![‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎173r] (350/722)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0002d7/Mss Eur F112_376_0356.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎173r] (350/722)")
‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [173r] (350/722)
The record is made up of 1 volume (384 folios). It was created in 1886-1895. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
a man celebrated for his learning, who visited the Imperial library
at St. Petersburg on the occasion of his embassy to Russia, who had a
catalogue made of this rich collection of manuscripts. According to this
catalogue, this library possesses in all 2,997 works in 3,654 volumes and 64
deeds in 100 rolls, such as pious legacies, donations, &c. Among the books
are 1,041 kurans, 189 in print and 852 in manuscript: 42 of the latter are
said to have been copied by Imams, and only 5 kurans are written in the
Cufic character; the remainder are in the Mashk and Rackhani char
acters. Some of these manuscripts are singularly beautiful and of great
size. Nadir Shah and a certain Assadulla are the two who have contributed
most to enrich the library; they have both given donations of 400 manu
scripts. After these comes the eunuch Safi Ahmad Tuni, called Alien,
who has given 232 manuscripts; Agha-el-Abadin, an employe of the estab
lishment, 74, &c., &c. According to their subjects, the works are classed as
follows:—
Km-ans ... ... ... ... ...
Books of Prayer and Guides for Pilgrims
Treatises on Jurisprudence and all Religions
Treatises on the Shiite Religion
Miscellaneous works, such as Treatises on Exterior Duties,
Ablutions, &e. ; Traditions, Judicial Decisions on peculiar
cases, &c. ... ... ...
Works on the Safi’s Doctrines
Treatises on Logic ... ...
Philosophy and Metaphysics
Mathematics ... ... ... ...
Medicine
Dictionaries, Rhetoric, the Art of Reading the Kuran
History
Arabian, Turkish, and Persian Poetry
Prosody ... ... ••• •••
Encyclopsedias
Collections of various Scientific and Literary Works
Total
This collection of manuscripts is valuable ; but many European libraries
have nothing to covet from it.
The deeds preserved in the ‘ Sahan/ a name which comprises the mosques
and all its surroundings, are not remarkable for their antiquity, nor for the
variety of their contents.
The oldest titledeed dates from the year 938 of the Hijera. It was a
donation made from a village, Ahmadabad, by a. pilgrim to the mosque
of the Imam. The remaining 63 have been given from that date up to
The walls of the Sahan have preserved certain dates, which somewhat help
to fix the date of this celebrated edifice. The dates only go back to
the time of the Safaides, though it is known by Ibn Batuta/s journey
that this mosque existed and was revered at his time ; but as the dynasty
founded by Shah Ismail was the first royal family who gave an official
character to the Shiite religion. They wished, perhaps, to associate the
names of its representatives with all the buildings revered by this sect.
An inscription round the cupola raised over the tomb of the Imam states
that they were enabled to finish the dome by the munificence of Shah
Abbas; but the date of construction is effaced. The top of the golden
dome is adorned with an inscription, which declares it was completed in
Vols.
1,041
299
246
221
931
47
50
189
49-
81
166
39
42
105
9'
138
(?) 3,654
About this item
- Content
This volume is Volume I of the four-volume Gazetteer of Persia (1886 edition). It was compiled for political and military reference by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Metcalfe MacGregor, Assistant Quarter Master General, in 1871, and brought up to 31 July 1885 by the Intelligence Branch, Quarter Master General’s Department in India. It was printed by the Government Central Branch Press, Simla, India in 1886.
The areas of Persia [Iran] covered are Astarabad, Shahrud-Bustan, Khurasan [Khorāsān], and Sistan. The boundaries of the areas covered by Volume I are as follows: the Afghan border from the River Helmand to Sarakhs in the east; and from there a line north-west to Askhabad, due west to the Atrak, which it follows to the Caspian Sea; then along the sea coast to Ashurada Island; then in a straight line to Shahrud; and from the latter south-east to Tabas hill, Sihkuha, and the Helmand, from where the river first meets the south-east border of Sistan.
The gazetteer includes entries on human settlements and buildings (forts, hamlets, villages, towns, provinces, and districts); communications (passes, roads, bridges, canals, and halting places); tribes and religious sects; and physical features (rivers, streams, springs, wells, fords, valleys, mountains, hills, plains, and bays). Entries include information on history, geography, buildings, population, ethnography, resources, trade, agriculture, and climate.
Information sources are provided at the end of each gazetteer entry, in the form of an author or source’s surname, italicised and bracketed.
The volume includes the following illustrations: ‘VIEW OF AK-DARBAND.’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 12v]; ‘PLAN OF AK-KALA.’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 14]; ‘ROUGH SKETCH OF ASTARÁBÁD, FROM AN EYE-SKETCH BY LT.-COL. BERESFORD LOVETT, R. E., 1881.’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 24]; ‘ROUGH PLAN OF BASHRÚGAH’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 40v]; ‘ROUGH PLAN OF BÚJNÚRD’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 48]; and ‘BUJNURD, FROM THE S. W.’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 49v].
It also includes the following inserted papers (folios 51 to 60): a memorandum from the Office of the Quartermaster General in India, Intelligence Branch to Lord Curzon, dated 6 December 1895, forwarding for his information ‘Corrections to Volume I of the Gazetteer of Persia’, consisting of articles on the Nishapur district of the province of Khorasan, and the Shelag river.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (384 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume is arranged as follows from the front to the rear: title page; preface; list of authorities consulted; and entries listed in alphabetical order.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 388, these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [173r] (350/722), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/376, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100107690762.0x000097> [accessed 22 March 2025]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F112/376
- Title
- ‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’
- Pages
- front, back, head, tail, spine, edge, front-i, 2r:12r, 13r:13v, 15r:23v, 25r:40r, 41r:47v, 49r, 50r:195v, 196ar:196av, 196r:357v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence