Timurnama

{{Other uses|Zafarnama (disambiguation){{!}}Zafarnama}}

{{Infobox poem

| name = Timurnama

| author = Hatefi

| image = File:Pir 'Ali al-Jami - Double-page Illuminated Frontispiece - Walters W6484B - Full Page.jpg

| caption = Page of an illuminated and illustrated manuscript of the Timurnama (Walters manuscript W.648){{Sfn|Melville|2021|pp=1125-1126}}

| language = Persian

| subject = Timur

| form = Part of a Khamsa

}}

The Timurnama (Book of Timur) is a poem by the Persian poet Hatefi about the life of the Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur (1336–1405). It was written between 1492 and 1498 and is often viewed as the most important work by Hatefi. It differs from the earlier Zafarnama of Yazdi, although the subject is the same, namely the life and deeds of Timur.

The Timurnama is the fourth part of Hatefi's Khamsa, a quintet of five long Persian poems, and has been published in India in 1869 and 1958.

Author

The Timurnama was written by the Persian poet Hatefi ({{Circa|1454}}–1521), a nephew of Jami, who in turn was a prolific scholar and writer of mystical Sufi literature.{{Sfn|Melville|2021|p=1123}} Hatefi was born in Khar Gerd, which lies in today's Razavi Khorasan province of Iran and during the author's lifetime was part of the declining Timurid Empire (1370–1507) and later Safavid Iran (1501–1736).

Hatefi served at the shrine for the Sufi mystic Qasim Anvar.{{Sfn|Melville|2021|p=1123}}

History

File:Frontispiece. Hatifi, Tīmūrnāma, dated 1568. Bukhara kitābkhāna. Tashkent, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Abu Rayhan Biruni Institute of Oriental Studies, Ms. 2102, fols.105r–106v.jpg kitābkhāna, dated 1568.{{cite journal |last1=Comstock-Skipp |first1=Jaimee K. |title=From the Khan to the Sultan: The Abu’l-Khairid Shāhnāma in the Topkapı Palace Library (H.1488) and Manuscript Production and Presentation under ʿAbdullah bin Iskandar Khan |journal=Muqarnas Online |date=3 October 2024 |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=284–285 |doi=10.1163/22118993_0040_009 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/muqj/40/1/article-p273_8.pdf?srsltid=AfmBOoo6IJiFck6k9r1cIcPYxDVXuxq4kzTpSL_HqalMGhwQ0Rf7MXCm}}]]

In the tradition of the Khamsa of Nizami and that of Amir Khusrau, Hatefi also aspired to write a Khamsa.{{Sfn|Melville|2021|p=1124}} Nizami's and Amir Khusrau's fourth poems both retell the Alexander Romance, an account of the life and exploits of Alexander the Great.{{Sfn|Melville|2021|p=1124}} Hatefi substituted this narration of the life of Alexander with an epic about Timur.{{Sfn|Melville|2021|p=1124}} The scholar Carles Melville argues that Hatefi thereby "implicitly identify[ed] Timur as another Alexander."{{Sfn|Melville|2021|p=1124}} Hatefi, however, did not model his work on Nizami or Amir Khusrau, but after Ferdowsi's Shahnameh.{{Sfn|Melville|2021|p=1123}}{{Sfn|Bernardini|2003a|p=4}}

The Timurnama was written between 1492 and 1498.{{Sfn|Melville|2021|p=1123}}{{Sfn|Bernardini|2003a|p=3}} Hatefi's main source of information on the life of Timur was the Zafarnama of Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi ({{Died in|1454}}).{{Sfn|Melville|2018|pp=56–57}} He wrote his poem for the court of Badi' al-Zaman Mirza.{{Sfn|Bernardini|2003a|p=8}}

The number of manuscripts of the Timurnama which have been preserved suggest that the work was highly regarded.{{Sfn|Bernardini|2003a|p=7}} The Encyclopædia Iranica notes that it is "certainly the most famous of Hātefi's poems".{{Sfn|Bernardini|2003}}

Content

The content of the poem cannot be deemed to be a historical account of the life of Timur. The scholar Bernardini argues that it is a "literary effort to confer an aura of superhumanity over trivial historical facts".{{Sfn|Bernardini|2003a|p=8}}

Manuscripts and publications

= Manuscripts =

File:The sacking of Isfahan. Scene of looting, murder and pillage in which molten metal is poured down a victim's throat. A miniature painting from a sixteenth century manuscript of the Timurnama. Produced in Bukhara, Iran, mid 16th century.jpg, by Timur. Timurnama, Bukhara (mid 16th century)]]

