, O. F., “An illuminated manuscript from the collection of the Institute of the Peoples of Asia, Academy of Sciences of the USSR”, in Medieval Iran. Culture, History, Philology (St Petersburg, 2004), pp. 32–40Google Scholar; originally published in A. I. Falina (ed.), Near and Middle East: In Memoriam of Professor B. I. Zakhoder (Moscow, 1962), pp. 76–82.)
10 I am grateful to Irina Popova and Alla Sizova for obtaining the images from this manuscript.
11 Chester Beatty Library, Per 194, Guy-u Chawgan of ‘Arifi, 934/1528. I am grateful to Kristine Rose-Beers for obtaining a working image of the colophon of this manuscript as well as Jenny Greiner from the Photographic Services at the Chester Beatty Library. See also Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Persia Art, London, 1931 (London, 1968), p. 68, and Akimushkin, “An illuminated manuscript”, p. 36.
12 These dates also meant the time when Mir ‘Ali was moved to Bukhara: 1515 (Bakhtavar Khan in Mir'at al-‘Alam), 1519 (Sam Mirza in Tuhfa-yi Sami and Tarikh-i Kathira), 1528–29 (Qazi Ahmad in Gulistan-i Hunar), and 1538–39 (Mustafa Daftari in Manaqib-i Hunarvaran). Akimushkin, “An illuminated manuscript”, p. 35.
13 E. D. Ross, ‘Browne, Edward Granville (1862–1926)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 23 September 2004.
14 Browne, A Supplementary Hand-list of the Muhammadan manuscripts, p. 102.
15 Welch, S. C., Schimmel, A., Swietochowski, M. L. and Thackston, W. H., The Emperor's Album (New York, 1987), p. 32Google Scholar.
16 Amir Mahmud Khandamir, Tarikh-i Shah Isma‘il va Shah Tahmasp-i Safavi, (ed.) Muhammad ‘Ali Jarrahi (Tehran, 1380), p. 156.
17 Bernardini refers to the chronogram “Sayf-Allāh” (the chronogram “Sayf-Allāh košt” = 936) as the name of Hilali's executioner: M. Bernardini, ‘Helāli Astarābādi Jagatā’i’, in Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. XII, Fasc. 2, 2003, pp. 152–154, or online: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/helali-astarabadi-jagatai-mawlana-badr-al-din (accessed 21 June 2022).
18 Б.В. Норик, Био-библиографический словарь среднеазиатской поэзии (XVI-первая треть XVII в. (Moscow, 2011), p. 582 (Norik, B. V., Bio-bibliographical Dictionary of Central Asian Poetry (16th–first third of the 17th century) (Moscow, 2011), p. 582Google Scholar): Bernardini, ‘Helali Astarabadi Jagata'i’.
19 Hilali, Shah-u Gada, Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, St Petersburg, A-57, ff. 4v–5r; Norik, Bio-bibliographical Dictionary, p. 581.
20 Yuri Bregel mentions five invasions by ‘Ubaydullah of Herat, with the last one taking place no later than 1530: ‘Abu'l-Khayrids’, in Encyclopaedia Iranica, online edition, 2012: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abul-khayrids-dynasty (accessed 21 June 2022).
21 The poem in question had the following final bayt:
For how long are you going to plunder, ‘Ubayd
For how long are you going to destroy Khurasan
You are plundering and robbing the possessions of the orphans;
I would rather become an infidel if you're a Muslim!
Hasan Beg Rumlu, Ahsan al-Tawarikh, (ed.) ‘Abd al-Husayn Nava'i, Vol. 2 (Tehran, 1384/1964), p. 1184; M. B. Dickson, “Shah Tahmasp and the Uzbeks (The Duel for Khurasan with ʿUbayd Khan: 930–946/1524–1540)”, (unpublished PhD dissertation, Princeton University, 1958), pp. 159–60; A. Golchin-e Maʿani, “Sanad-i dar bab-e qatl-e Helali”, Yaghma 16, 1964, pp. 157–160.
22 A similar legend exists about choosing the name of the infant Babur, ‘Ubayd's political rival. Foltz, R., Mughal India and Central Asia (Karachi, 1998), Chapter 5Google Scholar.
23 Add. 7907.
24 Убайдий, Дийдор орзуси. Рубоийлар, нашрга тайёрловчи ва таржимон Э. Очилов, (Tashkent, 2007), с. 142, quoted from Djumaev, Najm al-Din Kawkabi Bukhari, p. 38. Ubaydiy, Diydor orzusi. Ruba'i, (ed. and trans.) E. Ochilov (Tashkent, 2007), p. 142, quoted from Djumaev, Najm al-Din Kawkabi Bukhari, p. 38.
