DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10864442
title: [IO Islamic 83] كلّيّات نعمتخان عالى

description: Kulliyyât-i-Ni’matkhân-‘Âlî

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 1659 in the India Office collections.

[metadata: Hermann Ethé, Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, 2 vols. (Oxford: India Office, 1903): volume 1, number 83 here with notations and hyperlinks].


Ni’matkhân ‘Âlî (Nos. 1659-1671).

1659

Kulliyyât-i-Ni’matkhân ‘Âlî (كلّيّات نعمتخان عالى).

The complete works in prose and verse of Mirzâ Nûr-aldîn Muḥammad, who sprung from a Persian family of Shirâz, received in A.H. 1104 (A.D. 1692, 1693) from ‘Âlamgîr the honorary title of Ni’matkhân, and later on that Muḳarrabkhân, and was honoured by Bahâdurkhân with the epithet of Dânishmankhân; in his poetical works, which are chiefly remarkable for their sharp wit and their great satirical power, he uses as takhalluṣ ‘Âlî. The usual date of his death given in most tadhkiras is A.H. 1121 (A.D. 1709, 1710); only in Ta’rîkh-i-Ćaghâi and the Ta’rîkh-i-Muḥammadî (see Rieu ii. p. 703a, and iii. p. 1049b), A.H. 1122, first of Rabî’ II, is given (=A.D. 1710, May 30); comp. also A. Sprenger, Catal., pp. 127, 151, and 328; Khulaṣat-alafkâr. No. 176 (col. 308 in the Bodleian Cat.); and Makhzan-algharâ’ib, No. 1675 (ib., col. 354).

Contents:

1.An abridged version of the Bahâdurshâhnâma (بهادرشاه نامه ) or history of the first two years of the emperor Bahâdurshâh’s reign, see above, Nos. 385-387; beginning: 

بسم الله الرّحمن الرّحيم – دست برآورد بجود كريم

ناز و نعيم دو جهان در كفش – خلق ازل تا بابد مصرفش الخ

Collated A.H. 1136 (A.D. 1723, 1724).

2.Waḳâ’i’-i-Ḥaidarâbâd (وقائع حيدرآباد ) or , with its fuller title, Wâḳi’ât-i-Ḥaidarâbâd u Gulkundah (واقعات حيدرآباد و گلكنده), also styled frequently Waḳâ’î’-Ni’matkhân ‘Âlî (وقائع نعمت خان عالى ), a satirical chronicle of the siege of Ḥaidrâbâd, in seven sections, describing the Wâḳi’ât or events from the 14th to the 16th of the month Rajab, and from the 19th to the 22nd of the month Sha’bân in A.H. 1097, the thirtieth-or rather twenty-ninth – year of ‘Âlamgîr’s reign=A.D. 1686, June, July (in Rieu’s copy 13th-15th Rajab and 17th, 18th, 25th, and 29th Sha’bân), beginning, on fol. 69b: دمى كه مدرّس كشّاف صبح در صفّۀ صدق وصفا الخ ; other copies of the same are found in Bodleian Cat., No. 1157, 5, No. 1159,1, and No. 1160; Rieu i. p. 268, ii. pp. 745a, 796a, and 850b, iii. p. 1049a; W. Pertsch, Berlin Cat., p. 492; see also Elliot, History of India, vii. P. 200. Lithographed in India A.H. 1248 (together with حسن و عشق, see No. 4 in this copy), and printed in Lucknow A.H. 1259 (with marginal notes by Maulawî Maḳbûl Aḥmad). 

A more modern lithographed edition appeared in Kanpôr, 1870.

This part likewise collated, A.H. 1136.

3.Ruḳa’ât-i-Ni’matkhân (رقعات نعمتخان), letters and other elegant prose-writings, on fol. 125b, beginning: رقعه در طلب عزيزى براى تماشاى بازئ مير و وزير الخ امروز فلك شعبده باز هنگامۀ دوستانرا الخ.

Other copies of these رقعات or منشآت are noticed in Bodleian Cat., No. 1157, 7, No. 1159, 2 and 3; single letters are mentioned in Rieu ii. pp. 738b, No. 6, 796a, No. IV, and 796b, No. X; additional satirical pieces, for instance, the رسالۀ هجو حكما, ib., p. 744b, No. I, and p. 850b ; the راحت القلوب, ib., p. 796a, No. I.

On fol. 135b a مناظرۀ اطبّا is found.

4.Ḥusn u ‘Ishḳ (حسن و عشق ), ‘beauty and love,’ an allegorical story in prose and verse, also called مناكحۀ حسن و عشق or كتخدائى حسن و عشق, ‘the wedding of beauty and love,’ on fol. 144b, beginning:

حديث عشق شد زيب بيانم

چو شمع افتاد آتش در زبانم

Other copies of this story in Bodleian Cat., No. 1157, 6, No. 1159, 3; Rieu ii. pp. 703b, 796a, No. III, and 850b; extracts from the same, ib., p. 738b; W. Pertsch, Berlin Cat., p. 681. Edited at Luck now, 1842 and 1873; with commentary at Dihlî, 1844.

Collated in the same year as Nos. 1 and 2 of this copy.

5.Ḳaṣîdas, ḳiṭ’as, satires, chronograms, etc. (قصائد و قطعه ها و هجوها از تصنيف نعمتخان ), on fol. 156b, beginning with a poem in honour of ‘Âlamgîr:

شاها نظر بروى تو كردن عبادتست

مژگان بهم زدن چو نماز جماعتست

A short پند نامه, on fol. 180a; other copies of these poems in Bodleian Cat., No. 1157, 3, and No. 1158 (fol. 158a sq.); the ghazals, rubâ’îs, and prose-preface appearing there in Nos. 1157, I, and 1158 (ff. 13a sq. and 168a sq.), as well as in British Museum copies, Rieu ii. p. 702b and 703a, ad in A. Sprenger, loc. cit., خوان نعمت ; but that is probably a mistake, since this title properly belongs to a prose-work of Ni’matkhân ‘Âlî on cookery, not included in his Kulliyyât; comp. W. Pertsch, Berlin Cat., p. 343.

6.A large mathnawî, on ethical and moral matters, with mystic tendency, interspersed with short tales and anecdotes, on fol. 185b, beginning:

حمد و شكر اورا كه هر چه هست ازوست

دام هستى حلقه هوست (دار از هاى و هوست read)

See the same mathnawî in Bodleian Cat., No. 1157, 4, and No. 1161; Rieu ii. pp. 703a, and 796b, No. XII; A. Sprenger, Catal., p. 329. This last part was written by another hand and at an earlier period than the preceding ones, and according to a note on fol. 185a, مثنوئ نعمتخان بنسخۀ عالی, probably by the author himself.

No. 83, ff. 313, ll. 17; 2 coll., in the poetical parts; Nasta’lîḳ, by two different hands size, 8¾ in. by 4¾ in.