Persian Collections
South Asian Studies: Persian Collections
A summary of Yale University Library's South Asia Collection, which includes material from and about Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Himalayan region, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
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Ethnomusicology - South Asia
Himalayan Studies
Missionaries in South Asia
Sanskrit / Pali / Prakrit
Sanskritists' archives
South Asia in MSSA
South Asia in the Beinecke
GIS Maps & Data
South Asia Diaspora
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Persian Special Collections
This is a small selection of Yale Persian archival collections related to South Asia. You can also browse the Beinecke Persian collection by doing a "Call number (local)" search for "persian" in Orbis. See some selected photos of the collection.
Yale's Persian manuscripts (Orbis)
Includes approximately 240 manuscripts, some dating back to the 1600s. Some come from the India Office. Also contains multiple editions of the Mahabharata (see below).
Mahābhārata, [17--?]
Persian MSS +188. Fair modern (18th century?) nastaʻlīq, in red and black; miniature in colors on leaf 1 verso. Purchased from the Wellcome-Kraus collection in 1949. Summary:The Mahāhbhārata, translated into Persian. Parva I.
Persian MSS 152. Modern (18th century?) hasty nastaʻlīq. In manuscript on lining paper: "A[lexander] Ramsay." Islamic binding, in pink. Ex libris Alexander Ramsay. Purchased from the Wellcome-Kraus collection in 1949. Summary:The Mahāhbhārata, translated into Persian. Parva IV.
Mahābhārata, [1795]
Persian MSS 158. In manuscript inside front cover of Parva IV: "A[lexander] Ramsay." Hasty nastaʻlīq, in red and black. Islamic binding, paper covered. Parva IV copied on A.H. 15 Jumādá al-S̲ānī [sic] 1209 [A.D. 1795]. Ex libris Alexander Ramsay. Purchased from the Wellcome-Kraus collection in 1949. Summary:The Mahāhbhārata, translated into Persian. Parva IV, V, IX-XI.
Persian MSS +94. Some images digitized online. Fair nastaʻlīq, in red and black; with large miniatures in colors. Copied in Hindi era 1907 [A.D. 1850]. Islamic binding, in red. Purchased from the Wellcome-Kraus collection in 1949. Summary:The Mahāhbhārata, translated into Persian.
Dīvān, [17--?]; Ḥāfiẓ, 14th cent.
Persian MSS 120 . In manuscript on leaf 1 verso: "R.M. Binning E[ast]. I[ndia]. C[ompany]. C[ivil]. S[ervice]. Madras." Modern (18th century?) nastaʻlīq; ʻunwān in gold and colors on leaf 1 verso. Considerable marginalia. Ex libris R.M. Binning. Purchased from the Wellcome-Kraus collection in 1949.
[Persian calligraphy specimens], [16--?-18--?].
Persian MSS +82. Title assigned by cataloger. Various hands of various ages. With several miniatures in colors. Mounted in a photograph album, covering the photographs under each leaf of manuscript. Armorial bookplate of Viscount Townshend. Front cover lettered: J.L. O'B. Mostly Persian, with some leaves of Arabic, and two leaves of Hindu [Hindi?]. Ex libris Viscount Townshend. Purchased from the Wellcome-Kraus collection in 1949.
Khulāṣah-ʾi aḥvāl-i Bānū Begam, [1866].
Persian MSS 126. Good nastaʻlīq, in red and black; colored drawings of buildings pasted in. Copied on A.H. Z̲ū al-Ḥijjah 1282 [A.D. 1866] in Tājgunj by Khām [sic] Mughl-i Beg. With interlinear English translation. Summary:Biography of Bānū Begam, surnamed Mumtāz Maḥall, and known as Tāj Bībī, wife of Shāh Jahān, and of the buildings connected with her name.
Persian correspondence [11 volumes] (YUL)
Calendar of Persian correspondence, being letters, referring mainly to affairs in Bengal, which passed between some of the company's servants and Indian rulers and notables ... [1759-1795]
Arcadia 4: Complete item list
Complete list of Titles in the Arcadia 4 - Old Yale Persian Philology project
This is a Zotero bibliography, which means that if you use Zotero you can automatically import these titles into your own collection. If you don't use Zotero, you can still browse the bibliography.
