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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The Persian game of chess. By N. Bland (in jras. xiii (1852) pp. 1–70).
§ 650. M. b. ʿUmar Kajīnā.
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al-Munjiḥ fī ʿilm al-s̲h̲iṭranj, an arabic work now lost apparently.
Persian abridgment: (Muk̲h̲taṣar i Munjiḥ) (beg. Sp. i bī-q. nit̲h̲ār i ḥaḍrat i Maʿbūdī), in fourteen bābs, composed by M. b. Ḥusām al-Daulah for ḥaḍrat i humāyūn s̲h̲ahryār i rubʿ i maskūn qahramān i salāṭīn i ʿahd u zamān … Ḥāfiẓ al-Ḥaqq wa-’l-Dunyā wa-’l-Dīn, whose name is not mentioned: Rieu ii 490b (very defective. 63 foll. ah 1021/1612).
Summary: Persian chess, by N. Bland, London 1850, pp. 18–25.
§ 651. S̲h̲ēr Muḥammad K̲h̲ān “Īmān” b. M. ʿĀqil was regarded in his time as the best poet in the Niẓām’s Dominions. He wrote both in Urdu and Persian, but mainly, it seems, in the former language. His knowledge of Dakanī history was remarkable and he often accompanied Aʿẓam al-Umarāʾ (cf. pl. i § 1038) on tour and discoursed to him on local history. He died in 1221/1806–7. (See Gulzār i Āṣafīyah pp. 447–8; Garcin de Tassy ii p. 28.)
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Sardār-nāmah (beg. Ḥ. i mutawāfir u t̲h̲anāʾ i mutakāt̲h̲ir taslīm i bār-gāh), a treatise on chess begun in 1211/1796–7 and completed in 1212/1797–8 for ¶ Ḥusain al-Dīn K̲h̲ān Bahādur and divided into six maʿrakahs consisting almost entirely of diagrams with explanations: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1756 no. 220 (ah 1214/ 1799–1800), Bodleian 1889 (not later than ad 1810).
Possibly the Sardār dar qawāʿid i s̲h̲iṭranj recorded without author’s name in the Āṣafīyah catalogue (ii p. 1222 no. 130) and described as composed in the time of Sikandar-Jāh [1803–29] is a later edition of this work.
§ 652. “Furṣat” b. “Bahjat” S̲h̲īrāzī died in 1339/1920 (see pl. i § 465). He is also the author of the Buḥur al-alḥān, (pl. ii § 725).
- S̲h̲iṭranjīyah: Āṣafīyah iii p. 718 no. 395.
§ 653. Appendix
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Bisāṭ i g̲h̲arīb, dar fann i s̲h̲iṭranj-bāzī, by M. Naṣīr al-Dīn “Naqs̲h̲”.
Edition: 1284/1867–8 (Āṣafīyah ii p. 1756 no. 253).
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- Kitāb i s̲h̲iṭranj, by Abū ’l-Fatḥ Aḥmad Sanjarī: Tashkent Acad. i 743 (165 foll. Early 19th cent.).
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- Risālah dar asrār i s̲h̲iṭranj (beg. Asrārī kih dar s̲h̲iṭranj wadīʿat nihādah būdand), by S̲h̲. ʿAlāʾ al-Daulah: Browne Pers. Cat. 162 (foll. 232–4).
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- Risālah i s̲h̲iṭranj: ʿAlīgaṛh Subḥ. mss. p. 29 (59 foll.).
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(Risālah i s̲h̲iṭranj): r.a.s. P. 211 (defective at end. 64 foll. Pictures).
Descriptions: On the Persian game of chess. By N. Bland (in jras. xiii (1852) pp. 1–70), [The history of chess … by D. Forbes, London 1860 pp. 78–87].
