Hamdullah Mustawfi bin Abu Bakr al-Qazwini (b. about 680 H / 1281-2 CE, fl. around 1330-1340 CE), was a financial officer under the regime of Abu Sa'id the Mongol Il-Khan. He got the epithet "al-Mustawfi" through his grandfather, who was an accountant (Mustawfi) in Iraq.

This is an engrossing trip into medieval Persian zoology. Animals are classified as being of the land, sea or air. A paragraph is devoted to each animal, arranged in alphabetical order (Arabic). The Persian name is sometimes given, and often also the Turki and Mongolian equivalents. Then attributes such as the qualities of the animal's flesh, medical uses, and occasionally the magical uses, are also given. The work gives a conspectus of the zoological science of the time.

English translation plus Arabic text, bookmarked, facsimile PDF eBook, 21 Megabytes, xix, 227 pages
 

______________________________________

ORIENTAL TRANSLATION FUND
NEW SERIES
VOL. XXX

THE ZOOLOGICAL SECTION

OF THE

NUZHATU-L-QULUB
HAMDULLAH AL-MUSTAUFI AL-QAZWINI

EDITED, TRANSLATED, AND ANNOTATED
BY
Lieut-Colonel J. STEPHENSON,
G.I.E., M.B., D.Sc., F.R.C.S., Indian Medical Service (ret.), Lecturer in Zoology, Edinburgh University.

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF
THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY

AND SOLD AT
74 GROSVENOR STREET, LONDON, W. 1
1928

______________________________________

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION - p. ix

    The Place of the Nuzhat in the History of Zoology - p. ix
    The Nuzhatu-l-Qulub in Relation to Medicine - p. xiv
    Manuscripts, etc. - p. xvi

THE NUZHATU-L-QULUB - THE THIRD PART OF THE FIRST MAQALA
Concerning Animals - p. 1

    I. Concerning Terrestrial Animals - p. 2
    1. Concerning Domestic Animals - p. 2
    2. Concerning Wild Animals - p. 10
    3. Concerning Beasts of Prey - p. 27
    4. Concerning Poisonous Animals and Creeping Things - p. 35
    5. Concerning those Animals, certain of whose members resemble Man - p. 48

    II. Concerning Aquatic Animals - p. 51

    III. Concerning the Animals of the Air - p. 62

Zoological Index - p. 95
Medical Index - p. 98

Arabic text

______________________________________

From the INTRODUCTION

   The [Nuzhatu-l-Qulub] ... may be described as a scientific encyclopædia, or perhaps as a popular educator in science. An introduction deals with the spheres, heavenly bodies, and elements, the "inhabited quarter" of the earth, latitude and longitude, and the climates; the body of the work is divided into three maqalas, the first treating of the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms; the second of man, his bodily structure, faculties and moral qualities; and the third of geography; an epilogue is devoted to wonders and curiosities—those of Iran and the rest of the world. The zoological portion of the work, which is here presented, is the third martaba of the first maqala. G. Le Strange has previously published (E. J. W. Gibb Memorial Series) the text and translation of the third maqala and the epilogue. The rest of the work has not yet been critically edited or translated.

THE PLACE OF THE NUZHAT IN THE HISTORY OF ZOOLOGY

   The scheme on which the zoological portion of the Nuzhat is written will be at once seen on opening the translation. Animals are classified as:—
   (i) Of the land: (a) Domestic; (b) Wild Animals; (c) Beasts of Prey; (d) Poisonous Animals and Creeping Things; (e) Animals certain of whose Members resemble Man.
   (ii) Of the sea.
   (iii) Of the air.

   A separate paragraph is devoted to each animal, the paragraphs being arranged, in each of the several sections, in the alphabetical order of the Arabic name of the animals. In the case of the larger and better known animals the Arabic is followed by the Persian name; sometimes another Arabic name is given, and often also the Turki and Mongolian equivalents; since Persia, at an earlier period under the rule of the Seljuq Turks, had when the Nuzhat was written passed under the domination of the Mongols. It is then stated whether the animal is allowed to be eaten; and the qualities of its flesh—hot or cold, dry or moist—are sometimes given. A short description of the animal follows, usually limited to a few selected features; and lastly there is given a list of the medical uses of the various parts or organs. Sometimes this medical part forms the larger portion of the account of the animal; occasionally the magical uses of certain organs are also given. The accounts of the smaller and less familiar animals are much shorter, sometimes hardly more than the name. The total number of animals described is 228, the numerous varieties of fish being counted together as one animal.