The South Asia Collection at Yale began in earnest in the 1840s after Prof. Edward Salisbury began teaching Sanskrit and consequently endowed the Edward E. Salisbury Professorship of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology. Through the Arcadia grant, the South Asia Collection at Yale University is expanding its digital presence. Twenty Persian philology books, some of which were signed by Salisbury himself, were cataloged, preserved, and digitized. These 20 older Persian philology texts range in date from 1726-1900, and either originate from India, are rare European translations, or are reprints. This unusual collection holds important information for any scholar interested in the literary aspects of the Mughal Empire in India or the history of Muslims in India.
Arcadia 4: Digitization of Persian Titles
Persian Titles: Conservation and Digitization
Through the Arcadia grant, the South Asia Collection at Yale University is expanding its digital presence. Twenty Persian books will be cataloged, digitized, and preserved. Both the digital images and the online catalog records will be made accessible by the end of summer 2013.
While most Persian works are currently published in Iran, these 20 older Persian philology texts selected for this project either originate from India, are rare European translations, or are reprints. All of the selected items have fewer than 26 holdings listed in WorldCat, which places them all in the "endangered" category according to current Yale preservation standards. This unusual collection holds important information for any scholar interested in the literary aspects of the Mughal Empire in India or the history of Muslims in India.
[A sampling of the books to be digitized. Photo credit Sarah Calhoun.]
To facilitate the process of cataloging, conserving, digitizing, and providing access, the South Asia Collection is collaborating with several library units including Preservation and Conservation, Cataloging, Yale University Library Information Technology (YUL IT), the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, and the Near East Collection.
Thanks to the efforts in Cataloging, all twenty items have already been cataloged and their MARC records have been uploaded to WorldCat, allowing them to be moved from the older Yale classification system and into the current standard Library of Congress call number system. As a result, these books can be indexed for use in modern search interfaces.
Prior to digitization, YUL's Preservation and Conservation units treated the books, and then sent nineteen of the books to a vendor to be digitized. The twentieth, now held at the Beinecke because of its age, will be digitized in-house. When the books return from being digitized, the YUL Conservation Lab will perform post-digitization treatment and then return the collection to the shelves for circulation. Just as the records are currently visible in WorldCat, the digital images will be preserved and made visible in the Hydra repository being constructed by YUL IT for Arcadia-funded projects and other digital collections.
[Notes from Conservator: "Before conservation treatment" - book was disbound to facilitate image capture; pages, including manuscript leaves were collated; treated to remove previous damaging repairs and reduce staining; textblock will be reconstructed post-imaging and rebound or housed after consultation with the South Asian Studies Librarian.
Handwritten notes read: "Chronogram: Hafiz shed dazzling light upon his learned train / As a pure lamp with heav'nly rays supplied / Thrice fake thou from Mosella's Earth its richest grain / Where sleeps the poet, mark the year he died."]
-- submitted by Sarah Calhoun, Elizabeth Beaudin, April 2013. From Yale Digital Initiatives - News & Events.
A Guide to Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu Manuscript Libraries in India
An article that details Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu manuscript collections across India, including the following details: size, language, location, description, condition of material.
The Text Archive of Persian Classical Literature
"The Text Archive of Persian Classical Literature" is an academic website for scholars majoring in Persian literature or Iranian studies in the world.
A Thousand Years of the Persian Book (Library of Congress)
The online version of an exhibition running in the Library of Congress from 3/27/14-9/20/14 about the history of the Persian Book.
Going Global in Mughal India
"My digital muraqqa' [album] pays homage to this important and intriguing art of the book by mimicking some aspects of its form, even while adapting and updating it for a scholarly project of the twenty-first century. Like Jahangir and Shah Jahan's grand albums, which have inspired my own, I too have brought together in these pages an eclectic array of paintings, prints, and photographs of objects spanning genres and historical time periods. I have attempted as well to digitally conjure up the spirit of the Mughal album by assembling and curating an artifact in which images are in dialogue with other images in a manner that demands contemplation and immersion, but also discussion and debate."
Librarian for South Asian Studies
Rich Richie
Sterling Memorial Library, 212
Southeast Asia Reading Room: Sterling Memorial Library, 214
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Last Updated: Nov 16, 2021 10:19 AM
URL: https://guides.library.yale.edu/SouthAsia
Subjects: South Asian Studies
Tags: asian studies, commonwealth, CONSALD, himalaya, india, international studies, primary sources, south_asia