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

previous chapter: 7.11 Other Arts and Crafts

¶ § 754. Teukros, known to Muslim authors as Tankalūs̲h̲ā (with variations) wrote in the first century of the Christian era (see pl. ii § 69). Various alchemical and other works were fathered on him. Few of these have been adequately described and little more than a tentative list is appended here.

The titles quoted below from Rieu ii 486a are given by Rieu as the titles of sections in a volume described as Kitāb i Tankalūs̲h̲āh i Kabīr, but at least one or two of them seem to occur elsewhere as separate tracts. Those quoted from Ross and Browne 143 account for only the earlier leaves, apparently a score or so, in a similar volume of tracts ascribed to Tankalūs̲h̲ā, which contains 107 leaves, but of which only the first four tracts are described in the catalogue.

(1)

ʿAmal al-āhak al-muḥammar, or Mafātīḥ i kunūz i sabʿah: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1422 no. 25.

(2)

ʿAmal i jadīd [ḥadīd?] i muḥammar: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1422 ult.

(3)

ʿAmal i s̲h̲ams u qamar: see Tāj i muraṣṣaʿ.

(4)

Anwār i sabʿah: Rieu ii 486a (ad 1807).

(5)

Asrār i sabʿah: Rieu ii 486a (ad 1807), Āṣafīyah ii p. 1424.

(6)

Ganj i guhar i s̲h̲āhī (kih dar bayān i fiḍḍah ast): Rieu ii 486a (ad 1807).

(7)

Haft ganj i guhar: Rieu ii 486a (ad 1807).

(8)

Kanz al-maʿānī fī ’l-fiḍḍah: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1424.

(9)

Kanz al-yawāqīt (beg. (in R.-B. 143 (1)) Kanz i awwal dar tarkīb i rūḥ u jasad): Ross and Browne 143 (1) (19th cent.), Āṣafīyah ii p. 1424 (2 copies).

(10)

Kunūz al-ḥikmah: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1424.

(11)

Kunūz i har rumūz: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1424 no. 25.

(12)

Kunūz i sabʿah: Bombay 1311/1894° (62 pp.).

(13)

Mafātīḥ al-kunūz: Rieu ii 486a (ad 1807).

(14)

Mafātīḥ i kunūz i sabʿah: see ʿAmal al-āhak al-muḥammar.

(15)

Mafātīḥ i sabʿah: Rieu ii 486a (ad 1807).

(16)

Maṣābīḥ al-anwār: Rieu ii 486a (ad 1807).

(17)

Maṣābīḥ i anwār i sabʿah: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1424.

(18)

Miftāḥ i aʿmāl i sabʿah, in seven nuktahs: Ross and Browne 143 (4) (19th cent.), Āṣafīyah ii p. 1424.

(19)

Miftāḥ i asrār i sabʿah: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1424.

(20)

Miftāḥ i kanz al-yawāqīt: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1424.

(21)

Nusk̲h̲ajāt i kīmiyā: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1424.

(22)

Tāj i muraṣṣaʿ (beg. (R.-B. 143 (2)) Īn-ast ʿamal i s̲h̲ams u qamar), Ross and Browne 143 (2), presumably also Āṣafīyah p. 1424 (ʿAmal i s̲h̲ams u qamar).

¶ § 755. Jābir b. Ḥaiyān described as a pupil of K̲h̲ālid b. Yazīd b. Muʿāwiyah (d. 85/704) and Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (d. 148/765), is the alleged author of numerous Arabic works on alchemy (see Brockelmann i p. 240, Sptbd. i pp. 426–9).

(1)

Nuk̲h̲ab i Jābirī: Bombay 1313/1895° (72 pp.).

(2)

al-Muktasab mausūm bi-Nihāyat al-ṭalab,¹ an Arabic work ascribed to Jābir with a Persian translation ascribed to Aidamur Jildakī: Bombay 1307/1890° (151 pp. Cf. Āṣafīyah iii p. 598.)

§ 756. Abū Bakr M. b. Zakarīyā al-Rāzī died in 313/925 (see Brockelmann i p. 233, Sptbd. i p. 417, pl. ii § 589).

Risālah i sirr (beg. Īn R. i s. min taṣnīf qudwat al-sālikīn …), an alchemical treatise containing recipes, etc. (different from the Kitāb i asrār, which is referred to in the text): Ivanow Curzon 646 (1) (15 foll. ah 1309/1892).

