HAMMER - PURGSTALL AND THE MUSLIM INDIA

It is commonly stated that Dr. Adolf Scharf, Austria’s third postwar president, identified the year 1943 as the time during which he realized that Austria was no longer part of a greater Germany, and that the idea of a Republic of Austria as an autonomous and permanently separate European state was a viable concept. Exactly after twenty years in 1963 questions were being raised about the autonomy of Austria’s literature and a conservative critic like Herbert Eisenreich asked, ‘1^st Osterreichs Literatur eine osterreichische Literature?”[1] Before this time - even in the high years of the Habsburg Empire - it was never really established as a certainty that Austrian literature was a separately viable tradition. However, in those prosperous years of the Second Republic, the autonomous Austrian literature became an irrefutable certainty.

Like the Austrian literature, it seems rather difficult to draw a line of demarcation between the tradition of oriental studies in Austria and other neighbouring German-speaking regions, as their close political, cultural and diplomatic contacts were firmly established with Ottoman Empire that knocked the doors of the eastern Europe. The deeply-rooted influences of the Ottoman Turks on the social and intellectual life of these areas are still very easily discernable in the family and place names in some of the dialects of present-day Austria. In this common historical background of the whole German-speaking world, the strong wave of orientalism crossed the geographical boundaries and a very unique German tradition evolved which was unable to confine to any present German-speaking country.

The pioneering efforts for establishing this tradition firmly were made by Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall, an indefatigable Austrian orientalist who has been very rightly designated as the father of oriental studies in German-speaking areas. His services to oriental studies in general resembled those of Sir William Jones (1746-1794) in England and Silvestre de Sacy (1758-1838) in France. His German translation of Diwan-i-Hafiz[2] inspired Goethe[3] (1749-1832) to write his West-ostlicher Divan[4] and also prompted Friedrich Ruckert (1788-1866), an excellent German poet,[5] for wonderful translations of the reputed Persian poets like Rumi, Hafiz and Firdausi, and it happened when they met in Vienna in 1818.[6]

Hammer gained wide fame for his monumental contribution to Turkish, Arabic and Persian studies, showing his scholarly acumen, versatility and encyclopaedic knowledge of the languages of the Muslims. The European historians of the oriental studies have paid a rich tribute to him for his remarkable services, rendered for the promotion of these studies in German-speaking countries.[7] In addition to this, he was aware of the literary and cultural achievements of the Indian Muslims and he mentioned, though briefly, about them in some of his books. He had also very close connections with some scholars, residing in India, and the learned institutions, functioning in the different parts of the Subcontinent. Hammer’s personal and scholarly contacts with the South-Asian Subcontinent are not widely known and in this paper an attempt has been made to bring into light the material, based mostly on the newly-found sources, delineating his connections, particularly with the Muslim India.

Born on 9 June 1774 in Graz; son of Josef Hammer who was a government servant; took his early education in a native school where his main interest was in geography; after the gymnasium came to Vienna in 1787 and was admitted in the Oriental Academy which was founded by Maria Theresia in 1754 for educating the “Sprachknaben”--young noblemen trained in oriental languages and then appointed in the diplomatic service in Turkey; learnt here Islamic and classical European languages alongwith other subjects like law, mathematics, logic, physics, geography and history(1789-1799); attained mastery over the three major Islamic languages (Arabic, Persian and Turkish) which helped him to be appointed officially the helping interpreter (“Hilfsdolmetscher”); sent on a special mission to Egypt in February 1800 because of his capabilities and subsequently took part in an English campaign against the French in the eastern Mediterranean; spent five months (November 1801 to April 1802) in England and worked in the Oriental collections of London and Oxford; in 1802 he was sent to Istanbul as the legation secretary; returned to Austria in 1807 where he served many years (1811-1836) as interpreter of the court; married Karoline von Kenikstein (1797-1844) in 1816 who was a daughter of a Jewish banker;nominated as the Privy Councellor in 1817 and in 1825 became the Knight; on inheriting estates in Styria in 1835 he was ennobled and retired from the diplomatic service; in the same year inherited all the_ possessions of Hainfeld in east Styria from his childless old friend countess Johanna-Anna Purgstall where most of his scripts, letters and other documents are still housed; in 1847 the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Vienna) was founded and he was elected its first president; died at the age of 83 on November 1856[8] and buried in a graveyard of Weidling near Vienna; inscriptions on his grave in ten occidental and oriental languages (Arabic, Persian and Turkish) are reminiscent of his widely-reputed scholarship;[9] was honoured with nineteen medals, two honorary doctorates (Graz and Prague) as well as the membership of about fifty world-wide academies and learned institutions; more than seventy-five books (some contain upto ten volumes) and hundreds of articles have been listed by the compilers of his autobiography[10] and Index Islamicus, 1665-1905[11] respectively.

It is not evident when Hammer became acquainted with the cultural heritage of Indian Muslims, as his early writings upto the year of 1800 and even his autobiography (Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben, 1940) provided no information in this respect. The available biographical material gives only the first instance of his acquaintance with India when he met an Indian traveller named Mirza Abu Talib Khan[12] (1752-1806), who sailed from Calcutta to Europe in 1799 and on his return to India stayed for a few months in Turkey. His meetings with Hammer took place probably on November 1802 in Istanbul where the later was an Austrian Councellor. A minute account of Abu Talib Khan’s Travels in Persian entitled Masir-i-Talibi fi Bilad-i-Ifrangi[13] was completed in 1804 which is not only an interesting but in many ways a most illuminating work, written in a spirit of sincerity and candor. This travelogue is, no doubt, the first authentic source about the high literary attainments and attractive personality of Hammer when he was only 28 years of age and also indicates the friendly relationship between them. Hammer was so impressed by his Persian poetry that he translated some of his odes and sent them for publication to various European journals. The English translation of the relevant passage of Masir-i-Talibi is as follows:

“From the society of Mr. Himrou [Hammer] I derived much satisfaction. He is a young man of a most amiable disposition and enlightened understanding: he is by birth a German, but speaks the Latin, French, English, Greek, Turkish, Arabic and Persian languages. .He was formerly employed as interpreter by Sir Sidney Smith, and was his constant companion during the siege of Acre. He is now in the service of the Emperor of Germany, who constantly retains a splendid embassy at the Turkish Court. This gentleman translated several of my odes, into English, French, and German; and sent them to London, Paris, and Vienna. He visited me daily, and introduced me to his excellency the German Ambassador. By means of this introduction, I had an opportunity of seeing, at his Excellency’s routes, not only all the ladies belonging to the different European embassies, but also a great number of Greeks and Armenians. The Ambassador and his lady are very highly esteemed in Constantinople; and, judging from their conduct, and that of some others of their countrymen whom I have met with in the course of my travels, I conclude that the Germans stand very high in the scale of polished nations.”[14]

Reciprocally, Hammer also mentioned this prominent Indian traveller and historian in his autobiography while narrating the events of the last three months of the year 1802 in Constantinople, but rather briefly and stressed more on the correct pronunciation of his name. Here, an English translation of the concerned passage is given:

“[I met with] an English shipbuilder named Crosby. Next day at his table I made an interesting acquaintance with a Persian fellow called Mirza Abu Talib Khan who was returning to India from his English journey. He mentioned me in his Travels which has been published in Persian in India and its English and French translations in Europe. By the mistake of the translator, the three consonants of my name (i.e. HMI?) are contracted in one with the following connecting particle (i.e.U) and a vowel inserted, originated from my name, Himru, what subsequently remained for me as the nickname.”[15]

