History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c14.s1.18

c14.s1.18

Malik Muayyad Ismail Abul Feda, author of the *Tarikh-i-Abul Fedā*, was a learned prince who wrote an account of his times. It is written on page 302 of the text that I have utilised that Abul Fedā's history goes down to 709 A.H., but the MS. of Ibn Bardī goes down to 729 A.H. The printed text in the Allahabad Public Library contains account of events up to the death of Ilkhan Abu Said of Persia in 736 A.H. Abul Fedā gives a rapid and brief survey of the 'Abbasid Khalifahs and the information he supplies is very meagre. But he is valuable for things that came directly under his notice. He gives an account of the relations of Abu Sa'id and Sultan Nāsir of Egypt which enables us to understand the foreign policy of the Central Asian rulers. In the beginning he mentions a number of works which he utilised in preparing his history. He writes in a plain and elegant style and is not ornate like Khondāmīr.