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Quran

al-Quran القرآن (The Quran) 1613

ink and opaque watercolour including metallic pigments and gold leaf on paper. | 24.6 x 13.7 cm (book measurement (conservation)) | RCIN 1005001

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  • One of the personal Qurans of Tipu Sultan of Mysore (1750-99).

    The Quran is the sacred text of Islam. According to Muslim belief it is the Word of God as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad by the Archangel Gabriel in verses of Arabic poetry.

    The text written in naskh script is signed by the otherwise unknown scribe, Harun ibn Bayazid al- Bayhaqi, dated 1613. The manuscript’s design suggests it was made in the Deccan region of India. The paper margins, ornamented with flowering plants painted in gold, are similar to those found on contemporary Mughal manuscripts and albums. The illuminated frontispiece painted in blue, red and gold paints is on a different type of paper to the main text, possibly a later addition, and signed Hasan.

    The text pages are fully bound in dark brown leather, gilt-stamped and painted, with an envelope flap. This triangular flap tucks under the front cover to protect the fore edge of the manuscript, which would have been stored flat rather than vertically. The front and back covers are decorated with an arabesque medallion at centre and carolling and floral tooling around the edges. The spine and fore edge of the binding are carved with a repeated Quranic verse asserting ‘which none but the pure of heart can touch’ (Quran 56:79).

    An inscription on the first folio of the manuscript claims that it was a gift worth 9,000 rupees presented to the Mughal Emperor Alamgir by his prime minister (vizier-i azam) Asad Khan. Alamgir’s father, Shah-Jahan, expanded the Mughal Empire into the Deccan in 1636 and Alamgir spent much of his life there. An 18th century note suggests the manuscript was later placed in the shrine of the fourteenth-century Sufi saint Hazrat Khwaja Banda Nawaz Gaisu Daraz at Gulbarga in the Deccan.

    In the late 18th century, the book came into the possession of Tipu Sultan (1782–99). Tipu owned a large number of Deccani manuscripts and had a personal connection to Gulbarga, being the southern Indian city to which his earliest recorded ancestor, Shaykh Wali Muhammad, is said to have migrated to from Delhi during Shah-Jahan’s reign. Shaykh Wali’s son, Tipu’s Great-Grandfather, married a daughter of the then trustee of the Gulbarga shrine.

    Tipu Sultan appears to have had the manuscript rebound in its original covers with the addition of a commentary on the Quran written in Persian at the beginning of the book (folios 1-17). This comprises: f.2r: a note explaining that this commentary includes tables containing information about each surah, their place of revelation, number of verses, the qualities of surahs and their ayahs, etc., made by the order of Tipu Sultan Padshah Ghazi;  f.2v: on Surah 1 (al-Fatihah) and its qualities, with a diagram; f.3r: on Surah 2 (al-Baqarah) and its qualities, with a diagram; ff. 3v–14v: tables on the contents of all other surahs; f.15r: a table indicating how many times each letter of the alphabet occurs in the Quran; f.15v: a mnemonic ghazal poem on verses of the Quran; ff. 16r–16v: a list of 17 passages of the Quran which it is imperative to pronounce correctly; ff. 17r-17v: a list of fifteen passages in the Quran for which prostration during recitation is obligatory. There are also notes written in Persian in the page margins throughout the manuscript.

    After Tipu’s death in 1799, the East India Company took hundreds of volumes from his library at Seringapatam to Calcutta where they were initially deposited in the Company’s library, the Asiatic Society Library and the Library of the College of Fort William. This volume was in the College of Fort William by 15 August 1805 and later sent to the library of East India House in London. From there it was chosen for presentation to King George III on 4th February 1807. The Quran was lent for some years to the India Museum in London before being deposited in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle.
    Provenance

    Owned by Asad Khan (1631–1717), by whom presented to Emperor Alamgir (r. 1658–1707) and placed in the shrine of Hazrat Banda Nawaz in Gulbarga. Acquired by Tipu Sultan (1750–1799). Removed by East India Company soldiers from Tipu Sultan's palace in Seringapatam in 1799. In the College of Fort William by 15 August 1805; later in the library of East India House, London. Presented to George III on 4 February 1807.

  • Medium and techniques

    ink and opaque watercolour including metallic pigments and gold leaf on paper.

    Measurements

    24.6 x 13.7 cm (book measurement (conservation))


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