§ 757. To the sixth Fāṭimid Caliph al-Ḥākim bi-amri ’llāh (Abū ʿAlī al-Manṣūr, ah 386–411/996–1020) are ascribed works on alchemy (cf. Brockelmann Sptbd. i p. 902).

(1)

Risālah i Abū ʿAlī Manṣūr (= al-Ḥākim?): Āṣafīyah ii p. 1422 no. 28.

(2)

(Risālat i Taʿwīd̲h̲ al-Ḥākim bi-’llāh), as the Persian translator calls it in his preface, a tract dar ʿilm i iksīr.

Persian translation: al-Tuḥfat al-Malik-S̲h̲āhīyah (beg. al-Ḥ l…. a. b. bi-dān-kih dar mulk nis̲h̲ast u nūzdah sāl), by an anonymous translator who says in his short preface that the original work was written by al-Ḥākim for his son Abū ’l-Ḥusain: D̲h̲arīʿah iii p. 445 no. 1613 (?) (al-Tuḥfat al-S̲h̲āhīyah. Translator’s name given as Muḥammad al-Hākim. ms. at Karbalāʾ), Rieu ii 840b (foll. 2–39. ah 123 (= 1123/1711?)).

(3)

Zād al-musāfirīn, possibly identical with one or both of the preceding: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1422 no. 8 (author’s name given as al-Muʾaiyad b. ʿAbd Allāh [read min ʿindi ’llāh] al-Ḥākim bi-’llāh).

§ 758. Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusain b. ʿAbd Allāh Ibn Sīnā died at Hamadān in 428/1037 (see Brockelmann i p. 453, Sptbd. i p. 812, pl. ii § 355 etc.).

(1)

Bayān al-bayāḍ wa-’l-ḥumrah (beg. Maʿlūm i k̲h̲udāwandān i baṣīrat bās̲h̲ad kih īn kitāb awwal yāftīm yak waraq i nuk̲h̲ustīn uftādah bud … Īn risālatī ast kih S̲h̲aik̲h̲ al-Raʾīs … nabis̲h̲tah ast az bahr i K̲h̲wājah Abū ¶ ’l-Ḥasan az man iltimāsī kardah), an alchemical tract in eight faṣls said to have been written for K̲h̲wājah Abū ’l-Ḥasan:² Bodleian 1904 (6).

(2)

Risālah fī amr mastūr al-ṣanʿa.

Persian translation: in Ilahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 1952/4 pp. 47–71. (See Oriens 7/1 p. 115).

(3)

(Risālah ilā Abī ’l-Ḥasan Sahl b. M. al-Sahlī fī ’l-kīmiyāʾ) (beg. C̲h̲unīn gūyad K̲h̲wājah Abū ʿAlī Sīnā raḥmatu ’llāhi ʿalaihi kih miyān i man u miyān i K̲h̲wājah Abū ’l-Ḥasan i Mas̲h̲hadī), a tract mainly on the tincture of metals, composed, according to the heading, for K̲h̲wājah Ḥusain BHYL [sic], and being apparently a translation of the work mentioned by Ibn Abī Uṣaibiʿah as having been written for Abū ’l-Ḥasan Sahl b. M. al-Sahlī:³ Rieu ii 486b (foll. 102–19. 18th cent.).

§ 759. Abū ’l-Ḥākim M. b. ʿAbd al-Malik al-Ṣāliḥī al-K̲h̲awārazmī al-Kātī wrote in 426/1034 at Bag̲h̲dād:

ʿAin al-ṣanʿah wa-ʿaun al-ṣināʿah: an Arabic work on alchemy, for which see Brockelmann Sptbd. i p. 902.

Persian translation: Tarjamah i ʿAin al-ṣanʿah … Āṣafīyah ii p. 1422.

Edition of the Persian translation: A Persian translation of the 11th century Arabic alchemical treatise, ʿAin aṣ-ṣanʿah … [Edited] by Maqbūl Aḥmad … Calcutta 1930* (Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 8, no. 7.). [From ms. no. 4 in the catalogue of Persian mss. in the collection of H.E. the Niẓām of Ḥaidarābād. i.e. possibly the ms. mentioned above.]

§ 760. G̲h̲iyāt̲h̲ [al-Dīn] Kirmānī.

Āʾīnah i Sikandarī (beg. al-Ḥ. l. al-Quddūs al-Sibbūḥ al-Jāmiʿ bi-’l-ḥikmah), composed by order of Sulṭān Jalāl al-Dīn Iskandar b. ʿUmar S̲h̲aik̲h̲ b. Tīmūr (d. 817/1414: cf. pl. i § 115): Rieu ii 871b (foll. 398–403. ah 814/1411).

