Alamut and Badakhshan: Newly Identified Sargudhasht-i Sayyidna Manuscripts and their Background
Book Chapter in "Texts, Scribes and Transmission: Manuscript Cultures of the Ismaili Communities and Beyond"
“The present chapter aims to throw light on ‘newly’ discovered versions of the so-called Sargudhasht-i Sayyidnā, a biography of Ḥasan-i Sabbāḥ, the founder of the Nizārī Ismaili state in Northern Iran. In this chapter I try to give a detailed analysis of the circumstances, content and context of these newly found Central Asian manuscripts.[1] First, I will attempt to situate the Sargudhasht-i Sayyidnā in the Persian Nizārī and non-Ismaili historiography. Furthermore, I will try to give an overview of the already known Sargudhasht-i Sayyidnā manuscripts possessed by The Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS) and the Library of the Parliament of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In the second half of the chapter I will try to make a detailed analysis of the hitherto little explored and newly discovered Sargudhasht-i Sayyidnā texts from Ismaili populated Badakhshān, of their origin, and characteristics as well as different historical and spiritual aspects which significantly shaped the content of these Sargudhasht-i Sayyidnā versions.”” (Miklós Sárközy)
Author: Dr. Miklós Sárközy
Link to Full Chapter: Texts, Scribes and Transmission: Manuscript Cultures of the Ismaili Communities and Beyond