Falnama

The Persian word Falnama () covers two forms of bibliomancy (fortune-telling using a book) used historically in Iran, Turkey, and India. Quranic Falnamas were sections at the end of Quran manuscripts used for fortune-telling based on a grid. In the 16th century, Falnama manuscripts were introduced that used a different system; individuals performed purification rituals, opened a random page in the book and interpreted their fortune in light of the painting and its accompanying text. Only a few illustrated Falnamas now survive; these were commissioned by rich patrons and are unusually large books for the time, with bold, finely executed paintings. These paintings illustrate historical and mythological figures as well as events and figures associated with the Abrahamic religions.

Creation

Bibliomancy has a long history in Islamic culture, using both secular and religious books, especially the Quran. It was common for Quran manuscripts produced in India and Iran to have folios at the end specifically for divination ("Quranic falnamas"), from at least the late 14th century to the 19th. Their popularity intensified in Safavid Iran in the mid-16th century during the reign of Shah Tahmasp. This period also saw the first creation of dedicated Falnama manuscripts, whose popularity spread in the 17th century.

Falnama manuscripts were unusually large books; the surviving examples range from to more than high. The paintings combined secular and religious imagery and their depiction of religious and mythical figures was very influential on other works. Each painting told the story of an event, although there was no narrative for the book as a whole; the order of paintings was random.

Use

Using a Quranic Falnama for bibliomancy involved performing ritual ablutions, reading certain verses from the Quran, then opening the book at random. The tables at the end of the book told the reader how to interpret the omen, and in some versions had numerical tables telling the reader to count a certain number of pages, lines, or words within the Quran and read the word at that position.

Falnama manuscripts built on this tradition. They were consulted to divine the prospects for a major decision (such as a business venture, marriage, or house move) or to divine the condition of absent relatives or friends. Each spread had a painting on the right and text on the left; thus Arabic and Persian readers saw the painting first and then its explanation. To answer a question, readers would perform ablutions, recite prayers from the Quran and then open the book at a random page. The text explained whether the prediction was favourable, unfavourable, or middling. For example, a painting of the Sun would suggest a favourable outcome while a villain usually meant a disastrous outcome. The middle prediction is thought to mean a situation that does not initially seem good but will improve. Falnama manuscripts did not always agree in their interpretations; an event presented as fortunate by one could be unfortunate according to another. To avoid the worst outcomes, the text recommended pious acts such as prayer, pilgrimage, or kindness to others.

Fortune-tellers gave Falnama readings for money on the streets of Istanbul and Isfahan. Some wealthy families commissioned their own Falnama manuscripts; all of the present surviving examples came about in this way.

Surviving Falnama manuscripts

The Dispersed Falnama

The Dispersed Falnama, also called the Falnama Tahmasbi, is the oldest surviving example. It is so-named because there are folios in many collections in different countries including the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Worcester Art Museum in the United States. It was commissioned during the reign of Shah Tahmasp in the mid-1550s to early 1560s, a time of political and military upheaval. The Islamic calendar was approaching the year 1000 and there was a mood of end time anxiety. Many of the paintings involve Ali, an important figure in Safavid Iran's state religion, Shia Islam. This manuscript contains the earliest known depiction in Islamic art of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

The Khalili Falnama

The Khalili Collection of Islamic Art includes a Falnama manuscript produced during the Qutb Shahi dynasty in 17th century Golconda, in what is now Hyderabad. This is the only surviving illustrated Falnama to have been made in South Asia. It was most likely created between 1610 and 1630. In this period, Golconda's alliance with Safavid Iran was of great military importance and was celebrated many times in art and literature, of which this Falnama is one example. The Khalili Falnama is more opulent than any other Falnama manuscript, with paintings and calligraphy extensively decorated in gold, lapis blue, and other precious materials. The expensive production of the manuscript and its textual advice relating to the business of court suggest it was made for a noble, or even royal, patron. The artists, like the author of the text, are not recorded.