§ 761. For the same Jalāl al-Dīn Iskandar was composed:

Risālah i kibrīt i aḥmar (beg. Sp. i bī-q. Ṣāniʿī rā kih k̲h̲āk i dargāh i U): Rieu ii 870a (foll. 344–5. ah 814/1411).

§ 762. For the Persian translation of the Basilica chymica of Oswald Croll (d. 1609) see pl. ii § 431.

¶ § 763. Mīr Abū ’l-Qāsim Findariskī died at Iṣfahān in ah 1050 or 1049/1639–41. He is the author of a work known as Ṣanāʾiʿ, Maʿrifat (or Ḥadd) al-ṣanāʾiʿ, Ṣināʿīyah, etc., on crafts and professions, for which see pl. ii § 738.

Risālah dar ʿilm i kīmiyā:⁴ Āṣafīyah iii p. 598 no. 51.

§ 764. M. Ḥanīf.

Manqūl al-ḥikmah, composed apparently in 1185/1771–2: Browne Suppt. 1268 (autograph? Corpus 228 (2)).

§ 765. The anonymous author of the Asfār nūr al-anwār was a pupil of S̲h̲arīf al-ʿUlamāʾ al-Māzandarānī al-Ḥāʾirī, who died in 1245/1829–30.

Asfār nūr al-anwār (beg. ʿIlmhā-yi awwalīn u āk̲h̲irīn * Jumlah-rā Qurʾān i Ḥaq āmad zamīn), metrical, on alchemy: D̲h̲arīʿah ii p. 60, Najaf S. Abū ’l-Qāsim Mūsawī Riyāḍī.

§ 766. S̲h̲. Mūsā “S̲h̲auqī” b. M. ʿAlī b. Murād K̲h̲urāsānī Ḥāʾirī, who died circ. 1333/1915, wrote several works on alchemy as well as a dīwān.

(1)

Baḥr al-durar fī tadbīr al-ḥajar wa-’l-kīmiyāʾ al-aḥmar: D̲h̲arīʿah iii p. 39 no. 79.

(2)

al-Batūl al-ʿAd̲h̲rāʾ, a Persian qaṣīdah on alchemy: D̲h̲arīʿah iii p. 16 no. 40.

(3)

Ṣadaf al-durar: D̲h̲arīʿah iii p. 39 no. 79.

§ 767. ʿAlī Akbar S̲h̲irwānī b. S̲h̲. Muṣtafā b. S̲h̲. Maḥmūd al-S̲h̲irwānī al-S̲h̲māk̲h̲ [read al-S̲h̲amāk̲h̲ī presumably].

Irs̲h̲ād al-ṭālibīn wa-hidāyat al-mustars̲h̲idīn, composed in 1326/1908 Āṣafīyah iii p. 598 no. 80 (ah 1326/1908).

§ 768. Appendix

(1)

Abyāt dar kīmiyā: Leyden v p. 268 no. 2687 pp. 273–317 (Utrecht, Pers. 24).

(2)

Birahnah, or Kifāyat al-ṣanʿah, or Nūr al-ʿain, or K̲h̲ulāṣat al-ṣanʿah⁵ (beg. (acc. to Nad̲h̲īr Aḥmad) Ḥ. i bī-h. u t̲h̲anā-yi bī-ʿadd K̲h̲udāy rā ʿazza ’smuhu wa-taʿālā), in two faṣls and three aqsām by Ḥusain al-Ḥusainī al-mas̲h̲hūr bah Ak̲h̲lāṭī:⁶ Āṣafīyah iii p. 598 no. 48 (circ. ah 1336/1918), Nad̲h̲īr Aḥmad 269 (incomplete. N.d. ʿAbd al-Ḥusain, Lucknow).

(3)

¶ Haft aḥbāb, or Haft bāb (beg. Ḥ. [u] t̲h̲. Qaiyūmī rā kih ʿajaza ʿuqūlu d̲h̲urrīyāti Ādam), a treatise on alchemy in seven bābs with a preface ostensibly by Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nāgaurī (d. 643/ 1246: see pl. i § 9), in which it is stated that each bāb was contributed by one of seven friends [who, however, were not all contemporaries], namely (1) Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nāgaurī, (2) Saʿādat-mand, originally Gyān, a Hindu jogī converted to Islām by the other six, (3) S̲h̲. Sulaimān Manduʾī (d. 944/1537–8: see Ak̲h̲bār al-ak̲h̲yār p. 221, Kalimāt al-ṣādiqīn no. 82), (4) Mīr S.M. Hās̲h̲im Buk̲h̲ārī, (5) Mīrān S. Ṭaiyib Awad’hī,⁷ (6) S̲h̲. Naṣīr al-Dīn Nārnaulī, (7) Maulānā M. Ṣādiq Multānī: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1424 no. 11 (Haft bāb i kīmiyā. ah 1094/1683), Rieu ii 486b (foll. 7–101. Defective. 18th cent.), Leyden v p. 268 no. 2687 (3) (pp. 225–68. Utrecht, Pers. 24), Lahore Panjāb Univ. (see ocm. x/1 p. 98).

