Makaranda Madhukar Anand Mahendale Festshrift

Author(s): M A Dhaky, Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre

Page 256

Manuscript Collection in the Asiatic Society of Bombay
245
The MS. was rebound in calf, when on a visit to the Library in 1906. His Excellency the Governor of Bombay remarked that it was in a dilapidated condition needing repairs. Offers for the purchase have been received in the past, including one from the Italian Government under Mussolini. But the Management rejected these offers and the manuscript remains one of the proudest possessions of the Society.
Also, one more very prized collections of the library is an illustrated manuscript of Shāhnāmāh of Firdausi. Shāhnāmāh is an epic accounting the history of the early kings of Persia and other episodes, such as the fight between the hero Rustom and his son Suhrab, and from these epochs down to the reign of Yazdagir who reigned in A. H. 411/A. D. 1020, with whom the epic ends. The manuscript is profusely illustrated, every chapter beginning with a painting. The colophon of the manuscript mentions that it was prepared in A. H. 900/A. D. 1495 at Shirāz, which was a famous school of painting in Iran. The paintings are mainly illustrations of war scenes or of the feats of the heroes. The warriors and the heroes are seen fighting the enemies either on foot or on saddled horses, wearing heavy armours, inside the fort or outside in an open landscape. Paintings are colourful, being in various shades of red, pink, mauve, green, and also the prominent gold. The calligraphy of this very beautiful manuscript is of very high quality.
The discovery of the dated illustrated manuscript of The 'Aranyaka Parva' has been an event of major importance for the history of Indian miniature painting. It affords a reasonable basis for ascribing approximate dates to a number of well known illustrated manuscripts, as also for determining their provenance. The Society got this manuscript along with other manuscripts of Dr. Bhau Daji Lad collection in 1882. It is apparent from the colophon folio that the manuscript originally had 362 folios but at present only 230 folios are extant. It is dated Samvat 1573/A. D. 1516. This manuscript was copied at Yoginipura, under the rule of Sikandar Lodi for Bhanudas Chaudhari. Almost all the folios of the Ms. are ornamented with beautiful old pictures indicative of the story written on them, The 'Aranyaka Parva' of the Mahābhārata deals with the events during the 12 years of exile of the Pāndavas after Yudhisthtira's defeat at the game of dice.
The Jaina tradition has patronised painting illustrating the episodes