Posted on: 24 December 2011

The Princeton Shahnanama Project :

This website is an archive of book paintings -commonly known as Persian Miniatures - that were created to illustrate scenes from the Persian national epic, the Shahnama (the Book of Kings). The Shahnama is a poem of some 50,000 couplets that was composed by Abu'l Qasim Firdausi over a period of several decades in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. The core of this archive is a fund of 277 illustrations from five illustrated manuscripts of the Shahnama that are housed in Princeton University's Firestone Library and which were bequeathed to Princeton by Clara S. Peck and by Robert Garrett (Class of 1897). These manuscripts date from 1544 to 1674 AD, and vary a good deal both in the number and quality of paintings each contains, and in the scenes chosen for illustration.

The website :
http://etcweb.princeton.edu/shahnama/start.epl


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The website : http://etcweb.princeton.edu/shahnama/start.epl

These Princeton manuscripts may date from 1544 to 1674 AD as mentioned above, but the 'Shahnama' itself was written together with the original illustrations around 1000 AD.

Dear Mr. Asad, do we have any of these manuscripts in India?

For the first time the Ramayana and the Mahabharata were translated into Arabic and Persian with illustrations during the Mughal times. Mahabharata was named Rajabnama. These were autographed and gifted to the Jaipur royalty by various Mughal emperors and are still in their possession. The fantastic story of Amir Humza was also illustrated during Akbar's time. That classic was recently rescued from Kashmir where the pages were being used on window panes. Interestingly this Arabic tale became indianised with fire breathing dragons, tigers, lions and elephants and characters that wore Indian clothes and even dhoti ! The recitation of dastaan-e-Amir-Humza from the grand steps of the Jama Masjid to rapt audiences was takling places till the times of the last Mughal emperor. The tradition of storytelling ( with monoacting etc) in public was a glorious tradition that had reached its zenith during the Mughal period.

Digvijay Singh Kushwaha: Do you have any other sources which chronicle the above?

Indeed Satyakam: Pls read 'Royal Court and Seraglio' by Nand Kishore Pareek and the more recently written 'The Last Emperor' by William Dalrymple. I am reproducing an extract from the former “ Rajdarbar aur Ranivaas” which will give you an idea about the aforementioned: “जयपुर के कपडद्वारे (पोथिखाने) का दूसरा भाग 'खासा संग्रह' है और इसमें साडे तीन हज़ार हस्तलिखित और अनेक बहुमूल्य चित्रों से सु-सज्जित ग्रन्थ हैं l यह वो ग्रन्थ हैं जो विभिन्न राजाओं ने अपने आश्रित कवियों , लेखको, शायरों, अनुवादको, और कातिबो से लिखवाए , आज्ञा दे कर ख़रीदवाए या जो उन्हें भेंट और उपहार में उपलब्ध हुएl महाभारत का फ़ारसी अनुवाद 'रज्म्नामा' इसी संग्रह का बेशकीमती ग्रन्थ है यह मुग़ल सम्राट अकबर के लिए उनके नवरत्नों में से एक फैजी ने प्रस्तुत किया था और दुसरे रत्न अबुल फज़ल ने इसकी प्रस्तावना लिखी थी यह प्रति अकबर के निजी पुस्तकालय की मानी जाती है क्योंकि इसमें अकबर से लेकर आगे के कई बादशाहों की मुहर लगी है जहाँ तक अनुमान किया जाता है यह तथा 'शाही रामायण' जो फ़ारसी में अकबरी दरबार के दुसरे विद्वानों ने तैयार की थी , सवाई माधो सिंह प्रथम के समय में ही जयपुर आकर पोथिखाने की संपत्ति बनी 'रज्म्नामा' में १६९ और शाही रामायण में १७२ चित्र हैं और पाठ से अधिक इन चित्रो के कारण इन दोनों ग्रंथो की कीमत आज करोडो में हैं l यहाँ ये कहना भी आप्रसंगिक नहीं होगा की जयपुर के आखरी महाराजा सवाई मान सिंह ने इस धरोहर की बड़ी बेताबी और समझदारी से हिफाज़त की १९६५ में जब पाकिस्तान का हमला हुआ और जोधपुर पर बम बरसाए गए तो महाराजा को सबसे ज्यादा चिंता पोथिखाने की हुयी जो इतनी सदियों से नगर प्रासाद में सुरक्षित था 'रज्म्नामा' और 'शाही रामायण' को फौरन वहां से सुरक्षित स्थान पर ले जाया गया था l “ .

Txs Digvijay; So if I understand from the above correctly, the translations were authored by Fazi and foreworded by Abul Fazal ?

Yes Satyakaam that is true but only of the Rajm-nama but of the shahi Ramayan there is no mention of its author or who wrote it's preface.Then there were Arabic translations. Copies of the above are in the Rampur's royal library.