(4)

Jām i zar: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1422 no. 29.

(5)

K̲h̲ulāṣat al-ṣanʿah: see Birahnah.

(6)

Kifāyat al-ṣanʿah: see Birahnah.

(7)

Kunūz i k̲h̲wurs̲h̲īd i hidāyat: Āṣafīyah iii p. 598 no. 83.

(8)

Majmaʿ al-baḥrain, by S̲h̲āh K̲h̲air Allāh Ḥaqqānī Madāʾinī: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1424 no. 12 (ah 1216/1801–2), iii p. 598 no. 52.

(9)

Majmaʿ al-ṣanāʾiʿ, [anon.] on alchemy and magic: Calcutta 1264/1848* (Āftāb i ʿālamtāb Pr. 150 pp.).

(10)

Majmūʿah i nusk̲h̲ahā-yi kīmiyā: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1424 no. 19.

(11)

Mak̲h̲zan al-ḥikmat (beg. Buwad nazd i ḥakīmān i k̲h̲iradmand * Kilīd i ganj i dil nām i K̲h̲udāwand), a metrical work in seven bābs, by Ismāʿīl Kūfī (according to the Āṣafīyah cat.): Bodleian 1876 (1) (58 foll. ah 1017/1608), Āṣafīyah ii p. 1424 nos. 1 (ah 1182/1768–9), 9.

(12)

Mak̲h̲zan i asrār, by S. Fak̲h̲r al-Dīn: Āşafīyah ii p. 1424 no. 27.

(13)

Maqālīd al-kunūz on chemistry and alchemy in twelve bābs, by Aḥmad b. Arsalān, who uses many Hindī terms: Ethé 2792 (3) (Bābs i–ix only), possibly also Leyden v p. 268 no. 2678 (6) (pp. 385–400. One faṣl only. Utrecht, Pers. 24).

(14)

Maṭlaʿ al-naiyirain (beg. Bi-dān-kih hīc̲h̲ ʿilmī bihtar u ʿazīztar), in nine bābs, by Amīn al-Dīn M. al-Kis̲h̲warī al-Mudārī (according to the Lindesian cat., but the author’s name is not mentioned in Ivanow Curzon 646 (2)): Lindesiana p. 113 no. 701 (circ. ad 1800), Ivanow Curzon 646 (2) (foll. 15–33. ah 1309/1892).

(15)

¶ Miftāḥ al-fawāʾid (beg. al-Ḥ. l…. wa-baʿd īn kitābī-st bas muʿtabar kih taṣnīf kard ū-rā M. b. T̲h̲. al-N.), in seventeen bābs, by M. b. T̲h̲ābit al-Nīs̲h̲āpūrī: Bodleian iii 2749 (11) (ah 1100/1688).

(16)

Muqaṭṭaʿāt i ʿIs̲h̲qī: Lahore Panjāb Univ. (ah 1233/ 1818. 20 foll. See ocm. x/1 p. 98).

(17)

Nūr al-ʿain: see Birahnah.

(18)

Nūr al-anwār (beg. Bāʾ i Bi-smi ’llāhi Raḥmāni ’l-Raḥīm * Hast miftāḥ i dar i ganj i ḥakīm), a metrical work on alchemy, the philosopher’s stone, etc., by ʿAlī Akbar Qumis̲h̲aʾī Iṣfahānī: Majlis 738 (followed by Risālat al-Jazāʾir, a metrical work dar baʿḍ i tadābīr i ḥajar u aʿmāl u k̲h̲awāṣṣ i ān. 81 foll.).

(19)

(Nusk̲h̲ahā-yi kīmiyā), an untitled and unprefaced collection of alchemical prescriptions and formulae (each usually headed Tarkīb in red) containing many non-Persian (Pushtu?) words: Browne Pers. Cat. 135 (162 foll.).

