History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v2.c32.s1.t2: B.—Private Histories.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v2.c32.s1.t2
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- English
B.—Private Histories.
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7. Aqil Khan Razi, (life in *Masir-ul-umara*, ii. 821), an old servant of Aurangzib, wrote a short history variously entitled *Zafarnamah-, Wakiat-, Halat-i-Alamgiri*, and *Aurangnamah*. It begins with the invasion of Bijapur in 1657 and ends with the death of Mir Jumla. The author writes with independence and in some cases reveals facts which could not have been pleasing to his master. His style is stiff with rhetoric, and the material portion of his book is really small in extent, though of undoubted value. I have used the A. S. B. MS. D. 239, occasionally comparing it with the Khuda Bakhsh MS. There are several copies of it at Rampur. (See Rieu, pp. 265, 792.)
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8. *Tarikh-i-Shah-Shujai*, written at Maldah in 1660 by Mir Muhammad Masum, an old servant of Shuja. (See Elliot, vii. 198, for other titles of the book.) Masum's wife's brother (?), Muhammad Said, was the paymaster of Sipihr Shukoh (a son of Dara) and afterwards entered the service of Muhammad Sultan (the eldest son of Aurangzib.) So, our author learnt the different versions of events current in the camps of three of the rivals for the throne. But he lived and wrote in Bengal, where only distorted rumours of Delhi affairs reached him. Hence he is not always reliable about occurrences outside Bengal, and can be convicted of inaccuracy in certain details. But he mentions many facts not to be found elsewhere and seemingly true. For Shuja's doings he is our only authority and a very important one too. There is a striking agreement between him and Manucci in many particulars; evidently the two used the same source of information. Ends abruptly with Shuja's return to Tanda on the eve of his flight to Dacca. I have used the India Office Library MS. No. 533 (Ethe 340.) Khuda Bakhsh has a better copy of it.
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9. *Muntakhab-ul-Lubab*, by Muhammad Hashim Khafi Khan, (Bibliotheca Indica series), 2 vols.—a history of the Mughal Emperors from Babar to the 14th year of Muhammad Shah's reign (1733.) Khafi Khan's father was an officer of Murad Bakhsh, and he was probably related to several natives of Khaf who held the post of collector of customs at Surat and whom he praises. Khafi Khan himself conducted an embassy to the English at Bombay in 1694.
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His history is professedly an abridgement of more original works up to the middle of Aurangzib's reign. Thereafter he writes from personal knowledge and supplements the meagre *Masir-i-Alamgiri* in many important points. He took care to consult many of the surviving actors of the earlier scenes and to verify his information by diligent inquiry. His reflective style, description of the condition of society, and characteristic anecdotes save his work from the dry formality of the Court annals, and he is specially informing with regard to Deccan affairs. But Khafi Khan at places seems to me to have added unauthorised touches for the sake of literary effect. (Elliot, vii. 207).
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10. *Nuskha-i-Dilkasha*, by Bhimsen, a Kayeth born at Burhanpur and the son of Raghunandan whose brother was Bhagwan-das surnamed Dianat Rai, officiating diwan of the Deccan. Our author, therefore, lived in friendly intercourse with the highest officers, Hindu and Muslim, of Mughal Deccan. He spent most of his life as the agent of Dalpat Rao, the Bundela chief of Datia, who long fought in Aurangzib's wars in the Deccan with a contingent of his clansmen, usually as the lieutenant of Nusrat Jang. Bhimsen had to travel from Delhi to Cape Comorin and has left short but interesting accounts of the places he saw, besides recording many autobiographical touches and throwing much light on the manners of the age and the character of the administration. His book is of the highest importance to the historian, especially for Deccan affairs. An abridged and incorrect translation of a portion of it has been published as "the Journal of a Boondelah Officer" in Jonathan Scott's *History of the Dekkan* (Shrewsbury, 1794.) I have used I. O. L. MS. No. 94 (Ethe 445) as far as it goes, *viz.* to the fall of Golkonda (pp. 1—208) and thereafter the British Museum copy (Or. 23), folios 94*b*—174*a*. The work begins with Aurangzib's raid on Haidarabad in 1656 and ends with the death of Kam Bakhsh.
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11. Isardas (sometimes written as Isridas), a Nagar of Pattan in Guzerat, wrote a history named *Fatuhat-i-Alamgiri*, (Elliot, vii. 198.) He was a servant first of the Shaikh-ul-Islam (the son of Chief Qazi Abdul Wahhab) and afterwards of the Mughal viceroys of Guzerat, being placed in charge of the Jodhpur district. Though like Masum he sometimes records the affairs of Northern India inaccurately, because only garbled popular tales reached him in his far-off province, yet he is a first-hand authority for much of what happened in Rajputana and Malwa. The book covers the period 1657 to 1698, but does not attempt a regular narrative of all the occurrences of any year. Parts of it look desultory. The colophon states that the work was "put down in writing as a memorial of Mehta Isridas." Does it mean that it consists of Isardas's reminiscences put together by another hand after his death? Br. Mus. Add. 23,884 is the only copy of it known to exist.