7.8.1 Falconry

§ 681. The anonymous Bāz-nāmah described below contains a reference to the Bāz-nāmah i Fīrūz-S̲h̲āhi, but more than one work seems to bear, or pass under, this title.

Bāz-nāmah (beg. al-Ḥ. l…. baʿd īn kitāb i mustaṭāb i Bāz-nāmah ādāb al-ṣaid … [Bāb i, fol. 5b] Ṭarīq i ārāstan i dast-kas̲h̲ i jānwarān Bāyad kih har rūz), a detailed treatise composed in 570/1175–6 [?] and divided into seventy-two bābs: Ivanow Curzon 616 (slightly defective at end. Foll. 244. 19th cent.).

§ 682. The author of the work described below, who refers to it as īn s̲h̲ikarah and who cites in it occasionally the authority of his contemporary K̲h̲alīl of Mā warāʾ al-Nahr, professes to have based it on an ancient treatise written by the sages of the town of Balnās, which was taken to Alexandria in the time ¶ of Alexander and Aristotle and subsequently to Antioch. Rescued with some other books, when the Empress Helen and her son Constantine proposed to burn the contents of the royal library, it was taken to Bag̲h̲dād [!] and there translated into Syriac. Later the K̲h̲āqān of the Turks sent for it and had it translated by a learned Turk of Pāriyāb of Marw.

(S̲h̲ikarah) (Bāb i begins: Bāb i awwal Bi-dān-kī īn s̲h̲ikarah c̲h̲ūn paidā s̲h̲ud riwāyat mī-kunand az Naṣr b. Lait̲h̲ u az Mahdī b. Ahram), in one hundred and thirty-five bābs ((1) the above-mentioned legend concerning the original work together with some traditions relating to hawking, (2)–(20) on various birds of prey, their names in Persian, Arabic, Turkish and Greek, their selection and training and their appearance in health, (31)–(135) on their diseases and treatment): Rieu ii 484a (lacks five leaves at beginning and breaks off in Bāb 131. Foll. 77. 13th cent.).

§ 683. The author’s name seems to be absent from all the hitherto described mss. of the Ṭibb i Fīrūz-S̲h̲āhi (if that is the correct title).

Ṭibb i Fīrūz-S̲h̲āhī (Baʿd az ḥamd i bisyār u t̲h̲anā-yi bī-s̲h̲umār mar K̲h̲āliq al-lail wa-’l-nahār), on the diseases of falcons, composed by order of a certain Sulṭān Fīrūz-S̲h̲āh in 608/1211–12 (so Rehatsek and Ross-Browne) or 680/1281–2 (so Ivanow 1607 (3)) and divided into bābs of which the number is variously given, twenty-nine in Ivanow 1607 (3), forty-five according to the author’s preface in Ross-Browne 259 (1), fifty-two according to the enumeration in the same ms.: Ivanow 1607 (3) (foll. 127b–143b. 18th cent.), Ivanow Curzon 619 (6) (Intik̲h̲āb: Bāz-nāmah i F.-S̲h̲. An abridgment in 41 bābs), Rehatsek p. 108 no. 10 (where the title is given according to the heading as Daulat i k̲h̲ilqat (“Dowlat Hulkat”)¹¹ dar muʿālajah i ṭuyūr i s̲h̲ikārī), Ross-Browne 259 (transcribed from the preceding in 1281/1864). Possibly also Āṣafīyah ii p. 1038 no. 13 R. i Fīrūz-S̲h̲āhi dar ʿilaj i ṭuyūr (infra no. 19).

§ 684. ʿAlī b. Manṣūr al-Ḥulwānī (or al-Ḥalwāʾī or, according to the Tashkent ms., al-K̲h̲awāfī).

S̲h̲ikār-nāmah i Īl-k̲h̲ānī (beg. Ḥ. u sp. i bi-h. [K̲h̲udāʾī rā?] kih sīmurg̲h̲ i wahm), an expanded version of the Ṣaid-nāmah i Malik-S̲h̲āhi, dedicated to Ṭug̲h̲āy Tīmūr K̲h̲ān (ah 737–54/ 1337–53), containing many Mongol and Turkish terms, and divided into two muqaddimahs¹² ((1) in twenty-¶ two bābs, mainly on falconry, (2) in five bābs, on various quadrupeds trained for hunting): Tashkent Acad. i 734 (defective at end. 77 foll. ah 1066/1655. 9 Pictures of which one is reproduced in the catalogue), Ivanow Curzon 617 (137 foll. 19th cent.), Ethé 2979 (5) (fragment only).

