If you are a literature aficionado and are planning your vacation in India, don't miss a visit to Rampur — a historic city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, approximately four hours' drive from the capital, Delhi. Rampur has witnessed the rise and fall of many regimes. Many great classical musicians and poets graced its court. It is also home to the Raza Library — a treasure trove of knowledge and one of the biggest in Asia.

The library is a repository of many rare manuscripts written in Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Turkish, Urdu and Pashtu, around 1,000 miniature paintings, handwritten palm leaves, historic documents and rare specimens of Islamic calligraphy. This cradle of learning was established by one of its rulers, Nawab Faizullah Khan, with items from his personal collection in the last decades of the 18th century.

The rulers of Rampur were great patrons of scholars, poets, painters, calligraphers and musicians from different parts of the world and thus the library grew by leaps and bounds.

Seal of wisdom

The first signet of the library was conceptualised in a Persian inscription: Hast in Muhr Bar Kutub Khana: Waali-i-Rampur Farzana.

It means: "This is the seal of the library: by the wise ruler of Rampur" during the regime of Nawab Mohammad Saeed Khan.

Once you reach Rampur, it is very easy to find the Raza Library. It has sprawling lawns, marvellous Indo-European architecture and classy interiors. In fact, it was a palace built by Nawab Hamid Ali Khan, a highly educated and prolific ruler, in 1904. He also built many other impressive state buildings in Rampur. This building was donated to Raza Library in 1957.

Maze of learning

The wealth of Arabic texts in the library is no less than a maze — you will be lost in the profundity of some of the oldest and rarest manuscripts.

Among them is a Quran from the 7th century AD, written in Kufic script, ascribed to Hazrat Ali. This was brought by Nawab Kalbe Ali Khan when he performed the Haj. Another specimen, a 9th-century handwritten Quran, is accredited to Imam Abul Hassan Mousa.

The Raza Library is also home to a handful of masterpieces, including the Quran written in Naskh style by Ibn Muqla, a celebrated scholar, who died on July 20, AD941; and the Quran penned by Yaqut Al Musta, the master calligrapher of the 13th century, in Baghdad, which has gold and lapis lazuli embellishments.

Recently, the library won an award in the oriental section by the government of India for preserving the Hindu epic Ramayana in Persian Nastaliq, originally written in Sanskrit.

Handwritten collection

The library has 13 handwritten volumes of the Bhagawad Gita besides the Panchtantra — a collection of Indian fables — translated into Persian as Kalila-wa-Dimna, which is not available elsewhere on Earth.

It also has the khamsa, or poem, of Nizami Ganjavi, illustrated in AD1542-43. It embodies the Iranian style and is beautifully painted against a floral background.

Among the other rare Persian manuscripts of the library, there is a copy of Risalah Khawaja Abdullah Ansari and Sad Pand-i-Luqman — bound together and written in Nastaliq by the master calligrapher Mir Ali of Herat, who died in AD1544.

It bears signatures and seals of several kings and scholars and was purchased by the Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan for only Rs1,000.

Turkish influence

Turkey had a notable impact on Indian politics during Mogul rule. Emperor Babur was an excellent writer and poet in Turko-Uzbek and was accepted as a creator of a particular style in prose and verse.

The library has the distinction of archiving 50 rare books and manuscripts in Turkish. The library contains a unique manuscript of Babur's Bayaz, popularly called Diwan-i-Babur dated AD1528, and has a Turkish Rubai (quatrain) in his own handwriting.

The fly leaf bears the seal and signature of Akbar's general, Mohammad Bairam Khan, who falsely attributed the writing of the Diwan to himself. This mistake was later corrected by Emperor Shah Jahan in his own handwriting, stating that the poem belongs to Babur, also known as Firdaus Makani.

One of the latest Turkish works in the library is the roz-namchah, or diary, of the poet Insha Allah Khan Insha, which brings you closer to the court of Avadh (the region comprised the eastern parts of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh during Mogul rule).

Palm-leaf manuscripts

The Raza Library also has a collection of palm-leaf manuscripts. Initially, knowledge was passed down orally, but after the invention of alphabets, people eventually began to write on dried palm leaves. Each document had a limited time before which it had to be copied on to a new set of dried palm leaves. But with the introduction of printing presses in the early 19th century, this cycle of copying from palm leaves came to an end. Most of the manuscripts in the library are religious ones and are written mostly in Sanskrit, Telugu, Sinhalese and Kannarh.

The library also has a collection of antique objects and rare astronomical instruments. The oldest instrument of the collection is an astrolabe made by Siraj Damashqi in AD1218. The instrument was used to measure the latitude of the Sun and the stars for navigational purposes and astronomy. It also has the Celestial Globe crafted by Mohammad Ibn Jaafar in AD1430-31 in Kerman, Iran.

Who knew that Rampur, a small city in India, would have one of the richest libraries in the world?

It fascinates people from different walks of life and has also contributed to various research projects. So don't miss an opportunity to tour this knowledge citadel.

Syed Kashif Ali is a UAE-based freelance writer