Textual Criticism of Taḥrimat al-qalam beside Editing Some Couplets of it

Sanāʾī is one of the epoch maker and eloquent poets in history of Persian literature. Among survived works by him one can name the short mathnavī Taḥrīmat al-qalam. This mathnavī has been edited by Mujtabā Mīnuvī (1957-8), Riżā Māyil Hiravī (1967) and Muḥammad-Taqī Mudarris Rażavī (1969). The last effort, i.e. the edition by the late Mudarris Rażavī, has been the target of researchers' attention and reference during the last half century. But in this edition one can still see a variety of omissions and slips which is mostly emerged through partial deficiency of editor's sources as well as methodological mistakes. In this research, after searching for and acquiring all of the known manuscripts up to now, we have dealt with their examination and genealogy, in addition to the history of the text. Then we have edited and reformed a remarkable number of couplets in Mudarris Rażavī's edition, with regard to manuscripts of the text, the text's evidence, analogous concepts and structures in other literary and mystical texts, old and new lexicons, in addition to the contemporary researches.
 
1. Introduction
In addition to this fact that Sanāʾī is an epoch maker poet, he is also a work-intensive and a variety of literary works is attributed to him. During the last 60 years, the authority of short Mathnavīs has been seriously doubted. Although de Bruijn has questioned attribution of Taḥrīmat al-qalam to him, and de Blois accordingly has so, most of the researchers before de Bruijn, and albeit after him, have accepted Taḥrīmat al-qalam's attribution to Sanāʾī and unlike to other works like Sanāʾī- ābād, ʿIqnāmah, Tariq ul-tahqiq, etc. Taḥrīma is regarded as an undoubted work by him.
Taḥrīmat al-qalam is contained in two of the oldest documents of Sanāʾī's works: 1- Velieddin 2627 (now in the Bayezit Library, Istanbul) which was copied at Herat in 683-84 A.H. /1284-85; 2- Unquestionably early (second half 6^th cent.), but not dated, is the Taḥrīmat al-qalam that is contained in the kulliyyāt manuscript that was kept at the Kābul Museum before its building was pillaged and destroyed during the upheavals of the past few decades in Afghanistan. Its present whereabouts are unknown, but fortunately it had been published in a facsimile edition in Kābul in 1977.
These two are manuscripts of Sanāʾī 's  collected works (Kullīyāt). It should be noted that other old manuscripts only include some works by Sanāʾī, so absence of a certain work can not be used as an evidence for its authority's disapproval. Additionally, none of the spurious Mathnavīes is contained in the old sources. Works such as Ṭarῑq ut-Taḥqῑq, ʿiqnāmah, Sanāʾī- ābād, Bahrām va Behrūz, etc. are attributed to Sanāʾī only in the manuscripts dated to 11^th A.H. and thereafter. Some of these Mathnavīes contained in the manuscripts of 9^th and 10^th A.H. centuries, and are attributed to poets other than Sanāʾī.
 
2. Theoretical Framework
This research is on the framework of textual criticism. Textual criticism tries to reach to the nearest version of the text seeped from the writer's pen, based on the most reliable, accurate and oldest sources. In order to achieve this aim, the critic follows principles and methods in which the selected version of the text is chosen based on the evidence and documents. The critic also avoids conjectures and arbitrary or taste-connected applications.
 
3. Methodology
Manuscripts consisting of Taḥrīmat al-qalam are our main documents and sources in editing the lines (“Bayts” hereafter). Additionally, other works by Sanāʾī, works by his contemporaries, mystical texts and lexicons, etc. expand our source basis.
The dominant characteristic of all these manuscripts is that they are written between 6^th – 9^th centuries A.H. and there is no trace of Taḥrīma in manuscripts thereafter. Survived manuscripts of this text that we know are four:

Velieddin 2627 (now in the Bayezit Library), dated 683-4 A.H., Istanbul;
kulliyyāt manuscript that was kept at the Kābul Museum (No. 318 in catalogue by de Beaurecueil); facsimile edition in Kābul in 1977;
Fātih library 3734, by Gulšanī Hiravī in 884 A.H., Istanbul;
Hâlet Efendi Ilavesi 61, Istanbul.

Considering our final selected text, it seems that validity of Kābul manuscript stands at the first level, and Veliuddin Efendi at the second.
 
4. Discussion & Results
From 103 Bayts collected in Mudarris Rażavī's edition, we re-edited Bayts No. 3, 4, 22, 23, 33, 34, 38, 42, 44, 47, 52, 58, 64, 73, 75, 76, 77, 78, 81, 82, 90, 102. Our editions include lexical cases, grammatical forms, verb applications, order and arrangement of Bayts, etc. besides, in this paper a few misprints are mentioned and re-edited.
 
5. Conclusions & Suggestions
In regard to the small number of this Mathnavī (103 Bayts), mistakes and slips count of Mudarris Rażavī's edition (34 cases) are remarkable. This fact shows that subsequent researches are necessary to achieve a recension such as many other texts. Another achievement gained through our research refers to the degree of validity and accuracy of text variants in the existing manuscripts of this Mathnavī. In most cases the records of Kābul are more accurate and older than other manuscripts. However, the late fact is not generalizable to other works by Sanāʾī.
 
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