Extent: 368 leaves : paper, illuminations ; 360 x 277 (273 x 191) mm. bound to 365 x 283 mm.
Note:
Codex manuscript. Title from colophon at the end of the fourth book. Collation: Paper, fol. ii + 23 + i + 117 + ii + 28 + ii + 108 + ii + 26 + i + 54 + ii (fol. i is pasted to preceding fol. 54); horizontal catchworks in lower inner margin. Layout: Written in 15 long lines; main text is within blue, red, and gold border-rules; occasional marginal notes, most horizontal and some diagonal; rubrications and some headings and image captions in red. Script: Written in nastaʻliq by scribe Muhammad Zaman Gujarati. Decoration: 42 full-page and 38 partial-page color illustrations. Binding: red velvet over boards; purple striped cloth pastedowns; rebacked in burgundy calf. Accompanying materials: 3 pieces of snakeskin laid in. Origin: The manuscript was produced during the time of the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah Badshad (r. 1719-1748 CE) and is likely of imperial or sub-imperial provenance. The manuscript contains the Razm-nāma (Book of War), a translation into Persian of the Sanskrit Mahābhārata that was sponsored by the Mughal Emperor Akbar in the 1580s, with a preface (muqaddama) by Abu'l Fazl. This manuscript... The colophon at the end of the fourth book gives the date "caharom sahar jumad al-sani 967," that is, "the 4th day of the month of Jumada-al sani, 967, regnal year of the emporer Muhammad Shah Badshah" or 2nd March 1560 CE. It is unclear what this date refers to. It seems to be a copyist's error. Byname: Razmnāma. Shelfmark: Chicago, IL, University of Chicago Library, Ms341. Stamped seal on second front flyleaf: "Al-majdu lillah". The date on the seal, 1169 AH [1755 CE], indicates ownership and likely refers to the date in which the manuscript entered a Muslim nobleman's library.
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