A descriptive catalogue of the Oriental mss. belonging to the late E. G. Browne / by Edward G. Browne, completed & edited with a memoir of the author and a bibliography of his writings by Reynold A. Nicholson.

Edward Granville Browne

Date:: 1932

Credit: A descriptive catalogue of the Oriental mss. belonging to the late E. G. Browne / by Edward G. Browne, completed & edited with a memoir of the author and a bibliography of his writings by Reynold A. Nicholson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$3° The author then sketches the history of the Safawis down to the end of the dynasty, and alludes to the subsequent reigns of Nddir Shah and Karim Khan-i-Zand, and to his rivals Azdd Khan the Afghdn and Muhammad Hasan Khdn-i-Qdjar. The MS. comprises 171 ff. of 23 x i4’5 c. and 21 11. The Prolegomena (ff. i''-i24‘') are written in a neat Persian ta'liq with rubrications and numerous marginal indications of topics which greatly facilitate reference : the titles and numerous Arabic citations are in a larger naskh hand, and generally in red. This part of the book ends abruptly with the title: followed by an erasure of the remaining half page. The Table of Contents (ff. 128^-170'') is written in four columns, partly in red in the naskh, and partly in black in the ta'Hq hand. The date 1178/1764-5 occurring in the colophon must apparently be taken as the date when the work was begun. D. 7 (9). f Two Persian prose treatises, of religious and mystical contents, ascribed^ to the well-known Shaykh ‘Abdullah Ansdri of Herdt (b. 396/1005—6; d. 481/1088-9). (1) The first treatise (ff. y’’—121^) is entitled (f 8^ 1. i) Anisu l-Muridin wa-Shamsu l-Majdlis, and the author’s name occurs immediately after the doxology (f. y’', 11. 3-4). It appears from the first page (f. y'), which unfortunately presents many lacunae caused by a defective original, that the author wrote this book, containing the story of Joseph, at the request of certain friends. The basis of it is supplied by the Sdratu Ydsuf in the Qurdn, of which the author first speaks, describing the circumstances in which it was revealed, and the number of verses (ill), words (1887), and letters (766,000) which it contains. The Arabic text and its Persian translation are interrupted by many digressions and anecdotes of Prophets, Saints, etc. (2) The second treatise (ff. 121^-320') is headed, in a different hand from the text, Kanzu s-Sdlikin of Khwdja Ansarf,” but this title does not seem to be mentioned in the work itself, which begins : ^ P Ml Ml Ml In this seemingly unsystematic treatise there is no division into chapters ; it is written in a rather ornate style with numerous pieces of verse interspersed, and in the latter part are a good many lacunae evidently arising from a defective original. Ff. 322 of 20*5 X 15 c. and 17 11.; clear, modern Persian naskh with rubrications; no date or scribe’s name. This was one of twenty MSS. which fell to my share at the second division of the Belshah MSS. in the spring of 1920. ^ [Mr R. Levy has shown {^J.R.A.S. for January, 1929, pp. 103 ef seqq.) that the Anisu’’l-Muridin was written after the death of Ansari.] * S^Qur’dn, xiii, 2.]$