Later Mughals v1.c4.s7: The History of the Growth of the Later Mughals
Later Mughals v1.c4.s7
- Language
- English
The History of the Growth of the Later Mughals
v1.c4.s7.1
The actual writing of Mr. Irvine's History commenced in 1891, and we find him on 19th May 1892 drawing up a "Rough Outline of Headings and Order of Narrative" for the reign of Bahadur Shah, which closely corresponds to Chapter I. as it finally left his hand. In September 1893 he drafted a scheme entitled "Order of work to be done", which includes such items as "Read up for [regnal years] 1-20 of Muhammad Shah— continue narrative down to death of A. K. [Sayyid Abdullah Khan]—provincial history—grandees—geography : take out all names, arrange, identify—biography : do the same—read for completion—read for style—verify quotations—index."
v1.c4.s7.2
By the end of November 1893 the narrative had been carried down to the death of Sayyid Abdullah (ch. vi. 24), i.e., all that he lived to see through the press. Then, he tells us, "in 1894 I began the preparatory studies for an account of the later Moghul system of government and administration in all its branches, being impelled by the belief that some information of the kind was a necessary introduction to a History of that period, which I had previously commenced. Before I had done more than sketch out my first part, which deals with the Sovereign, the Court Ceremonial, and the elaborate system of Entitlature, I noticed the issue of a book on a part of my subject by Dr. Paul Horn. The perusal of this excellent work diverted my attention to a later section of my proposed Introduction, —the subject of the Army." (J.R.A.S., 1896, p. 509). This sketch of the Army Organization of the Indian Mughals was published in 1896 covering 61 pages of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, and reissued as a book in an amplified form in 1903.
v1.c4.s7.3
The next two years were devoted to the revision annotation and preparation of some of these earlier chapters of the Later Mughals for printing in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and reading for the period ahead.
v1.c4.s7.4
Composition was resumed on 12th October 1898, with section 25 of the reign of Muhammad Shah, and the narrative was carried down to the events of April 1738, when the first rumours of the threatened invasion of Nadir Shah began to reach Delhi. Here his manuscript ends.