Hans Daiber, New Manuscript Findings from Indian
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New Manuscfipt Findings from Indian Lrbraries fu HansDaiber In the courseof the Islamizationof India sincethe collection originally belonged to Sir Sayed Ahmad 2nd.8th centuryt many Islamic collegeshave been Khan who foundedthe Universityin 1877.His collec- 'Lytton founded there. The history of thesecolleges and their tion has been enlarged by the Collection' 'University activitiesare not yet known2. Their glorious past is which is today calledthe Collection'.Be- testified by an immense number of manuscripts in sides this collection there are eleven other big col- Arabic, Persian and Urdu, many of which can be lectionswhich were donated": 1) the Abdu'l Hayy tracedback to the time of the greatmoghuls;they were Collection; 2) the Abdu's Salárn Collection; 3) the copied in the early 1l,l7th century,but also in the Àftab Collection: 4) the Ahsan Collection; 5) the ll lSth and l3 l9th centuries. HabibganjCollection; 6) the Jau'aharMuseum; 7) the From these manuscripts only a small portion has Munrr Álam Collection; 8) the Qutbu'd Din Collec- been describedin catalogues.Even the number of tion: 9) the Shiftá Collection: 10)the Subhàn Alláh Indian libraries with manuscript collectionsis sti11 Collection:11) the SulaymánCollection. unclear: the enumeration of Islamic manuscript li- Among these only the Shiftá Collection and the brariesin the survevsof A. J. W. Ht-lsrt.,rr3 and Fu,rr Ahsan Collectionhave been described in cataloguesl2. SEzctNais not at all complete.E'"en the comprehensive Both collectionscontain besidesPersian mss.. which Handbook o.f Librurie.s.Art'hive.s und Infnrrnation C'en- have the upper hand, respectively82 and 79 Arabic tres in India which was published in 1984-5in New mss. They deal with traditional Islarnic fields like 'Islamic Delhi5 givesin a chapter about StudiesLi- Koran, tafsïr, hadr1,prayers, ./iqlt. mystics. theology, brariesin India'6 an incompleteand partially correc- grammar,metrics and eschatology.but alsologic, dia- table picture. Therefore we must collect information lecticsand scienceslr.The lists do not contain new about manuscript libraries in India from different and important titles.- The greatestcollection is the sourcesand correct and supplement them by direct Habibganj Collection with 2000 mostly Persianmanu- inquiries in situ. scripts.So far only the Persianpoetical texts havebeen If we do not take into considerationthe probably describedla.The Arabic mss. of this as well as the good-sizednumber of privatemanuscript libraries'we other collectionsare registeredin a handwrittenlist: a can add, accordingto the alreadymentioned Handhook selectioncontaining mainly texts on the history of of Librctries8 35 librariesto the list of F. Sezclt','IAnd sciencescan be found in a handwritten list of 17 'Modern ts. eventhis list can be completedby the chapter pages Religious,Cultural and EducationalCentres of Mus- Here we shall present some selectedtexts mainly lims' in AeuL Hnsex Ar-t Neowt's book Muslínts in from the field of Islamic philosophy and Graeco- Indiulo. Apparently there are still many manuscript Arabica. They are mentionedin the handwritten cata- collectionswhich are not yet