Abridgment: Bāz-nāmah i Tīmūrī (beg. S̲h̲āh-bāz i buland-parwāz i ḥamd), composed, like the original, in Tug̲h̲ā-Tīmūr’s time, by S̲h̲āhīn Beg K̲h̲ān b. Ṭulg̲h̲ār Bēg K̲h̲ān Buk̲h̲ārī: Nad̲h̲ir Aḥmad 257 (ʿAbd al-Ḥusain (bookseller?), Lucknow).

§ 685. G̲h̲iyāt̲h̲ al-Dīn ʿAlī b. Ḥusain b. ʿAlī Amīrān Ḥusainī Iṣfahānī composed his Dānis̲h̲-nāmah i jahān in 871/1466–7. (See pl. ii § 22, 595, etc.).

Bāz-nāmah (beginning not given by Ethé), a handbook of falconry completed in 859/1455 and divided into seven maqālahs and a k̲h̲ātimah: Bodleian 1860 (foll. 27), i.o. d.p. 1546 foll. 7b–15b (?) (title given by Bilgrāmī as, Mulak̲h̲k̲h̲aṣ i Bāz-nāmah and date of composition as 893/1488), Ivanow Curzon 619 (3) (extract only, on diseases. Foll. 45–53. ah 1271/1855).

§ 686. Muḥibb ʿAlī, sumamed (al-mulaqqab) K̲h̲ān, K̲h̲āṣṣ-Maḥallī b. Niẓām al-Dīn ʿAlī Marg̲h̲ilānī (Tashkent ms.: b. N. al-D. K̲h̲alīfah i Farg̲h̲ānī) was the son of Bābur’s right-hand man Mīr K̲h̲alīfah (Mīr Niẓām al-Dīn ʿAlī Barlās). He distinguished himself in the battles of Bābur’s and Humāyūn’s days and in Akbar’s reign he beseiged Bhakkar for three years. He was Governor of the town of Delhi from the twenty-third year of the reign, ah 986/1578, until his death in 989/1581. He says that he was nearly sixty years old when he wrote his Bāz-nāmah and that from his youth onwards he had accompanied monarchs on the chase. It is perhaps worth mentioning that in some of the mss. there is no mention of the author’s name and that in one (i.o. d.p. 1506, which begins with the same words, but has only 57 chapters) the name that occurs (in the preface?) is Rafīʿ al-Dīn M. b. ʿAlāʾ al-Mulk. The work is not mentioned in the Maʾāt̲h̲ir al-umarāʾ. Ṭabaqāt i Akbarī ii p. 435; Āʾīn i Akbarī p. 225 no. 107, Blochmann’s trans. pp. 420–22; Maʾāt̲h̲ir al-umarāʾ iii pp. 238–45 (summarised by Blochmann, loc. cit.); Rieu ii 485.)

Bāz-nāmah, or S̲h̲ahbāz-nāmah (beg. Bismi ’llāhi ’l-Raḥmāni ’l-Raḥīm * Ṭāʾir i fark̲h̲undah i Ḥaiy i Qadīm * K̲h̲uṭbah i d̲h̲ī-bāl i humāyūn k̲h̲iṭāb * K̲h̲āl u k̲h̲aṭ i ʿāriḍ i Umm al-Kitāb), dedicated to Akbar and divided into sixty-one short bābs: Ivanow 1607 (1) (ah 1087/1676–7), Rieu ii 485a (ah 1161/1748), i.o. d.p. 1507 (18th cent.), apparently also d.p. 1506, Ethé 2793, Tashkent Acad. i 737 (acephalous ah 1266/1850).

¶ § 687. Mīr Muḥammad says that he was in the service of Jalāl al-Dīn M. Akbar and had forty years’ experience of falconry.

