MANUSCRIPTS

Spent the whole day with some old manuscripts.Was also lead to the Princeton University library Collection of Rare Books and Manuscripts on line.It is a wonderful place for all those interested in literature of past centuries.The collection in the Islamic Manuscript section is wonderful and really many rare items are digitized.Was swept off my feet by looking at a qalmi nusjha of Mir Hassan's MATHNAVI SEHRULBAYAN.It was amazing to read a naat in persian composed by celebrated Kashmiri poet of 19th century MEHMUD GAMI on the last blank page of the manuscript.How did Mehmud Gami find his way in to a manuscript of sehrulbayan ?This is the question I grappled with for the whole day.Anyway the product of the day's labour is a research paper which will appear shortly in print.