This friendship continued even after the death of Abu Talib Khan in 1806. The first Persian edition of his ‘Travels’ was published posthumously in 1812 from Calcutta and his son, Mirza Husain Ali, was responsible for editing ‘it correctly.[16] This edition was sent to Hammer, perhaps by the traveller’s son, who might have known his father’s friendly relations with Hammer. Very soon, a German translation of this Persian text by Georg Eedel came out from Vienna[17] which was reviewed by Hammer in the fourth volume of his journal Fundgruben des Orients[18] (Fundgruben) in 1814. In this review, the Persian text of the passage, with his own German translation, relating to his meetings with the traveller in Istanbul was given and also clarified that Abu Talib Khan erroneously understood both Germany and Austria as one country and Vienna as the capital of Germany. He’ strongly recommends to correct this geographical blunder. It can also be mentioned here that in the third volume of his Fundgruben in 1813, Hammer published the Persian text (with English translation) of the verses of Abu Talib Khan which he composed in praise of Lady Elgin’s beauty.[19]

It will also be worthwhile to note here that Abu Talib Khan published the Persian text of Diwan-i-Hafiz from Calcutta in 1791 and he might have mentioned this edition during his meeting with Hammer who, after some years, translated it in German. It is a conjecture, but still worth a thought.

Hammer’s intention to bring the East and the West closer, scholarly and intellectually, is explicitly reflected in a journal entitled Fundgruben which he started in 1809 with the financial ‘ support of his intimate friend Grafen Wenzeslaus von Rzewusky (1765-1832), a Polish orientalist. With the Arabic sub-title it has taken this Quranic verse as its motto:

(Say, To Allah belongs both East and West. He guides whom He will to a straight path, 2:142) [20]

This Journal comprises only six volumes and the last was published in 1819. As Maxime Rodinson explains that it was especially the first European journal in which the Western orientalists and the Eastern scholars collaborated and took interest in the past as well as in the present.[21] It is also considered as a reliable source of Goethe’s West-ostlicher Divan[22]. In the first volume of this Journal, Hammer introduces it in these words:

Eng.tr. “This Journal will comprise everything which always comes from or with reference to the East. Oriental translations, treatises, remarks, reports, extracts, notices, descriptions, sketches and essays of all kinds [will be published] in the current European languages. Although, majority of the members of the Society are German-speaking and the Journal will get the articles written in excellent German language, but we will also publish the articles in French, Italian, English, Spanish and Latin while the oriental lover’s acquaintance with the current European languages must be presumed. Our Journal will be a point of unity for the lovers of oriental literature, not only in Europe but also in Asia.”[23]

A cursory look of the contents of all six volumes of the Fundgruben shows that much space was devoted to Turkish, Arabic and Persian studies in comparison to Indology and cultural or literary history of the Muslim India. Despite Hammer’s brief review on Abu Talib Khan’s Persian travelogue (referred above), some of the Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Bengali and ‘Hindustani’ (which means Urdu) publications of the Fort William College (Calcutta) have been listed with brief critical remarks. Furthermore, the grammatical and lexicographical works of some British associates of this College like J.B. Gilchrist (1759-1841), M. Lumsden (1777-1835) and Thomas Roebuck (1781-1819) have also been referred,[24] appended with useful information about the early history of this College which was established for” an abundant and regular supply of public officers, duly qualified to become the successful instruments of administering the Government in all its extensive and complicated branches.”[25] Undoubtedly, the details provided in the three volumes of Fundgruben about this College are very significant for its early period and these are yet to be utilized by any historian of Urdu or Hindi literature.[26]

In the same period, another quarterly journal came out from Vienna in 1818 under the title Jahrbucher der Literatur (Jahrbuchcr) and ended in 1849 after having published 128 volumes in toto.[27] It covers largely the literary scenario of the European countries, but occasionally devotes special section for the Eastern literature, :almost following the same tradition which was set up by Fundgruben whose last sixth volume appeared in the same year when this Journal commenced. Almost at the end of every volume, there was a special section for providing literary information and comprehensive reviews on the new books. Usually these reviews were arranged either according to their subjects or the countries from where the books under review were published. Among the contributors of the Journal many distinguished savants of the various disciplines are included, such as the philosophers like Arthur Schopenhaur (1788-1860), August Wilhelm von Schlegel (1767-1845) and the oriel,’ lists like Jean Pierre Abel Rernusat (1788-1832), Julien Heinrich Klaproth (1783-1835) and Gusl,r. Leberecht Flugel (1802-1870).

From the very beginning, Hammer was closely associated with this Journal and regularly contributed articles and detailed reviews on almost every aspect of Islamic literature and learning, particularly his deep and very informative studies of the books published from Calcutta and the travelogues relating to the different parts of the Subcontinent which were mostly written by the European travellers like Hugel, Moorcroft, Orlich etc[28] Some lexicographical, philological and grammatical works of the Persian language by the Indian Muslims attracted his attention and his reviews gave an impetus to others for undertaking their serious study.[29] Here, one of his reviews under the title “Indische Literaturgeschichte”[30] deserves special reference in which he scholarly analysed the first edition of Garcin de Tassy’s Histoire de la litterature hindouie et hindoustanie[31] which shows that he was fully aware of the Persian biographical sources of the leading Urdu poets and also knew the varied influences of the Persian language and literature on the origin and early development of Urdu.

Some rulers of the Muslim dynasties in this Subcontinent were very learned persons and their poetical collections and autobiographical works have been considered literary masterpieces. Among the ruling literati, it is perhaps a unique example that a king of Oudh, Ghaziuddin Haydar (r. 1819-1827), founded a royal typography in Lucknow at great expense with the technical assistance of an Englishman, named Russell, and printed a number of books in Persian and Arabic. He was deeply interested in Persian lexicography and before ascending to the throne he compiled a voluminous dictionary of Persian language entitled Haft Qulzum (‘Seven Seas’)[32] which was published beautifully from this press in 1822. Its authorship remains a controversial question and historians ascribe it to Mawlawi Qabul Muhammad who was deputed by the King himself for reshaping and recasting the whole script.[33]

Haft Qulzum, a dictionary and grammar of the Persian language, discusses rhetorics, poetry, prosody, etc. and displays clearly the compiler’s incomparable knowledge of elegant nuances of the poetical artistry and the different rhetorical forms of the Persian language.

Immediately after its publication, several copies of this Dictionary were sent to the various European countries, as ordered by the King Ghaziuddin Haydar. One copy reached Vienna, and Hammer reviewed its first six parts in the Jahrbucher.[34] In the beginning, he described in brief the contemporary history of Oudh, its political relations with the East India Company and the Indian contribution to the Persian lexicography, He took a few years for writing this detailed review, as he was engaged in cutting and casting a new Nastaliq character for Persian words. In an unpublished letter written to the Court of Directors, from Vienna on 31st July 1831, he writes:

In the letter by which I gave to the Directors of the Hon’ble the East India Company my most respectful thanks for the valuable present of the ‘Haft Kolzoom’ of His Majesty, the King of Oude, I promised to give a detailed account of this most useful Dictionary in the ‘Vienna Review’. If seven years have elapsed since the cause of so long a delay is less to be looked for in the numerous interruptions of my reading and study of this Dictionary than in the toil of cutting and casting a new small Nestaalik character with which is printed the list of more than 3000 Persian words which are related to so many of germanic root.