... Arabic works on natural history were few, and Persian works non-existent, before the time of Mustaufi. There appears to be no systematic zoological treatise before the Nuzhat except the Kitabu-l-Hayawan of Jahiz (d. A.H. 255, A.D. 869), which, however (like that of ad-Damiri later) is for the most part of philological and literary interest, "giving more the grammatical structure and meanings of the names of animals than their descriptions" (Jayakar). It contains, as Carra de Vaux informs us, anecdotes, reflections and literary recollections suggested by the animals treated of, and also many chapters which have no concern with animals.

THE NUZHATU-L-QULUB IN RELATION TO MEDICINE

   Under the heading "Properties", or often without any special heading, there is given after the description of each animal a list of the medical (and magical) uses of its several parts. We thus have a "Materia Medica"—a list of the drugs of animal origin used in Persia at the time of the compilation of the Nuzhat; the botanical and mineralogical sections similarly include the uses of the vegetable and mineral drugs. Besides a list of drugs we thus obtain the names of the diseases in which they were employed; and both lists contain much that is interesting.

   A perusal of the text will show that certain diseases are mentioned with considerable frequency; and we may ask if we can base on this fact any conclusions as to the frequency of occurrence of the diseases themselves. At first sight it would seem as though we cannot; the number of times that a disease is mentioned in a Materia Medica such as this corresponds to the number of drugs which have been used in treating it. The more reliable any drug is found to be, the fewer rivals it will have; the commonest disease in the world, malaria, would nowadays find mention under a very small number of remedies. Frequency of mention means, therefore, inadequacy of any single remedy rather than frequency of occurrence.

   Still, a larger number of remedies would naturally be tried in the commoner diseases; and it is unlikely that there would be a large armamentarium for the treatment of a really rare disease. On the whole, then, frequency of mention of a disease is probably some indication of frequency of occurrence.

   Judged by this test, the following are among the commoner diseases of fourteenth century Persia: Cataract, corneal opacities, stone in the bladder, ringworm of the scalp, leprosy, quartan fever, tuberculous glands. Also mentioned fairly often are hemiplegia, diphtheria (probably including quinsy), morphoea, chloasma.

   The hair receives much attention; many substances are mentioned as destroying superfluous hair, and an equal number are recommended for causing the hair to grow. But the class of drugs that is mentioned oftener than any other is the aphrodisiac.

   With regard to the statements in the text that such and such a drug is hot, dry, cold, or moist, in the first, second, third, or fourth degree, I may remind the reader that there are nine types of complexion or temperament—the four simple, hot, cold, dry, and moist; four compound, hot and dry, hot and moist, cold and dry, and cold and moist; and the equable, in which no quality preponderates. To quote from Browne's Arabian Medicine: "Excluding the rare case of a perfect equilibrium, every individual will be either of the Bilious Complexion, which is hot and dry; the Atrabilious or Melancholic, which is cold and dry; the Phlegmatic, which is cold and moist; or the Sanguine, which is hot and moist. In treating a hot, cold, dry or moist disease with a food or drug of the opposite quality, regard must be paid to these idiosyncrasies. The Natural Property inherent in each food or drug exists in one of four degrees. Thus, for example, such a substance if hot in the first degree is a food; if hot in the second degree, both a food and a medicine; if hot in the third degree, a medicine, not a food; if hot in the fourth degree, a poison."

MANUSCRIPTS, ETC.

   When I was in India I obtained from the bookshop of Mirza Muhammad Shirazi "Maliku-1-Kuttab" in Bombay a copy of the lithographed edition of the Nuzhatu-l-Qulub published by him A.H. 1311 (A.D. 1893-4), now apparently scarce and difficult to obtain; this I used for the first draft of my translation. It is not, however, a very good edition, as the collation of the undermentioned manuscripts has shown. In particular, towards the end of the zoological section extensive passages, in quite a different literary style, have been substituted for the terse and simple original. These substituted passages, which begin with the section on the partridge (Qabj), are much lengthier than those they replace, are more verbose ... and often replace Persian words or phrases by their Arabic equivalents ... I have given translations of them in the notes.

