The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c5.22.1

c5.22.1

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.