Mīr-s̲h̲ikār-nāmah divided according to the author into twelve Bābs, but in reality consisting (in the Tashkent ms.) of thirty-seven: Tashkent Acad. i 735 (acephalous. 104 foll. ah 1266/1850), possibly also i.o. 4617 (defective at both ends. 17th cent. See jras 1939 p. 385).

§ 688. Fīrūz-S̲h̲āh.

S̲h̲ah bāz-nāmah i Fīrūz-S̲h̲āhī (beg. S̲h̲ah-bāz i andīs̲h̲ah i s̲h̲ikāriyān i suk̲h̲an), compiled at the request of Akbar and divided into fourteen bābs: Ethé 2979 (4) apparently not much more than the first half of the work).

§ 689. S. ʿArab Najafī, a native of Balk̲h̲, migrated to India and entered the service of Akbar. The Madras catalogue, which does not mention Balk̲h̲, adds that he “was appointed the care taker of the Royal games at the time of Emperor Jahangir”.

Bāz-nāmah (so Browne) or Risālah i mīr-s̲h̲ikārān (so Madras catalogue) (beg…. falak i dawwār u gardis̲h̲ i rūzgār faqīr i ḥaqīr … S. ʿA. i N…. az waṭan i maʾlūf), on the s̲h̲unqār, bāz, s̲h̲āhīn and other hunting birds, in eleven Bābs: Madrās i 513 (slightly defective at both ends), Browne Suppt. 149 (Corpus 13).

§ 690. Pāds̲h̲āh-Qulī b. Minnat ʿAlī Turkumān.

Pāds̲h̲āh-nāmah, on s̲h̲ikār, composed in 1061/1651: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1756 no. 202 (M. S̲h̲āh’s 10th year).

§ 691. Nūr Muḥammad, of mndhānī, came originally from Tabrīz but for some time he had been resident in the Panjāb.

Miftāḥ i is̲h̲kār (beg. Ḥ. i bī-ʿadad mar Qādirī rā sazad kih wujūd i Ādam rā), a short treatise on falconry dedicated to Aurangzēb and divided apparently into sixteen chapters, of which the first three deal with the s̲h̲unqār, the fourth with bāz and the sixteenth with the treatment of the ailments of the various birds: Bombay Univ. p. 39 no. 23 (foll. 63. ah 1078/1667).

§ 692. M. Riḍā b. K̲h̲wājah M. Yūsuf.

Dastūr al-ṣaid (beg. Ḥ. i bī-ḥ. u sp. i bī-ʿadd az azal tā abad mar pāds̲h̲āhī rā sazad), on the selection of the best species of falcon, the methods of ¶ training them and the treatment of their diseases, begun in 1083/1672–3, dedicated to Aurangzēb and in Ivanow-Curzon 619 (1) divided into seventy-seven short bābs, whereas in i.o. d.p. 1505 the number of bābs is ninety-nine to correspond with the date, ah 1099/1688, at which the work is there said to have been completed [presumably in an enlarged edition]: ʿAlīgaṛh Subḥ. mss. p. 30 no. 1, Āṣafīyah ii p. 1756 no. 203, i.o. d.p. 1505 (foll. 203. 19th cent.), Lindesiana p. 195 nos. 735c (circ. ad 1820), 732 (circ. ad 1830), Ivanow Curzon 619 (1) (extracts only. Foll. 36. ah 1271/1855), Nad̲h̲īr Aḥmad 258 (Ahl i Islām Library, Madrās), and probably also Bodleian 1859 (Dastūr i ṣaid, beginning roughly as above. 55 babs. Acquired by Gore Ouseley in 1219/1804–5), though in this last ms. the author’s name is given as K̲h̲wājah M. Ṣādiq, son of K̲h̲wājah M. Yūsuf, a descendant of the Prophet’s master of the chase, K̲h̲wājah M. Āṣafī [!], and the date of compilation [completion?] as 15 Ramaḍān 571 [28 March 1176] in the twenty-fifth year of the reign of Abū ’l-Muẓaffar Muḥyī ’l-Dīn Fīrūz-S̲h̲āh [probably a fraudulent alteration of Abū ’l-Muẓaffar Muḥyī ’l-Dīn Aurangzēb by someone who wanted to make the work appear much older than it really was].

