Journal of Persianate Studies 2 (2009) 88-93 brill.nl/jps

Persian Manuscripts: Th e Persianate Common Heritage of Iran with the Indian Subcontinent, Transoxiana and the Ottoman Empire

Akbar Irani Miras Maktoob Institute, Tehran

Many regions that fall outside the political and geographical borders of today’s Iran were once within the Persianate cultural boundaries. Persian as ‘written heritage’ faces particular obstacles as, in the last decades, the number of people who can benefi t from Persian texts in countries neighboring Iran has greatly decreased, and this loss has narrowed relevant research on Persian texts in these countries. As a result, manuscripts have turned into museum items. Th is brief guide will give an overview of the work being done to recover Persian manu- scripts now in Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent and Turkey.

Iran

Th e fi rst statistics on the number of Persian manuscripts in Iran appeared in Ketābkhānahā-ye Irān va moqaddāmaʾi darbāra-ye ketābkhānahā-ye qadim (Libraries of Iran: an introduction to the old libraries) by Iraj Afshar. Th is work reported the number of identifi ed manuscripts to be 49,466 copies. According to another work, Barresi-ye jahāni-ye dastnevishā-ye eslāmi (A world study of Islamic manuscripts), edited in 1992 by Hādi Sharifi , the number of manuscripts in Iran was 173,675. Th is fi gure is revised by the same author in his next book, Ganjinahā-ye dastnevishā-ye eslāmi dar Irān (Treasures of Islamic manuscripts in Iran), with additions by Ahmadrezā Rahimi-Risa. Based on this work, the number of identifi ed manuscripts exceeded 225,000 copies by the year 2001. In 2007 yet another revision of the work was published by Aboʾl-Fazl Hafeziān-Bāboli under the title Nowyāftahā-ye ganjinahā-ye dastnevishā-ye eslāmi dar Irān (New fi ndings in treasures of Islamic manu- scripts in Iran), in which the number reported was 340,000. Of these 340,000 copies, 150,000, or close to half, have been cataloged. Th e statistics show that

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009 DOI: 10.1163/187471609X454680 A. Irani / Journal of Persianate Studies 2 (2009) 88-93 89 the number of identifi ed manuscripts has been increasing and can be expected to further increase; Bāboli estimates that it could rise to at least half a million copies. It goes without saying that in order for scholars to benefi t from the informa- tion contained in these manuscripts, they must fi rst be edited. Seventy years ago there began considerable eff orts in this fi eld by early pioneers such as Malek al-Shoʿarā Mohammad-Taqi Bahār and Ahmad Bahmanyār, supported by the ministry of culture of Iran. During the 1950s and 60s, research in the humanities proliferated, and a large number of illustrations and fi lms of manuscripts were brought to Iran. In order to meet the growing demand, several research institutions such as Bongāh-e tarjoma va nashr-e ketāb (the Institute of Translation and Publica- tion), Bonyād-e Farhang-e Iran (the Foundation for Iranian Culture), and Mo’assessa-ye motāleʾāt-e eslāmi (the Institute of Islamic Studies), affi liated with Tehran University and McGill University in Canada, were founded. Th e result of their work is a few hundred texts that are still in use. After the 1979 revolu- tion, these centers were more or less closed, and for a period of fi fteen years there were virtually no institutions to publish basic research on texts. In 1994, Markaz-e pazhuheshi-ye mirāth-e maktub (the Research Center of Written Heritage) was founded. Now, after twelve years of work, this institute has published over 150 texts in Persian and Arabic, and has a number of other works forthcoming. Th e expansion of its associations and activities promises growth in quality and quantity.

Transoxiana

Th e fi rst step in working on the manuscripts is to identify them. Several insti- tutions have had this on their agendas. One of the projects that the Research Center of Written Heritage is working on is to derive, edit, and translate chap- ters related to Transoxiana and Caucasia from Ganjinahā-ye dastnevishā-ye eslāmi dar Varārud o Qafqāz (Treasures of Islamic manuscripts in Transoxiana and Caucasia). Th is book was published in November 2006, in celebration of the Institute’s international conference on the Role of Manuscripts and Librar- ies in the History of Iranian and Caucasian Culture. In collaboration with several Central Asian countries, the Research Center of Written Heritage has published other works such as Tārikh-e rashidi Dowghalāt (ʿA.-Q. Ghaff āri-Fard, ed., Tehran, 2004/1383); al-Qand fi zekr-e ʿolamāʾ-ye Samarqand; Tazkerat al-shoʿarā by Motrebi Samarqandi; Tārikh-e Bokhārā, Khuqand o Kāshqur by Mirzā Shams Bokārā’I, M.-A ʿAshiq, ed., Tehran