History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c14.10

c14.10

I have utilised and compared several MSS. of Barani's *Tarikh-i-Firūz Shahi*. The India Office MS., though not dated, seems to be an old copy. Probably it was written in the 15th century. The calligraphic style is not uniform in the book. In some places it is the later style which came into vogue under the Mughals, while in others it is the old style of pre-Mughal days. The MS. on the whole resembles the *Munshāt-i-Māhrū* in calligraphic style. The Buhar MS., though not dated, is a beautifully written copy and is more correct than the Khudābakhsh Text which was badly arranged when I consulted it. It seems older than the other Indian Texts. The Khudābakhsh MS., which appears to have belonged to the library of the Nawabs of Oudh, is probably a 16th century copy, but it contains many errors. The A. S. B. MS., which belonged at one time to Tippu Sultan's library, is written in beautiful *nastāliq* and is superior in point of accuracy to the Khudābakhsh Text. I have compared all these with the Text of Barani published in the Bibliotheca Indica Series and have noted the differences wherever they occur. Many discrepancies have come to light and they have been discussed in the body of this work. In my judgment the Text published by the Asiatic Society of Bengal is on the whole correct and reliable. The extracts given by Sir Henry Elliot are defective in several places and I have discussed them wherever I have found them differing from the original Text.