Ta’līf-i Šarīfī | Monography or Translations of known period | Survey | Perso-Indica

Monography or Translations of known period
Muḥammad Šarīf Ḫān, Ta’līf-i Šarīfī

[Preliminary Entry] Muḥammad Šarīf Ḫān (m. vers 1222/1807, Delhi) descended from a family of theologians and physicians who traced their ancestry back to the famous mystic ‘Ubayd Allāh Aḥrār (d. 1490, Samarkand). The Ta’līf-i Šarīfī is one of the most important Persian dictionaries of Indian materia medica. A few manuscript copies dedicate the work to the Mughal emperor Šāh ‘Ālam II (r. 1760-1806). The entries of this work describe the aspects, properties and uses of Indian drugs and provide the exact pronunciation of the Indian names.

F. S.


Lithograph:  Ta’līf-i Šarīfī , Delhi, 1279/1863.

English translation: The Taleef Shereef or Indian Materia Medica, G. Playfair, ed., Calcutta, The Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta, 1833.

Bibliography:

Speziale, Fabrizio, 2009, “šarif Khan, Moḥammad”, Encyclopaedia Iranica, available at: <http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sarif-khan-mohammad-d-ca-1807-physician-at-the-court-of-the-mughal-emperor-shah-alam-ii> [Accessed 31 July 2012]


 
Main Persian Title: Ta’līf-i Šarīfī
Author: Muḥammad Šarīf Ḫān
Approximate period of composition: 1760-1806
Place: Delhi 
Dedicatee: Šāh ‘Ālam II