known. logue of the University Collection (pp. l6-23) and are My trip to India from 20th December1984 till 30th included only partially in the above-mentionedshort January 1985has confirmed this impression.In the list or have been insufficientlvidentified: following the readerwill find some obsenations on )l( Islamicmanuscript collections; they do not pretendto be exhaustive.I shall give some information about University Collection No. 32 (copied l024il6l5). heretofore unknown collections,new cataloguesand ff.53r-56v: al-Kindi, Risala .fi l-quul .fi n-nafs al- lists, and facts. These are the result of my visit to the muhtasar ntin Kitab Aristu v'a-Falatun v'o-sa'ir al- Indian towns Aligarh, Delhi, Hyderabad (Deccan), ./alasi.fa. Jaipur, Lucknow, Rampur and Tonk. This text was publishedby MuuAMMADAspeLHÁoI Aau RIoe in 1950from the ms. Taimlry,a (Cairo).falsafa 55'6 and translatedinto Italian by GrusEeenFuRI-RNr rn 1922 from the ms.British Museum 8069 (9v-12r) 11. According to L Aligarh RrcnenoWelzen1s, both mss. go back to a common archetype.He haspointed at a newfragment of Aristotle's Eudemusin this text of Kindrle. Becausethe preserved The Muslim University Library in Aligarh, known versionoffers some textual problems a comparisonwith the as Maulana Azad Library, owns about 14,000Ara- Aligarhms. as well as with the ms. Rampur 2993 O l8v-120r; bic and Persian manuscripts.The oldest part of this copiedin the 13,l9thcentury) will be useful. Manuscriptsof the Midclle East I (1986) O Ter Lugt Press.Donkersteeg 19. 2312I{A Leiden.Netherlands. 1986. ISSN0920-0,+01 H. DAIBER: MANUSCRIPl. FINDINGS FROM INPIAN LIBRARTES 27 )2( masa'il : Risala ila l-Kiya Abí Ga'far.fi gauharryat an- UniversityCollection No. 46 (66.Íï.;copied 1280/ nar. 1863):Pseudo-Aristotle, Kitoh as-Siyasa.fitadbír ar- The text containsIbn Siná'sanswers to questionson natural ril,asaal-nn'ruf-bi-sirr ul-asrur. TargamoÍYahl'a Ibn sciencesby Ab[ Ga'far Muhammad..Ibn al-Husain Ibn al- 195330.Ad- al-Bitríq. Marzubán. It was edited by H.Z. Uxer in ditional mss. (besidesthose mentionedby Urrer, Intro- This text contains the long version of Aristotle's Seuetum ductionp. 7, No. VII) are: IstanbulUniversity Ay 4724(86v- .\eoetorumwhich was publishedby AaoenneHMÁNBADAwI 88r); Irak Museum (Baghdad) 952 (copied 1055,1645). in 19542o.On the text cp. F. E. PrrEns,Aristoteles Arabtts2l p. 164-l7lil65-169 (without title and author);Rampur 1789 p.67f .: H. DerepR"Gnomon 42 (1910).545and the collection (7r-10v;I l,19thcentury); 541 (330r-334v: I l,19th century); Source's 3468(51v-54r: 12il8th century3l;Mauoewr p. 19,No. 11 of articleson Pseudo-Aristotle,The Secretof Set:rets. 'an-í-l-ntasa'il) anclIn.fluences. Ed. by W. F. RvaN and Cuenl-EsB. Scuvtrr. (with the title al-Agv'iba and below Nos. London 1982.: Warburg InstituteSurveys. IX. 46. 12332. )3( >>J<< University Collection Nos. I 19-121 is a collection of ff.3v-4r (:No. 126): al-Mulrasar min qoul al-hakím texts which might have been copied in the ll-12 11- Aristitalk al-failasuf .Íï n-nqfs v'o-hun'a sab'a uclv'al. l8th centuries.It contains the following texts:.