Persian and Urdu Divination Manuscripts

Join Nur Sobers-Khan, Lead Curator for South Asia at the British Library, and learn about Urdu divination manuscripts and lithographs in South Asia from the 17th to 19th centuries.

Using texts from the illustrated genre of the Tilsim-i Aja'ib and the text-based genre of Ta'bir al-Ruya or dream interpretation, Nur will explain how these texts and illustrations were intended to be meant as a practical means of accessing the realms of spiritual insight and for prophesying future events.

Nur will reveal how visuality, cultural context and meaning interact in the divination practices of these two genres.

Nur's talk is part of a series of events organised by the York Islamic Art Circle, a collaboration between the University of York's Islamic Society and the Department of History of Art.

To reserve your free ticket please visit the Festival of Ideas event page.