§ 693. “Bahādur”, as he calls himself in the metrical preamble to his Bāz-nāmah, says in the prose preface that he undertook the work at the request of his ūstād Jaʿfar Bēg and his own brothers, La‘l Bēg and Ḥabīb Allāh. He may be identical with Arslān Bēg “Bahādur”, of whom there is a notice in the Mak̲h̲zan al-g̲h̲arāʾib (no. 411).

Bāz-nāmah (beg. Bāz i ṭabʿam k̲h̲wāhis̲h̲ i parwāz kard *), written in 1091/1680,¹³ Aurangzēb’s 25th regnal year, (but the capture of Sanb’hā, an event of 1101/1689–90, is mentioned in the preamble) at Bhaskar, Ṣūbah of Barār Bālā-G’hāt’, and divided into a metrical preamble (containing eulogies of ʿAbd al-Qādir Jīlānī, the author’s own spiritual guide, Mīr M. As̲h̲raf, and Aurangzēb), a prose preface and forty-three bābs ((1)–(39) on the training and employment of hawks and other hunting birds, (40) diseases of those birds, in 68 faṣls, (41) the treatment of those diseases, likewise in 68 faṣls, (42) miscellaneous instructions in four faṣls): Rieu ii 485b (slightly defective at end. Foll. 124. 17th cent.), Ivanow Curzon 619 (7) (extracts only? Foll. 83–136. ah 1271/1855), apparently also Bodleian iii 2817 (328 foll. 72 bābs with a 73rd as k̲h̲ātimah).

¶ § 694. The Bāz-nāmah described below was apparently written in Aurangzēb’s reign, since it mentions birds sent to him by Las̲h̲kai K̲h̲ān, Ṣūbah-dār of Bihār, in the fourteenth regnal year (ah 1082/1671) and by Subḥān-Qulī K̲h̲ān, King of Tūrān, [who reigned from 1091/1680 to 1114/1702].

Bāz-nāmah (beg. Baʿd i ḥamd u t̲h̲anāʾ i Īzad i Tuwānā kih s̲h̲ah-bāz i fikr … u īn majmūʿah īst mausūm bah-Bāz-nāmah), an Indian work divided into seventy-six bābs: Bānkīpūr xi 1072 (foll. 125. 23 fine drawings of birds of prey. 17th cent.), Ivanow Curzon 623 (foll. 106. Recently transcribed).

§ 695. Allāh-Yār Jāmī was in the service of the Qūs̲h̲begī to Prince M. Muʿaẓẓam Bahādur-S̲h̲āh.

Mirʾāt al-ṣaid (beg. (of Ethé 2979 (3)) Ḥaqīqat i as̲h̲yā paidā kunad u s̲h̲ikarah i quwwat i naẓari rā c̲h̲as̲h̲m bīnā gus̲h̲ād [gus̲h̲āyad?] tā az ṣaid i ṭāʾirān), completed in 1111/1699–1700 and divided into five bābss: Ethé 2979 (3).

§ 696. The authors of the Bāz-nāmah described below, a son of Mīr Suhrāb K̲h̲ān Tālpur, whose name, deliberately expunged in the ms., was tentatively read by Arberry as Muḥammad Jaʿfar, may have been Mīr [Muḥammad?] C̲h̲ākar K̲h̲ān, since it appears from the genealogical table on p. 308 of the second volume of Mīrzā Qilīc̲h̲ Beg’s History of Sind (cf. pl. i § 823), that Mīr Suhrāb K̲h̲ān Tālpur [late 18th and early 19th century] had a son of that name.

Bāz-nāmah (beg. Rangīn nawāʾī kih ʿandalībān), in eighteen chapters: i.o. 4611 (foll. 198. See jras. 1939 p. 382).

§ 697. Taimūr Mīrzā b. Ḥusain ʿAlī Mīrzā b. Fatḥ-ʿAlī S̲h̲āh Qājār has already been mentioned (pl. i § 1615) as the youngest of the three Persian princes whose visit to London in 1836 was described by his elder brother Najaf-Qulī Mīrzā and also by their British mihmāndār, James Baillie Fraser.¹⁴ On his return to Persia, Taimūr Mīrzā was well received by Nāṣir al-Dīn S̲h̲āh, whose constant companion he became in all sporting expeditions. He died in ah 1291/1874.