As there existed at Vienna formerly no other Oriental Types but the old ‘Naskhi’ ones with which some words have been printed in the notes I was eager not to finish this notice till I could show off with my answer the first Nestaalik character cut and cast and used on the Continent. This type being finished for its greatest part I take the liberty to transmit to you, Sir, a separate copy of this notice printed in different years in different numbers of the ‘Vienna Review’. I leave it quite to the decision of the Honorable Directors of the East India Company whether the book itself deserves to be forwarded by them to His Majesty the King of Oudh as a token of gratitude for the generosity with which European libraries and Orientalists have been favored with this literary gift of Royal munificence.[35]

At the end of his review, Hammer announced that the seventh part of Haft Qulzum would be translated and commented by Friedrich Riickert,[36] his poetically competent former student. Riickert’s ingenious translation and long analysis of this Dictionary were published in different volumes of the Jahrbucher[37] and almost half a century later Wilhelm Pertsch (1832-1899), a former student and great admirer of Ruckert, compiled these scattered parts in a book called Grammatik, Poetik and Rhetorik der Perser[38] with some emendations and copious notes. According to A, Schimmel, “The book that thus came into existence ... belongs to the most fascinating studies of the highly sophisticated art of Persian poetry as it was practised in the Subcontinent throughout the centuries.”[39]

With the efforts of Hammer, this Dictionary attairvd a great celebrity in Europe than it enjoyed in India. While cataloguing the manuscripts of the royal libraries of the kings of Oudh, Dr. Aloys Sprenger found a large number of its copies which had been eaten by white ants. A relevant brief note in his Nachlass describes that “The book is not esteemed in Lucknow and certainly overrated in Europe. Hundred of copies are rotting in the Topkhanah [one of the royal libraries]. In the Furah Bakhsh [another royal library] are seven very neatly written lists of errata to the seven volumes of Haft Qulzum which have not been printed.”[40]

Hammer was an honorary member of the learned societies and institutions, functioning in the different parts of this Subcontinent, like the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Calcutta) and the two active branches of the Royal Asiatic Society in Bombay and Madras (1829)[41] The Proceedings and Transactions of their Journals, mostly after 1830, inform that he used to send the copies of his new books and the numbers of Jahrbucher for the libraries of these institutions and also asked for their publications in exchange.[42] Some of his letters have .also been reproduced in these Journals which he wrote either directly to the editors or indirectly to his friends like Aloys Sprenger and Nathaniel Bland (1803-1865).[43]

Here one of his informative articles can be referred which was published in five parts in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal from 1834 to 1839, in which he introduced and abridged a book named Mohit[44] (ocean), a Turkish work on the navigation in the Indian Seas, authored by an Ottoman Admiral Sidi ‘Ali (d.1562).[45] In a letter of 31 March 1834, Hammer wrote that he was informed about this significant nautical work for the first time from Haji Khalifah’s Kash/uz Zunun.[46] Fortunately, he found a manuscript from the library of the Museo Borbonico at Naples in 1825 and in 1832 he bought another manuscript from Istanbul and his analysis and translation are based on these two manuscripts[47] In the introductory remarks of this article, James Prinsep (1792-1878) criticised some of the conclusions drawn by Hammer and added some new material.[48]

Hammer was a prolific writer and a long list of his publications shows his prodigious energy as an eminent scholar. However, he devoted comparatively less space to the cultural contribution of the Indian Muslims. In spite of that he was probably the first German-speaking orientalist who drew the attention of his contemporaries to some major works of the Indo-Muslim tradition. In one of his oft-quoted works entitled Geschichte der schonen Redekiinste Persiens[49] he was the first to write a literary history of Persia and the countries under its cultural influence and devoted some pages to the leading Indian poets of Persian language. These poets were the representatives of the Indian style of Persian poetry which took a step towards innovation in the sphere of thought and content, in the sphere of imagery and also in the domain of the language of poetry[50] He refers to the early Muslim dynasties of India whose rulers were of Turkish descent and their patronage of the learned people, particularly the Mughal kings, like Babur and Jahangir, who wrote their own memoirs[51] He also mentioned Sa’ib (d.I669/70), a poet of the first order in the Indian style[52] Abu’l Fazl,[53] and his brother Faizi,[54] emperor Akbar’s close friends, alongwith a German translation of some of their selective excerpts.[55] He remarked about a few Persian translations of the Sanskrit works, made during that period. Then in the ‘Seventh Period’[56] he analyses the decline of the poetic art and historiography in Persia and in India and provides useful information about the epistolographical literature with bibliographical details and travelogues of the period (including the Travels of Abu Talib Khan).[57] At the end the editions and translations of the Persian histories and poetical collections, rendered by the English scholars, have been referred.[58]

Likewise, in another voluminous book under the title Gemṇldesaal der Lebensbeschrezbungen grosser moslimischer Herrscher der ersten sieben Jahrhunderte der Hedschra,[59] Hammer wrote in detail about the political history of the early Muslim rulers of India like Mahmud Ghaznawi,[60] Qutb-ud-Din Aibak,[61] Ala-ud-Din Khalji[62] and Firoz Tughluq[63] and the whole material is based on the primary sources, mainly of the Persian language.

Dr. Aloys Sprenger (1813-1893), a renowned Austrian orientalist, is very rightly considered as one of the leading authorities of the literature of Muslim India.[64] He came to India and held very influential posts in the Muslim educational institutions in Bengal (Calcutta Madrasah etc.) and North India (Delhi College etc.) which played so decisive a role in refashioning Muslim thought in India. His fourteen years’ stay in India (1843-1856) proved pivotal to his profound scholarship and comprehensive bibliographical knowledge of Islamic sources.

Sprenger was one of the ‘favourite pupils of Hammer, when he was studying in Vienna in 1833 and seeing his passionate ardour for Oriental languages he was encouraged by Hammer. Sprenger was deeply impressed by his teacher’s scholarship and methodology and throughout his life he tried to follow them. He admitted it openly when he was engaged in compiling the catalogue of the royal libraries of the kings of Oudh in 1848.[65]

After leaving Austria, Sprenger did not meet Hammer, but they remained in touch with each other through correspondence, especially when Sprenger was in India. Recently, Hammer’s four German letters have been discovered,[66] written to Sprenger from 1844 to 1852, in which he congratulates Sprenger for having published the English translation of Mas ‘ udi (1841),[67] the Persian text of Saadi’s Gulistan[68] (1851) and Biography of the Holy Prophet[69] (1851). Further, he asked Sprenger to help him in finding a manuscript of the Diwan of Abul Ma’ani,[70] a famous Persian poet, from any Indian library. In exchange, Sprenger also responded to Hammer and his four German letters written to him during the years of 1844 to 1850 (?) are still available in the archives of Schloss Hainfeld (near Feldbach, East Styria) where the whole personal collection of Hammer is housed.[71] These letters are in Kurrentschrift; a very peculiar German handwriting and some of their parts are not readable. In these letters, Sprenger informed his teacher about his scholarly projects which he launched after coming to India and educational reforms introduced in. the Delhi College, when he was appointed its Principal. Besides, they have discussed some of their personal matters which furnish useful and new information about their lives.[72]

Apart from Sprenger, Hammer also corresponded with all the major European scholars of his time and his letters chronicle the development of Oriental studies in Europe. Among these continental orientalists, a distinguished British Sanskritist named Horace Hayman Wilson (1786-1860) was also included. He did much to promote a real knowledge of the very numerous branches of Indian learning. Commencing his oriental studies by learning Urdu, he switched over to Sanskrit in which his life long contribution shows his immense erudition. He was an employee of Bengal Medical Service (1808-1834) and held the office of secretary to the Asiatic Society of Bengal (1811-1833). After going back to England, he was appointed the Boden Professor of Sanskrit in Oxford University.[73]

