An Introduction to Shekarnameh-Ilkhani

Introduction Shekarnameh Ilkhani is a book about training and treatment of wild animals and birds, written by Ali Ibn Mansour Halvani based on several other books like Baznameh and Shekarnameh, especially that of Malekshahi named after Toghan Teimurkhan. This book consists of three main sections. The first section is an introduction which is important for the development of Baznameh and the history of science. The second and third sections are about training and treatment of hunting birds and animals, respectively. Although this book is important for its linguistics, historic and literary aspects, it is neither corrected nor introduced, yet. In this research, the author introduces some versions of this book and examines different aspects of them.
Method Firstly, the manuscript of the Shekarnameh Ilkhani was discovered from various manuscripts catalogues. Then, all of the manuscripts were checked in terms of originality and relations and oldness. After that, Astan manuscript was selected as the main manuscript and other manuscripts were compared to Astan. Next, all of the differences among manuscripts were reported in the footnote. Afterwards, the textual criticism was prepared. The final data was gathered using libraries procedure information. This information was analyzed in various aspects.
Results and Discussion The word of Baznameh is composed of two parts. The first part is Baz, which means the falcon. The last part of this word is Nameh, which means the book. Since falcons were important for ancestors, the training and treatment of wild birds are usually considered in these types of books. As a result, this book is named Baznameh. Moreover, in Persian language, the synonym of Baznameh is Shekarnameh.
There are many other instances of Baznameh in Persian such as Noushirvani Baznameh, Kasri Baznameh, Samanian Baznameh, Mahmoud Ghaznavi Baznameh, Nasavi Baznameh written by Ali Ghoravi, Malekshahi Shekarnameh written by Khajeh Abolhasan Ali Ebne Mohammad Neyshabouri, Ilkhani Shekarnameh written by Ali Ebne Mansour Helvani, Seid Almorad Fi Ghavanin Al Sayyad or Javareh nameh Emamieh written by Khodayar khan Abbasi written by Filot, Baysonghori Baznameh, Altazkareh fi elm Al Bozdareh written by Ali Ebne Zahed Shoushtari written by Mir Hashem Mohaddes, Shahbaz nameh, and Naseri Baznameh written by Teymour Mirza Hesam al dole.
The literature review of Shekarnameh is as follows: The Ilkhani Shekarnameh has not been published, yet. However, it has been examined in some studies. Some of these studies are as follows:• Mohammad Taghi Binesh has studied the structure of Ilkhani Shekarnameh in an article titled Baznamehs and Bazyari.
• Ali Ghoravi has briefly studied this book in an article titled a brief history of Baznameh and introduction to some Baznamehs.
• Parviz Azkaee has briefly introduced this book in an article titled Falconry in Tashayyo cyclopedia.
• Sadegh Ayene Vand has mentioned the existence of this book in about three lines in an article titled Alseyd through Malek library version.
• Felex Tower has briefly mentioned that the Malekshahi Shekarnameh is a model for Ilkhani Shekarnameh in an article titled the history of natural science in Persian literature.
• Mohammad Ali Moulavi has mentioned some references and has introduced this book in Great Encyclopedia of Islam.
• Hasan Tajbakhsh has considered this book in medical and dental
Based on the text of Shekarnameh Ilkhani, the author of this book is a person named Ali Ebne Mansour Halvani/ Halvaee/ Khavafi. In historical books and biographies, there is no information about him and the only reference for identifying him is Shekarnameh Ilkhani. From the text of this book, it can be concluded that he was an attendant of Tagha Teymourkhan. He had been in charge of Ghushkhaneh. Moreover, he was completing his Shekarnameh druing Khaje Ali Moayyed's era. With reference to the text of this book, surely, it can be said that he was an Esna Ashari Shiae.
Similarity among Ilkhani Shekarnameh and other similar books (Baznameh) in Persian literature: With the analysis of the Persian Shekarnameh, it can be concluded that some parts of this Shekarnameh is similar to the following books in terms of the material and spirituality.
Some sections of this Shekarnameh are exactly similar to Malekshahi Shekarnameh and Yanal Khalil Tash Baznameh, Kasra Baznamehs and the section of falconry of Jame Ol Olum written by Settini. Moreover, some sections of this book are similar to Nasavi Baznameh in terms of idioms and professional words.
This book contains three parts:• An introduction to the history of falconry and reasons beyond writing this book.
• About training and treatment of hunting birds.
• About training and treatment of hunting animals.
Conclusion Shekarnameh Ilkhani is one of the most important books in the 8th century and Ilkhanan dynasty. The text of this Shekarnameh is important for language research especially linguistic studies and studying the special terms which are used in this period of time as well as studying falconry terms. There is no information about Ali Ibn Mansour Halvani in the references. However, by investigating the text of Shekarnameh Ilkhani, we found that he was a Bazdar of Toghaytimur khan and Khajeh Ali Moayyad and that he was Shia. There are six manuscripts of shekarnameh Ilkhani in libraries around the world and the oldest manuscript is in Malek library, numbered 1681. A complete manuscript is also available in Astan Qods Razavi library, numbered 28207. This Shekarnameh contains three parts. The first part is an introduction to the history of falconry till 8th century and reasons beyond writing this book. The second part is about the treatment and training of birds. The last part is about training and treatment of other wild animals. Unfortunately, this book has not been published till now. Because of the importance of this book, it is worthwhile to correct and publish this book via criticism methods based on Astan Qods Razavi manuscripts and compare this manuscript with other manuscripts. Moroever, linguistic features of this work can be used in stylistics and textual studeis of the Persian literature.