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The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c5: Chapter I. Introductory

The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c5

Language
English

Contents

Chapter I. Introductory

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No strange faith came to India with the Turkish conquerors. Almost simultaneously with political conquests in the seventh century Islam began to find lodgements in India's western coast, where Arab merchants, familier for centuries, continued, even as Muslims, to receive warm welcome. Princes, anxious to improve their commercial prosperity, accorded generous treatment to the people who commanded the main trade routes of the civilized world. Bearded men in longskirted tunics, congregating, for prayer at fixed intervals, in a rectangular building which contained no idols, and adhering to no caste rules, presented a sight whose novelty wore off with the passage of time. As they established colonies and multiplied, they became an integral part of the population. Moving with his wares in the country, the *Tajik* added a new pattern of culture and a new channel of intellectual commerce. He enjoyed the liberty of preaching his faith, though direct conversion at the beginning must have been rare; an early report, quoted by a tenth century geographer, complains that Islam had not made a single convert in India¹. But a permeation of its cultural ideas was inevitable; to the natives, particularly of the lower class, the Muslim symbolised prosperity and emancipation.

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¹ Quoted in Nainar, *Arab geographer's knowledge of South India*, p. 108.

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To the efforts of these merchant-missionaries is to be ascribed the formation of the earliest community of Indian Mussalmans.

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Nor was the invasion of Sind an isolated or fortuitous military event. With the Arab merchantmen came patrol boats and survey parties; the Konkan coast suffered a seaborne attack in the second Caliph's reign; armed ships convoying the merchant vessels, kept probing the shore defences. From the Mekran frontier recconoitering expeditions finally developed into a determined advance through the border kingdoms of ‘Kabul and Zabul’ to culminate in Muhammud b. Qasim's victories.

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The Sind affair

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But the Arab was not destined to raise Islam to be a political force in India. Whatever its cultural implications, politically, the Sind affair led to a dead end. It touched only a fringe of the Indian continent and the faint stirrings it produced were soon forgotten. In the Islamic Commonwealth the Arab soon began to loose ground; geography stood in the way of his expansion in India; and by the tenth century, his conquering role having been played out, the Indian princes recognised in him only the enterprising and adaptable merchant of old.

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To win a sovereign state for the faith in India was a task for which history selected the Turk, a race whose own conversion was still incomplete and whose forte was the sword. He brought boundless energy, an all-pervading racialism and the fierce orthodoxy of a neo-convert. He drank deep at the well of Persian culture but he possessed neither the Persian's grace and imagination nor the Arab's fine sensibility of mind. He was grossly materialistic and an intensely practical man of action. The

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The Turk.

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Arab's fiery enthusiasm produced only a faint echo in his heart and, though good-natured and jovial, he could at times, like his distant Mongol kinsmen, be almost devoid of human sentiments. To him, Islam was only a weapon, a weapon of decoration and of offence. It raised his status as a member of the most progressive world community and opened the way to power and to riches. But he was not a barbarian; he detested the uncouth Mongols of Tartary. He was sensitive to beauty, justice and to humanism and learning; and amazing was his transformation. From the rude horsemen, galloping in the steppes, to the poetry-loving patrons of Firdousi and Khusrau seems a vast change but all this was accomplished in less than a hundred years. For a nomadic, fighting race to be the protector of all that was best in Islamic culture when the Mongols enveloped all Asia in a whirlwind of destruction, is no mean achievement.

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Such were the people on whom fell the mantle of the Arabs. From the eighth century a vast shifting of population was in progress in Central Asia, and in successive waves the Seljuq, the Ghuzz, the Khitai, the Ilbari and the Qarlugh tribes of the Turkish race spread over the Islamic lands. They established kingdoms and empires and on pressure from behind, yielded and moved further afield. Thus they overran Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and India, only to loose ground once more to the final wave of immigrants, the Mongols.

