A Review of some Urdu Masnavis` manuscripts from Sherani`s Collection

”ذخیرہ شیرانی“سے اردو مثنویات کے چند مخطوطوں کا جائزہ

Abstract

A manuscript is an important historic at document and a primary source of research. In libraries worldwide, countless manuscripts from different periods are preserved in book form, serving as memorials of times when printing had not yet been invented. In those days, to produce any written work by hand, one would obtain paper and ink or seek the services of a skilled calligrapher. Although every handwritten text may be called a manuscript, although greater importance is attached to those manuscripts that were compiled in book form and became a means for the promotion and dissemination of knowledge. A renowned research scholar of Urdu Hafiz Mahmood Shirani, traced many such manuscripts which were important with respect to Urdu Language and Literature. Once their authenticity was established, he included them in the Zakhira-e-Shirani (Shirani Collection). Hafiz Mahmood Shirani possessed exceptional expertise in manuscript studies. For this reason, the manuscripts in the Shirani Collection are considered original and reliable. This article discusses and offers a review of a few worth-mentioning poetic manuscripts from the Shirani Collection that is still preserved in the Oriental Section of the library at University of the Punjab (Quaid-e-Azam Campus, Lahore.