[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period)](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.ray-1931) › v2.c28.151 # The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c28.151 The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c28.151 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c28.151](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.ray-1931.v2.c28.151) ⁴ Firishta has 'learned men of India, Arabia, and Persia:' Brigg's Trans., Vol. I, p. 67. This is perhaps the earliest reference to \*Hindi\* poetry. As Muslim writers like Birūnī or Amīr Khusrau refer to Sanskrit as Sanskrit, it is not likely that \*Hindi\* is here an adjective of the word Hind (India) meaning Sanskrit, the language \*par excellence\* of \*Hind\*. Another fact which makes it probable that \*Hindi\* here means \*Hindustāni\* is the date of the earliest of the Hindi poets so far known, viz., Mas'ūd ibn Sa'd, who lived in the court of Ibrāhīm, the grandson of Maḥmūd, and died c. 515 or 525 A.H. (1121 or 1130 A.D.). Mas‘ūd's family were immigrants from Hamdan in Persia and his \*Diwans\* of Arabic, Persian, and Hindi verses are referred to by Amir Khusrau. It is thus clear that at the beginning of the 12th century Hindi as a literature was so well known that even foreigners composed verses in it. It is not unlikely that a 100 years before this the beginnings of Hindi may be traced to the courts of the Indian princes, who had to carry on intercourse with the Muslim rulers on the frontier. I am indebted for the name and date of Mas‘ūd to Dr. M. W. Mirza of Lucknow University. - [Previous: v2.c28.150](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.ray-1931.v2.c28.150) - [Next: v2.c28.152](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.ray-1931.v2.c28.152) - [Up: v2.c28](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.ray-1931.v2.c28) ## Linked texts (2) - [Tārīkh-i Firishta](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta) — Muḥammad Qāsim Hindū Shāh Firishta 1606, Persian - [تحقيق ما للهند من مقولة مقبولة في العقل أو مرذولة](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.biruni.tahqiq-ma-lil-hind) — Arabic --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.ray-1931.v2.c28.151](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.ray-1931.v2.c28.151) · Pramāṇa