(20)

Risālah dar bāb i kus̲h̲tan i jamīʿ i rasāʾin (beg. Dar b. i k. i rasa’in yaʿnī haft dihāt), in twenty-four bābs: Bodleian 1873 (40 foll. A Fraser ms., therefore not later than 18th cent.).

(21)

Risālah dar iksīr, various works: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1422 nos. 8 (two works), 27.

(22)

Risālah dar ʿilm i iksīr (beg. S̲h̲. u sp. mar K̲h̲udāwandī rā kih az iksīr i maḥabbat mis i wujūd i bandah i ʿārifat [sic] rā zar gardānīd), by al-S̲h̲aik̲h̲ Muḥammad …,⁸ in twenty-seven bābs ((1) dar bayān i wujūd i īn ʿilm …) and a k̲h̲ātimah: Berlin 305 (167 foll. Collated 1011/1603).

(23)

Risālah [dar kīmiyā], by Abū ʿAlī Manṣūr [i.e. probably al-Ḥākim: see p. 435]: Āṣafíyah ii p. 1422 no. 28.

(24)

Risālah dar kimiyā, by M. Yār manṣab-dār birādar-zādah i Qāḍī S̲h̲arīʿat Allāh K̲h̲ān: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1422 no. 10.

(25)

Risālah dar kīmiyā (beg. Sp. i farāwān kih az aʿdād i arqām i ʿUṭārid afzūn buwad), an anonymous tract on the elixir of life, the philosopher’s stone, etc., with frequent references to Hirmis i Ḥakīm: Ethé 2786 (foll. 25–44. N.d.).

(26)

Risālah dar kīmiyā (beg. Bāb i awwal dar tadbīr i zībaq kih dar ʿamal āyad bayāḍ u ḥumrah kār āyad), an anonymous unprefaced work in twenty bābs: Bodleian 1876 (2) (foll. 59–90. ah 1017/1608).

(27)

Risālah dar kīmiyā (beg. Dar-īn hangām kih hangāmah-s̲h̲inās i mizājān i ādam): Bodleian 1874 (26 foll. ah 1151/ 1738–9).

(28)

¶ (Risālah dar kīmiyā), various works: ʿAlīgaṛh Subḥ. mss. p. 25 no. 1. (ad 1918), Āṣafīyah ii p. 1422, Lindesiana p. 112 no. 701 (untitled tracts. Circ. ad 1810), Majlis 731 (4) and (5), 736 (2), (3).

(29)

Risālah i ṣināʿat, by Ḥakīm M. Yaʿqūb: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1422 no. 7.

(30)

Risālat al-Jazāʾir: see under Nūr al-anwār.

(31)

Ṣanāʾiʿ, on alchemy: Lahore Panjāb Univ. (16 foll. See ocm. x/1 p. 98).

(32)

Sirāj al-ẓulmah, by ʿAbd Allāh b. Ḥājī Mahdī Najafī al-s̲h̲ahīr bah Kitāb-k̲h̲wān: Āṣafīyah iii p. 598 no. 72.

(33)

Tajārib i S̲h̲ahryārī (beg. (in Ross and Browne 144) al-Ḥ. l. R. al-ʿā…. k̲h̲āṣṣah durūd i farāwān (in Berlin 303 (14)) Dar kitāb i Kas̲h̲f al-rumūz baʿḍī az ān guftah and u ʿāqibat pūs̲h̲īdah), on chemistry and alchemy in twenty bābs, by S̲h̲ahryār b. S̲h̲ahryār Fārsī (so Berlin ms.), or S̲h̲ahryār b. Hamzah (sic] Pārsī (so Utrecht ms.), or S̲h̲ahryār K̲h̲ān (so Āṣafīyah cat.), or S̲h̲ahryār b. Bahman (so D̲h̲arīʿah iii p. 248), or S̲h̲. b. Bahman-yār Fārsī (so Ross and Browne): Berlin 303 (14) (evidently acephalous (see above) and breaks off after first page of Bab xx), Leyden v p. 268 no. 2687 (pp. 321–76. Seven bābs only (i–vii presumably)), Āṣafīyah ii p. 1422, Ellis Coll. M. 427 (2), Ross and Browne 144 (36 foll.).

(34)

Tuḥfat al-Muʾminīn, being the first volume (in five ṭarīqs) of a large work entitled Dastūr i jāmiʿ: D̲h̲arīʿah iii p. 473 no. 1744 (ms. at Sāmarrāʾ, M. Ṭihrānī’s lib.).

(35)

Zubdat al-mujarribīn: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1422 no. 8.

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