Nuskha-e-Hamidiya[b] is an early nineteenth-century manuscript of the diwan (collected poetry) of Ghalib, one of the greatest Urdu poets and letter writer. The manuscript was copied in 1821 CE (1237 AH) and later housed in the Hamidiya Library, Bhopal, from which it derives its name. It is one of the earliest evidences to Ghalib's poetry and documents a larger collection of verses than the standard printed editions of his dīwān. It has been a central source for understanding the evolution of his corpus.
Ghalib compiled multiple versions of his dīwān during his lifetime.[1] The best-known and widely circulated edition is the mutadāvil dīvān, which was first printed in the mid-nineteenth century and contained a comparatively smaller selection of verses.[2] By contrast, the Nuskha-e-Hamidiya preserves a significantly larger body of work, including poems that Ghalib later excluded from the printed compilations.[1]
The manuscript is thought to have been prepared by a professional calligrapher Hafiz Mueenuddin in 1821. An ownership seal belonging to Faujdar Muhammad Khan indicates that it was acquired by him in 1832. In the early twentieth century, the manuscript was rediscovered in the Hamidiya Library, Bhopal, where it came to scholarly attention.[1]
The first edited version was published in 1921 by Mufti Anwarul Haq, though later scholars criticized the edition for inaccuracies. Subsequent studies by Maulana Imtiaz Ali Khan Arshi and others attempted to establish a more reliable text. The original manuscript was last reported in the mid-1940s and is believed to have been lost during the upheavals of partition in 1947.[1]
Modern editions and facsimiles have relied on earlier notes, collations, and photographs of the manuscript. In the twenty-first century, digitized scans from private archives, including the Hussaini Art Gallery, helped revive scholarly access to the text.[1]
Synopsis
The Nuskha-e-Hamidiya consists mainly of ghazals, with a total of around 1,900–2152[3][1] verses, of which nearly 1,200 do not appear in the standard printed editions. Marginal notes, additions, and seals provide insight into the manuscript's transmission history. Some marginal ghazals have been the subject of scholarly debate, with differing opinions about whether they were composed by Ghalib himself or added from other contemporary sources.[1]
Significance
The Nuskha-e-Hamidiya provides insight into the range of Ghalib's early poetic production prior to the selective revisions that shaped his later published dīwān. It documents material that illustrates processes of revision and exclusion, and has been a source for discussion regarding the attribution of certain poems and the role of scribes and early compilers in the transmission of the text.[1]
The manuscript's discovery expanded the known corpus of Ghalib's poetry and contributed to later editorial work. Its study has also been examined in the context of canon formation in the Urdu literature and the practices of manuscript transmission in nineteenth-century India.[1]
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