25 Н. Болдырев, “Тезкирэ Хасана Нисори как новый источник для изучения культурной жизни Средней Азии XVI в.”, Труды Отдела Востока Государственного Эрмитажа, т. 3, (Leningrad, 1940), c. 296. (Boldyrev, A. N., “Tezkire by Hasan Nisori as a new source for research on the cultural life of Central Asia of the 16th century”, in Papers of the Oriental Department of the State Hermitage [Museum], Vol. 3 (Leningrad, 1940), pp. 291–300Google Scholar, esp. p. 296.)
26 When Shah Tahmasp advanced on the Uzbeks and entered Herat on 19 January 1533, ‘Ubaydullah Khan, as mentioned in the Baburnama, was even pronounced dead, which was, of course, just wishful thinking. See W. M. Thackston, “ʿUbayd Allāh Sulṭān Ḵh̲ān”, in Encyclopaedia of Islam, second edition, https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedie-de-l-islam/*-SIM_8926 (accessed 22 July 2022).
27 Amin Ahmad Razi, Haft Iqlim, Institute of Oriental Manuscripts (St Petersburg, C 1795), f. 475r; Norik, Bio-bibliographical Dictionary, p. 582.
28 Norik, Bio-bibliographical Dictionary, p. 581.
29 I am grateful to Alexander Djumaev for bringing this source to my attention, the fragment of which was reproduced by him in Russian in his recent book, see Djumaev, Najm al-Din Kawkabi, pp. 81–82.
30 Norik, Bio-bibliographical Dictionary, pp. 578–584.
31 He was also using other signatures: Mir ‘Ali, ‘Ali al-Haravi, ‘Ali al-katib, ‘Ali al-Husayni, ‘Ali al-Husayni al-katib al-sultani: Кази Ахмад б. Хусайн ал-Хусайни Куми, Трактат о каллиграфах и художниках, пер с перс., прилож., комм. и прим. О.Ф. Акимушкина; подгот. к публикации, предис. и указ. Б.В. Норика (Москва, 2016) (Qazi Ahmad b. Husayn al-Husayni Qumi, Calligraphers and Painters, annotated translation by O. F. Akimushkin, (ed.) with a preface by B. V. Norik (Moscow, 2016), p. 204, No. 400. See also the editions of the same treatise by Vladimir Minorsky (Washington, 1959), and B. N. Zakhoder (Moscow-Leningrad, 1947). See also https://www.reed.edu/persian-calligraphy/en/mir-ali-al-kateb-heravi/index.html (accessed 21 June 2022).
32 Rumlu, p. 1151; Amir Mahmud b. Khwandamir, p. 134.
33 It is known that in 1523 Mir ‘Ali produced a copy of Ahmadi's Iskandarnama for Durmysh Khan Shamlu (d. 1528), the military governor of Herat (Qazi Ahmad, Calligraphers and Painters, p. 205, No. 400).
34 Ibid., pp. 204–205.
35 According to Stuart Cary Welch, Mir ‘Ali died in 1556: Welch et al., The Emperors’ Album, p. 34.
36 Ibid., p. 38.
37 Mustaqimzadeh, Suleyman Sadettin, Tuhfet el-Hattatin, (ed.) Kemal, I. M. (Istanbul, 1918), p. 656Google Scholar; Welch et al., The Emperors’ Album, p. 43, No. 22.
38 Mehdi Bayani rightly called this remark the utmost breach of etiquette. This was not mentioned in Qazi Ahmad's treatise but in the Tazkira-yi khushnivisan and Hatt-u Hattatan by Habib: for full reference, see Welch et al., The Emperors’ Album, p. 43, No. 21. There Welch also mentions the manuscript of Jami's Subhat al-Ahrar, which was copied in 1535 by Siyavushani in Bukhara and dedicated to ‘Abd al-Ghazi Khan ‘Abd al-‘Aziz.
39 Qazi Ahmad, Calligraphers and Painters, p. 218.
40 Quoted in Minorsky's 1959 translation from Qazi Ahmad, p. 131. See the Russian version in Qazi Ahmad, Calligraphers and Painters, p. 216; see also the translation in Welch et al., Emperor's Album, p. 35.
41 Qazi Ahmad, Calligraphers and Painters, pp. 154–155.
42 Qazi Ahmad, Calligraphers and Painters, p. 205, No. 400; О.Ф. Акимушкин, Заметки о персидской рукописной книге и ее создателях, в Средневековый Иран, СПб., 2004, сс. 74–145 (O. F. Akimushkin, “Notes on Persian handwritten book and its creators”, in Medieval Iran, pp. 77–145.) On the prices of the unillustrated manuscripts copied by famous calligraphers, and specifically those by Mīr ʿAlī when they were in the possession of the Royal Mughal library, see J. Seyller, “The inspection and valuation of manuscripts in the Imperial Mughal Library”, Artibus Asiae 57.56 (1997) p. 272.
