A collection of fourteen treatises on music theory in Arabic and Persian

Content

A collection of fourteen treatises on music theory in Arabic and Persian, copied for Shāh Qubād ibn ‘Abd al-Jalīl al-Ḥārithī al-Badakhshī (شاه قباد بن عبد الجليل الحارثي البدخشي, d. Delhi, 1083/1672-3) who by the time of the volume's compilation held the title Dīyānat Khān (ديانتخان).

Dīyānat Khān, a courtier and provincial administrator under the sixth Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb (reg. 1658-1707), himself collated most of the contents and may have been responsible for adding the diagrams. A number of extant musical texts also copied for Dīyānat Khān testify to his interest in the subject (e.g. Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ouseley 130, 385, 158).

The majority of texts within the volume are provided with colophons testifying to the process of its creation and collation which took place between Shāhjahānābād (Delhi), Ambala, Lahore and Kashmir during the years 1662-65 (to 1668 including the collation; see Norton-Wright, Jenny, 'A Mughal Musical Miscellany: The journey of Or. 2361', British Library Asia and African studies blog [31 July 2020] https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2020/07/a-mughal-musical-miscellany-the-journey-of-or-2361-1.html [accessed 13 August 2021]).

The colophons also provide the names of two scribes, one of whom, Sayyid Abū Muḥammad ibn Sayyid Fatḥ Muḥammad Samānī (سيد أبو محمد بن سيد فتح محمد سماني) worked exclusively on Arabic texts, while the other, Muḥammad Amīn al-Akbarābādī (محمد أمين الأكبرآبادي), copied only Persian texts.

After Dīyānat Khān’s death, this volume came into the possession of his grandson, Mirzā Muḥammad ibn Rustam Mu‘tamad Khān (ميرزا محمد ابن رستم معتمد خان, b. 1687), whose ownership inscription appears on folios 2r, 18r, 33r, and 247r alongside a seal dated 1120/1708-09.

Rustam Muʻtamad Khān, Diyānat Khān's son and the father of Mirzā Muḥammad, was also a proficient scholar who translated a treatise on sundials from Latin into Arabic (see London, British Library IO Islamic 1308), and Mirzā Muhammad himself was a historian who recorded his family's biographies in his Tārīkh-i Muḥammadī (see London, British Library Or 1824).

Provenance notes on f. 2r record changes of ownership into the 19th century, when the Kashmiri-style illuminations as well as the frames on each page and the gold-tooled blue leather binding appear to have been added.

A contents list of alternative Persian titles, added later, appears on f. 1r.

Contents:

• (1) Riz̤avī, Muḥammad ibn Jalāl (رضوي، محمد ابن جلال), Risālah dar jamʿ-i maqālāt-i fuquhāʾ dar bāb shanīdan-i alḥān (رساله در جمع مقالات فقهاء در باب شنيدن الحان; ff. 2r-15r);
• (2) Ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, ʿAbd al-Jalīl (ابن عبد الرحمن، عبد الجليل), Risālah masīḥī dar kayfīyat va haqīqat samāʿ va abāḥatān (رساله مسيحي در كيفيت و حقيقت سماع و اباحتان; ff. 15r-17v);
• (3) al-Urmawī, Ṣafī al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Muʾmin ibn Yūsuf (الأرموي، صفي الدين عبد المؤمن بن يوسف), al-Risālah al-mismāh bi-al-adwār fī al-mūsīqī (الرسالة المسماة بالأدوار في الموسيقي; ff. 18r-32r);
• (4) Anonymous, Sharḥ lil-adwār (شرح للأدوار; ff. 33r-68r);
• (5) Anonymous, Risālah sharḥ Mubārak Shāh bar adwār (رسالة شرح مبارك شاه بر ادوار; ff. 68v-153r);
• (6) ʿAṭṭārī,ʿAbd al-Munʿim Muḥammad (عطاري، عبد المنعم محمد), Hāshīyah ʿalá Risālah fī nisbat al-taʾlīf (حاشية على رسالة في نسبة التأليف; ff. 153v-156r);
• (7) Avicenna (ابن سينا), Mūsīqī-yi ḥikmat-i ʿAlāʾ ī (موسيقي حكمت علائي; ff. 157r-164r);
• (8) al-Kindī, Ya‘qūb ibn Isḥāq (الكندي، يعقوب بن إسحاق), Risālah fī khubr taʾlīf al-alḥā n (رسالة في خبر تأليف الألحان; ff. 165r-168r);
• (9) al-Shirwānī, Fatḥ Allāh (الشرواني، فتح الله), Risālah fī ʿilm al-mūsīqī (رسالة في علم الموسيقي; ff. 168v-219v);
• (10) Ibn Zaylah, al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad (ابن زيلة، الحسين بن محمد), Kitāb al-kāfī fī al-mūsīqī (كتاب الكافي في الموسيقي; ff. 220r-236v);
• (11) Ibn al-Munajjim, Yaḥya ibn ʿAlī (ابن المنجّم، يحيى بن علي), Risālah fī al-mūsīqī (رسالة في الموسيقي; ff. 236v-238v);
• (12) al-Fārābī, Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Tarkhān (الفارابي، أبو نصرمحمد بن محمد بن ترخان), Min Kitāb al-madkhal fī al-mūsīqī (من كتاب المدخل في الموسيقي; ff. 238v-240r);
• (13) al-Bukhārī, Qāsim ibn Dūst ʻAlī (بخاري، قاسم ابن دوست علي), Kashf al-awtār (كشف الأوتار; ff. 240v-246r);
• (14) Anonymous, Risālah kanz al-tuḥaf dar mūsīqī (رسالة كنز التحف در موسيقي; ff. 247r-269v).

