تصحیح و تحلیل رسالۀ موسیقی نظام‌الدین احمد گیلانی حکیم‌الملک دربار قطب‌شاهیان هند Journal Article

Abstract:

Abstract Nizam al-Din Ahmad Gilani, known as Hakim al-Mulk, the Hakim (physician) of the eleventh century AH, has been one of the cultural links between Iran and India during the Safavid rule over Iran and the monarchy of the Qutb Shahi dynasty in Hyderabad. Among his many works on various fields of science, mostly written under the patronage of Abdullah Qutb Shah, Hakim al-Mulk had a short treatise on music. This work has not yet been published and criticized. In this research, while investigating the life of the author and attempting to resolve some of the ambiguities surrounding him, we present the text of the treatise through the method of critical correction of texts, and in comparison, with the source texts. The digital image of the MS is also included. The result is that the treatise, like many of other music treatises of the period, mainly contains the words of predecessors. However, the very selection of him from Jame' ul-'Uloom by Fakhr al-Din Razi and Karamyeh by Dowre Sofre-Chi demonstrates the new trend of music authors of this period towards some pseudo-scholarly topics which is far away from the Greek-Arabic tradition of scholastic and systematist schools in the theory of music. Introduction Among the numerous catalogs of Persian manuscripts on music, catalogers attribute a treatise to Nizam al-Din Ahmad Gilani. This treatise, from the seventeenth century, has not been studied and analyzed by scholars. Also, a published critical edition of it is not available. Considering that the author of the work was one of the Iranian elites who migrated to India during the Safavid rule over Iran, this figure and his works can be regarded as a bond linking the culture and thought of the Persian plateau and the Indian subcontinent. The author has somehow represented the vibrant current of Persian mystical philosophy in the Islamic courts of the Mughal and Deccan kings of India (Bandy, 2016). He lived during the reigns of Shah Abbas (1588-1629) and Shah Safi (1629-1642) and moved to the court of Abdullah Qutb Shah (1626–1672) in Golconda, India (Massoudieh, 2012: 44). Persian writings on music in its historical development had a departure from the Scholastic (Greek-Arabic tradition) and Systematist schools, whose most prominent representatives were Abu Nasr Farabi and Safi al-Din Urmawi, respectively. With the end of the Timurid era and the beginning of the Safavid reign over Iran and the Mughal empire in India, that is, from the beginning of the sixteenth century, musical literature enters a new era (Fallahzadeh, 2019: 195-6). The present study aims to identify and study the music treatise of Nizam al-Din Ahmad Gilani, one of the writings of a transition period, in the context of the development of this genre of literature. This era can be regarded as the transition period of theoretical music in Persian-speaking regions from the old to the new phase. This Persian treatise is strongly presumed to have been composed in India. Some other goals of the research are to introduce the author of the work, remove some ambiguities about him, identify the sources of the work and draw a comparative reading of them. The most fundamental question that arises in this regard is about the characteristics of the transition period in comparison with the preceding periods of music history. In particular, considering the increase of contacts and the influence of Safavid Persian culture and thought with the subcontinent, specifically the Indian court, in various fields, including arts such as painting, poetry, and music, what is the status, characteristics, and importance of Gilani's concise music treatise? To what extent is this work a consistent continuation of the former schools of theoretical music in the Persian-speaking regions and Indian music? Or, conversely, does it indicate a separation with the Greek-Arabic tradition and the formation of a new view and mindset in writing theoretical musical texts that offer different rationality? In general, what is the importance of analyzing this more or less eclectic work, and if it represents the continuity or rupture of the string of music theorizing, what reasons or motives can stand for it? 1.1. Research Methodology In editing the text of the Music Treatise, since no more than two manuscripts of this work have been identified so far, and we have only accessed the digital image of one version, there was an obligation to correct the text in a deductive way, following the source texts. The general methodology is descriptive-analytical, and documents, library materials, and manuscripts are the root of research. In the present study, first-hand historical books