Bāz-nāmah i Nāṣirī, composed in 1285/1868: [Persia] 1285/ 1869° (pp. 181); place? 1308/1890–1 (Āṣafīyah ii p. 1754 no. 204. Cf. Phillott’s introduction to his translation, p. xv: A second and perhaps a third, edition was lithographed in Bombay, a few pages on pigeons and game-fowl, apparently written in India, being added as an Appendix).

¶ English translation: The Bāz-nāmah-yi Nāṣirī. A Persian treatise on falconry. Translated by Lieut-Colonel D.C. Phillott. London 1908°* (pp. 195).

§ 698. Appendix

(1)

Bāz-nāmah: Lindesiana p. 127 no. 734 (ad 1850).

(2)

Bāz-nāmah, dar muʿālajah i amrāḍ i bāz, in nine aṣls: Majlis 640 (8), probably also Ethé 2795 foll. 82b–86b.

(3)

Bāz-nāmah, in 91 bābs, by Aḥmad Ḥājī Tark̲h̲ān: Tashkent Acad. i 738 (acephalous and otherwise defective. 37 foll. ah 1266/1850).

(4)

Bāz-nāmah, a small work divided into an introduction and four maqālahs, in which the author expounds the teachings of the Greeks, Turks, Indians and Persians: Leyden iii p. 300 no. 1422 (foll. 23. ah 1038/1628–9), apparently also Tashkent Acad. i 739 (acephalous. 18 foll. ah 1266/1850).

(5)

(Bāz-nāmah), by G̲h̲ulām-K̲h̲wājah: Lindesiana p. 145 no. 735b (circ. ad 1820).

(6)

Bāz-nāmah, by M. Ismāʿīl: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1038.

(7)

(Bāz-nāmah), by M. Muʾmin Astarābādī: Lindesiana p. 194 no. 735a (circ. ad 1820).

(8)

Bāz-nāmah, an anonymous work in twenty-seven chapters: Blochet iv 2391 (3) (ah 1247/1831–2).

(9)

Bāz-nāmah (beg. A. b. īn risālah īst mausūm bah Bāz-namah mus̲h̲tamil bar panjāh u dū bāb u yak k̲h̲ātimah, Awwal dar maʿrifat i gulāb-c̲h̲as̲h̲m): Ethé 2979 (1).

(10)

Bāz-nāmah (beg. al-Ḥ. l. R. al-ʿā. wa-’l-ṣ. wa-’l-s …), anon., in 132 chapters: Tashkent Acad. i 736 (breaks off with with ch. 97. Early 16th cent.).

(11)

Bāz-nāmah (beg. Āg̲h̲āz i k. i B.-n. īn ast), anon., in 70 bābs: Tashkent Acad. i 740 (26 foll. ah 1266/1850).

(12)

Bāz-nāmah (beg. Ḥ. i bī-ḥ. u t̲h̲. bī-ʿadad mar Pāds̲h̲āhī rā sazad kih), anon., in sixty chapters: Tashkent Acad. i 742 (146 foll. ah 1335/1917).

(13)

Bāz-nāmah (beg. Bāz-nāmah kih mīr-s̲h̲ikārān i nīk-tajribah āzmūdah and), a short tract dealing particularly with the diseases of falcons and their treatment: Ethé 2794 (foll. 14), 2795 foll. 126a–132 (defective at end and elsewhere).

(14)

(Bāz-nāmah?) (beg. Buzurgtarīn s̲h̲ikār i kalām kih s̲h̲unqār i nāṭiqah i insānī rā), an anonymous and untitled work in a least ten bābs: Ethé 2979 (2) (Bābs 2–5, 8–9 and portions of some others).

(15)

Bāz-nāmah, on the treatment of the diseases of falcons, by an anonymous author, who says in his introduction that of the numerous existing works on this subject the most highly esteemed were those of Peter the Byzantine and Ibn al-ʿAwwām: Blochet iv 2391 (2) (ah 1247/1831–2).

