5 
follows :—1. “ Asun” or the postures of the devotee, 
the number of wliich is said to equal the tiumber of 
the species of living beings on the earth., yiz., eight 
million and four hundred thousand, of which, how- 
ever, eighty-four are enumerated, the least of which 
is a mode of squatting called “ padmatan. ” 2. 
“ Pränäyämä, ” which consists of three operations., 
viz., drawing in, holding, and letting out the breath. 
It is said that by the practice of Pränäyämä one 
can hold one’s breath for days and months whether 
under water or under ground, and that one may by 
a peculiar exercise float in the air. 3. “ Pratyahar,” 
or restricting the senses. 4. “ Dharna,” or re- 
stricting the mind. 5, “ Dhyan,” or meditation. 
6. “ Samadhi,” or deep meditation when one loses 
the sense of external objects. These operations are 
the same as those enumerated by Patanjali, the 
founder of the “ Yoga” System, except the first two 
called “Yam” and “ Niyam” which consist in ob- 
serving the rules of morality. The Yogis pretend 
to acquire all sorts of miraculous power by the 
practice of Yoga. The book is written in black and 
red, accompanied by an interlinear commentary, and 
comprising several magic calculations. It is on 
separate leaves about one foot and three inches 
long and two and a half inches broad. As the 
Hindu authority of the curious case of human 
“ hibernation ” mentioned by Dr. Honigberger, and 
witnessed by hundreds in the Panjab, it is very 
valuable. A translation accompanies it._ 
25. Details of a Persian MS., containing 10 or 
11 books of the beginning of the 15th Century, 
written by Order of Mirza Yäshgar, grandson of 
Tamerlane. It is mitten in miniature, but very 
legible, gold letters and is profusely interspersed 
with gorgeously illuminated “ headings ” and 
pictures. 
It contains the Ivhamsa Xizami and the Khamsa 
Amir Ivhosro (or the five books of Xizami and the 
five books of Amir Khosro). The details are as 
follows :— 
A. Nizdmi or Nizam-ud-dm was an inhabitant of 
Ganjah, now Elizabethopol near Tiflis. He wrote 
(in 582 of the Hejra) the—1. Makhzan-i-Asrar in 
honour of Bahram Shah Rumi, for which the author 
received at the rate of 100/. a line (or verse?) and 
magnificent rohes of honour. It treats of ethics, 
contains stories with their morals, and describes 
with great power, libertjq youth, and age. 2. 
Shirin Khosro (Khosro is a form of Kesar). Khosro 
possessed Shirin, of whom bis great rival Ferhad 
was enamoured. 3. Haft Pekdr. Behram was a 
king of Persia, surnamed Behram Gor, because he 
was fond of hunting the wild ass (Gorkhar). Both 
X T os. 2 and 3 were written in 593 A.H. in honour 
of Qizil Arslän. 4. Leila Majnün (the well-known 
story of the infatuated lovers), written in 592 A.H., 
dedicated to the Khakän Manu Chehr the Great (?). 
3. The Sikandar Namah, (exploits of Alexander the 
Great), Nizami’s last work, who died (597 A.H.) a 
few days after completing it. It is dedicated to 
Toghrul Shah Suhjuhi, and consists of two parts, 
“ Barri ” being Alexander’s exploits by land, and 
“ Bahri ” his doings at sea. It also contains moral 
precepts. Xizami, unlike his contemporaries, 
shunned courts, and when the king Qizil Arslän 
went to pay him a visit, was found at the mouth 
of his cave on a mat, with his Koran, inkstand, 
and a long pen as his sole earthly possessions. 
Many tried to imitate his style and matter, e.g., 
Jami, Faiz, Hafti, &c. &c., who produced Khamsas 
(9423.) 
(or five books), but no one succeeded so well by 
the concurrent testimony of poets and scholars as,— 
B. Amir Khosro, whose “ Khamsa” consists of,— 
1. Matla-ul-danwdr, which was written in con- 
tradiction of the Makhzan-i-asrar, the first book 
of Xizami. It contains 3,310 verses, and was 
finished in two weeks, in 698 A.H. 2. The story 
of Shirin Khosro, 698 A.H., contains 4,124 “poems.” 
Khosro is the lover and Shirin the beloved. 3. 
Leila wa Majnün, 698 A.H., contains 2,360 verses. 
4. Ahyina Sakandari, in Opposition to the Sikandar 
Xama of Xizami, and contains 7,372 verses. _ 5. 
Hasht Behisht was written in 701 A.H., and contains 
a reply to the “Haft Baikar” of Xizami. Amir 
Khosro’s original name was Ain-ud-din-abd-al- 
Hasan. He was born at Putiali in Eastern India. 
His father was a Turk of Shahr-i-Sabz, the birth- 
place of Tamerlane, and was a “ Lachini ” chieftain, 
who came to India in the reign of Shams-ud-din 
Altams owing to the invasion of Changez Khan. 
Princes were in the habit of having the Khamsas 
of Xizami and Khosro transcribed in gold letters, or 
in excellent handwriting on the best paper, and kept 
them always at liand. The first who did arrange 
them in this manner was Mirza Yäshgar, grandson 
of Tamerlane, and there is little doubt, from the 
splendid style in which this manuscript is got up, 
and from other evidence connected with it, that this 
is the very first, as it is the best, Collection of the 
Khamsas. 
The manuscript is bound in very good_ leather, 
and is then enclosed in another cover of Kemkhab 
(or purple worked with gold). It is then enclosed 
in three successive silk wrappers of red, blue, and 
green, wrought in gold; then covered with a white 
muslin, and finally enclosed in a satin cover put in- 
side a linen handkerchief. The whole is then put 
in an iron or tin case. The arrangement above de- 
scribed of the wrappers was deemed essential to its 
preservation by its princely family of owners, who 
had kept it for centuries, and to whose ancestors it 
had been transmitted in Central Asia. 
There are also other poems added by Amir Khosro, 
in which he describes liberty or abstinence from 
worldly pleasures. Many of the metaphors, &c. most 
renowned all over the East are the Creations of this 
poet. Besides the above, he produced four Diwans 
in Persian, comprising precepts and other subjects on 
—1. Tohfat-us-saghir (Childhood and its beauties). 
2. Wast-ul-Hayat (the age from 7 to 14). 3. Glmrrt- 
ul-Kemäl (the Perfection of Youth and Manhood). 
4. Baqia wa Xaqia (Old age). These Diwans, which 
are said toportrayhis own life, contain 130,000 Coup 
lets. He also wrote the Ajaz Khosrawi, containing 
tropes, similes, &c., which is highly prized by Per- 
sians, Central Asiatics, and also natives of India. 
In the Naqad-ul-Fatah he describes the capture of 
Deogurh. The Masnawi Ourn-us-Sadain describes 
the interview between Kaikobad and bis son. 
Another Masnawi has numerous gtpries. His “ His- 
tory of Delhi ” treats it up to his own time. He also 
wrote the Mesafat Hind, &c. &c. In all he wrote 
about 99 works. He was the first who composed a 
“ ghazal ” in Hindi on the Persian rhythm, and has 
been followed by all who versify in Urdu. Befoie him 
all wrote in Persian, whilst the vernacular songs were 
on the Hindi System of prosody. Khosro was also a 
musician, and made some innovations in that Science, 
whilst his simple style has made him populär, 
both among the educated and the uneducated. He 
has had hosts of more or less successful imitators 
A 3