The correspondence between Hammer and Wilson continued more than forty years. It began when Wilson was the secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal and they were exchanging their journals and other publications. Presently, Hammer’s eighteen letters addressed to Wilson are available in the Wilson Collection which was presented to the India Office Library and Records (London) in January 1969[74] All these letters are in English and the first letter’was written on 1st May 1815 and the last on 6 March 1855, about twenty months before his death in 1856. Three letters, including the last one, are written by his daughter, Isabella[75] Mostly Hammer comments on Wilson’s books or discusses the activities of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. In one of his letters (14 March 1844) Hammer writes that he translated the passages concerning India from Al-Fihrist of Ibn Nadim and sent it to the journal of the Society in 1842 but he was still waiting for its publication.[76]

It would be interesting to note here that Wilson also responded to him and at present his ten letters written to Hammer (from 1st December 1813 to 15 March 1841) are extant, two in the Manuscript Section of the Austrian National Library[77] (Vienna) and eight in the archives of Schloss Hainfeld.[78] In one of these letters (June 1823) it is mentioned that Wilson sent seventeen pamphlets published by Ram Mohan Roy who was introduced to Hammer as the modern reformer of both the Hindu and Christian faiths[79]

All these letters are very important for the European history of Oriental studies and will be published separately.[80]

In comparison to Hammer’s Turkish, Arabic and Persian studies, his contribution to Indology in general and to the cultural heritage of the Muslim India in particular is meagre. He did not write any book on this subject and most of his writings are published in the different European and Indian journals. He concentrated more on the political and literary history of Turkey, Central Asia and the Middle Eastern countries and it seems that his studies relating to the Muslim India is the continuation of his major work, as majority of the Muslim rulers in India were of Turkish extraction and their traditions influenced immensely the cultural life of the local people.

Besides, Hammer indirectly contributed to Indian languages and literature. As a pioneer of Islamic studies in German-speaking countries and the first president of the Academy of Sciences, he provided a momentum for accelerating the interest of his pupils and friends in varied subjects such as history, culture, art and architecture of this Subcontinent.[81] His scholarly efforts are.now culminated in the formation of the Hammer-Purgstall Gesellschaft (1958) which is also striving to highlight the literary and cultural achievements of the Muslim of the South Asian Subcontinent.[82]

[1] “Das schopferische Misstraueg oder Ist Osterreichs Literatur eine österreichische Literatur ?” an essay in his Reaktionen, Gētersloh 1964, pp. 72-105.

[2] Der Diwan von Mohammed Schemsed - Din Hafis. Aus dem Persischen zum erstenmal ganz ēbersetzt. 2 vols. Stuttgart and Tubingen : Cotta, 1812 and 1813 (actually published in 1814).

[3] See, Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (56 vols., 1875-1912), art. “Goethe”; Nouvelle Biographie Universelle (46 vols., 1852-1866), art. “Goethe”; Encyclopaedia Judaica (10 vols., 1928-1934), art. “Goethe”.

[4] Its ed. : West - oestlicher Divan, Stuttgart, in der Cottaischen Buchhandlung 1819; in collaboration with H.H. Schaeder, edited and explained by Ernst Beutler, Leipzig: Dietrich, 1943; critical ed. with textual commentary by Hans Albert Maier, 2 vols. (vol. I : textual history, vol. II : commentary).Tubingen : Niemeyer, 1965; Eng. tr. by John Weiss under the title Goethe's West-Easterly Divan, Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1877; Edgar Lohner (ed.): Studien zum West-östlichen Divan - Goethes, Darmstadt : Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1971; Wolfgang Lentz: Goethes Noten and Abhandlungen zum West-östlichen Divan, Hamburg : n.d. [1958].

[5] Anton Schlosser : F. Rēckert and Jos. Frhr. von Hammer-Purgstall. Vier Jahrhunderte dt. Kulturlebnes in Steiermark, Graz and Leipzig 1908, pp. 152-168; for Rēckert's life and translations, see Annemarie Schimmel - Tari: F. Rēckert, Dichter and Orientalist, Istanbul: Universitesi Edebiyat Fakēltesi Yayinlarindan, 1956; Ibid. : Friedrich Rēckert 1788-1866 Ubersetzungen persischer Poesie. Ausgewahlt und eingeleitet von A.S., Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1966: Rumi (pp. 12-15), Firdosi (pp. 16-19), Sa' di (pp. 20-28), Nizami (pp. 30-33), Hafis (pp. 34-45), Dschami (pp.46-55); Ibid. : Orintalische Dichtung in der Ubersetzung Friedrich Rēckert, Bremen: Shēnemann, 1963; Helmut Prang: Friedrich Rēckert. Geist und Form der Sprache, Selbstverlag der Stadt Schweinfurt (in Kommisson bei Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden), 1963; Friedrich Rēckert. Dreiundsechzig Ghaselen des Hafis. Mit einer Einleitung von J. Ph. Bērgel. Hrsg. von Wolfdietrich Fischer, Wiesbaden: In Kommission bei Otto Harrassowitz, 1988 Rēckert zu Reihen. Eine Schriftreihe der Ruckert - Gesellschaft, Band 1); Friedrich Rēckert, im Spiegel seiner Zeitgenossen rind der Nachwelt. Aufsatze aus der Zeit zwischen 1827 rind 1986. Hrsg. von Wolfdietrich Fischer, Wiesbaden: In Kommission bei Otto Harrassowitz, 1988; W. Fischer and R. Gömmel (Hrsg.): Friedrich Rēckert. Dichter rind Sprachgelehrter in Erlangen. Neustadt a,d. Aisch 1990; Hartmut Bobzin: “70 Ostliche Rosen. Unveroffentlichte Hafis-Ubertragungen Rēckerts” (in : Gott ist schön and Er liebt die Schönheit. Festschrift fir A. Schimmel... Hrsg. von Alma Giese and J. Ch. Bērgel, Bern etc. : Peter Lang, 1994, pp. 53-70).

[6] Johann Fuck: Die arabischen Studien in Europa bis in den Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts. Leipzig: Harrassowitz, 1955, pp. 167-168.

[7] For example, see Fick, op. cit., pp. 158-166.

[8] For the life and works of Hammer - Purgstall, see, Hans Giebisch and Gustav Gugitz : Bio-bibliographisches Literaturlexikon Osterreichs von den Anfangen bis zur Gegenwart.Wien: Verlag Brēder Hollinek, 1964; Ch. Bucher: Das dichterische Werk des'. Fr. Hammer - Purgstall, Diss. Wien, 1949; H. Sevimcan: Hammer- Purgstall und der Orient, Diss. Wien, 1956; Baher Mohammed Elgohary: Joseph Freiherr von Hammer - Purgstall, 1774-1856 Ein Dichter rind Vermittler orientalischer Literatur, Stuttgart: Akademischer Verlag Heinz, 1979; Helga Kavalirek: Die Infragestellung des klassischen Kulturideals im Werk Von Hammer - Purgstall. Versuch einer Kulturgeschichtlichen 'Einordnung. Diplomarbeit. Klagenfurt, 1984; Thomas Krivda : Studien ēber Joseph Freiherr von Hammer - Purgstalls Leben und Werken. Diplomarbeit, Universitat Wien, 1986 (typed script); Herbert König: Die Korrespondenz an den steirischen Orientalisten Joseph Freiherr von Hammer - Purgstall, Graz: Univ. Geisteswiss. Diss. 1985; Allgemeie Deutsche Biographie, vol. 10 (Leipzig, 1879), pp. 478-485; Neue Deutsche Biographie, vol. 7 (Berlin: Duncker und Humblot), pp. 593-594 (Werner Welzig); Osterreichische Biographisches Lexikon, 1815-1950, Bd. II (Graz- Köln : Verlag Hermann Böhlaus Nachf.), pp. 165-168 (with bibliography); A Schimmel: “Ein unbekanntes Werk Joseph von Hammer - Purgstalls” (in: Die Welt des Islams, xv/1-4, 1974, pp 131-145); S. Reichl: Hammer-Purgstall. Auf den romantischen Pfaden eines dsterreichischen Orientforschers. Graz 1973.

