History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v2.c32.s1.t4: D.—Monographs.

History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v2.c32.s1.t4

Language: English

D.—Monographs.

v2.c32.s1.t4.1

17. *Lataif-ul-Akhbar*, probably written by Badi-uz-zaman Rashid Khan, gives a detailed account of Dara Shukoh's siege of Qandahar. Khuda Bakhsh MS. (See Ethe No. 331 and Rieu, i. 264.)

18. *Fathiyya-i-ibriyya* and its *Continuation*, by Shihab-uddin Talish, (Elliot, vii. 199). The main work deals with Mir Jumla's invasion of Kuch Bihar and Assam, and an abstract of it has been published by Blochmann in *J.A.S.B.*, 1872. I have edited the Persian text (as yet in MS.) on the basis of 4 MSS.—A.S.B. MS. D. 72 and three others in the Khuda Bakhsh Library (one of which was written in England in Mr. Swinton's house by Ihtisham-ud-din, the author of the *Shigarf-namah-i-Vilayet*.) The *Continuation* (Bodleian 589, Sachau and Ethe No. 240) gives the history of Bengal from Mir Jumla's death to the conquest of Chatgaon by Shaista Khan. I have published an abstract of its contents and translations of three long passages of it in *J.A.S.B.*, 1906 and 1907. Fragments of the *Continuation* have been found in the library of Nawab Abdus Salam Khan and (probably) in I.O.L. MS. 1572 (Ethe 344).

v2.c32.s1.t4.3

¹⁹ *Tarikh-i-Shivaji* (I. O. L. Ms. 1957, Ethe No. 485, cf. Rieu, i. 327), an uncritical history of the rise of the Maratha kingship down to Sambhaji's accession, full of

v2.c32.s1.t4.4

popular stories, but giving the Maratha version of many important events. Evidently translated into Persian by some Hindu munshi from one of the Marathi bakhars of Shivaji. I have published an English rendering of it in the *Modern Review*, 1907. The Persian is very impure and the work bristles with Sanskritic words.

v2.c32.s1.t4.5

20. *Masir-ul-umara*, or a biographical dictionary of the peerage of the Mughal empire, (Bibliotheca Indica series,) 3 vols. (Elliot, viii. 187). Begun about 1742 and completed in 1779, on the basis of the existing and authoritative histories and letters,—thirty of such sources being named (i. 4-5). Where it conflicts with the original authorities, its evidence has necessarily to be rejected. But its chief value lies in the many characteristic anecdotes it mentions and the light it throws on the manners of the age. Evidently the authors used many true traditions preserved up to their time and some historical works now lost to us. Quoted as *M. U.*

v2.c32.s1.t4.6

21. *Ahkam-i-Alamgiri*, ascribed (on insufficient evidence) to Hamid-ud-din Khan surnamed Nimchah-i-Alamgiri, whose life is given in *M. U.* i. 605-611. I have published the text with a critical and annotated English translation under the name of *Anecdotes of Aurangzib*, using the only copies of the work known to exist, *viz.*, 2 MSS. of Mr. Wm. Irvine (Nos. 252 and 340 of his library) 2 MSS. of Nawab Abdus Salam Khan of Rampur, and I. O.L. MS. 3388, none of which is complete. Other fragments of this work await discovery. It contains many anecdotes about Aurangzib, his sons and officers, and his orders on petitions, usually in a caustic vein.