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By the tenth century the Turk was in military contact with the Indian principality beyond the Indus, the Hindu Shahiya kingdom of Kabul. Within a little over fifty years of the establishment of Ghazni principality that

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Ghaznawide invasion.

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kingdom was wiped out of existence and Turkish dominion was extended to the Ravi. Far to the east of the Indus, a Muslim power was thus established, which, unlike the Arab colonists of Sind, soon found the key to the geography of India and threatened the approaches to the Gangetic valley. For nearly two centuries the Ghaznawides ruled over the Punjab and became an integral part of India's political map. Hindusthan became the next objective. And great was the concern of the Indian Princes. The 'Hammira' became the symbol of a mighty aggressor, and it looked as if the House of Mahmud would enthrone Islam in the heart of Aryavarta.

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That honour, however, was not to be theirs. In the third generation from Mahmud his central Asian Empire was rolled up by the Seljuqs. Fresh eruption from Turkistan, family feuds and incompetence, coupled with the rise of their erstwhile Shansabani vassals from the mountain fortress of Ghor, compelled the latter Ghaznawides to fall back on their Indian possession. Even if resources permitted, expansion on the East and consequent war with the Rajputs would be ill advised when Ghor was in perpetual hostility. Instead, they compromised and made alliance with the Indian Princes.

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It was thus left to the Shansabanis, an obscure dynasty of mixed origin to complete the process. They replaced the Ghaznawides, and though Central Asia received their first attention, devitalised and warring Hindusthan was found easier to overrun. Wave after wave of Turkish adventurers came from the North and along the road which now lay open to India's richest provinces to find congenial employment, pros-

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The Shansabani occupation.

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perity and means to win fame. Within a span of fifteen years mighty princes from the Siwalikh to Bengal were laid low and improvised mosques proclaimed the installation of Islam as the ruling faith.

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But to overrun was not to make permanent conquest. That was a protracted affair and took a whole century. Rajputs got over the initial blow; Turkish factiousness rearded progress; like a tornado Changiz Khan swept over Asia and cut the Turks from their homeland. Through perseverant statesmanship and luck, however, the Turk escaped the fate of his Arab predecessor and was able to provide a solid foundation to Muslim rule. In this work of initial consolidation the Memeluke Sultans played a vital role. They preserved the kingdom from destruction and the Khaljis only fulfilled a historical task when they expanded and made it an ampire.

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As the founders of Muslim rule in India the Memeluke sultans thus deserve greater respect and closer study than have so far been devoted. The century witnessed not only the gradual shaping of a State-system, but also the beginnings of many of the factors that constituted the composite culture and society of mediaeval India. The brilliance of the Moghuls has tended to obscure the no less remarkable epoch of their predecessors; a balanced judgment, however can only proceed from a closer study to which the following pages are devoted.

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Paucity of original materials may, however, to some extent, account for the neglect shown to this period, but a careful search will yield encouraging results.

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For the history of Central Asia and the rise of the Shansabani dynesty of Ghor, the *Kamilut-Twarih* of Sheikh Abdul Hasan b. Abul Karam as-Shaibani, known as Ibnul Asir, stands out pre-eminently. The author who lived in Mesopotamia, and completed his work in 628/1230, was contemporary to many of the events narrated in the last two volumes of his work. He used a critical judgment in utilising his sources of information with the result that rarely has his account been found wrong or unconfirmed. This however can not be said of his notices of Indian affairs which, though remarkably correct in dates and essential facts, are admittedly based on hearsay which thus taints the details of his narrative. He is however valuable in so far as he confirms other sources. In some places he supplies interesting explanations or details which, though not mentioned by other authorities, appear to be correct. The *Rahatus-Sudur* of Najmuddin Abu Baker Muhmmad b. Ali ar-Rawandi, is a valuable history of the later Seljuqs of Iraq, whose final extinction the author lived to see. Although Ataul Mulk Juwaini, the author of the famous *Tarikh i-Jahan Kusha-i-Juwaini*, must have drawn from these two sourcees, his work, completed in the year 658/1260, is invaluable for the history of Central Asia in the 13th century from the conquests of Changiz Khan. He held a high administrative office in Baghdad under Hulaku and was in a position to use Mongol official documents.