(16)

¶ Bāz-nāmah (beg. Ḥ. i bī-ḥ. u t̲h̲anā-yi biʿadad mar ḥaḍrat i Wājib al-Wujūd … baʿdahu bi-dān-kih arbāb i ʿilm u dānāyān u bāzdārān), a short anonymous work in fifty-nine bābs: Ivanow Curzon 619 (4) (foll. 54–63. Extracts only).

(17)

Daulat-nāmah, [dar] ʿilāj i ṭuyūr: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1038 nos. 13 (Aurangzeb’s 33rd year [i.e. ah 1100–1/1689–90]), 8 (ah 1226/1811).

(18)

ʿIlāj al-ṭair, by Dr. Murtaḍā Gul-i-Surk̲h̲ī: Tihrān 1333/1915 (100 pp. Mus̲h̲ār i 1126).

(19)

R. i Fīrūz-S̲h̲āhi dar ʿilāj i ṭuyūr:¹⁵ Āṣafīyah ii p. 1038 no. 13.

(20)

Mīr-s̲h̲ikār-nāmah, an unidentified work¹⁶ in twelve bābs: i.o. 4617 (defective at both ends and otherwise damaged. 17th cent. See jras. 1939 p. 385).

(21)

Murg̲h̲-nāmah, metrical: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1040 no. 8.

7.8.2 Pigeon Flying

§ 699. S.M. “Wālih” Mūsawī, who was the author of a Ṣūfī mat̲h̲nawī entitled Najm al-hudā and composed in 1149/1736–7, was born in K̲h̲urāsān, migrated to Ḥaidarābād and then to Arcot and died in 1184/1770. Other works of his are Daulat-nāmah, on the importance of wealth (ms. at Rāmpūr. Nad̲h̲īr Aḥmad 265), Murg̲h̲-nāmah, a metrical work on cock-fighting (mss.: Nad̲h̲īr Aḥmad 266), probably also Āṣafīyah ii p. 1040 (Murg̲h̲-nāmah i manẓūm, author not stated), Dastūr i naẓm (ms.: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1722), Qānūnc̲h̲ah, on ins̲h̲ā (ms.: ibid.), ʿAin i tamās̲h̲ā (dar bayān i g̲h̲ubārah. ms.: ibid.), Kas̲h̲f al-rumūz s̲h̲arḥ i kalām i haḍrat i Gīsū-darāz (ms.: ibid), and S̲h̲arḥ i qiṭʿah i tārīk̲h̲ i Niʿmat K̲h̲ān i ʿĀlī kih dar kadkhudāʾī i Kāmgār K̲h̲ān naẓm numūdah (ms.: ibid). [Gulzār i Aʿẓam pp. 365–8; Guldastah i Karnātak (Ivanow 1st Suppt. 776 no. 68); Madras i 61].

Kabūtar-nāmah (beg. Ḥ. i bī-ḥadd Ṣāniʿī [rā] sazā ast kih kabūtar i dil rā), on pigeon-flying: Nad̲h̲īr Aḥmad 264, probably also Āṣafīyah ii p. 1040 no. 8 (Kabūtar-nāmah, by S.M. Wālā [sic] Mūsawī. ah 1236/1820–1), ii p. 1722 no. 14 (7) (Risālah i Kabūtar-bāzī, by S.M. Wālih Mūsawī. ah 1151/1738–9), Nad̲h̲īr Aḥmad 263 (K.-n., by S.M., beginning Yādgārī c̲h̲ūn miyān c̲h̲ūn [sic.] zi Wālih k̲h̲āstah * S̲h̲ud kabūtar-nāmah i rangīn c̲h̲unīn ārāstah. Ahl i Islām Library, Madrās, and Qāḍī ʿUbaid Allāh’s Library, Madrās), though these may not all be copies of the same work.

¶ § 700. Appendix

(1)

Kabūtar-nāmah, by M. Ismāʿīl: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1040 no. 12.

(2)

Risālah i kabūtarān (beg. al-Ḥ. l. Īn risālah īst dar funūn i tartīb u tarkīb i kabūtar-bāzī u parānīdan i ān), an anonymous work in twenty bābs: Nad̲h̲īr Aḥmad 259 (S. Muḥammad’s Library, Lucknow).

(3)

Risālah i kabūtar-bāzī: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1038 no. 34 (ah 1255/1839–40).