The manuscript is tall, with paintings and textual panels each by , excluding their decorative borders. There are 35 spreads that each combine a full-page painting and text, plus two additional paintings. A second caption in Persian (in nastaliq script) was added to each painting some time after the manuscript's creation. There are some similarities, both in the text and paintings, to the Dispersed Falnama, but most of the scenes are not present in that earlier manuscript. The style of the paintings combines a strong Safavid influence with the bright colours associated with local Deccani art. The figures' clothing, for example, matches Safavid dress rather than the much hotter environment of Golconda. The paintings are thus a guide to the design of Safavid buildings, styles of dress, and pottery ware, reproducing the geometric patterns and other design motifs used by Safavid artists, interpreted through subtle influences from Indian art.

The manuscript has many similarities with an illustrated volume of poetry presently at the Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad; these include the use of bright colours and large amounts of gold as well as many pictorial elements and choices of imagery. That volume is known to have been commissioned by the sultan Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, whose support for art included funding a workshop bringing together local and foreign artists. This suggests, but does not firmly establish, Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah as the noble for whom the Khalili Falnama was originally created.

Each page of text consists of nine lines: two lines in thuluth script convey a poetic couplet, often drawn from a well-known text, while the remaining seven lines contain the divination in nastaliq script. The language of the text is Persian with occasional phrases from Arabic.

In its textual recommendations and choice of imagery, the Khalili Falnama is explicitly promotional of Shia Islam. Its paintings are inspired by sources including the '' Qisas al-Anbiya''' (''Tales of the Prophets'') of Al-Kisa'i, the ''Khamsa'' of Nizami, and the life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Unlike the other Falnama manuscripts, it does not include any imagery from the zodiac. Twenty of the paintings are of subjects or stories that do not appear in any other Falnama, including the infant Moses in the lap of the Pharaoh and the murder of John the Baptist. Where it includes the same stories as the other manuscripts, it usually represents them with different scenes. It is the only surviving Falnama to depict a person from the era in which these manuscripts were created: Shah Tamasp, who had died in 1576.

As well as the central figures of each scene, the paintings also include groups of spectators reacting to the events, each figure having a unique combination of dress and physical characteristics. The paintings show:

The Khalili Falnama was the topic of a 2014 doctoral thesis at the University of Cambridge by Rachel Parikh. A complete facsimile of the manuscript, with translation and scholarly commentary by Parikh, was published in 2022.

Khalili Collection Islamic Art mss 0979 fol 6b.jpg, Ladies, astonished by the beauty of Joseph, cutting their fingers on fruit knives
Khalili Collection Islamic Art mss 0979 fol 12b.jpg, Muhammad's flight from Mecca to Jerusalem upon his steed, Buraq
Khalili Collection Islamic Art mss 0979 fol 26b.jpg, The construction of Noah's Ark
Khalili Collection Islamic Art mss 0979 fol 30b_CROP.jpg, The Queen of the Peris at her throne in the garden of Iram

Others

Four more illustrated manuscripts of the Falnama have survived from the 16th and 17th centuries. A 16th-century manuscript is now held by the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, the Netherlands. Its 35 paintings include one each for the Moon, Sun, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn and the realm of Paradise. Five more paintings show episodes from the life of Ali and many others have scenes inspired by the Quran. The Kaaba, Noah's Ark, the Last Judgement, and Layla and Majnun have their own paintings. The Dresden Falnama is a Persian volume with similar content which was produced from the 1540s to the 1570s. It is now in the Saxon State and University Library Dresden. The Topkapı Persian Falnama, with 41 double-page spreads, dates from the late 17th century and is now in the collection of the Topkapı Palace in Turkey. The palace also holds an Ottoman Turkish version of the Falnama created for the Sultan Ahmed I in the early 17th century, with 59 double-page spreads. Similarities between these four manuscripts' paintings suggest that they were influenced by common depictions that have not survived.

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16th-century books
17th-century books
Early modern literature
Objects used for divination
Turkish-language books
Persian literature
Cultural depictions of Muhammad
Indian books
Cultural depictions of Abu Bakr