From Court to Archive: The Mughal Imperial Library and the Institutional Afterlife of ʿArafāt al-ʿĀshiqīn

MELA notes. 2026 Open access

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Authors: Shahla Farghadani
DOI: 10.5070/m7.62284
Cited by: 0

Abstract

This article traces the four-century journey of the earliest surviving copy of ʿArafāt al-ʿĀshiqīn va ʿArasāt al-ʿĀrifīn (MS 5324, Malek National Library, Tehran), a seminal Persian poetic anthology compiled by Taqī al-Dīn Awhadī Balyānī in Mughal India. Through a microhistorical analysis of codicological features, ownership seals, inspection notes, and valuation marks, it reconstructs the manuscript’s passage from the library of the nobleman Sayf Khān into the Mughal Imperial Library, and later into Qajar Iran and the collection of Ḥusayn Āqā Malek.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Libraries Manuscripts and Books Libraries and Information Services Turkish Literature and Culture

Publication details

Journal / source
MELA notes.
Volume
97
Issue
1
Publication date
9 February 2026
Language
EN