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. i+269+iv

It is grouped into

Risālah dar jamʿ-i maqālāt-i fuquhāʾ dar bāb shanīdan-i alḥān رساله در جمع مقالات فقهاء در باب شنيدن الحان Riz̤avī, Muḥammad ibn Jalāl رضوى، محمد ابن جلال

27 images

Ref: Or 2361, ff 2r-15r

Risālah-'i masīḥī dar kayfīyat va haqīqat-i samāʿ va ibāḥatān رساله مسيحي در كيفيت وحقيقت سماع واباحتان Ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, ʿAbd al-Jalīl عبد الرحمن، عبد الجليل ابن

6 images

Ref: Or 2361, ff 15r-17v

al-Risālah al-musammāh bi-al-adwār fī al-mūsīqī الرسالة المسماة بالأدوار في الموسيقي al-Urmawī, Ṣafī al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Muʾmin ibn Yūsuf الأرموي، صفي الدين عبد المؤمن بن يوسف

30 images

Ref: Or 2361, ff 18r-32r

Sharḥ lil-adwār شرح للأدوار

71 images

Ref: Or 2361, ff 33r-68r

[Sharḥ Mawlānā Mubārakshāh bar adwār] [شرح مولانا مباركشاه بر ادوار]

170 images

Ref: Or 2361, ff 68v-153r

Hāshīyah ʿalá Risālah fī nisbat al-taʾlīf حاشية على رسالة في نسبة التأليف 'Aṭṭārī,ʿAbd al-Munʿim Muḥammad عطاري، عبد المنعم محمد

6 images

Ref: Or 2361, ff 153v-156r

Mūsīqī-yi ḥikmat-i ʿAlāʾī موسيقي حكمت علائي Avicenna ابن سينا

15 images

Ref: Or 2361, ff 157r-164r

[Risālah fī khubr taʾlīf al-alḥān] [رسالة في خبر تأليف الألحان] Kindī, Yaʻqūb ibn Isḥāq كندي، يعقوب بن إسحق

7 images

Ref: Or 2361, ff 165r-168r

[Risālah fī ʿilm al-mūsīqī] [رسالة في علم الموسيقي] Shirwānī, Fatḥ Allāh شرواني، فتح الله

103 images

Ref: Or 2361, ff 168v-219v

Kitāb al-kāfī fī al-mūsīqī كتاب الكافي في الموسيقي Ibn Zaylah, al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ابن زيلة، الحسين بن محمد

34 images

Ref: Or 2361, ff 220r-236v

Risālah fī al-mūsīqī رسالة في الموسيقى Ibn al-Munajjim, Yaḥyá ibn ʿAlī ابن المنجّم، يحيى بن علي

5 images

Ref: Or 2361, ff 236v-238v

Extracts from Kitāb al-madkhal fī al-mūsīqī من كتاب المدخل في الموسيقي Fārābī, Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Tarkhān فارابي، أبو نصر محمد بن محمد بن ترخان

4 images

Ref: Or 2361, ff 238v-240r

Kashf al-awtār كشف الأوتار Bukhārī, Qāsim ibn Dūst ʻAlī بخاري، قاسم ابن دوست علي

13 images

Ref: Or 2361, ff 240v-246r

Risālah-'i kanz al-tuḥaf dar mūsīqī رساله كنز التحف در موسيقي

46 images

Ref: Or 2361, ff 247r-269v

Physical characteristics

Material: Eastern laid paper

Dimensions: Folios trimmed to 245 x 134 mm (see f. 269v); 178 x 84 mm written.

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil; Eastern Arabic foliation from f. 2 until f. 219 (end of the ninth treatise in the volume)

Ruling: Misṭarah ; 25 lines per page; vertical spacing 14 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh and nastaʿlīq ; the scribes are Sayyid Abū Muḥammad ibn Sayyid Fatḥ Muḥammad Samānī (سيد أبو محمد بن سيد فتح محمد سماني) who wrote in Arabic and names himself in the colophons to the third, fifth and twelfth treatises (ff. 68r, 153r, and 240r) and Muḥammad Amīn al-Akbarābādī (محمد أمين الأكبرآبادي) who wrote in Persian and names himself in the colophons to the second, thirteenth and fourteenth treatises (ff. 17v, 246r, and 269v).