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His work is thus the first detailed and authentic account of the Mongol conquests in Western Asia. He is pro-Mongol in his attitude—for he wrote to commemorate the reign of Mangu Khan—but the account is singularly free from inaccuracies. Like all other central Asian writers, however, his notices of India are meagre and are made only in connection with either the Shansabanis or the fugitive Khwarizmi Prince, Jalaluddin. The same may be said of a few other histories written outside India during the century. Of these, the *Sirat-i-Jalaluddin Mangbarni*, by Nuruddin Mohammad Zaidari, Nessawi, a friend and companion of the fugitive prince, completed in 1240 A.D., is important as supplying valuable detail of the prince's activity in India. The work is extremely biassed in favour of its hero, and presents a distorted picture of the conditions in which Jalaluddin appears all the more brilliant. The *Nizamut-Twarikh* of Abu Said Abdullah b. Abul Hassan al-Baizawi, the celebrated commentator of the Quran, completed in 674/1294, hardly deserves mention not only for its extremely brief account of the Ghorides and the Sultans of Delhi, but also for its grossly inaccurate statements which were evidently based on rumours and tales. Of the histories written early in the 14th century, mention should be made of the *Tarikh-i-Wassaf*, by Abdullah b. Fazlullah Shirazi, written between 1300 and 1328 A.D.

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It is a continuation of Juwaini's history of the Mongols and begins with the later years of Mangu Khan's reign. India finds only casual reference in course of the account of the Mongol conquest, and yet the work throws light on Mongol activities on the Indian frontier. In one place it furnishes a valuable information respecting the relation of Mahmud's government with Mangu Khan and supports the account of the official chronicle of Delhi. Its notice of the history of the Sultans of Delhi is however, unreliable; only from the time of the Khaljis the account begins to be tolerably free from errors. Containing almost the same matter relating to India is the universal history of Rashiduddin called *Jamiut-Tarikh*, completed in 1310 A.D. Valuable as the work is for the contemporary history of Central Asia, its account of the rulers of Delhi is hardly more dependable than that of Wassaf, from whom it quotes extensively. Equally imperfect is another work of the same period called *Tarikh-i-Binagiti*, written in 1317 A.D. by Abul Fazl. b. Muhammad al-Binagiti and dedicated to Sultan Abu Said of Persia. It is a general history of the world but in reality is nothing more than an abridgment of Rashiduddin’s *Jamiut-Twarikh*, which it follows in all its errors and is thus of no material help. The *Tarikh-i-Guzidah*, completed in 730/1329 by Hamdullah Mastaufi Qazwini, is however, a more helpful history.

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It has been considered to rank among the best general histories of the East, but its usefulness for the history of India is confined to its brief though generally accurate account of the Ghaznawides, Shansabanis and the sultans of Delhi. Except for the Ghorides, for whom it supplies some interesting details, the value of the work, so far as facts and dates are concerned, is merely corroborative. Of later histories written outside India, mention may be made of the *Mujmal-i-Fasihi*, a chronological compendiem of prominent events composed about the middle of the 15th century by Fasihuddin Ahmad b. Muhammad Fasihi al-Khafi, the *Rauzatus-Safa* of Mir Khvand completed in 1498, the *Habibus-Siyar* and the *Khulasatul-Akhbar* of his grandson, Khwand Amir,—compiled in 1528. Mention should also be made of the *Tarikh-i-Alfi*, compiled by a board of editors under the direction of Akbar and brought down to 1632, the thousandth year from the death of the Prophet. The authors took great pain in utilising all available sources with care and discretion. The sultans of Delhi, however, find only casual mention, for the work is mainly concerned with the history of Central Asia and is arranged in a strictly chronological order.

