Key Islamic archival text to be released
February 15th, 2012 - 7:56 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, Feb 15 (IANS) The process of archiving ancient Islamic manuscripts will get a boost as a comprehensive publication, listing important documents collected by Indian vice-president M. Hamid Ansari will be released by the National Archives Feb 16, the culture ministry said Wednesday.
The documents include a Persian translation of the “Mahabharata”, commissioned by emperor Akbar under the supervision of Abul Fazl, a noble in Akbar’s court.
The National Archives of India has been regularly acquiring manuscripts of historical value since 1957. The endeavour has resulted in the acquisition of thousands of old manuscripts in Turkish, Urdu, Persian and Arabic languages.
The government has been cataloguing the manuscripts for use by academicians and in course has published seven volumes.
The Iran Culture House in the capital has extended its technical support to digitise manuscripts available in two collections in the Oriental Division of National Archives of India. These catalogues listing the publications have been translated in Persian and published in English as well as in Persian.
The catalogues comprise more than 190 manuscripts which throw light on the oriental life and culture, covering different faiths and religions.
It has been classified in five groups - religion, history, language, literature and general - for the convenience of the users.
Besides the Persian “Mahabharata”, the documents in the catalogue include “Su’ al-o-Jawab-i-Dara Shikoh Wa Baba Lal”, a treatise containing the conversation between prince Dara Shikoh and Baba Lal Das of Kaithal on the life and doctrines of Hindu “faqirs” and “Kashf al-Mahjub”, the oldest systematic work on the theoretical and practical doctrines of Sufism by Abul Hasan Ali bin Uthman bin Ali al-Hujwiri.
The section on history covers “Tawarikh-i-Firuz Shahi” by Shams-i-Siraj Afif, “Akbarnama” and “Ain-i-Akbari” by Abul Fazal, “Majmu’a-i-Khuwrrami” or “Shah Jahan Nama” by Bahadur Singh, “Shash Fath-i-Qala-i-Kangra” by Jalalai Tababtabai, “Maathir-i-Alamgiri” by Muhammad Saqi Mustaid Khan and Mirza Sangi Beg’s “Sair-al-Manazil”, which is a topographical account of the principal buildings of Shahjahanabad and Old Delhi, a statement from the culture ministry said.
- HRD ministry to preserve Kashmir's manuscripts, paintings - Jul 21, 2012
- New facsimile of Buddhist sutra unveiled - May 04, 2012
- 37,000 Kashmiri manuscripts archived: Minister - Aug 10, 2011
- Walking through history in bylanes of Agra (Letter from Agra) - Jan 28, 2011
- Dara Shikoh, Aurangzeb misunderstood: Pakistani-American expert - Dec 30, 2011
- He took Obamas down the passages of history - Nov 07, 2010
- Photographs, litho-prints declared rare manuscripts - Jun 15, 2011
- Ancient Delhi gateways, Mughal library to be restored (With Images) - Jul 05, 2011
- Iran seeks regional cooperation for Persian Gulf's security - Apr 30, 2012
- 'National Archives digitised 15 lakh document pages' - May 08, 2012
- Krishna to offer chaddar at Lahore's Data Gunj Baksh shrine - Jul 16, 2010
- Manuscripts mission compiles 3 mn documents - Sep 30, 2011
- Indian manuscript inscribed on Unesco's world register - May 26, 2011
- Islam in Kashmir earlier than thought, reveals Quran manuscript - Aug 15, 2012
- In quest of a larger Bengali identity (IANS Books) - Jul 31, 2011
Tags: abul fazl, abul hasan, arabic languages, bahadur singh, different faiths, emperor akbar, hamid ansari, hasan ali, iran culture, islamic manuscripts, jahan nama, kaithal, kashf, language literature, national archives of india, old manuscripts, oriental division, persian translation, shah jahan, systematic work