Hamed bin Fazl-Allah Jamali, An illustrated anthology from the Diwan, North India, 19th...

Hamed bin Fazl-Allah Jamali, An illustrated anthology from the Diwan, North India, 19^th century, 56ff., Persian manuscript on paper, 15 lines to the page written in. black nastaliq, important words in blue, ruled in gold, green, red, and blue, headings written in red either in a blue and gold cartouche or within a band decorated with gold and polychrome floral motif, f.1a with the left side of an opening bifolium, f.1b with an illuminated heading, 6 paintings, unbound, folio 28 by 16.2cm.

Jamalis in mostly know for the work titled Siar al-arefin, which is a collection of biographies or Indian saints (copies of this volume are in the British Library, inv.no.Or.215; one is mentioned in the Hand-list of Oriental manuscripts of the Bibliotheca Lindesiana, 1898, inv.no.115). His Diwan comprises circa nine thousand lines and includes three mathnawi poems. The title on f.1b identifies this manuscript as the third mathnawi, titled Merʾāt al-maʿāni(The Mirror of Meanings). This third mathnawi can be divided into three sections, one devoted to the praise of the Prophet and the Master of the Path; one discuss the beloveds anatomy from head to toe and the last part discusses mystical states (aḥwāl), stations (maqāmāt), wine (šarāb) (Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. XIV, Fasc. c4, pp. 438-9).

Although this manuscript is fragmentary and possibly misbound, the headings mention topics such as love and wisdom.

The illustration which accompany this manuscript show influence from company school style as well as provincial painting styles.