BAZIL MASHHADI’S HAMLEH-YE HEYDARI
PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION
Iran or possibly Kashmir, North India, dated late autumn, early Rabi’ ul Awwal 1196 AH (February - March 1782)

Persian manuscript on paper, 220ff., each folio with 23ll. of black ink nasta’liq script in mathnawi meter arranged in four vertical columns, within blue, red, gold, and black rules, the opening bifolio with gold and polychrome illumination and the script in gold cloudbands, chapter headings in red, catchwords, with stamps from the library of the Iranian Ministry of Education confirming the book was a lent dating 1330 Solar Hijri (1951), in stamped brown morocco binding, the text panel 27cm x 16cm, the folio 32.3cm x 20cm.

A number of poets penned a Hamleh-ye Heydari (the Lion’s Attack), celebrating the lives and battles of the Prophet and Ali. The epic of Mashhadi (died 1710) is the best-known version, heralding an entire genre of narrative poetry popular in the Indian Sub-continent, rivaling the Rowza in Iran.