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An anonymous work entitled *Rauzatul-Jinnat* written in the 15th century, though mainly a historical and topographical account of the city of Herat under the Kurt dynasty founded by Ruknuddin, gives some useful details respecting Mongol operations on the Indian border in the 13th century.

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Apart from these works which are only supplementary in value, our chief original literary sources are very few in number. The earliest among them is the *Tajul-maasir* of Hasan Nizami, completed towards the end of Iltutmish's reign. It contains a narration of the chief military events of the years 588-626/1192-1228, and although extremely florid and ornamental in style, is generally correct in the minimum of facts which it embodies. The author came to India soon after the conquest of Delhi and commenced his work early in the reign of Aibak to whom the first part of the work was dedicated. Except one in the India Office, all the existing manuscripts of the work are defective in one place or another, and none of them contains the last portion covering the years 614 to 626/1217-1228, which Elliot quoted, in his extracts, from a copy in the possession of Nawab Ziauddin of Loharu. Extremely valuable for the early history of the conquest and independent of the *Tajul Maasir*, is the historical portion contained in the Introduction to the book of genealogies of Fakhruddin Mubarakshah, recently discovered and edited by Denison Ross. The author, who was a learned man of repute in the court of Ghazni and later of Delhi, wrote another history of the Ghorides in verse which, though mentioned by Minhaj-i-Siraj, unfortunately does not appear to be any longer extent.

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Another of his works, entitled *Adabul Harb was-Shujaat* and dedicat- to Iltutmish, has been preserved and supplies useful details about the government and military organisation of the newly established kingdom of Delhi. The famous collection of stories entitled *Jawamiul-Hikayat* by Nuruddin Muhammad Aufi, and dedicated to the *wazir* of Iltutmish, is useful only in its preface where Iltutmish’s military operations against Qubachah in 625/1227 are described and of which the author was an eye witness. For a connected contemporary account of the period, however, we are mainly dependant on the *Tabaqat-i-Nasiri* of Minhajuddin Abu Umar b. Sirajuddin al-Juzjani, completed in 658/1260. It is a general history of the world but its value consists in its first-hand account of the Shansabani conquests in India and the subsequent history of the new kingdom in which the author held high ecclesiastical and judicial offices. He was not only a contemporary, but also an actual participater in some of the events narrated in the work, which consequently suffers from personal prejudice. He is extremely biassed towards the Ghorides and the dynasty of Iltutmish and in many places conceals facts unfavourable to his patron Ulugh Khan and the Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud to whom the work is dedicated. Although generally correct with regard to facts, he is very sparing in supplying details and in some places makes contradictory statements.

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Nevertheless its value as our main original source can hardly be over estimated. Although the author is known to have lived till the accession of Balban, it is unfortunate that he did not continue his history down to the death of Mahmud. The history of the period from 658/1260 to 664/1265 is thus left a perfect blank which has not been filled up by any subsequent writer. Ferishta mentions a work by Ainuddin Bijapuri, entitled *Mulhiqat-i-Tabaqat-i-Nasiri*, from which he draws some of his informations not found in any other known history. But neither the *Mulhiqat* nor its author is known at the present day. Ferishta quotes from another author, named Sadar Jahan Gujrati, the name of whose work is equally unknown. For the rest of the period, consequently, we are exclusively dependent on Ziauddin Barani, the author of *Tarikh-i-Firozshahi*, completed in 1359 and dedicated to Firoz Tughluq. Although he claims to have resumed the history from where Minhaj-i-Siraj left off, his account opens with the first year of Balban's reign. The work is anecdotal in character and is very deficient in dates and details. He is guilty of distortion of facts and of colouring the account with his own personal opinions. He is fond of long discourses which he puts in the mouth of the historical personages and thus strains after effect.