43 Berlin album, Staatsbibliothek, Libr. Pict. 117, f. 21v.
44 Bahari, E., “The seventeenth century School of Bukhara painting and the arts of the book”, in Society and Culture in the Early Modern Middle East. Studies on Iran in the Safavid Period, (ed.) Newman, A. (Leiden-Boston, 2003), p. 253Google Scholar.
45 Welch et al., The Emperors’ Album, p. 33.
46 Schimmel, A., “The calligraphy and poetry of the Kevorkian Album”, in Emperor's Album. Images of Mughal India (New York, 1987), pp. 31–44Google Scholar, esp. p. 36.
47 Акимушкин, “Библиотека Шибанидов в Бухаре 16 века”, Средневековый Иран: Культура, история, философия (С-Петербург, 2004), cc. 369–383, p. 370 (Akimushkin, “Library of the Shibanids in Bukhara of the 16th century”, in Medieval Iran, pp. 369–383, esp. 370); first published in the Newsletter of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan (Dushanbe, 1992), No. 1, pp. 14–23, reproduced in Bamberger Zentralasienstudien: Konferenzakten ESCAS IV, Bamberg, 8–12 Oktober 1991, (eds) I. Baldauf and M. Friederich (Berlin, 1994), pp. 325–341, especially pp. 337–338.
48 The first folio is currently missing.
49 Arberry, A. J., Hafiz: Fifty Poems (Cambridge, 1947), p. 14Google Scholar.
50 Baha’ al-Din Khorramshahi, Hafeznameh (Tehran, 1344/1947), pp. 91–92.
51 Divan-i Hilali Chaghataʾi, (ed.) Nafisi, 1958; Badriddin Hiloli (ed.) Ayni, 1958; Хилоли, Газалиёт (Hiloli, Ghazaliyot) (ed.) Ayni, 1970.
52 Bayani, Tazkira-yi Khushnivisan, no. 303.
53 Majmu‘a al-Shu‘ara’-i Jahangirshahi, Ms. Ouseley 186, ff. 46v–48r.
54 Akimushkin, “Library of the Shibanids in Bukhara of the 16th century”, pp. 369–383.
55 Seema Alavi, “Polier, Antoine Louis Henri”, in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; S. Subrahmanyam, “A career of Colonel Polier and late eighteenth-century Orientalism”, JRAS, Series 3, 10.1 (2000), pp. 43–60. Autobiographical details can be found in Polier's own letters (A European Experience), and in the introduction to the book written by his relative the Chanoinesse de Polier, Mythologie des Indous; travaillées par Mdme. la Chnsse. de Polier, sur des Manuscrits authentiques apportés de l'Inde par feu Mr. le Colonel de Polier, t. 1 (Paris 1809); S. Stronge and B. Atighi Moghaddam, “An unrecorded Polier Muraqqa‘ (c. 1785). New insights into British-Hindustani cultural interaction”, in Adle Nāmeh. Studies in Memory of Chahriyar Adle (Tehran, 2018), pp. 195–228; Melville, “Hilali and Mir ‘Ali”, pp. 255–257.
56 Llewellyn-Jones, R. L., A Very Ingenious Man. Claud Martin in Early Colonial India (New Delhi, 1992), p. 182Google Scholar.
57 Cf. the imprints of Polier's first seal of 1181/1767–68 reproduced in G. Colas and F. Richard, “Le Fonds Polier à la Bibliothèque Nationale”, Bulletin de l’Ècole française de L'Extrême-Orient 73 (1984), pp. 99–123, especially p. 108, no. 1. The same titles are mentioned in the shamsa of Polier's album I. 4594, fol. 40, dated 1190/1777, and in the seal in album I. 4593 presented to Polier by Shah ‘Alam in 1181/1767–67. I am grateful to Friederike Weis for sharing with me this extremely helpful information about Polier's seals. The seal where Polier is mentioned as Major with the date ‘1181’ is also mentioned in Henry Bradshaw's letter to Henry Palmer dated 12 November 1866, in JRAS 21.4 (1889), pp. 105–107.
58 Polier commissioned his fourth and last Indian seal in 1782 when he obtained the title of Colonel-Lieutenant, which was indicated as “Kolnil” in his only seal with no date. Colas and Richard, “Le Fonds Polier à la Bibliothèque Nationale”, pp. 107–109.