   The manuscripts which I have collated or compared in whole or in part with the lithograph are the following:—

   A — B.M. Add. 7708, dated Dhu-1-Hijjah, A.H. 984 (A.D. 1577).
   B — B.M. Add. 16736, the oldest MS. of the Nuzhat in the British Museum, written apparently in the sixteenth century; said in Rieu's Catalogue to have been written before A.H. 969 (A.D. 1562).
   G — B.M. Add. 23543, apparently written in the sixteenth century.
   D — B.M. Add. 23544, apparently written in the seventeenth century.
   P — Paris Bibliotheque Nationale, Ancien Fonds 139.
   V — Vienna Nationalbibliothek No. 1449 (Fliigel, ii, 514).

______________________________________

Author Bibliography

Hamdullah al-Mustawfi al-Qazwini was an industrious compiler, who completed:

- The Tarikh-i-Guzida ("Select History"), a universal history, in 730 H / 1329 CE.
- The Zafarnama ("Book of Victory"), a vast rhymed chronicle of Persian history continuing Firdausi's epic, in 735 H.
- The Nuzhatu-l-Qulub ("Hearts' Delight") in 740 H.

______________________________________

QUOTES

p.7: Ghanam, Sheep and Goats, are called by the Turks qoyun; and the sheep is called by the Arabs da'n and na'jat; and the lamb they call hamal; and a one-year-old sheep or goat the Arabs call jadha'. And to eat it is lawful in all religions and sects, and is salutary. And it is a wholesome animal, and confers prosperity; and the Prophet (may God pour blessings on him, and preserve him!) said, of the blessings it confers: The sheep is affluence. Once every year it brings forth one young one, and now and then two, and then no more for a year; and men eat of them incalculable and uncountable numbers, and [yet] the face of the earth is full of them—unlike other and predaceous animals, which bring forth several times every year and several young at a birth, and of which men eat none, whose numbers [nevertheless] are small.

p. 15: Duldul, the Porcupine, called kirpi by the Turks and jariya by the Mongols. It is allowed to be eaten; and is like a hedgehog, but bigger bodied. When an enemy comes on it, it shoots some of the spines on its back at him, like arrows, and so keeps him off. Its left eye boiled in olive oil, and [the decoction] dropped into the ear will cure deafness. If its bile be rubbed on a hairy place, the hair will cease to grow there; and if it be incorporated with sulphur, and used as an ointment on morphœa, it will take it away. If its spleen be roasted and eaten by one with disease of the spleen, he will be cured. If its kidney be ground and rubbed up, and the quantity of one drachm be taken with the water of black vetches by one with strangury, his urine will come freely. Its blood used as an ointment on the bite of a mad dog, will allay the pain and secure the sufferer against death. Its flesh averts the diseases of elephantiasis …

p. 67: Hubara [the Bustard], Jarad, is called by the Turks daqdari, and by the Mongols daqdaq. Its flesh may be eaten, and is warm and moist. It is a foolish bird, for if it sees the eggs of another bird it takes charge of them and hatches them, thinking them to be its own; [but] since the young are not … it forsakes them. Many other birds are its enemies; and its weapon is its saliva, which is so caustic that it causes the feathers of [other] birds to fall out. Its gizzard dried and rubbed up and dissolved in brine will if applied to the eyes cure corneal opacity. If its fat, dried and ground up with equal parts of sumbul (Hyacinthus orientalis) and leek, is given to one with diarrhœa, the diarrhrœa will be checked. Its eggs are the best remedy for use as a hair-dye.

p. 71: Continued eating of fowls and chickens causes gout, and piles. Its fat applied as an ointment removes red patches of chloasma, and fissures of the anus. Its bile applied to the eyes prevents cataract. Roasted fowl is useful in bed-wetting. Three eggs steeped in vinegar for three days and nights, and then dried in the sun and powdered, if used as an ointment on a patch of (maculo-anæsthetic) leprosy, will cause it to disappear; and will increase the seminal fluid, and give sexual power. Eggs will keep in grass in winter, and in a large quantity of bran in summer. If the dung of a black fowl be rubbed on a person's door, a quarrel will arise in the house. The fowl has the same dread of the jackal that the sheep has of the wolf.

Nuzhatu-l-Qulub (Zoological section)

eBook Categories

Religion & Spirituality

Islam