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His work can hardly be called a chronicle in the real sense of the term for facts which, in themselves, are scanty in a work of 600 pages and covering a period of nearly hundred years, are not objectively narrated as in the *Tabaqat-i-Nasiri*. They are presented in a manner designed to suit the particular character in which he wants to reveal the eight sultans treated in the book. The account of Balban's reign, for example, is not a faithful chronicle of events but a character-study in which he is made to appear more as a doctrinaire than as a practical statesman. This method of treating history is illustrated by another of his work, namely *Fatawah-i-Jahandari* written early in the 14th century in which he preaches his own views about the governmental policy and which are identical with those which Balban is reported to have held. Barani was, however, a deligent recorder of administrative details. Having held offices in the government, possibly in the revenue department, he shows an interest in agrarian affairs though his remarks are sometimes ambiguous and disappointingly scrappy.

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With Barani our original sources come to an end. Casual, but some times extremely illuminating references to political and social life are found in a series of contemporary writings which are professedly non-historical. Among them, the poetical works of Amir Khusrau, a contemporary of Barani, contain interesting side-lights on contemporary events and personages. Some of his qasidahs addressed to the leading men of the court are usually helpful. He was a favourite courtier of Prince Muhammad, the eldest son of Balban, after whose death he took service in the court of Kaiqubad. At the latter's request he composed the poem entitled Qiranus-Sadain, describing Kaiqubad's meeting with his father. In his preface to the poem entitled Ashiqa, he gives brief resumé, of the history of the sultans of Delhi upto Alauddin Khalji. Valuable informations respecting the working of the governmental machinery and also about some of the expeditions are found in his Ijaz-i-Khusravi, which, though admittedly written to exhibit his literary skill and ingenuity, yet embodies the substance of some actual letters and firmans. Of the same value and interest is another of his work named Matlaul-Anwar, which throws light on contemporary manners and society. His friend, Amir Hasan, compiled a record of the sayings of the celebrated saint, Nizamuddin, under each day and edited them with the title of Fawadul-Fawaid. Although the emphasis is mainly on the spiritual side of the talks, the anecdotes and stories related by the saint about his contemporaries are extremely interesting. Of similar interest are, (a) *Dalilul Arefin*, a collection of the sayings of Muinuddin Chishti, by his disciple, the faomus Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki; (b) the *Asrarul Auliya*, a memoir of Fariduddin Shakarunj, compiled by his disciple and son-in-law; (c) the *Rauzatul Aqtab*, an account of the teachings of Qutbuddin Kaki by Muhammad Bulaq; and (d) the *Rahatul Muhebbin*, a memoir of Nizamuddin Chishti by his devot ed disciple, the poet Amir Khusrau. Another work of a similar nature entitled *Rahatul Qulub*,—a collection of the sayings of Fariduddin Shakargunj by Nizamuddin Chishti, may also be mentioned. Later works dealing with the lives of the saints based on the above-mentioned compilations are (a) the *Miratul Abrar* by Husamuddin Manikpuri written about 1665; (b) the *Akhbarul Akhiar* by Abdul Haqq Dehlavi, completed in the reign of Jehangir; (c) *Siarul Arefin* by Hamid b. Fazlullah, written in 1535; and (d) the *Safinatul Auliya* by Jahan Ara, daughter of Shahjahan.

