Persian Manuscripts: Their Significance to Past, Present and Future
Two-day conference Held at The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad in collaboration with BIPS and the University of St Andrews
The second year of the British Institute of Persian Studies research project “Persian Manuscripts between East and West: Britain, India and the Persian Literary Heritage” was marked by a two-day international conference in Hyderabad 11-12 November 2024. Organized by the English and Foreign Languages University Hyderabad in collaboration with the University of St Andrews, UK, the conference brought together scholars working on Persian and Persianate manuscripts in both India and the UK to explore the role of Persian manuscripts as a major source for the cultural and literary history of India.
Full conference programme: Persian Manuscripts: Their Significance to Past, Present and Future
The conference began with a welcome from the Conference Organiser, Dr Mahmood Alam, with addresses by his colleagues at EFL, Prof. Syed Rashid Naseem, Prof. T. Samson, Prof. Haribandi Lakshmi and Dr. Md. Abrarul Haque, in addition to Prof. Andrew Peacock (University of St Andrews), Prof. Syed Akhtar Husain (JNU), Dr. Smitha S Kumar (Archaeological Survey of India) and Dr. Sudha Gopalkrishnan (India International Centre).
Over the two days 24 papers were presented — three online, the rest in person. They were divided roughly into presentations about specific collections, case studies of individual works or authors, and different genres of literature.
The collections described included those of both colonial administrators, for example Antoine Polier (1741-95), Richard Johnson (1753-1807) and George William Hamilton (1807-68), and of collectors such as the Safavid exile Abu’l-Fath Muhammad Sultan Mirza Safavi (1763-1816/7), and the prominent scholar and poet Sadr al-Din Azurda — now in the Delhi Collection at the British Library. An important contribution was a preliminary study of Nawabi manuscript library inventories between 1750 and 1850.
We also heard about the appeal of the Sultanate poet Amir Khusrau (d. 1325) evident through the many copies of his works preserved in British collections, and similarly the multiple copies of the poet Faizi’s Persian retelling of the classical story of Nala and Damayanti. Other papers presented individual case studies of particular copies of Rashid al-Din’s Chingiznama, a ca. 1480 Turkman Khamsa of Nizami, a work copied by the great calligrapher Mir ʻAli and a copy Khalila va Dimna which had belonged to Claudius Rich (1786-1821), resident in Baghdad from 1816 to 1821. Through analysis of seals, ownership inscriptions and other paratextual information, the movement of manuscripts across regions via different owners revealed a range of important cultural networks.
Other papers highlighted bilingual Arabic-Persian manuscripts in early modern India, Dakhni romance literature and historical works such as the writings of the early modern Afghan communities in Northern India, and the Fathiya-i Ibriya, on the campaign against Koc̲h̲ Bihar and Assam in the early part of Aurangzeb’s reign.
The success of the conference was evident from the tone of addresses in the valedictory session. It was altogether an enriching experience and all the more rewarding for bringing together scholars of Indo-Persian studies from South Asia, Europe and the United States. We especially have to thank Mahmood Alam and his team for being such hospitable hosts and making it such a successful meeting.
