Two poems in the Gorani dialect (related to Zazaki and considered by some to be a Kurdish language). ff. 1r-67v : Kitāb-i Khurshīd-i Khāvar, the story of Khurshīd, son of the King of Khāvar Zamīn and Khirāmān, the daughter of the Emperor of China. ff. 68v-134v : Kitāb-i Laylá va Majnūn, the well-known story of Layla and Majnun, missing its first verse. Both poems are anonymous. They are written in popular style, and in a very simple form of versification. Each line is composed of ten syllables, without any fixed rule in respect to quantity, and is divided by a cesure into two hemistichs of equal length. The manuscript is water damaged, which has caused the ink to bleed on some folios, although not to the point of being illegible.
Two Gorani Poems
This material is held atBritish Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections
- Reference
- GB 59 Add MS 7829
- Dates of Creation
- Early 19th century
- Language of Material
- Kurdish
- Physical Description
- 2 texts 134 ff Materials : Burnished cream paper. Dimensions : 208 mm x 147 mm. Foliation : Western. Ruling : No text boxes, but the text area is 155 mm x 82 mm, divided into two columns. Script : Nastaᵓliq. Ink : Black ink throughout with red ink for titles. Binding : Western red morocco binding.
Scope and Content
Access Information
Not Public Record(s)
Unrestricted
Other Finding Aids
See Rieu, Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1888), pp. 728-733 for a description of the manuscript and a brief overview of the Gorani dialect and its points of difference from contemporary Persian.