íf.lr-5r This text is the short versionof a pseudo-Aristoteliantreatise (: No. l19): Qaul fd'tr/i'astu.s./ïl-dtc1r al-'ulttvu. about the soul which can be traced back to Gregorius nepi tTpo; This text contains the cornpleteArabic translation of Thaumaturgus' Aoyog re<paÀcróàr1g Vr-,z'l; edited and translated Theophrastus'MeÍeorolog.r which is lost in the Greek orig- Turrcrr'ór,.The text has recentlybeen at the inal. The translation perhapsby'Ibrr Suuàr (: Ibn al- by HrL-vt:r GÁrre. Studíenll4-129. Our ms. contains GÁr:e 4,'10thcenturl) is basedoi-r a Slriac version end the sarneaclciition as three mss. mentioned b1 $ammàr. 1027(63v-65r: l3 l9th which is preservedin one fiagmentarr ms.:r F. Srzctr p. 129.Additional mss.: Rampur (1r-lr: l9th 2906 ('15r-:l8v: refersto only one Arabic ms. (Rantpur1906.6lr-77) r.rhich century). 3470 13 century)" is into eight and not as appearsto be a copv froln the l-l lgth centurl'23.He l3,l9th centur)'.The text divided (33r-v):Brit. Mus. publisheda facsimileol'this ms. in 198424without pretend- usuallyinto sevenchapters): Patna 2641 ( seebelou N os.'1'1. 62. 150. ing to offer a critical edition. An eclitionusing this Rampur Or. 8069 18i19 cent.). 2\'-.+r" and year ms.. the Aligarh ms.. a thircicomplete copy from the )ó( 1023 l6l4 in H1'c'lerabac'l2sancl the lragment ascribedto Ibn Srnarbis bein-cpreparecl by' myself2r. .f.4r, 16-21: Gnomological sayings ascribed to Aris- totle. Inc. : qala Aristutalís : Aun'alu l-fiairi torku i-iorri )4( v'a-auwolu i-iarui tarku l-hair. //.5v-8r'(: No. 120): Mosa'il allaíaha Tribít Ihn Qttrra >8 bis< ttl-Harrclnt t'a-gantu'olta tnín atlawíl AristatcTlt.s :r.tt- guirihí v'u-qasttdu qusdtt2s tuhqíqin vtt-l trturruqu2s (: No. 127): Maqalat Afltntun t-taba'i' ma .fïhr| íï.4t'-lr 'ala fi ilcl icti'in min al-'ulint ta-taioutraqo ila n-na:ur tra-l- uti-daltltt? lnc.: Ma ad-dalílu anna l-hararata x'a-l- boht' bur ildctt ct hurn d | - 11i x'at a ni l-f a' i Io t ani x'u - r -r u t uba t u v'ct- l-yubstt htnru l-quu'atani l-munfa'ilatanil The text deals with one astronomicaland four meteorolo- gical questions:see SEzctr. GIS VII f70 uhere two mss. Additional mss. of this treatiseabout the primary qualities. (Teheran.Malik 6188and Rampur 2906)2'qare mentioned. unknown in its original Greek version, are Rampur 2906 Additional mss. are Rampur 3,168(82r-88r': copied in the (49r-60r)and in Hyderabad33.F. Srzctr 3arefers to only one l2'1uthcentury) and Hyderabad(see belou No.50). ms. in Meihed and identifies the author with Philumenos (2nd century).However, it is not yet sure whether the name University Collection Nos. 124-128 is a collection of should be ic'lentifledwith Philumenos or Polemon; both texts apparently copied in the I 1-12r 17- l8th centuries. authorswere known to the Arabs35. It contains the followins texts: )9( )5( ff.7v-9v (: No. 128): Masa'íl tabí'ív-ali-Aristutalís al- ;fJ'.1-2r(: No. 121):Risola í'í adrlhArístutalís. failasuf wa-hiya l-musantmatubi-ma bà|. On this pseudo-Aristoteliantext about ethics.a late Arabic The text is identicalwith Irak Museum (Baghdad)952, compilation from the 4ilOth century, allegedto be written pp.134-144(131-lal); additionalmss. : see GAS III for Alexander the Great, cp. Drr'ttrntGures, Greek Wísdom 50,41136;V406; VII2l6; Patna2641 (30v: 29r-v.32r- Literaturein Arabic Tran:;lution(New Haven. Conn. 1915 : v)37);Rampur 3607 (51r-58v; l3il9th century),2906 (30r- AmericanOriental Series 60).