In Volume 2: Mathematics; Weights, and Measures; Astronomy, and Astrology; Geography; Medicine; Encyclopaedias, and Miscellanies; Arts and Crafts, Science, Occult Arts

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§ 730. M. [b.] Manṣūr [b.] Saʿīd … al-Quras̲h̲ī surnamed (al-mulaqqab) Mubārak-S̲h̲āh and known as (maʿrūf bi-) Fak̲h̲r i Mudabbir has already been mentioned (pl. i § 1644) as the author of a genealogical work.

Ādāb al-ḥarb wa-’l-s̲h̲ajāʿah, or, as in Ethé 2767, perhaps a later edition, Ādāb al-mulūk wa-kifāyat al-mamlūk (beg. Ḥ. u t̲h̲anā-yi bī-nihāyat u sp. u st. i bī-g̲h̲āyat ān Ṣāniʿī rā kih az gil), a treatise on the art and customs of war dedicated to the Pāds̲h̲āh of Islām S̲h̲ams al-Dunyā wa-’l-Dīn Abū ’l-Muẓaffar Īltutmis̲h̲ al-Sulṭān Nāṣir Amīr al-Muʾminīn [who reigned from 607/1210 to 633/1235 and whose coins bear the title Nāṣir Amīr al-Muʾminīn after 626/1229] and divided into thirty-four (in Ethé 2767 forty) bābs, of which the first six (in Ethé 2767 the first twelve) are concerned with the qualities desirable in a king and the state officials whom he should appoint: Rieu ii 487b (defective at end. 16th cent.), Ivanow 1608 (slightly defective at beginning. Early 17th cent.), Ethé 2767.

Edition of most of Bāb xi (dar faḍīlat u k̲h̲āṣṣīyat i har silāḥī …): ocm. xiv/1 (Nov. 1937) pp. 65–82 (ed. M. S̲h̲afīʿ).

Article based on the above work and others: The art of war in mediaeval India by M. Akram Makhdoomee (in Islamic culture xi/4 (1937) pp. 460–86).

¶ § 731. K̲h̲air Allāh was the son of a sipah-sālār in the army of S̲h̲āh-Jahān (1037–69/1628–59).

Dastūr i jahān-gus̲h̲āʾī (beg. Baʿd az afrāk̲h̲tan i liwā-yi kaunain-gus̲h̲āy i niyāyis̲h̲ i Ilāhī), on the art of war, in twelve kilīds: Edinburgh 145 (foll. 169. 17th cent.).

§ 732. Mīrzā Luṭf Allāh “Nit̲h̲ār” entitled (muk̲h̲āṭab) Nuṣrat Allāh K̲h̲ān, who received instruction in the art of poetry from ʿAbd al-Laṭīf K̲h̲ān “Tanhā”,¹ is said in the Nigāristān i suk̲h̲an to have been Qūr-bēgī (Keeper of the Armoury) to Sulṭān Rafīʿ al-S̲h̲ān [Bahādur-S̲h̲āh’s son, who was killed in 1124/1712]. According to “Ḥairat” he was in the service of Muḥammad S̲h̲āh [ah 1131–61/ 1719–48]. In the Taʾyīd i baṣārat he mentions as his masters Mīrzā Faḍl Allāh and S. ʿAlī Mīr S̲h̲āh Walī [S. Mīr S̲h̲āh according to Browne Pers. Cat. 136 (1)] and says that he received encouragement in writing the work from Mīr Aḥmad Niʿmat-Allāhī known as Multafit K̲h̲ān. (See “Ḥairat” Maqālāt al-shuʿarāʾ (Sprenger p. 159 antepenult.); Mak̲h̲zan al-g̲h̲arāʾib no. 2867; Nigāristān i suk̲h̲an p. 118.)

Taʾyīd i baṣārat (a chronogram = 1118/1706–7. Beg. Iḥsān i bī-pāyān i Rabb i Akram al-Akramīn … a. b. d̲h̲arrah i bī-miqdār Luṭf Allāh), a treatise on swords, the characteristics of their different kinds, and the methods of testing them, in which the author uses the Indian terminology of the art without attempting to translate the technical terms into Persian, since it was in India and particularly in the Deccan that a knowledge of the qualities of good swords existed: Browne Pers. Cat. 136 (1) (ah 1227/1812), Ivanow Curzon 632 (1) (ah 1255/1839), 633, Ethé ii 3056, ʿAlīgaṛh Subḥ. mss. p. 30 no. 3, probably also Lindesiana p. 193 no. 693 (Taʾyīd al-baṣārat, but author’s name given as M. Bak̲h̲s̲h̲ b. Ḥakīm M. Walī Allāh K̲h̲ān. ah 1207/ 1792–3).

