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The sword of Moghal Emperor Aurangzeb
(below) which is re-discovered at Maulana Azad Library, AMU
today during its re-organisation |
Aligarh:
The ongoing process of reorganization of manuscripts at
Maulana Azad Library, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has revealed
some hidden treasure in the form of museum pieces including a
sword of Moghal Emperor Aurangzeb, according to the university
officials.
A close look revealed that a couplet
in old Persian is engraved on the sword in gold indicating that
the same was presented to Aurangzeb.
Another piece is a Pen Stand made of
Sapphire gifted by the King Nadirshah of Afganistan to the then
Vice-Chancellor of AMU in 1933.
Such pieces along with 350 recently
discovered manuscripts and an equal number of sale deeds (1602 AD
- 1800 AD) were put on display.
The Maulana Azad Library is
particularly known for its oriental collection including 16
thousands manuscripts, a large number of which belongs to rarest
of the rare category, the officials said.
It also
has a fragment of Holy Quran written in 'Khat-e-Kufi' on parchment,
which
is claimed to be inscribed by Hazrat Ali (the 4th Caliph of
Islam), 1400 years ago.
Besides, several royal decrees of Mughal Emperors
namely Babar, Akbar, Shahjahan, Shah Alam, Aurangzeb etc and
translation of Sanskrit works as Mahapuran, Bhagwad Geeta,
Mahabharta and Leelawati in Persian by Abul Faiz Faizi, a scholar
of eminence in the court of Mughal Emperor Akbar also form the
core of this all important National Asset.
Meanwhile, a meeting of the Library
Committee of Maulana Azad Library was held in the Cultural Hall of
Maulana Azad Library to discuss various issues pertaining to the
smooth functioning of Maulana Azad Library.
Prof. Husain informed during the
meeting that the
library is now working to connect the entire 100 departmental
libraries as well as the libraries of Murshidabad and Mallapuram
Centre with Maulana Azad Library under a network, named as 'AMULIBNET'.
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