[9] See, Hammer- Purgstall in Klosterneuburg - Weidling. Ein Fruher durch die Hammer - Purgstall - Gedenkstṇtten in Klosterneuburg-Weidling. Hrsg. von Kulturreferat d. Stadt Klosterneuburg unter Mitwirkung von Erwin Mehl. Klosterneuburg 1959 (pp. 51).

[10] Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben 1774-1852. (=Erinnerungen), Bearb. Reinh. Bachofen von Echt. Wien: und Leipzig: Hölder - Pichler- Tempsky, 1940, pp. 571 - 575, “Die Publikationen Hammers”.

[11] Compiled by W. H. Behn, Adiyok: Millersville, Pa., 1989, with index.

[12] See, Biographic universelle (Michaud), vol. I, Paris 1843, pp. 85-87 (H. Audiffret); T.B. Beale: An Oriental Biographical Dictionary, Repinted: New York 1965 (London, 1894), p. 32; C.A. Storey: Persian Literature. A Bio-bibliographical Survey, vol. I (Reprinted: London 1989.) pp. 144-46, 704-705, 878-879 (cited other sources); Encyclopedia of Islam (Leiden), 1st ed., 1:102, 2nd ed. 1:123 (C. Collin Davies); D.M. Marshall: Mughals in India. A Bibliographical Survey, vol. I, Bombay etc., 1967, pp. 41-42; Prof. Humayun Kabir: Mirza Abu Talib Khan, Patna: Patna.University, 1961, pp. 28 (- The Russell Lecture, 1961); Encyclopedia Iranica, I: 389-390 (M. Baqir).

[13] Persian text: edited by Mirza Husain 'Ali (author's son) and Meer Qudrat ' Ali. Calcutta 1812; edited by Hasan Khidyujam, 2nd ed. Teheran 1363 shamsi (1st ed. Teheran 1352 shamsi); English tr. From the MS.), Travels of Mirza Abu Taleb Khan in Asia, Africa, and Europe, during the years 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802 and 1803. By Charles Stewart, 2 vols., London 1812, 2nd ed. in 3 vols. London 1814; French tr. (from the English tr.) Voyages de Mirza Abu Taleb Khan ,.. par M.J.C.T., 2 vols., Paris 1811, 2nd ed. Voyages du prince persan Mirza About Taleb Khan ... par M. Charles - Maio, Paris 1819; Dutch tr. (from the English tr.), 2 vols., Leuwarden 1813; German tr. (from the French tr.) by Georg Eedel, Vienna 1813 (pp. 660); Urdu tr. (only one vol. ) by Mirza 'Ali Raza Mahzun, Muradabad: Barbs Press, 1904 (pp. 444) and by Dr. Sarwat 'Ali, New Delhi: Urdu Development Bureau, 1984.

[14] Charles Stewart, vol. III, 1814, pp. 76-77; Persian text of the relevant passage, pp. 373-374 (Teheran ed.); French tr. (Paris 1811), vol. II, pp. 144-145; Urdu tr. (Sarwat 'Ali), pp. 288-289.

[15] Erinnerungen, op. cit., pp.138-139

[16] Calcutta 1812, in one vol. of large size.

[17] Title: Urtbeil der persischen Reisenden Mirsa Abu Thalib Chan uber Deutsche, aus seiner zu Calcutta im Jahr 1812 erschienenen Reisebeschreibung. Ubersetzt von Georg Eedel, Wien 1813.

[18] vol. - IV, pp. 459-460. Persian text relating to Hammer (p. 459) and its German tr. (p. 460). In a footnote (p. 459), Hammer corrects that he is an Austrian, not German, as stated by the traveller.

[19] Fundgruben des Orients, vol. 3 (1813), p. 40.

[20] Explanatory English Translation of the Meaning of the Holy Qur'an ... By Dr. Muhammad Taqui-ud-Din Al-Hilali and Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan, Ankara 1978, p. 21.

[21] La fascination de l'Islam, Paris: Francois Maspero, 1980, p. 80 (paperback); Eng. tr. Roger Veinus, London: Seattle, 1987.

[22] Ingeborg H. Solbrig: Hammer- Purgstall und Goethe. “Dem Zaubermeister das Werkzeug”. Bern and Frankfurt /M. : Verlag Herbert Lang, 1973, pp.87-165.

[23] Vienna, 1809, pp. I-II,III.

“Diese Zeitschrift soli Alles umfassen, was nur immer aus dem Morgenlande kömmt oder auf dasselbe Bezug hat. Orientalische Uebersetzungen, Abhandlungen, Bemerkungen, Nachrichten, Auszuge, Notizen, Beschreibungen, Zeichnungen, und Aufsatze aller Art, in den gangbarsten Sprachen Europa's. Denn, obwohl die meisten Mitglieder der Gesellschaft Deutsche sind, and die Zeitschrift vorzuglich deutsch geschriebene Aufsatze erhalten wird, so sollen doch auch französische, italienische, englische, spanische und lateinische aufgenommen werden; in dem die Bekanntschaft mit den gangbarsten Sprachen Europa's bey dem Liebhaber der orientalischen vorausgesetzt werden muss.” (pp. I-II). “Unsere Zeitschrift soil ein Vereinigungspunkt werden fēr die Liebhaber orientalischer Litteratur, nicht nur in Europa, sondern auch in Asien.” (p. III).

[24] Vol. II (1811). In a letter (dated 11 March 1810) of Mr. Renouard, a fellow of Sidney College, the following book of Gilchrist is reviewed:

The British Indian Monitor, or the Anti-Jargonist Stranger's Guide and Oriental Linguist by John Borthwick Gilchrist, 2 vols., 1807-1809 (pp. 275-276).

In another letter of 5 October 1811, Mr. Renouard remarks that “The College of Calcutta, which still exists on a reduced scale, gave rise to many works, chiefly poems, accompained by translations, for the use of the students — and also with a view to the literary improvement of the natives. Amongst the latter, the Hindustani translation of the Koran deserves notice. A part of it was printed, but I fear it has not been completed. As the writers in native Indian languages are so little known, the names of most of the works in printed Hindustani at Calcutta, would probably not be interesting to you.” (vol II, p. 195).

In vol. III (1813) of Fundgruben some of the new publications of the Fort William College (Calcutta) in Arabic, Persian, 'Hindustani' etc. are reviewed under the title “Intelligence of oriental Literature from Calcutta” (pp. 277-278). It begins with:

“The professor Lumsden of the Persian and Arabic languages having nearly completed his grammar of the first, has commenced one of the second. Other helps also towards the acquisition of its grammatical principles (i.e. of Arabic grammar), agreeably to the system of instruction used by the natives, will speedily be published.”