§ 733. The anonymous author of the Tamhīd al-baṣārat, which is based on the Taʾyīd i baṣārat, calls the author of the latter his ustād.

Tamhīd al-baṣārat² (beg. al-Ḥ. l. ’l. aqāma hād̲h̲ā ’l-dīna bi ’l-saif), a tract on swords, compiled at the request of M. Hādī b. Fāk̲h̲ir K̲h̲ān³ ¶ b. Iftik̲h̲ār K̲h̲ān⁴ b. Aṣālat K̲h̲ān⁵ Niʿmat-Allāhī al-Ḥusainī al-Harawī [doubtless a corruption of al-Yazdī] and divided into a muqaddimah, five very short bābs and a k̲h̲ātimah: Ivanow Curzon 632 (2) (ah 1255/1839), 634 (2) 19th cent.).

§ 734. Aḥmad b. M. (Mīr M. K̲h̲ān) b. Ibrāhīm (Multafit K̲h̲ān) ʿĀlamgīr-S̲h̲āhī Niʿmat-Allāhī al-Ḥusainī al-Yazdī was evidently the great-grandson of Aṣālat K̲h̲ān (Mīr ʿAbd al-Hādī), who died in 1057/1647 and whose second son, M. Ibrāhīm Multafit K̲h̲ān, died, like his brother Iftik̲h̲ār K̲h̲ān, in 1092/1681 (see Maʾāt̲h̲ir al-umarāʾ i p. 172⁹, where he is called M.I.M.K̲h̲., and iii pp. 611–12, where he is called Multafit K̲h̲ān Mīr Ibrāhīm Ḥusain).

Barāhīn al-ṣawārim (beg. Ḥ. i bī-ḥadd K̲h̲āliq al-aṣbāḥī rā kih ṣafāʾiḥ al-s̲h̲uhūr), a treatise on swords containing at the end a eulogy of Muḥammad S̲h̲āh (ah 1131–61/1719–48) and divided into a muqaddimah (historical anecdotes concerning swords), five maqālahs (on the qualities of steel, its composition, tempering, shaping, etc.) and a k̲h̲ātimah (on various additional matters): Ivanow Curzon 634 (1) (19th cent.).

§ 735. Mīr Zain al-‘Ābidīn b. Raḍī b. Nūr al-Dīn Mūsawī S̲h̲ūs̲h̲tarī, the younger brother of Mīr-ʿĀlam (cf. pl. i § 1034) was born at Ḥaidarābād in 1754 and according to the Tuḥfat al-ʿālam died there soon after the fall of Seringapatam. For further information see pl. i § 1072, and Dr. Maḥmūd Ḥusain’s introduction to the Fatḥ al-mujāhidīn.

Fatḥ al-mujāhidīn: Rieu Suppt. 406 (ah 1206/1791. 171 foll., wanting Fol. i. Partial English translation Foll. 2–86, 114–161), Ethé 2738–59, Bodleian 1903, Berlin 68 (1), 68a (fragments), Ivanow 1650–75, Āṣafīyah p. 1224 no. 82.

Edition: Fath-ul-mujahideen, a treatise on the rules and regulations of Tipu Sultan’s army and his principles of strategy compiled by Mir Zainul Abedeen Shushtari. Edited by Dr. Mahmud Husain … Karāc̲h̲ī 1950 (Urdu Academy Sind. Al-Arab Printing Press. Pp. xxviii, 230).

¶ § 736. M. Riḍā muhandis i tūpc̲h̲ī Tabrīzī.

(1)

Fis̲h̲ang i jangī, translated and amplified from a European original (in Latin [!] according to the Maʿārif catalogue) by order of Ḥājī Mīrzā Āqāsī for the use of Muḥammad S̲h̲āh’s army: Maʿārif ii 228 (167 foll.)

(2)

Ṣawāʿiq al-niẓām, on gunnery, composed in 1254/1838 by order of Ḥājī Mīrzā Āqāsī at the time of the siege of Harāt: Maʿārif ii 227 (99 foll. Diagrams. ah 1256/1840).