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Among proper histories written in the 14th and 15th centuries, the versified history, entitled *Futuhus-Salatin* by an author having the pen name of Isami, and completed in 1348, supplies a great deal of interesting though unconfirmed details. It has recently been edited by A. M. Husain. Although one finds it difficult to share the editor's enthusiasm for the work, its usefulness can not be denied. It is contemporary with Barani's work, and, but for its concession to the needs of poetry, should claim equal attention. It still awaits proper evaluation specially in the portions relating to the 13th century. The *Kitabur-Rahlah* of the famous Moorish traveller, Ibn Battutah, completed towards the middle of the 14th century is not so valuable for our period as it is for Tughluq history, since its references to the earlier history of the Sultanate are evidently bazaar stories and are not only unconfirmed but in some places demonstrably wrong. The *Tarikh-i-Mubarakshahi* of Yahia b. Ahmed b. Abdullah Sirhindi, completed in 1434, although mainly based on the works mentioned above, gives some additional information for which however no authority is cited. Of the histories compiled during the Mughal period, mention must be made of the *Tabaqat-i Akbari* by Nizamuddin Bakhshi, the *Muntakhabut-Twarikh* of Abdul Qadir Budaoni, and the *Gulshan-i-Ibrahimi*, commonly known as the *Tarikh-i-Ferishta*, by Muhammad Qasim b. Hindu Khan, dedicated to Ibrahim Adil Shah of Bijapur. While the first two works are merely reproductions of the primary authorities discussed above, Ferishta utilised other sources. Only in a few instances have his statements been found incorrect; he is certainly accurate and more scientific in his treatment of facts than others of his line though he is prone to a little imaginitive. In any case, he does not deserve Raverty's uncharitable remarks. Of even greater value is another history of the Mughal period named *Zafar-le-walihi*, by Haji Dabir written in Arabic towards the end of Jehangir's reign. The work is ostensibly a history of Gujrat but it traces the course of Muslim history from the earliest times in India, and has been edited by Denison Ross with the title of *An Arabic History of Gujrat*. In so far as the 13th century is concerned, it is, however, only a carefully abridged translation of the earlier accounts though a few other unnamed authors also seem to have been consulted.

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Coming to the provincial histories, notice should be taken of the *Tarikh-i-Masumi* of Muhammad Masum, written in the reign of Akbar, which gives some additional information respecting the early history of Sind, specially of the local Sumra and Summa tribes of Lower Sind. The account, however, differs in many details from other works like the *Tarikh-i-Tahiri* of Tahir Muhammad Nisyani b. Syed Hasan, of Thatta, completed in 1620 and dedicated to Jehangir. This work is useful only for its account of the Sumras, though it is disjointed and does not state its authority. The *Tuhfatul-Kiram*, a general history of the east from the earliest times to the 18th century by Mir Ali Sher Qaani, of Thatta, partly confirms the accounts of Mir Masum and Tahir Nisyani, though it also does not state its source. The traditional account of the fortress of Gwalior since its foundation is contained in the *Gwalior Namah* of Hiraman Munshi completed in the 12th year of Aurangzeb's reign. Much of the account is evidently legendary and, at its best, has only a corroborative value. The same may be said of a local history of Jammu entitled *Raj Darashani*, by Ganesh Das Badrah written in 1847. It is hardly worth the confidence placed in it by Raverty, since it is based entirely on such unreliable and legendary accounts as the *Prithviraja Rasau*, and none of the statements regarding the ancient dynesty of Jammu finds confirmation in the chronicles of Kashmir or, in fact, in any of the earlier works. Mention should also be made in connectiou with provincial histories of the *Riyazus-Salatin* by Ghulam Husain Salim, completed in 1768, purporting to be a history of Bengal from the Muslim conquest. Although the author appears to have used the existing histories, he was able to exercise very little discrimination and as such has incorporated not a few unauthorised and erroneous statements in his account of the 13th century.

