VC Scott Oconnor

’ V. C . SCOTT O CO NNO R A UT H O R O F T H E S IL KE N E A ST \VITH T\YO CATALOGUES O F ITS PERS IAN A ND ARABIC MAN USCR I PTS COMPILED BY KHAN SA H IB ABDU L MUQTAD I R A ND ABDU L H AM ID GLA S GOW PRINTED AT TH E UNI VERSITY PRESS BY B R MA L H N RO E T C E O SE A D CO . LTD. ’ M R . SC O T T O C O NNO R has also writte n the following b ooks ’ TH E S IL KENE AS T a Reeora of life a nd Tra ve! i n Burma . M ANDA L A Y a nd otlz er Cities of Burm a . TRA VE LS ! N TH E P YRE NE E S . TH E S CE NE OF WA R persona l impressions o tlze Great Wa r in Fra nce Ita l Greece f , y, , M acedon ia E t tit e S i na i Desert a nd t e , gyp , lt M editerra nea n . TH E CH A RM OF KA S HM IR superbly illustrated. CONTE NTS P A G E DEDICATION FOREWORD A T L A P RT I. HE IBR RY L IST OF DONORS OTHER THAN THE FOUNDER A NOT E o N CAL IG RA PH ISTS P I ART I . PER SI A N M ANUSCRIPTS BY A BDUL M UQTADIR ARABIC M ANUSCRIPTS BY ABDUL H AM ID S UPPLEMENT This First Editio n co nsists o f 1000 Co pie s Copyriglzt S ’ v . C . COTT O CONNOR 1 920 L IST OF IL L U S TRA TIONS IN S E P IA PA GE PORTRAIT OF KHAN BAHADUR KHUDA BAKSH Fa ci ng I THE DIWAN OF KAMR AN 26 THE Q URAN OF YAQ UT - A L - M USTASM I 39 THE M ATLA - UL - ANWAR TR AN SCRI BED BY M IR ALI - UL - KATI B TH E FUNER AL OBSEQUIES OF SHAH JAHAN CO LOU RE D P LATES A P SS E ROCE ION OF THE MPEROR , FROM THE TA RIKH . I. KH A NDA N. I- TIM U RIAH T F A B A HE LIGHT OF EATEN RMY, FROM THE TARI KH - I- KHANDAN - I - TIMU RIA H SAUSH RIDING H IS BLACKC OURSER THROUGH ! F S S A - N THE LAME , FROM THE H H AMAH MEDALLION FROM A PAGE OF THE S HAH NAMAH NOTE The se coloured pla tes ha ve been reproduced from pa i n ti ngs expressly m a de for this hook by R a meshwa r a nd Ilda ha oi r the descenda nts o a lon li ne , f g of A rti sts of P a tn a . They a re fa ithful copi es ma de on t the el the spo from pri c ess origin a ls i n the L ibra ry . DEDICATED TO LO RD H ARDINGE O F PE NSHU RST KH UDA BA KS H PART I HE i t o T Khuda Baksh L brary , or give it the modest name it bears in the Trust Deeds drawn its P at na r P ub lic up by Founder , The O iental ! is o f e t he o f Library , one finest collections Moslem literature in the world . ’ is as It lodged for ever , in so far a man s t he i o f wishes can shape the future , in C ty fo r - fiv e h as Patna, which , twenty centuries , looked with varying fortunes into the face o f T — o f ime Patna , the city Asoka , the benevolent e hi s w Emp ror , who tried to rule world ith love o f his r grandfather Chandragupta the adventu er , who learnt from Alexander retreating from o f H das e s c the shores the y p , the se ret of eastern i o f Me asthe ne s Emp re g , the Envoy, who i i lav shed upon it eight years of his life , g ving to the Europe of his time a reasoned and vivid account of the life o f an Indi an city three hundred years before the birth of Chri st . And here in its lanes , before it became a city , and while it s builders Were yet at work upon it s i saw foundat ons , men and looked upon t h e sorrowing Buddha as he passed to and fro i upon his quest through th s Middle Land , that is still held sacred be cause of him by four hundred millions o f men . The Library is thus happy in its environment . is it It not less distinguished in its character , for enshrines the memory o f vanished scholars and o f vanished kings o f lost causes of a culture that no w o r in though it be dying , nearly dead , has its i i i time profoundly influenced the world , nsp r ng some of its great masterpieces , from Cordova i i t o to Delhi ; nay , wh ch st ll continues foster , though alas less and less , a school of manners unsurpassed for it s distinction and charm ; to produce types o f the most perfect courtesy . m who It embal s , at their best , for those care o f O to know about them , the ideals the ld Moslem world . Here then in this ancient place , upon the o f r edge a sto ied river, there are now gathered together as into a safe harbourage at last , these o f - remnants a once mighty fleet , that put forth its sails of purple and vermilion and gold ’ ri to the breeze of a Sultan s pleasure , and car ed o f in i the pride Emperors , more stately the r day than any the world has known . Here is no hyperbole , though some warmth o f imagery may well be pardoned in dealing i with so rich an oriental theme . For n truth there is nothing in the world to surpass the i i l exqu site cal graphy , the enamel ed gold , the o f la i s - laz uli priceless miniatures , the colours p i i and vermilion , of nd go and scarlet , green , f o f o f purple , Cinnabar , and sa fron , some these 2 illuminated pages ; nothing more touching in it s way than the simplicity with whi ch they are lodged more human , than the vicissitudes through which they have bo rne their part ; now as the only volume o f some poor scholar o f Damascus o r E lA z har ; now as the gi ft o f an Emperor to a King now as the n az a r of some ' Khan - i - Khan an o r o f hi s o , Grandee C urt to the Great Moghul now as the revealer o f Fate to a Monarch in distress and profound nuoer tainty of mind ; now as the serious plaything of some exquisite and j ewelled Princess , herself i so o f o f l ke many her race , a Poet more than passing fame ; now as part of the spoil o f i i — V ctory , se zed by the Conqueror , with such other thi ngs as women and j ewels and cloth o f gold— whi le yet the vanquished own er lay new in his grave now the last treasure o f o n a decaying court , stolen , secreted , passed from hand to hand , wet by the rain , consumed by the white ant , and the worm that lives upon fine pages sold it might be to feed a hungry family ; and now at last— till their cycle o f repose is completed and a fresh dispersion begins — gathered together into this their place of rest . Of the formal history o f this collection there is thi s to tell . In the early years o f the ni ne t ee nt h w century , when the Moghul Empire as fallen into the dust , and the British peace a li t tle apt to b e under - valued now— was settling in it s i qu et maj esty upon the land , there lived in North Bihar ’ a Moslem gentleman of the o f o f name Mohamed Baksh , a family given t o letters and the law . One member o f it s a sisted , it is said , in compiling the Institutes o f - i - Alam i ri Aurangzeb , the Fatawa g ; and Mohamed Baksh , scholar and poet , devoted himself in the leisure moments o f his career as an Advocate to the acquisition o f Oriental i o f books , of wh ch he left a brave company t o his so n fourteen hundred Khuda Baksh , the Founder o f the Library . Three hundred o f t o his these had come down him from ancestors , the residue were added by himself . It was the f o ld last request o Mohamed Baksh , made upon - i his death bed , that these should not be d spersed but rather that they should become the nucleus o f a great c ollection that might foster the cause o f - no w Oriental learning , somewhat shattered by the frontal assaults o f Macaulay and the more pervas ive influence o f the English tongue in c o f .

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