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Manuscript/Mixed Material Mas̲navī maʻnavī مثنوي معنوي

About this Item

Title

  • Mas̲navī maʻnavī

Other Title

  • مثنوي معنوي

Summary

  • Masnavi-e Manawi (Spiritual rhyming couplets) is the famous poetic collection of the medieval ecstatic mystic scholar and Sufi, Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (1207-73), known in Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Iran as Mowlana or Mawlānā Jalaluddin Balkhi and in the West as Rumi. This Persian manuscript in nastaliq script is a complete 15th century copy of Masnavi, with all six volumes. Narratives, homilies, and commentaries appear throughout. Many stories have stock characters, such as beggars, prophets, kings, and animals. Ethical concerns, traditional wisdom, and stories filled with jokes, including ones about sexuality and ethnic and gender stereotypes, appear throughout Masnavi. Prose pieces are arranged extemporaneously, sometimes breaking off mid-narrative and resuming later. Masnavi begins with Rumi's famous "Song of the Reed," which is the 18-verse prologue. This song, scholars have argued, contains the essence of the work. A mystic who has become separated from God is searching for his origin, and longs to find it again; Rumi suggests in this song that love of God is the only way to return to that state. The first story of Masnavi expands on "Song of the Reed," and is about a king whose love for a sick slave cures her illness. All six books have their own introductions. The introduction to book one, written in Arabic, defines Masnavi as "the roots of religion" and "uncovering the secrets of knowledge and union." Masnavi's contents are specified as a creed, holy law, proof of God, cure for man's ills, and mysticism. Rumi also praises the supremacy of God: "He is the most protective and most merciful of all." The other introductions are mostly in Persian (the one to book three is partly in Arabic) and some are part prose and part verse. In each one, Rumi praises his leading disciple and successor, Ḥosām-al-Din Chalabi (died 1284), and his contribution to Masnavi. The work has a mixed verse-and-prose conclusion in Persian and Arabic entitled "The seventh book of the books of Masnavi," which is not part of the known original of Masnavi; however, there are claims for a seventh book. If true, then this manuscript is a rare copy. Rumi's full name and the year of publication, 1435, appear on the last page of book six. The place of publication is not given; it was probably somewhere in Khorasan. Each narrative has a rubricated heading. Pages are not numbered. World Digital Library.

Names

  • Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, Maulana, 1207-1273

Created / Published

  • 845 [1441 or 1442]

Headings

  • -  Manuscripts, Persian--Washington (D.C.)
  • -  Iran

Notes

  • -  Colophon: Tamma al-kitāb al-Mathnawī al-maʻnawī min kalām sulṭān al-ʻārifīn ... Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, qaddasa Allah sirrahu al-ʻazīz fī shuhūr sanat khams [wa-]ʻarbaʻīn wa-thamānimiʼah ...
  • -  Incipit: Bishnaw az nay jūn ḥikāyat mīkunad, vaz judāʼīhā shikāyat mīkunad.
  • -  1b-314a.
  • -  At end of the text, beginning on folio 314b is a 2 page poem titled: Daftar haftum az dafātir-i Mas̲navī.
  • -  Later brown leather envelope binding; embossed medallions front and back; missing envelope flap.
  • -  Library of Congress. Persian manuscript, 71/48.
  • -  Manuscript.
  • -  Nastaʻliq; 23 lines in written area 18.5 x 11.5 cm.
  • -  Paper; cream-colored Middle Eastern slightly polished paper; black ink with rubrication; richly decorated title page, page following title page and chapter headings; rich border enclosing the beginning of the poem containst the following lines: "Tā qiyāmat kar rah-i ṣūrat ravī // Tā qiyāmat bū-0yi maʻná nashnavī // Jān-i jāvidān agar khvāhī bikhvān // Mas̲navī-i maʻnavī-i mawlavī"; catchwords on rectos.
  • -  Preceding the text, on folios 1b (first group) and 1a (second group) there is a brief essay in Arabic; in margin "Fīhā miṣbāḥ".
  • -  Probably written in Iran.
  • -  Title from folio 2a.
  • -  Rieu, Charles. Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, v. 2, p. 585-586
  • -  Rypka, Jan. History of Iranian literature, p. 241
  • -  Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website.
  • -  Persian.
  • -  Colophon: تم الكتاب المثموي المعنوي من كلام سلطان العارفين ... مولانا جلال الدين رومي قدس الله سره العزيز في شهور سنه خمس عربعين وثمانماية ...
  • -  Incipit: بشنو از نى جون حكايت ميكند, وز جدائيها شكايت ميكند.

Medium

  • 1, 314, 2 leaves (23 lines) bound : paper ; 25.5 x 17.5 cm

Call Number/Physical Location

  • PK6481 .M6 1441

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2012498861

Online Format

  • pdf
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

The contents of the Library of Congress Persian Language Manuscript Project are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions and are free to use and reuse.

Credit Line: Library of Congress, African and Middle East Division, Near East Section Persian Manuscript Collection

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Jalāl Al-Dīn Rūmī, Maulana. Mas̲navī Maʻnavī. [845 or 1442, 1441] Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/2012498861/.

APA citation style:

Jalāl Al-Dīn Rūmī, M. (1441) Mas̲navī Maʻnavī. [845 or 1442] [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2012498861/.

MLA citation style:

Jalāl Al-Dīn Rūmī, Maulana. Mas̲navī Maʻnavī. [845 or 1442, 1441] Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2012498861/>.