Táríkh-i-Jadíd / Táríkh-i Badí‘-i Bayání

Táríkh-i-Jadíd / Táríkh-i Badí‘-i Bayání

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This Version : 2009-10-28 11:08 - Amendments will be regularly made; visit the web for the Latest Version

Important Note about this Work

by David Merrick, not part of the original book

Haji Mirza Jani Kashani was a noteworthy follower of the Báb, a merchant by profession.

Immediately after the Báb's martyrdom in 1850, he wrote a substantial history (or memoirs) of the Báb, sometime between 1850-1852. (He himself was martyred in 1852.)

These memoirs as they were copied, spawned a great many versions, which differ particularly in their portrayal of Subh-i-Azal or Bahá'u'lláh, depending on whether they were followers of one or the other. It is unknown what form the original memoirs took: if they were just loose notes and sheets, someone else unknown must first also have worked them up after him into something finished in the first place.

In about 1880, the Bahá'í Mirza Husayn Hamadani with the support of Mirza Abu'l-Fadl took some version of Mirza Jani's 1851 account and worked it up into a new history, the Tarikh-i-Jadid. However he did this at the request of a Zoroastrian, Manakji, who then added a preface, an epilogue, and an unknown number of amendments to the text, to publish under his name. It can be suggested that these amendments are mostly in the form of the many digressions that appear throughout the text and interrupt the history, and also the introduction and conclusion to the work (both omitted in this). Due to copying mistakes and personal amendments, this history has also over time collected its own errors, notes and additions.

The prominent Bahá'í Nabil-i-Akbar in response to a commission by Bahá'u'lláh, in turn made a conscious revision of this work somewhere between 1880-1883, which is known as the Táríkh-i Badí‘-i Bayání.

Browne used two manuscripts in his possession to produce this work, therefore, one of the Tarikh-i-Jadid, and one of the Táríkh-i Badí‘-i Bayání, and he has translated the two together into a single whole. In addition, in referring to Mirza Jani's history throughout the footnotes, he is unaware of the problems of discerning what represents Mirza Jani's original memoirs and what others have added.

There are now many more manuscripts of each of these three works than Browne had to use, and they'll need many lifetimes of work to compare and sort out, which has barely been started.

Nevertheless, the result of Browne's first endeavour, is a fantastic piece of history, in which he has cut down the digressions, and with these cautions in mind, it is hoped that you will enjoy reading it.

At some stage this work will be compared and corrected against other manuscripts of the Tarikh-i-Jadid and Táríkh-i Badí‘-i Bayání, and a more accurate assessment be made.

Useful Links

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Key

Throughout the text, where the two versions differ, one has been put in the main text and the other in the footnotes.

"L" is a version of the Tarikh-i-Jadid, and is coloured and enclosed in [single brackets]. This "London Codex" was transcribed in June 1881.

"C" is a version of the Táríkh-i Badí‘-i Bayání, and is coloured and enclosed in [[double brackets]]. This is the "Cambridge Codex".

Pages are in and coloured.

Extra words inserted to make sense are in .

Poetic words are indented.

Changing Colours and Writing Size - If you want everything black, just do Ctrl-A to select everything and change the colour or font; to change the writing size, edit the size of the normal style or in word do Ctrl-A and Ctrl-] to increase the font. To create your own colour scheme, in Word or other word-processors, you can change the styles (TAll, TJ, TJp, TBB, TBBp, Page, Poesy) to be whatever colours etc you wish.

Contents

In Microsoft Word, use View - Document View to get the chapters, or just hold down ctrl and click on a page number below

Táríkh-i-Jadíd / Táríkh-i Badí‘-i Bayání 1

Important Note about this Work 1

Useful Links 1

Key 1

Contents 2

Background of this History 2

Epistle of Alexander by Mirza Abú’l-Fazl Gulpáyagáni 2

Tarikh-i-Jadid 3

The Account 3

Siyyid Kazim 3

Death of Siyyid Kazim; Disciples Search for Promised One 3

Hájí Mírzá Jani's Book 4

Mullá Huseyn's Conversion 4

Quddus' Conversion 5

Other Letters of the Living 5

Mullah Husayn to Isfahan and Conversion of Mullá Muhammad Sádik 5

Mullá Husayn, to Khurasan and beyond 5

Mullá Husayn to Bárfurúsh; Skirmishes and Seige 6

Fort of Sheykh Tabarsi 7

Death of Mullá Husayn 10

End of the Seige 13

Slaughter of Bábís 13

Martyrdom of Quddus 13

Mírzá Muhammad Hasan, the brother of Mullá Huseyn 14

Rizá Khán 15

Murshid 16

Seyyid Ahmad of Semnán 16

Seyyid Yahyá 17

Niriz 19

Zanján 22

End of the Zanján Siege 25

A Bold Apologist 28

Disastrous Effects of the Clergy 30

Ná’ibu’s-Saltana's Letter Describing the Clergy 31

Báb on Pilgrimage 33

Báb Amends the Call to Prayer 33

Báb Leaves Shíráz 34

Báb at Isfahán 35

Báb at Káshán 36

Báb at Khánlik 36

Báb to Zanján 37

Báb at Milan 37

Bab to Tabríz 37

Bab to Mákú 37

Reflections on the Bab and on Men 38

Greatness of the Báb 38

First Class of Men - Governors 38

Second Class of Men - The Scholarly; Eminent Bábís 39

Third Class of Men - Ordinary Folk 40

Báb Moved to Chihrík 41

Bab Declares as Qá’im; the Indian Believer 41

Seyyid Basír 42

Meets the Báb at Mecca 42

Seven Martyrs 43

Seyyid Huseyn of Turshíz 44

Seyyid ‘Alí, Uncle of the Báb 44

Remaing Three 44

On Uncle of the Bab and the Childhood of the Báb 45

On the Other Martyrs 46

Digression on the Proof of their Constancy 46

Kurratu’l-‘Ayn 47

Báb from Chihrík to Tabríz, Examination 49

Báb Bastinadoed 50

Báb to Chihrík from Tabríz 51

Condemnation of the Báb 51

Báb in Tabríz - His Last Few Days 52

Martyrdom of the Báb 52

Execution of Anis 52

Letter of Anis to Brother 53

Execution of the Báb 53

Digression on Clemency at God's Grace 54

Báb's Letter to Suleymán Khán 54

Collection of the Báb's Earthly Remains 54

Appendix I - Omitted Digressions (Extract) 55