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Among works throwing light in the administrative practices, very few treatises belong to this period. But Muslim governmental institutions, methods and notions have a continuity whose full comprehension can only proceed from a study of such works as al-Mawardi's *Ahkamus-Sultaniyyah*—a tenth century treatise on Abbaside state-craft, and the *Siyasat Namah*, (discourses on the art of government and politics) by the prime minister of the Seljuq king, Malikshah, named Nizamul Mulk of Tus. Books on Muslim jurisprudence like the *Wiqayah*, also have a bearing on the subject, for all Muslim legal institutions and practices have a basic uniformity. Of those written specifically in our period in India, the *Adabul Harb* and the *Fatawa-i-Jahandari* have already been mentioned. The *Fiqh Firozshahi*, originally compiled by one Yaqub but revised and enlarged by an anonymous author and dedicated to Firuz Tughluq, is of considerable interest as it embodies, like the *Fatawa-i-Alamgiri*, current legal practices which are not always found to be in conformity with the standard works of jurisprudence; it is thus a key to the understanding of the extent to which state practices were being secularised. Of no inconsiderable use, though not strictly contemporary, are al-Qalqashandi's *Subhul-A'sha*, an encyclopaedic description of the world, and Shihabuddin Abbas's *Masalikul-Absar*, both compiled early in the 14th century, wherein is found valuable account of Delhi administration.

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What should prove, when published, a documentary source of first-rate importance, is an original *firman* of the Shansabani conqueror, Muizzuddin Muhammad b. Sam, now in the possession of Mr. Hasan Barani, advocate of Bulandshahr, United Provinces. It purports to confer offices and grant lands in settling the administration of Baran after its conquest from Chander Sen, the Dor raja, and is dated 588 A.H. Mr. Barani has promised its early publication; in the meantime he was kind enough to enable the author to see the document and has, at his request, very courteously furnished an abstract of its contents, printed as an appendix to the present work.

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Muizzuddin's Firman.

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Exclusive dependence on Muslim sources is apt to produce an unbalanced view; the mind of the conquered people can only be revealed by their own writings.

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Non-Muslim writings.

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Unfortunately, not many non-Muslim writings of a historical nature have survived from those days; the few that we have are merely Indian counterparts of Persian court chronicles and make fulsome adulations of their hero. For many years, the *Prithviraja rasau* of Chand Bardai, thanks to Col. Tod, enjoyed respect as a piece of sober history. Recent researches are increasingly showing it to be a good specimen of early Hindi poetry but useless as a historical account. The anonymous *Prithviraja-Vijaya-Kavya*, believed to have been written during the life-time of the Chauhana prince and only a fragment of which has so far been discovered, is a more dependable work. A much more useful account is the *Hammira-Mahakavya*, recounting the achievements of Hammira, the Chauhana ruler of Ranthambhor and a descendant of Prithviraja. Although written in the usual Rajput style of an eulogy, it supplements the Muslim chronicles in a number of places and helps to form a clearer picture of the vicissitudes of Muslim hold on Rajputana. The *Surjana-charita-kavya* of Chandrasekhara, a sixteenth century Bengali poet, continues the history of the Chauhana family. Although in its earlier portion it reproduces Chand's account of the Turkish contact with Rajputana, it is yet not entirely without value. Collections of folk stories like the *Rasmala* of Gujrat, sometime contain useful corroborative evidence. Of greater interest is the *Rajmala*, a continuous official chronicle of the ruling family of Tipperah the earlier phase of whose history is linked up with the 13th century Muslim rule in Bengal. The work is in Bengali verse and from medieval times is claimed to have been continued by successive generations of compilers. The Jaina writings of the 13th and 14th centuries, recently collected in the *Puratana Prabandha Samgraha* and in the *Aitihasik Jaina Kavya Samgraha*, are not without value for they contain incidental notices of political affairs, and throw a very welcome light on the culture and religious tolerance of the Muslim conquerors. An interesting composition in a corrupt form of Sanskrit, entitled *Shekasubhodaya*, has recently come to light in Bengal. Though pronounced as a sixteenth century forgery, scholars agree that it contains a kernel of genuine history relating to early Muslim contact with the province in the time of Lakshmana Sena. It professes to recount the miraculous activities of the Muslim saint, Jalaluddin Tabrezi. Many of the stories narrated have a circumstantial authenticity, for personages and events, illustrative of contemporary manners, that are mentioned, are mostly confirmed by other evidences. There is little doubt that the work embodies, in a substantial measure, historical facts which had passed into popular tradition.

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