Khuda Bakhsh

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Khuda Bakhsh, around 1880

Khuda Bakhsh ( Urdu خدا بخش خان, Hindi खुदाबक़्श ), b. August 2, 1842 in the village of Ukhai near Siwan in the district of Chhapra / Bihar , died August 3, 1908 in Patna / Bihar, was an Anglo-Indian Muslim lawyer and book lover . His collection of manuscripts and books form the basis of the Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library named after him in Patna / Bihar.

Life

Family, education

Khuda Bakhsh came from a family of Muslim legal scholars who had already advised the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb (1618–1707) on the compilation of his " Fatawa-al-Alamgiri " collection of laws . After attending high school (secondary school) in Patna, he studied law at the University of Calcutta until 1869 ; After completing his studies, he successfully started working as a lawyer in Patna. Due to his success, he soon became a Public Prosecutor.

Employment and structure of the collection

Khuda Bakhsh inherited his passion for collecting rare Arabic and Persian manuscripts from his father; When his father fell seriously ill in 1876 and was confined to bed due to paralysis, he made his son promise to look after the holdings (around 1,400 manuscripts , 300 of which he had inherited himself), to increase and to convert them into a pious one Convict Foundation of Islamic Law ( waqf ).

Khuda Bakhsh fulfilled this task in spite of the initially financially stressed situation of his family alongside his legal work.He soon had the reputation of an obsessed manuscript hunter who, even at personal sacrifice, against international and local competition in the Islamic world of Andalusia preceded him Morocco and Egypt to India, knew how to get into possession of rare manuscripts. He recruited the Arab manuscript hunter Muhammad Makki - "that jewel of a book-hunter" - from Hyderabad, who for a fixed salary (plus commission) searched the Near and Middle East for interesting acquisitions for Khuda Bakhsh for the next 18 years. Khuda Bakhsh reimbursed the local manuscript dealers who visited him twice the price for their train tickets, even if he did not buy anything; As a result, he soon succeeded in always being the first in India to be offered new acquisitions.

Numerous donations of rare manuscripts were due to the library's growing reputation over time. It unites, at least in part, the manuscript holdings from the courts of Bijapur , Hyderabad , Lucknow / Oudh and Delhi , but also from the formerly Muslim al Andalus ( Andalusia ), including volumes from the city ​​conquered in 1236 during the Reconquista Cordoba .

Oriental Public Library Foundation

In 1891, Khuda Bakhsh converted the collection, which had now grown to 4,000 manuscripts, the value of which was officially estimated at over Rs. 250,000 (₤ 16,666), into a public foundation and at the same time donated the associated library building (value: Rs. 80,000) and the European book holdings ( Value: approx Rs. 100,000). The foundation was officially inaugurated in the same year by the lieutenant governor of Bengal and Bihar, Charles Alfred Elliott, under the name "Oriental Public Library". At the same time, Khuda Bakhsh received the honorary title of Khan Bahadur .

Public activity

In 1877, Khuda Bakhsh became the first vice president of Lord Ripon's newly established self-governing body, the Patna Municipality and the Patna District Board, because of his reputation . In 1891 he received the title "Khan Bahadur". In 1894 he reached the peak of his career when he was appointed Chief Justice (presiding judge) to the High Court (Supreme Court) of Hyderabad / Dekkan. Since his retirement in 1898 he lived in Patna again.

In 1903 he was honored with the title "CIB" for his contribution to the field of education and literature. On the occasion of his visit to Patna in 1903, the then Viceroy , Lord Curzon , ordered a new library to be built, as well as the maintenance and further cataloging of the holdings by the Persian professor, orientalist and head of the Madrasa Muslim College in Calcutta, Edward Denison Ross (1871-1940 ). In the same year, Khuda Bakhsh was awarded the Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in recognition of his services .

Illness and death

Towards the end of his life, Khuda Bakhsh suffered from symptoms of paralysis and mental decline, which prevented him from continuing to work; the foundation had cost him all of his savings, so the government of Bengal paid for his medical care, including the Rs. 6,000 debt after his death.

His grave is on the site of the library he founded.

Khuda Bakhsh had four sons, two of whom shared the father's literary and legal interests

The Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library in Patna

Khuda Baksh Oriental Library

The threat of liquidation or relocation of the library due to the division of the country in 1947 was prevented. In 1969 the library was taken over by the state as a national cultural asset through the 'Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library Act'. It has the status of a national library and functions as an independent organization under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture of the Government of India, chaired by the Governor of Bihar.

In addition to its extensive holdings of books in English and other languages ​​(284,000 printed books), Mughal paintings, drawings and calligraphy, the library now houses 21,136, some of them unique, manuscripts in Arabic , Persian , Urdu , Turkish and Pashto , etc. a. the Timur nama, Firdausi Shah Nama , Shah Nama , Padishah nama , the sofa of Hafez from the property of the emperor Jahangir , partially with the Autographs of Mogul ruler.