File:Timur’s troops lay siege to a fortress in Khurasan. Tīmūrnāma, dated 1568. Bukhara kitābkhāna. Tashkent, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Abu Rayhan Biruni Institute of Oriental Studies, Ms. 21022, fol 45v.jpg kitābkhāna, dated 1568.{{cite journal |last1=Comstock-Skipp |first1=Jaimee K. |title=From the Khan to the Sultan: The Abu’l-Khairid Shāhnāma in the Topkapı Palace Library (H.1488) and Manuscript Production and Presentation under ʿAbdullah bin Iskandar Khan |journal=Muqarnas Online |date=3 October 2024 |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=284–285 |doi=10.1163/22118993_0040_009 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/muqj/40/1/article-p273_8.pdf?srsltid=AfmBOoo6IJiFck6k9r1cIcPYxDVXuxq4kzTpSL_HqalMGhwQ0Rf7MXCm}}]]

Many manuscripts of the Timurnama have survived; Bernardini lists 141 manuscripts of the poem in his provisional list.{{Sfn|Bernardini|2003a|pp=10–17}} Notable ones include the following:

{{Abbr|Ms|Manuscript}} Persan 357 in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France by Sulṭān-ʿAlī al-Qāʾinī al-Sultānī.{{Sfn|Bernardini|2003a|pp=10–17}} The manuscript has been digitized.{{Cite web |title=Persan 357 |url=https://archivesetmanuscrits.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cc1015772?collect |website=Bibliothèque nationale de France |access-date=22 July 2024 |archive-date=26 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240726203545/https://archivesetmanuscrits.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cc1015772?collect |url-status=live }}
{{Abbr|Ms|Manuscript}} Barb.or.104 in the Vatican Apostolic Library by Mu˙sin b. Lu†fullàh Ma'àd Óusaynì Sabzavàrì.{{Sfn|Bernardini|2003a|p=6}} The manuscript has been digitized.{{Cite web |title=Barb.or.104 |url=https://digi.vatlib.it/mss/detail/Barb.or.104 |website=Vatican Apostolic Library |access-date=22 July 2024 |archive-date=21 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240721172239/https://digi.vatlib.it/mss/detail/Barb.or.104 |url-status=live }}
Object 2014.392 in the Harvard Art Museums by Mahmud ibn Ishaq Siyavushani.{{Sfn|Melville|2021|pp=1128-1129}} The 1520 manuscript has been digitized.{{Cite web |title=2014.392: Illustrated Manuscript of the Zafarnama (Book of Conquest) by Hatifi; with lacquer binding |url=https://hvrd.art/o/351923 |website=Harvard Art Museums |access-date=22 July 2024 |archive-date=26 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240726203544/https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/351923 |url-status=live }}

= Publications =

The Timurnama has been published in 1869 and 1958 in India.{{Sfn|Bernardini|2003}} However, no critical edition of the text has been produced. The 1958 edition is based on "two manuscripts available in the Government Oriental Manuscripts Library, Madras".{{Sfn|Melville|2018|pp=57-58}}

{{Cite book |last=Hatifi |first=Abdullah |author-link=Hatefi |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.438863 |title=Ẓafar-nāma-ye Hātefi |date=1869 |location=Lucknow}}
{{Cite book |last=Hatifi |first=Abdullah |author-link=Hatefi |url=https://archive.org/details/aclarch000053a59 |title=Timur Nama |publisher=University of Madras |year=1958 |editor-last=Yuša |editor-first=A. S. |series=Madras University Islamic Series |volume=19}}

References

= Citations =

= Sources =

{{Encyclopaedia Iranica|volume=12|fascicle=1|title=Hātefi, ʿAbd-Allāh|last=Bernardini|first=Michele|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/hatefi|pages=55–57|ref={{SfnRef|Bernardini|2003}}}}
{{Cite book |last=Bernardini |first=Michele |title=Society and Culture in the Early Modern Middle East. Studies on Iran in the Safavid Period |date=2003a |publisher=Brill |editor=Newman |editor-first=Andrew J. |location=Leiden |pages=3–18 |chapter=Hātifī’s Tīmūrnāmeh and Qāsimī’s Shāhnāmeh-yi Ismā‘īl: Considerations for a Double Critical Edition |doi=10.1163/9789047401711 |isbn=978-90-474-0171-1 |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1163/9789047401711_004}}
{{Cite journal |last=Melville |first=Charles |author-link=Charles P. Melville |date=2018 |title=Notes on Some Manuscripts of Hatifi's Timurnama in Cambridge University Collections |url=https://www.academia.edu/38685358 |journal=Asiatica |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=54–68}}
{{Cite book |last=Melville |first=Charles |title=Exploring Written Artefacts: Objects, Methods, and Concepts |date=2021 |pages=1123–1146 |author-link=Charles P. Melville |url= |publisher=De Gruyter |doi=10.1515/9783110753301 |isbn=978-3-11-075330-1 |series=Studies in Manuscript Cultures |volume=25 |editor-last=Quenzer |editor-first=Jörg B. |chapter=On Some Manuscripts of Hatifi’s Timurnama |doi-access=free |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110753301-055}}