In vol. IV (1814) another heading “Indian Litterature. Extract of the discourse of the R.H. Lord Minto at the public disputation of the students of the College of Fort William at Calcutta, delivered the 20 Septemeber 1813” (pp. 178-181) in which the brief information of the various scholarly projects of Lumsden (Professor of Arabic and Persian), Captain Roebuck (Assistant Secretary and Examiner), Dr. Carey (Professor of Bengali and Sanskrit), Mr. Coolbrooke (Vocabulary of the Panjabi language') and Captain Lockett is given.

In the same volume, a review of the “Catalogue of Oriental Works published and completed at Calcutta from September 1812 till September 1813” deserves special attention which contains significant information about the Arabic, Persian and Urdu books of the first decade of the Fort William College.

[25] Objectives of the establishment of the College of Fort William (Calcutta), as stated in the Minutes of Lord Wellesley, Governor - General, dated 18 August 1800 and 25 July 1803. See, Thomas Roebuck: The Annals of the College of Fort William, Calcutta 1819, p. 35.

[26] Fuck, op. cit., pp. 135-140; Roebuck, op. cit. ; Muhammad Atique Siddiqi: Gilchrist awr us ka Ahd (Gilchrist and his Age,), in Urdu, Aligarh 1960 (2nd ed., Delhi 1979), pp. 135-184; Muhammad Sadiq: A History of Urdu Literature, Karachi: OUP 1985 (London 1964); A. Schimmel: Classical Urdu Literature from the Beginning to Iqbal. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1975.

[27] A quarterly journal, published from Vienna in Gothic script; at the end of every volume a special section was reserved for reviews under the title “Anzeige - Blatt fēr Wissenschaft und Kunst” (in the first four volumes) and from the fifth to the last volume under “Intelligenz - Nachricht der Verlagshandlung”. The editor of this Journal was Matthaus von Collin (1779-1824), a poet, aesthetician and brother of the dramatist Heinich von Collin (see, Osterreichische Biographisches Lexikon, op. cit., I (1957), p. 151). He was a professor of history and philosophy in Krakau in 1808 and then returned to Vienna. He was an intimate friend of Hammer (see Erinnerungen, pp. 177, 180, 182, 205, 232, 241). Goethe obtained the early volumes of this Journal from Clemens Wenzel von Metternich-Winneburg (1773-1859), an Austrian diplomat and statesman, cf. Ingeborg H. Solbrig, op. cit., p. 251.

[28] Jahrbucher, vol. 111 (1845), pp. 1-80, vol. 112 (1845), pp. 45-144, “Indostan und Kaschmir “(review article of sixteen monographs on Indian history, religions and travels).

[29] Jahrbucherher, vol. 107 (1844), pp. 1-59, “Reisen in Afghanistan” (review article of nine monographs on India and Afghanistan); vol. 51 (1830), pp. 16-87, “Indische Literatur” (review article on six books relating to India); vol. I (1818), pp. 260-363, vol. 3 (1818), pp. 133.-203 (review article on “Asiatic Researches; or Transactions of the Society instituted in Bengal ... “); vol. 4 (1818), pp. 102-115 ( review on Pottinger's Travels in Beloochistan und Sinde); vol. 9 (1820), pp. 1-82, vol. 10 (1820), pp. 209-256 (review on The Shah Nama, Calcutta 1811, vol. 1 by Thomas Watley and Sohrab, a poem, Calcutta 1814, by James Atkinson); vols. 125/6 (1849), pp. 141-147 (review on Borhani Qatiu, ed. by Thomas Roebuck, Calcutta 1818 and 3rd ed., Calcutta 1834); vol:2 (1818), pp.87-119 (review on Ichwan-oos-Suffa, Calcutta 1812). vol. 65 (1834), pp. 59-96, “Ostindien” (review on three monographs); vol. 34 (1826), pp. 155-170, “Ueberlieferung und Sprichworter” (review on Mishkat al-Masabih, tr. by A.N. Mathews, Calcutta 1809 and A Collection of Proverbs, and proverbial phrases, in the Persian and Hindoostanee languages. Compiled by T. Roebuck. Calcutta 1824).

[30] Jahrbucher, vol. 120 (1847), pp. 126-147.

[31] 2 vols., Paris 1839, 1847; 2nd ed.,3 vols. Paris 1870=71 (Reprinted: New York: Burt Franklin, 1968).

[32] Seven pts. in 2 vols., Lucknow: Matba' Sultani, 1237/1821 (pp. 1588 of the large size; seven pts. in one vol. , Lucknow: Newalkishor, 1879 (pp. 1403 of the large size); 1308/1891 (pp. 1170); Prof. Sayyid Masud Hasan Rizwi Adeeb: “Shahaan-i-Awadh ka Ilmi wa Adabi Zauq” (in Urdu), in: Nazr-e-Zakir, New Delhi, 1968, p. 179; Dr. Shahriyar Naqvi: Farhang Nawisi Farsi dar Hind wa Pakistan. (in Persian), Teheran 1341 shamsi, pp. 317-320.

[33] Najm-ul-Ghani Rampuri: Tarikh-e-Awadh (in Urdu), vol. 4, Lucknow 1919, pp. 207-209.

[34] vol. 35-(1826), pp. 129-170; vol. 36 (1826), pp. 250-292; vol. 37 (1827), pp. 166-207; vol. 38 (1827), pp.19-51; vol. 39 (1827), pp. 110-128.

[35] Board's Collections. 50503-50514 (1830-1831), vol. 1256, Nr. F/4/1256, Document Nr. 50514, India Office Library and Records (London).

The last paragraph of this letter is as follows:

“I take the liberty to enclose also a letter of thanks to the Committee of Fort William for useful instruction from which I received the present of some printed Arabic and Persian books noticed in the Literary Gazette of Leipzig.”

[36] “Im nachsten Bande folgt die Anzeige des siebenten Bandes von Hrn. Prof, Ruckert, und nach Schluss derselben erst das Verzeichnfss der viertausend persischen mit germanischen verwandten Wörter (p. 128).

[37] Under the title “Persische Philologie”: Fortsetzung der Recension des Siebenmeers.” vol. 40 (1827), pp. 153-220; vol. 41 (1828), pp. 11-27; vol. 42 (1828), pp. 65-93; vol. 43 (1828), pp. 43-83; vol, 44 (1828), pp. 66-140.

[38] Grammatik, Poetik und Rhetorik der Perser. Nach dem 7. Bande des Heft Kolzum dargestellt, hrsg. Von W. Pertsch, Gotha 1874 (Reprinted: Osnabruck : 1966). Reviewed by H.L. Fleischer, in: Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenldndischen Gesellschaft (= ZDMG) 31 (1877), pp. 563-581;32 (1878), pp. 225-270.

[39] German Contributions to the Study of Indo-Pakistani Linguistics. Hamburg: The German-Pakistan Forum, 1981, p. 16.

[40] Nachlass Sprenger, in: Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Berlin, West).

[41] The Royal Asiatic Society. Its History and Treasures. Edited by Stuart Simmonds and Simon Digby. Leiden and London 1979; O.P. Kejariwal: The Asiatic Society of Bengal and the Discovery of India's Past, 1784-1838. Delhi: OUP, 1988; JASB, Annual Report, 1848, pt. 1, p. XLI.

[42] Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (=JASB), Proceedings, vol. II (1833), p. 547; vol. III (1834), pp. 525, 526 “Literary Communcations”; vol. V (1836), pp. 435, 756; vol. VI (1837), p. 708; vol. VIII (1839), p. 865; vol. XI (1842), p. 1198; vol. XIV (1845), p. XXXI; vol. XXIII (1854), p. 307.