and catalogs of music treatises and writings of early Persian music also are sources of information. The author had access to the digital image of the Berlin Library version and has included the critical edition together with the digital image in the present paper. The details applied in correcting and presenting the critically corrected text of the treatise will be at the end of the study. Discussion Nizam al-Din Ahmad Gilani's music treatise is a booklet that contains approximately 1000 words and consists of an introduction and two chapters. Nizam al-Din Ahmad Gilani, the author, was a physician (Hakim) of the seventeenth century (Safa, 1990: 364). Daneshpajooh (2011: 262) has named the author Nizamuddin Ahmad Gilani Deccani. Hakim al-Mulk was born in 993 AH (1585) in Lahijan, Gilan, in a family of grace and knowledge (Mottaqi, 2008: 125). At the beginning of his youth, after learning the basics of sciences, he went to Isfahan to study higher levels of education. He experienced the closeness of great mentors such as Mir Mohammad Baqir Damad and Sheikh Baha al-Din al-'Amili (Nayyar Wasty, 2003: 46). Nayyar Wasty (ibid) mentions the year 1040 AH (1630) as the date for Hakim al-Mulk's migration to India. According to some reports, Nizam al-Din first was the physician in the court of Khan-Ahmad Gilani in Iran (Abdul Hameed, 1990: 36); The current crisis has persuaded Nizam al-Din Ahmad, like many scientists and poets, to move from Gilan to India during his sojourn (Jafarpour and Tahmasebi, 2017: 57-8). There is no accurate information about the date of the author's death, as various sources have mentioned different years. Regarding the works of Nizam al-Din Ahmad, which includes a vast range of fields in the form of short or long treatises in Persian and Arabic, it is true that this prolific thinker has left many works in the comprehensive encyclopedic tradition. But many of his works, including the treatise on music, do not profoundly follow the scientific insight or show commitment to common sense. Moreover, some have refrained from referring to their actual source. The author has composed and dedicated many of his treatises to Abdullah Qutb Shah (Panahi, 2013: 350). The encyclopedia The Tree of Knowledge includes one hundred and two treatises of the author's works, including the treatise on music (Daneshpajooh, 2011: 262; Storey, 1971: 260-1). At least a copy of this book was composed in 1045 AH/1635 (Kannauji, 2006: 278). Nizam al-Din Ahmad Gilani has mainly used two works in compiling his musical treatise. One is the music section of the encyclopedia by Fakhr al-Din Razi (Jame' al-'Olum), which he explicitly mentions; the other is the treatise named Keramiyeh by Dowre-ye Sofrechi, to which he has not referred. The author prefers to ignore all-important theoretical issues and include Fakhr Razi's pseudo-scientific and meta-musical discussion of the myth of the origin of music in his treatise. Conclusion Nizam al-Din Ahmad ibn Sadr al-Din Gilani Lahiji (993-1071 AH/ 1585-1660), Hakim al-Mulk, wrote his musical treatise, which two copies of it remained, in the court of the Qutb Shah kings of India, most probably between 1045 and 1059 AH during his stay in the Indian subcontinent for Abdullah Qutb Shah. In compiling his treatise, he has used many works of the earlier and contemporary periods, especially the Fakhr Razi encyclopedia and Keramiyeh by Dowre-ye Sofrechi. However, the way he selects from the contents of these works clearly shows the new approach of the music writers of this period and their extreme attention to meta-musical issues. In contrast, authors of the scholastic and systematist schools in the Greek-Arabic tradition had not considered such discussions to this extent. Most of the theoretical works on music from this period are so diminutive that it is questionable to refer to them as treatises. The music scholar of the transition period has little to offer, even if he is a high-ranking scientist such as Hakim al-Mulk of a prestigious court in the Indian subcontinent. What he writes and adapts - in a positive approach, if not plagiarize - is a cliche being written over and over again without a clear purpose. Really, what is the practical function of simply listing the musical primary and secondary modes (Maqamat and Sho'ab) or assigning them to the constellation? We concluded that the theoretical aspect of music in the transition period was very ineffective and suggested that it has nothing to do with its practical dimension. Regardless of the prevalence of transcription and treatise-making, works such as Gilani's treatise speak of a struggle to "legitimize" the phenomenon in a threat: music. References Abdul Hameed, H. (1990). 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