Mirza Rafi', known as Badhil Mashhadi (d. 1711), and Azad Kashmiri (d. 1721), Hamlah-i Haydari, a verse account of the life of the Imam 'Ali, with nine illustrations
North India, probably Kashmir, late 18th/19th CenturyPersian manuscript on paper, 435 leaves, 19 lines to the page written in four columns of nasta'liq script in black ink, inner margins ruled in green, blue and black, headings in nasta'liq script in red ink, one illuminated double-page frontispiece in colours and gold, one illuminated headpiece at the start of the second section (Azad's text), nine illustrations in gouache and gold, all within the first book (of Badhil), contemporary Kashmiri painted papier-mache binding, doublures with an attractive stylised spray of flowers issuing from a vase, spine rebacked
295 x 200 mm.注脚Provenance
Colonel Algernon Durand (1854-1938), acquired on the Hunza Nagar expedition in Gilgit (now in Pakistan), 1891.
E. Durand, his brother, by 1893 (his note dated 1894 pasted into rear flyleaf).
Private UK collection.

A note in red at the end of the first section, Badhil's text, says that his part was left incomplete and that Mirza Sadiq, known as Azad, completed it. The following page with an illuminated headpiece is the beginning of Azad's text with a note in red at the top of the page: From here, it is Mirza Muhammad Sadiq pen-named Azad's additions.

The illustrations are as follows:
1. Abi Talib with the nobles of Bani Hashim and Bani 'Abd al-Mutallib.
2. Abi Talib makes peace with Quraysh.
3. The Prophet's night journey to Jerusalem (mi'raj) escorted by angels.
4. Abu Sufyan's messenger, Damdam, arrives to warn the people of Mecca against Muhammad.
5. The armies of the Jews preparing to fight the Prophet's army in Khaybar (depicting a white horse and a camel with gold flames issuing from it: the Prophet and Imam 'Ali).
6. The battle between the Prophet and the unbelievers, when a hero kills their leader.
7. Umar delivers the Prophet's letter to the Ethiopian ruler, Najashi.
8. Imam 'Ali kills Abu Jardal.
9. Men preparing to avenge the murder of 'Uthman.

Colonel Algernon Durand was ADC to Lord Ripon, Viceroy of India, between 1881 and 1882, British Agent at Gilgit, 1889-93, and later Military Secretary to Lord Elgin, the Viceroy, 1894-99. He commanded the troops during the Hunza Nagar expedition in 1891. His father, Sir Mortimer Durand (1850-1924), was also a stalwart of British India, and was responsible for crucial boundary arbitration in Afghanistan and the Northwest Frontier: the 'Durand Line' is still the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Hunza Nagar Campaign lasted only a few weeks in 1891, and involved the British putting down resistance to expansion and road-building in the Gilgit region: it made Algernon Durand's name, along with his book The Making of a Frontier (1899).
His brother, E. Durand, visited the British Museum with the manuscript in July 1893, a member of which (perhaps A. G. Ellis, who worked there from 1883 until 1909) identified it for him, making reference to the Museum's Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts (p. 704). The note pasted into the rear flyleaf mentions this, and also records: 'This book was sent me by my bro. Algy as part of the "loot" of his in Hunza Nagar Campaign which he successfully conducted'.