[43] JASB, vol. XIV/2 (July - Dec. 1845), Proceedings, p. XCIV.

The last paragraph of the letter from His Highness Prince Esterhazy, Ambassador of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Austria at the British Court (London, 4 August 1835): “The enclosed letters and the Oriental works you have sent to the Aulic Councellor Von Hammer, have also been forwarded to their destination” (ibid., v (1836), p. 55).

[44] Extracts from the Mohit, that is the Ocean, a Turkish work on Navigation in the Indian Ocean.”. (JASB 3/35 Nov. 1834), pp. 545-553; 5/56 (August, 1836), pp. 441-468; 6/70 (Oct.,1837), pp. 805-812; 7/81 (Sept. 1838), pp. 767-780 (James Prinsep: Note on the above chapter, pp. 774-780); 8/94 (Oct., 1839), pp. 823-830; Ibid., Proceedings, Dec. 1850, p. 568 and 1851, “Literary Intelligence”, p. 621.

Reproduced in : Reprints of Studies on the Works of the Ottoman Admiral Sidi 'Ali (d. 1562).Edited by Fuat Sezgin in collaboration with M. Amawi, C. Ehrig-Eggert and E. Neubauer, Frankfurt a. M. 1992, pp. 1-68.

Hammer: “Notice and Extracts of the Miritolmemalik (Mirror of countries) of Sidi Ali Capoodawn” (in: Transactions of the Literary Society of Bombay (London), 2 (1820), pp. 1-14).

In the second part of Hammer's translation, the editor of JASB (James Prinsep) writes:

“The value set upon it [Mohit] by this eminent oriental scholar [Hammer], induced him to offer to translate the whole for the Oriental Translation Committee; but through some accident, (we can ascribe it to no other cause,) an offer so generous has remained unacknowledged. “Without doubt,” our correspondent [i.e. Hammer] writes, “the book would deserve much more the care of the Committee than many of minor interest published by it; but although to my volunteer I got no more answer than to my offer of an edition and translation of Wassaf, agar hajat bashed, as the Persians say, and with the assistance and remarks of some Indian sea-faring gentleman on the parts already translated, I hope to send chapter after chapter to your Indian Journal, and thus we shall be independent of the Committee”. (1836, p. 441).

On p. 442 there is a footnote on the world “Baron” which is as follows:

“It seems we erred in giving that designation to Counsellor Von Hammer in 1833; but our announcement proved prophetic; the Emperor having conferred, the title to him in December 1835, upon his succeeding to the little state of Hainfeld bequeathed to him and his male descendants by the late Countess Purgstall (Cranstoun). The present paper is a proof that this accession of honors will not detract from the zeal of his Oriental studies Ed.”

See also, Die topographischen Capitel des indischen Seespiegels MOHIT, Ubersetzt von Dr. Maximilian Bittner. Mit einer Einleitung sowie mit 30 Tafeln versehen von Dr. Wilhelm Tomaschek. Festschrift zur Erinnerung an die Eröffnung des Seeweges nach Ostindien durch Vasco da Gama (1497). Hrsg. von K.K. Geographischer Gesellschaft in Wien. Wien 1897 (refers Hammer's above- mentioned translation, p. 4); M. Bittner: “Zum “Indischen Ozean” des Seidi All Celebi. Bemerkungen zu einer Ubersetzung aus dem Turkischen (in: Wiener Zeitschrift fēr die Kunde des Morgenlandes, 10 (1896), pp. 21-35).

[45] See, “Ancora del Muhit, o “descrizione dei mari delle Indie” dell'ammiraglio turco Sidi Ali detto Kiatib-i-Rum”. By L. Bonelli (in: Rendiconti dell' Accademia dei Lincei, Classe di scienze morali, serie quinta, 3 (1894), pp. 751-777; 4 (1895), pp. 36-51); “Miroir des pays, au relations des voyages de Sidi Aly fils d'Housain, nomme Katibi Roumi, amiral de Soliman II, traduit sur la version allemande de H.P von Diez par M. Morris, in: Journal Asiatique 9 (1826), pp. 27-56, 65-97, 129.153, 193-217, 280-299; 10 (1827), pp. 46-53, 94-112.

[46] In the introduction of Mohit's translation, Hammer writes:

“My attention to the high interest of this nautical work having been first roused thirty years ago, by the article mentioning it in ,Haji Calfa's Bibliographic Dictionary...”

(JASB, Nov. 1834, p. 545).

[47] Hammer explains that,

“I spared no kind of exertion to find a copy of it (i.e. Mohit), whether in the libraries, or among the book-selles of Constantinople: but all my researches were baffled for more than twenty years, until at length I lighted upon it in the library of the Museo Borbonico at Naples, in the year 1825; and after an investigation of seven years more, I was at last fortunate enough to buy at Constantinople, the manuscript serving for this notice. It is written in the fair Neskhi hand, bearing the stamp of Sultan Suleiman'o age , and is stated to have been copied but four years after the composition of the original, which was finished at Ahmedabad, the capital of Gujerat, in last days of Moharram of the year 962 (December 1554), while the present copy was finished in the town of Amed or Diarbeker, in the first days of Rabi ul awal of the year 966, (December, 1558). The manuscript consists of 134 leaves or 238 pages, large octavo.”

(JASB, Nov. 1834, pp. 545-546),

See also, “Sidi Ali Shelebi in India, 1554-1556 A.D.” By C.E. A.W. Oldham (in: Indian Antiquary (Bombay), vol. LIX (Nov. 1930), pp. 219-224; Dec. 1930, pp. 239-241; vol. LX (Jan. 1931), pp. 5-8; Feb. 1931, pp. 26-30).

[48] JASB, vol. 7 (1838), pp. 774-780.

[49] Full title: Geschichte der schonen Redekēnste Persiens vom. 4 Jahrhundert der Hedschra, das ist vom 10ten der christlichen Zeitrechnung bis auf unsere Zeit. Mit einer Blētenlese aus 200 persischen Dichtern. Wien: Volke, 1818. (Reviewed by M.— S. in : Jahrbucher I (1818), pp. 1-25); a major source of Goethe's Noten und Abhandlungen (cf. Ingeborg H. Solbrig, op. cit., pp. 165-191).

[50] Wilhelm Heinz: Der indische Stil in der persischen Literatur, Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1973 (pp. 122); G. Morrison (ed.): History of Persian Literature from the Beginning of the Islamic Period to the Present Day. Leiden/Köln : Brill, 1981 pp. 145-165, “Persian Literature (Belles - Lettres) from the time of Jami to the present day “by Shafi'i Kadkani.

[51] pp. 351-354; orignially written in Chaghatai Turkish and later translated into Persian.

[52] pp. 393 f.

[53] pp. 395-399.

[54] pp. 400-410. Hammer was deeply impressed by his poetry and translated many of his ghazals.

[55] Mostly ghazals, version of the fables of the Anwar-i-Sohaili and the 'Ayar-i-Danish.

[56] “Siebenter Zeitraum. Verfall der Dichtkunst und Geschichte in Persien und in Indien” (pp. 411-416).

[57] “Abuthalibchan, den Dichter mehrerer Ghaselen, der seine Reise in England und von England zu Lande nach Indien beschrieb, hat der Verfasser dieses Werks bey seiner Durchreise zu Konstantinopel persönlich kennen gelernt, und dankt ihm eine ehrenvolle Erwahnung unter dem von englischen Uebersetzer verstummelten Nahmen Himru”. Redekēnste p. 414).

