Bahireh: Dar Hekayat-Nevisi va Aja’eb-Negari (3 vols.)

• Persian Title: بحیره: در حکایت‌نویسی و عجایب‌نگاری
• Transliterated Title: Baḥīrah: dar ḥikāyat-navīsī va ʿajāʾib-nigārī
• English Title: Bahīrah: On Storytelling and the Recording of Marvels
• Author: Mīr Muḥammad Hāshim Beg Fuzūnī Astarābādī (11th century A.H.)
• Editors: Murtażā Mūsavī; Riḍvān Massāḥ
• Language: Persian
• ISBN: 978-600-203-175-4 (set)
• Publication Year: 2019
• Pages: 2174
• Format: PDF
• Category: History and Geography
• Miras Maktoob Collection Code: 327

【Summary】

Mīr Muḥammad Hāshim Beg Fuzūnī Astarābādī, son of Jalāl al-Dīn Naqqāsh, was a writer and poet of the eleventh century A.H. who spent many years traveling through India, Iran, and the Arab world. Drawing on what he read, witnessed, and heard during these journeys, he compiled Baḥīrah, a vast anthology of narratives and marvels.

In addition to a preface and conclusion, the work comprises 44 chapters—some divided into multiple sections—presented in the form of anecdotes. The book is organized around two overarching themes: historiography (chapters 1–27) and marvel literature (chapters 28–44). Topics range widely, from justice, miracles, and royal campaigns to human faculties such as insight, miserliness, memory, and dreams; and from seas, springs, and stones to islands and extraordinary buildings.

The distinctive thematic organization of Baḥīrah, its reliance on numerous early and sometimes now-lost sources, and the author’s own observations and experiences lend the work particular freshness and value. As such, it stands as an important source for the study of Persian narrative prose, travel literature, and the tradition of recording wonders.