59 On the contents of Polier's collection acquired by Pote and other parts now in Paris and Lausanne, see Alam, M. and Alavi, S., A European Experience of the Mughal Orient (Oxford, 2007), pp. 51 and 87–88Google Scholar.
60 In the surviving documents in the British Library for that year he is described as a merchant: BL Mss Eur D1135: Power of attorney by Edward Ephraim Pote, merchant, Patna, appointing Hoare & Co, bankers, Thomas Pote and Edward Wise to act for him; also statement of his affairs as at 1 March 1788.
61 Letter of Henry Bradshaw to Edward Henry Palmer on 12 November 1866, first published in JRAS 21.4 (1889), pp. 105–107 and then reproduced as ‘Catalogue of the Oriental Manuscripts of King's College’, JRAS 3.1 (1867), pp. 105–131.
62 Ibid., p. 106.
63 The handlist of the King's part of the collection was produced on Bradshaw's request by Palmer: Palmer, “Catalogue of the Oriental manuscripts”. The Eton part of Pote's donation was described and published as a much more detailed and substantial catalogue several decades later, in 1904. However, it was done not by a young scholar, like Palmer in those days, but the Oxford Laudean Professor: Margoliouth, D. S., Catalogue of the Oriental Manuscripts in the Library of Eton College (Oxford, 1904)Google Scholar.
64 King's College Archives: KCAC/6/2/23 or LIB/10.2.
65 I am grateful to Manijeh Bayani and Olga Yastrebova for their help with this reading.
66 W. E. Begley, ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq Amānat Khān, Encyclopædia Iranica I.9, pp. 923–924, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/amanat-khan-sirazi-abd-al-haqq (accessed 21 June 2022).
67 Hoare, Oliver, Every Object Tells a Story (London, 2017), No. 127, pp. 183–185Google Scholar.
68 Library of Congress Control Number 2019714660: https://www.wdl.org/en/item/2487/view/1/1/ (accessed 21 June 2022) and https://www.loc.gov/search?new=true&q=2019714660 (accessed 22 July 2022).
69 Melville, ‘Hilali and Mir ‘Ali’, pp. 250–251.
70 Cf. for example the iconography of various types of birds and beasts, both real and imagined, like dragons and simurghs represented in the Mirabilia literature. One of the close examples is a manuscript at the Cambridge University Library (MS Nn. 3.74), dated 974/1566. See also the animals, particularly the cheetah, gazelles, ibex, and bears on the margins of the ‘Darvish with rosary’ by Muhammad Yusuf, mid-seventeenth century, Hermitage, VP-740XXV in Adamova, A., Persian Manuscripts, Paintings and Drawings of the 15th–early 20th Centuries. Catalogue of the Collections (St Petersburg, 2010), pp. 278–279Google Scholar.
71 Accession number 14.40.721: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/14.40.721/ (accessed 21 June 2022).
72 Inv. T.100: https://gulbenkian.pt/museu/en/works_museu/animal-fighting-carpet/ (accessed 21 June 2022).
73 Adamova, A. and Bayani, M., Persian Painting. The Arts of the Book and Portraiture in the Al-Sabah Collection (Kuwait, 2015), pp. 448–449Google Scholar, pp. 452–453.
74 A. Soudavar with contributions by Beach, M. C., Persian Courts. Selections from the Art and History Trust Collection (New York, 1992) pp. 178, 332Google Scholar.
75 The shapes are familiar from much earlier imagery: Kadoi, Y., Islamic Chinoiserie. The Art of Mongol Iran (Edinburgh, 2009), p. 18CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
76 Cf. The Hermitage Bayyaz (VP-998): Adamova, Persian Manuscripts, p. 209 and Mahmud Shabistari's Gulshan-i Raz (Diez A, oct. 3, ff. 25v–26r): C. Rauch, “The Oriental manuscripts and albums of Heinrich Friedrich von Diez and the perception of Persian painting in his time”, in The Diez Albums. Contexts and Contents, (eds) J. Gonnella, F. Weis and C. Rauch (Leiden, 2017), p. 100.
77 Adamova and Bayani, Persian Painting pp. 451–453. I thank Adel Adamova and Olga Vasilyeva for suggesting this.
78 K. Overton and K. Rose-Beers (with contributions by B. Wannell), “Indo-Persian histories from the object out: the St Andrew's Qur'an manuscript between Timurid, Safavid, Mughal and Deccani worlds”, in Iran and the Deccan. Persianate Art, Culture, and Talent in Circulation (1400–1700), (ed.) by K. Overton (Bloomington, 2020), pp. 257–335.