§ 737. Appendix⁶

(1)

Asliḥah-shināsī: Maʿārif ii 223 (145 foll. Illustrations).

(2)

ʿIlm i taḥṣīn u taḥaṣṣun: Ma‘ārif ii 222 (144 foll. Illustrations).

(3)

Mīzak i jangī, a manual of infantry drill and deployment: Kābul 1304/1886–7* (pp. 128).

(4)

Mīzak i risālah, on the drill and deployment of cavalry: Kābul 1315/1897–8* (pp. 73).

(5)

Mīzak i tūp-k̲h̲ānah, on gunnery manoeuvres: Kābul 1303/1885–6* (pp. 180).

(6)

(Qāʿidah i s̲h̲ināk̲h̲tan i s̲h̲ams̲h̲īr (beg. ṭarīq ān-ast kih ṭūl i ān-rā ba-c̲h̲ūbī), a short note on the quality of sword blades, perhaps an extract from a larger work: Ivanow 1620 (foll. 47b–48. 19th cent.).

(7)

(Qānūn i naẓm i qus̲h̲ūn,) on the organisation of the Persian army, by M. ʿAlī: [Ṭihrān] 1277/1861° (with supplement by Dr. Tholozan [cf. pl. ii § 545] on military hospitals, etc. 107 pp.).

(8)

dar Qawāʿid i niẓāmīyah u ādāb i jang, a modern work: Vollers 1000 (foll. 82. 19th cent.).

(9)

Qawāʿid i risālah, on cavalry drill, by Sergeant-Major Mīr M. ʿAẓīm K̲h̲ān: Kābul 1304/1886–7*.

(10)

Risālah i dril (beg. Bayān i aḥwāl i qawāʿid i Ṣāḥibān i Angrez Bahādur ba-mūjib i ādar⁷ yaʿnī ḥukm i Jarnel⁸ Stibat⁹ Ṣāḥib Bahādūr), on military drill according to the practice of the British in India: Lahore Panjāb Univ. Lib. (foll. 45. Bears seal dated 1212/1797–8. See o.c.m. x/1 p. 100.)

(11)

¶ Risālah i jihād: r.a.s. P. 208 (foll. 55).

(12)

Risālah i qawāʿid i taʿlīm i fanj: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1752 no. 107.

(13)

Risālah i saif-bāzī, by S. Ḥusain ʿAlī b. S. Kalb ʿAlī: ʿAlīgaṛh Subḥ. mss. p. 30 no. 2.

(14)

Risālah i saif yaʿnī phēnkaitī¹⁰(probably identical with the preceding), by S. Ḥusain ʿAlī b. Kalb ʿAlī: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1754 no. 194.

(15)

Risālah i s̲h̲ams̲h̲īr, a short tract on the different kinds of swords, by Nawwāb Murīd K̲h̲ān [Ṭabāṭabā?], called in the colophon Multafit K̲h̲ān: Blochet iv 2331.

(16)

(Risālah i sipāhdārī i jamāʿat i Angrēzīyah), a fragment of a large work dealing with the methods of British military and civil administration in India, with many interesting anecdotes from the military history of the 18th cent.: Ivanow Curzon 625 (beg. Lākin ba-sabab i nām u jalb i qulūb i ʿawāmm i ahl i Islām. Foll. 63. Patna, 1225/1810, probably autograph. Bad condition).

(17)

Risālah i tadbīr al-ḥarb, translated from the French: r.a.s. P. 209.

(18)

Tāktīk: Maʿārif ii 224 (154 foll. Diagrams).

(19)

Tarbiyah i ʿaskarīyah, on infantry drill, by Col. Maḥmūd Sāmī: Kābul 1327/1909*.

(20)

Tūp i kūhī: Maʿārif ii 225 (117 foll. Diagrams).

(21)

Tūzuk i Napōliyōn i Awwal, military maxims, published by order of Ḥabīb Allāh K̲h̲ān: Kābul 1318/1901* (84 pp.).

(22)

Uṣūl i ʿilm i maʿrifat al-arḍ u naqs̲h̲ah i niẓāmī: Maʿārif ii 226 (24 foll. Diagrams and plans).

next chapter: 7.11 Other Arts and Crafts