historian should be inclined to write the events of former times, the thread of successive occurrences might not be entirely broken. Relying, therefore, on the Divine aid, I proceed to the execution of my task, and will put down in clear language, free from abstruseness, whatsoever I have heard related by persons considered worthy of credit. If any mistakes occur, my apology is evident those who have furnished the information must be answerable."

Some further particulars of the author may be found in volumes i. and iii. of the Asiatic Annual Register, in which Extracts are given from his autobiography, which is said to have been prefixed to his History, but it does not appear there in the printed edition by 'Abdu-l Majíd.

This work was translated into English by Mustafá, a French renegade, and published at Calcutta in 1789 in three quarto volumes. The history of the translator is not very well known, but it appears from his Preface that he was in English employ, that he was a Muhammadan, and that he was plundered during a pilgrimage to Mecca. He was a French, Italian, Turkish, and apparently a classical scholar, also a perfect master of Persian and Hindústání. But although he prided himself upon his knowledge of English, he was not thoroughly versed in our tongue, and it is to be regretted that his translation was made into a language of which he was not a master, for his version is full of Gallicisms, although he says that he "could not write in any other language so fluently." A large portion of the impression of his work was lost on its way to England, [and it has long been a rare book, only to be found here and there in public libraries.]

General Briggs undertook to bring out a new translation, [but he published only one volume, containing about one-sixth of the whole work, and this was more an amended version of the original translator's English than a revision of his translation.] A portion of the work relating to the transactions in Bengal has been translated in the second volume of Scott's History of the Deccan

The Siyaru-l Muta-akhkhirin has been printed more than once at Calcutta. An excellent edition of the first volume was brought out there in 1836 by Hakím 'Abdu-l Majíd, in a quarto volume of 534 pages.

The work is well known to English readers from the many quotations and abstracts which Mill has made from it in his History of India; [and Ghulám Husain is "the Musulmán historian of those times " whom Macaulay has quoted and spoken of with approval. In fact, the native side of the history of Ghulam Husain's days, as it appears in the works of English writers, rests almost entirely upon his authority. The limits of the present volume will not allow of such lengthy extracts as the merits of the work require, and it seems preferable to bring forward the views and statements of other writers, most of whom are entirely unknown to the European reader. For these reasons no Extracts from the work are here given; but it is greatly to be desired that a complete translation of this history should be accessible to the students of Indian history.]

1 Essay on Clive.

CXIII.

MULAKHKHASU-T TAWARIKH

OF

FARZAND 'ALI HUSAIN.

THIS is an abridgment of the Siyaru-l Muta-akhkhirin by Farzand 'Alí of Monghír, who says respecting himself:

66

Being highly desirous to learn the history of the great kings of former times, I employed myself in the study of the Siyaru-l Muta-akhkhirin, the unrivalled composition of Ghulam 'Alí Khán. As this book has many beauties and advantages, which are rarely found in any other work on history, it has ever been dear to my heart; but its extreme prolixity not only demands a long time for its perusal, but exhausts the patience of readers; so at the request of some of my friends, I made an abstract of the work, and denominated it Mulakhkhasu-t Tawarikh."

This work is divided into three parts. Part I. Brief account of the Kings of India, from the reign of Tímúr to the twentysecond year of Muhammad Sháh, 1738 A.D. Part II. A full account of the transactions in Bengal, 'Azímábád, and Orissa, to the commencement of the English rule in 1781 a.d. Part III. Transactions from the twenty-second year of Muhammad Sháh up to the twenty-third year of Sháh 'Alam's reign, 1781 a.D. It has been printed in a quarto volume, containing 511 pages

of 19 lines each.

There is another abridgment of the Siyaru-l Muta-akhkhirin by Maulaví 'Abdu-l Karim, Head Master of the Persian Office. It was printed in Calcutta in one volume quarto in 1827, under the name of Zubdatu-t Tawáríkh.

CXIV.

TARIKH-I MAMALIK-I HIND

OF

GHULAM BASIT.

THIS is a compilation by Ghulám Básit, undertaken at the suggestion of an English officer. The title is the one borne by the copy at Bombay which I have had the opportunity of consulting. [But there is a work bearing the title of Tarikh-i Básit, which is probably the same as this.]

The author tells us of himself, that he had no excellence of person or mind, and was long living on the income of a few acres of land which had descended to him from his ancestors, when, to his misfortune, his tenure, along with the other rent-free tenures in the province of Oudh, was resumed, and he was consequently reduced to the greatest distress and embarrassment. The author in this emergency wished that, like his ancestors, who for about three hundred years had been in the service of the Emperors of Hindústán, he also might enter the service of the same family. But although, he observes, there were thousands and hundreds of thousands of people as insignificant as himself, who, notwithstanding the decline of the empire, subsisted upon the bounty of that house, he through his bad luck was disappointed in that expectation, and was obliged to seek employment under the English, who were noted for their generosity and courage. He assumed the name of a munshi in order to secure his daily bread, and through the grace of God and the kindness of

his masters, he at last obtained a sufficient provision for himself and children, and prayed God for the welfare of the English who had supported him.

In the year 1196 A.H. (1782 A.D.) he went to Calcutta, in company with I'tikádu-d daula Nasíru-1 Mulk General Charles Burt, who one day requested him to write a brief account of the Rulers of Hindústán, whether Musulmán or Hindú, on the authority both of books and of oral testimony. As he considered gratitude paramount to all other obligations, he abstracted preceding authors, and noted down all that he had heard from his father Shaikh Saifu-llah of Bijnor, who had been during his whole life in the royal service, and had attained the great age of one hundred and five years. Although he abridged the accounts derived from other historians, he did so without the omission of any material points; and on the conclusion of his work, delivered one copy to his patron, and retained one for himself.

He does not state from what works he compiled his history; but in the course of it he mentions incidentally, amongst others, the Mahábhárat, Matla'u-l Anwar, Tárikh-i Bahadúr-shahi, Táríkh-i Yamíní, the histories of Hájí Muhammad Kandahárí and Nizámu-d dín Ahmad. As these are all mentioned by Firishta, it is probable that he only quotes them at second-hand.

He appears to have taken a very short time about the compilation, for he brings it down to the 10th of Ramazan of the same year in which he commenced it, namely, 1196 a.h. (1782 A.D.), the twenty-fourth year of Sháh 'Alam's reign, upon whose head he invokes a blessing.

The work is not divided into regular Books and Chapters. He begins with the Creation, proceeds from the Patriarchs, Hindú Demigods and Rájas to the Ghaznívides and Sultáns of Dehlí down to the reigning monarch. Before treating of the Tímúrian Sovereigns, he introduces an account of the Rulers of Sind, Multán, Kashmír, Bengal, Jaunpúr, the Bahmanís, the Kings of Bíjápúr, Ahmadnagar, Birár, Gujarát, Málwá, Khándesh and Malabár.