The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c5.32

c5.32

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.