Ink: Black ink, with rubricated headings and overlinings, key words and diagrams in red. Some use of green ink (f. 133v-135r)

Decoration: Pages are bordered in blue with text areas framed in blue, gold and red, added later (see f. 252v). The margins of ff. 2v-3r are illuminated with gold floral designs, and the headings of each treatise except the second (f. 15r), eighth (f. 165r) and twelfth (f. 238v) are illuminated in a later Kashmiri style with gold, blue, red, green and white. The heading of the ninth treatise (f. 236v) is illuminated in gold only.

Binding: Navy blue leather binding with gold-tooled double border and central motif; blue marbled paper doublures.

Condition: Wormholes throughout, especially at the front and back of the volume; minor paper repairs.

Marginalia: Some notes and corrections throughout; especially to the third and fifth treatises. Many of the colophons are written outside of the present trimmed page dimensions, and retained on folded tail edge tabs.

Seals: Defaced square ownership seal (f. 2r), Ownership seals (ff. 2r, 18r, 33r and 247r [the last defaced]), British Museum stamp (ff. 2r and 269r)

Written in

Arabic, Persian and Farsi in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Or 2361

History of this record

Date(s)

1073-1075 (AH, Hijri qamari)

Context of creation

Delhi (Shāhjahānābād); Ambalah; Lahore; Srinagar (Kashmir)

Provenance

• Acquisition note dated 29 Rajab 1241/9 March 1826 (f. 1r);
• Acquisition note dated 15 Rabīʻ I 1240/7 November 1824 (f. 1r);
• Purchase note for this volume, describing it as 'in 15,000 bayt s, the eighteenth volume [?], [enclosed] in a white wax-cloth [?]' (كه مكتوبي است ١٥٠٠٠ بيت در جزدان حشدهم [؟] مومجامه سفيد يكته [؟]) for 261 rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. , dated 1238/1822-3 (f. 1r);
• Another purchase note for 261 rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. , dated 1238/1822-3 (f. 1r);
• Ghulām Muḥammad Khān 'Sāḥib Alḥān' (غلام محمد خان صاحب ألحان): his purchase inscription for 300 rupiah, dated 25 Rajab 1225/26 August 1810 (f. 1r);
• Defaced and illegible square black seal (f. 1r);
• Mirzā Muḥammad ibn Rustam Mu‘tamad Khān (ميرزا محمد ابن رستم معتمد خان), grandson of Diyānat Khān, the volume's patron: his seal dated 1120/1708-09 and his ownership inscriptions (ff. 2r, 18r, 33r and 247r [the latter defaced]).

Immediate source of acquisition

Purchased from Syed Ali, of Hyderabad (of India), 28 May 1881.

Related material

Finding aids

• Rieu, Charles, Supplement to the Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: The British Museum, 1894), Item 823, pp. 558-561
• Rieu, Charles, Supplement to the Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: The British Museum, 1895), Item 162, pp. 114-116
• Shiloah, Amnon, The Theory of Music in Arabic Writings (c. 900-1900): Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscripts in Libraries of Europe and the U.S.A. (Munich: G. Henle Verlag, 1979), texts 058, 152, 169, 131, 175, 222, 239, 329, 330, pp. 107-08, 200-01, 228-29, 250-51, 256-57, 308-311, 331-34 and 418-20
• Farmer, Henry George, The Sources of Arabian Music. An Annotated Bibliography of Arabic Manuscripts which Deal with the Theory, Practice, and History of Arabian Music (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1965), pp. 9, 28, 38 and 48-49

Select Bibliography

On Diyānat Khān and the musical context:

• Brown, Katherine Butler, 'The Ṭhāṭ System of Seventeenth-Century North Indian Rāgas: A Preliminary Report on the Treatises of Kāmilkhānī', Asian Music , 35/1 (2003-04), pp. 1-13
• Brown [Schofield], Katherine Butler, ‘Hindustani music in the time of Aurangzeb’ (unpublished doctoral thesis, School of Oriental and African Studies, 2003)
• Mirzā Muḥammad ibn Rustam ibn Shāh Qubād, Tārīkh-i Muḥammadī (Or 1824) in: Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. 3 (London: The British Museum, 1879), Item 1824, p. 895
• Norton-Wright, Jenny, 'A Mughal Musical Miscellany: The journey of Or. 2361', British Library Asia and African studies blog (31 July 2020) https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2020/07/a-mughal-musical-miscellany-the-journey-of-or-2361-1.html [accessed 13 August 2021]

Subjects

Music theory--Early works to 1800

People & organisations

Shāh Qubād ibn ‘Abd al-Jalīl al-Ḥārithī al-Badakhshī Diyānat Khān

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A collection of fourteen treatises on music theory in Arabic and Persian, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Or 2361, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/node/9522> [accessed 5 October 2024]

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