[58] The editions and translations of the well - known Persian books by Gladwin, Atkinson, Scott, Franklin and Lumsden have been referred (p. 416).

[59] 6 vols. , Leipzig/ Darmstadt: Leske, 1837-1839.

[60] vol. IV (1837), pp. 101-160.

[61] “Kutbeddin Ibek aus der Familie Ghawri, Grēnder der Reiches von Dehli” (vol. IV, pp. 161-186).

[62] Alaeddin der Cholodsche der dreiunddreizigster Herrscher von Dehli. “ (vol. IV, pp. 187-223).

[63] “Firuz Toghluk, der dritte Herscher der Toghlukschahe zu Dehli. “ (vol. IV, pp. 224-246).

[64] M. Ikram Chaghatai: “Dr. Aloys Sprenger. His Life and Contribution to the Urdu Language and Literature.” (in: Iqbal Review 36/1 (Lahore) April 1995, pp. 77-79); Ibid. : “Dr. Aloys Sprenger and Delhi College” (forthcoming); Ibid. in: Austrian Scholarship in Pakistan - A Symposium dedicated to the memory of Aloys Sprenger. Islamabad 1997, pp. 9-33; Stephan Prochazka: “Die Bedeutung der Werke Aloys Sprenger fēr die Arabistik und Islamkunde”, in: Tiroler Heirnatblṇtter Innsbruck, 69 Jg. 2/1994, pp. 38-42; Norbert Mantl: Aloys Sprenger. Der Orientalist und Islamhistoriker aus Nassereith in Tirol. Zum 100. Todestag am 19. Dezember 1993. Im Selbstverlag der Gemeinde Nassereith, 1993.

[65] JASB, XXII 6 (1853), “Catalogues of Oriental Libraries” by A. Sprenger, p. 539.

[66] Fritz Lochner v. Hēttenbach “Vier Briefe Hammer - Purgstalls an Aloys Sprenger. Ein Beitrag zu seinem lebhaften Interesse an orientalischer Dichtung,” in: Im Bankreis des Alten. Orients. Studien zur Sprach-und Kulturgeschichte des Alten Orients und seines Ausstrahlungsraumes. Karl Oberhuber zum 70. Geburtstag gewidmet. Hrsg. von Wolfgang Meid und Helga Trenkwalder. Innsbruck 1986, pp. 143-151.

[67] Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems (London 1841), Oriental Translation Fund)- Only 1st vol. of the translation was published and the second remained incomplete.

[68] The Gulistan of Sa'dy, edited in Persian with punctuation and the necessary vowel-marks for the use of the Collge of Fort William. Calcutta 1851, (pp. 241).

[69] The Life of Muhammad from original sources, Allahabad 1851. (upto the Hijrah). Afterwards, he completed this book entitled Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad in three volumes (Berlin 1861-1865, 2nd ed. Berlin 1869) in which he “attempted to establish the general laws governing the origin of Islam, and interpreted it in purely rational terms as a creation of the spirit of the time...”

(See, Johann Fēck Arabische Kultur und Islam im Mittelalter. Ausgewahlte Schriften. Hrsg. von Manfred Fleischhammer, Weimar: Hermann Böhlaus Nachfolger, 1981, p. 318).

[70] JASB, 1851, “Literary Intelligence” by A. Sprenger, p. 621, see Hammer's Abu/ - Maanis' Juwelenschnēre das ist Bruckstēcke eines bekannten persischen Dichters. Wien: A. Doll, 1822.

[71] Sprenger wrote these four letters to Hammer from Dehli, Calcutta and Alexandria. Their photocopies are now available in the Institut fur ( vergleichende) Sprachwissenschaft der Karl-Franzens-Universitat (Graz); Alois Sprenger: Brief an Hummer - Purgstall. 5 pages. Separatabdruck (cf. Gesammtverzeichnis des deutschsprachigen Schrifttums, 1700-1910. vol. 137, Munchen & others, 1985, p. 2871); one of these letters (Calcutta, 6 July 1850) was also published in Sitzungsberichte der kaiser/when Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch - historische Classe. vol. 5 (Vienna 1850), pp. 799-802; see also, Bibliotheca Asiatica. Teilweise aus der Bibliothek des Prof. Dr. Alois Sprenger (Tiroler Landesmuseum, Innsbruck, in: Bibliotheca Tiro/ens Ferdinand, No. 11417)

[72] In a letter (Vienna, 25 Nov. 1845) Hammer writes to Sprenger: Eng. tr. “... I am in the pangs of death as regards my youngest promising son. Eight days ago he left with his two sisters for Venice so as to find recovery there in a milder climate. This makes me completely disconcerted and little disposed to working. After the greatest misfortune of my life, the loss of my 'slig' (means: now living in bliss) wife, may God prevent this new (Misfortune) from (hitting) your”. (For original German text, see no. 66, op. cit., p. 144). Likewise, Sprenger narrates the experiences and observations of his extensive travelling in Ladakh and Kashmir and compares the climatic and botanical conditions of the Himalaya with the Alpine regions. (See, Sitzungsberichte, op. cit., p. 802).

[73] The Dictionary of National Biography. Edited by Sir Leslie Stephen and Sir Sidney Lee, vol. XXI, Reprinted: Oxford 1964-65 (1921-22), pp. 568-570, art. by Cecil Bendall.

[74] This Collection comprises letters dating from 1812 to 1860, addressed to H. H. Wilson, who was among the best known oriental scholars of his generation, and corresponded with all the major European and Indian Sanskritists. These lettes are chronologically arranged in fifteen volumes and the last one consists of Wilson's miscellaneous papers and undated letters. Prof. and Mrs. Gerald Sirkin presented this whole Collection to the India Office Library and Records in January 1969. (Nr. MSS Eur E 301).

[75] 1819-1872, married Freiherr von Trenk-Jondern (1812-1877): See, Erinnerungen, op. cit., p. 576. She wrote three letters, signed by Hammer, dated 2 May 1841, 16 December 1841 and 6 March 1855 and the first one was sent from Dobling near Vienna.

[76] Hammer writes: “I hope to find in the next the translation of the passages concerning India, translated from the Fihrist, transmitted two years ago to the Society. These extracts form a side-piece to those on the Sabians given in the Journal Asiatique of Paris,” (Vienna, 14 March 1841),

[77] Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek. (Vienna),

Handschriftenabteilung Nr. 8/81-1, 8/81-2.

[78] See, Erinnerungen, op. cit., p. 569.

[79] From Calcutta, June 1823,

[80] A fully annotated edition of all these letters is in preparation.

[81] See, Richard Meister; Geschichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, 1847-1947. Wien: Druck und Verlag Adolf Holzhausens NFG, 1947; Renate Wagner-Rieger: Das Haus der Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Festgabe zur 125 l25-Jahrfeier der Akademie. Wien: In Kommission bei H. Böhlaus Nachf. 1972; see also, Rede des Prṇsidenten der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften bei der feierlichen Eroffnung derselben am 2. Februar 1848. By Hammer-Purgstall (first President of the Academy).

[82] Zwanzig Jahre Hammer - Purgstall - Gesellschaft, 1958-1978. Geleitet von Franz Sauer, Graz: Akademisch Druck u. Verlagsanstalt, 1978 (with articles by Dr. Carl Blaha, Dr. Herbert W. Duda and Dr. Herbert Jansky).