The library is currently suffering from management and personnel problems. A lack of knowledge of Arabic and Persian restricted the use of the holdings from the start. Whether the modern library extension - the shell was already in place in 2014 - has now been completed cannot be found on the library website.

Quotes

  • "He was the Indian bodley "; Sarkar 1917
  • "He was rightly called Khuda Bakhsh - 'God's gift'; Sarkar 1917

literature

  • Sh. [Eikh] Innayatullah: Khuda Bakhsh . In: Encyclopedia of Islam (EI), Vol. 5 (1986), pp. 43 f.
  • Salah-ud-Din Khuda Bakhsh: My father, his life and reminiscences . Calcutta 1909. - Reprint Patna: Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library 1991
  • Vincent C. [larence] Scott O'Connor [1869-1945]: An Eastern library. An introduction to the Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library . 2nd rev. and enl. ed., 3rd impr. 92 pp. - Patna: Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library 1985. - First edition Glasgow: Glasgow University Press 1920.
  • Jadunath Sarkar : Khuda Bakhsh, the Indian Bodley . In: Ders .: Anecdotes of Aurangzib and Historical Essays. Translated into English with Notes . Calcutta: Sarkar 1917. pp. 227-242

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The date of birth 1824 in EI Vol. 5 (1986) is a misprint
  2. ^ Place of birth according to the information on the website of the Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library; according to other information, the place of birth was Chhapra itself (EI vol. 5 (1986), p. 43 and Sarkar, Khuda Bakhsh , p. 227)
  3. ^ Sarkar p. 227
  4. ↑ Sarkar p. 238
  5. ^ Sarkar, p. 240
  6. ↑ Sarkar p. 238
  7. ^ Sarkar, pp. 235 and 241
  8. ^ Martin and Thomas Berkemeier: India. The north with Mumbai and Goa. Bielefeld: ReiseKnowHow 2013. p. 426
  9. ↑ Figures from Sarkar, p. 227
  10. ↑ Also called Mohammedan College, since 2008 Aliah University, Kolkata
  11. ↑ "When I was invited to visit the famous Khuda Bakhsh Library in Bankipur [in central Patna] [in 1904], I went there as soon as possible and was overwhelmed by its wealth of manuscripts, both in Arabic and in Persian. Its founder was still alive at the time, and I was delighted to soak up his admirable education. He knew every single book in his vast collection. The library building - perfectly adequate in itself - was surrounded by a basti [settlement] and was therefore in constant danger of fire The learned founder had made a hand-list of the most important volumes, but there was no catalog. It seemed to me urgent to buy up the surrounding land first to create space around the library and then a catalog of this large collection - I immediately wrote to the viceroy, telling him about the library and what I thought should be done, a little later arranged for the surrounding area to be bought up by the government and a full catalog to be drawn up. My next assignment was to train a young Muslim or two in the art of cataloging according to the standards of modern science. I did so in the madrasah itself, where there were some uncatalogued manuscripts which, except for the history of Gujarat , were of no particular value. The people turned out to be docile students and six months later went to Bankipur to start the big catalog. It is nearing completion today [around 1940]. It will probably be more or less about 25 volumes in total; from this one can infer the size of the collection and how many volumes Khuda Bakhsh himself studied. - I believe that the Bankipur catalog is the lasting testimony that I have left in India, and that - as well as the protection of the library from the danger of fire - is due to the understanding courtesy of Lord Curzon , as in all such matters. - The editors of the catalog were Abdul Muqtadir, to whom the Orientalists owe all the volumes in which the Persian manuscripts are described; Azim-ud-Din, Hajji Mui'uddin Nadwi, Hedayat Husain (son of Vilayat Husayn) and Abdul Hamid, who edited all Arabic manuscripts. A few Englishmen stood by their side, especially after my departure from India, who helped them read the volumes - one handwriting after the other, and in other ways too. They included AF Scholfield, the late Eric Arthur Horne and JA Chapman. The latter in particular was responsible for the catalog on behalf of the government for several years. - When the volumes were being distributed, letters from scholars from Europe, including by Brockelmann and Goldziher , came in with expressions of interest . "- From Edward Denison Ross ' autobiography Both ends of the Candle , posthumously 1943, pp. 103-104; translated from English.
  12. ^ Library website
  13. ↑ Innayatullah, EI; Sarkar p. 231 f.
  14. ↑ Sarkar, p. 229 f.
  15. ↑ Official library website
  16. ↑ Annual Report 2015-2016
  17. ↑ The Times of India v. 3.8.2017
  18. ↑ Sarkar p. 233 f.
  19. ↑ Official library website
personal data
SURNAME Bakhsh, Khuda
ALTERNATIVE NAMES खुदाबक़्श (Hindi)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Indian lawyer and book lover
DATE OF BIRTH August 2, 1842
PLACE OF BIRTH Ukhai at Siwan, Chhapra , Bihar
DATE OF DEATH August 3, 1908
Place of death Patna , Bihar