In Volume 1-1: Qurʾānic Literature, History, and Biography | Section 2, History, Biography, etc.

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§ 890. Lieut.-Colonel James Skinner, the son of Lieut.-Colonel Hercules Skinner and a Rājpūt lady, was born in 1778. From 1796 to 1803 he served in the Marāṭ’hā army of the Mahārājah Sindia of Gwalior, first under de Boigne and afterwards under Perron. Having resigned on the outbreak of the First Marāṭ’hā War, he served with distinction under Lord Lake and raised the regiment of irregulars known as Skinner’s Horse. In 1827 he was given the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and the title of c.b. He died at Hānsī on 4 Dec. 1841 and on 17 Jan. 1842 he was buried in the church built by himself at Delhi.

In 1925 he completed at Hānsī and dedicated to Gen. Sir J. Malcolm his Tas̲h̲rīḥ al-aqwām, an account of Indian tribes and castes (see Rieu i 65a).

Tad̲h̲kirat al-umarāʾ, completed in 1830 and dedicated to Sir J. Malcolm, historical notices of some princely families of Rājpūtānah and the Panjāb: Rieu i 302a (ad 1830. With portraits of the contemporary princes), 303b (ad 1830. Without the portraits), iii 958a (circ. ad 1850).

[J. Baillie Fraser Military memoir of Lieut.-Col. James Skinner, London 1851; Buckland Dictionary of Indian biography p. 392; etc.]

§ 891. Muns̲h̲ī D’hōnkal Sing’h was in the service of Ranjīt Sing’h, the Jāt Rājah of Bharatpūr (ah 1776–1806),¹ and was employed by him in his negotiations with Lord Lake.

(Waqāʾiʿ i tasalluṭ i Ṣāḥibān i Angrēz Bahādur dar mulk i Miyān i Dō-āb) or (Tasalluṭ i Ṣāḥibān i Angrēz) or (Waqāʾiʿ i D’hōnkal Sing’h) or (Jang-nāmah i Bharatpūr),² completed ah 1221/1806–7, a prolix and ¶ turgid history of the Marāṭ’hā war in Northern India and especially of Ranjīt Sing’h’s part in it from 1803 (rise of Perron and Lake’s march against him) to 1805 (fall of Bharatpūr and Lake’s treaty with Ranjīt Sing’h): Rieu i 305a (ah 1234/1819), 305b (ah 1250/1834).

§ 892. For Ṣafdar ʿAlī S̲h̲āh “Munṣif’s” continuation of his Jirjīs i razm containing a metrical account of the Bharatpūr campaign of 1804–5 see the section History: India: Marāṭhās.

§ 893. Maulawī M. Faḍl i ʿAẓīm “ʿAẓīm” has already been mentioned (p. 508 supra) as the author of a history of the Nepalese War entitled Waqāʾiʿ i Kūhistān. He accompanied William Fraser as secretary during the operations against Bharatpūr.

(Afsānah i Bhartpūr³), a mat̲h̲nawī (beginning Ba-nām i k̲h̲udāwand i k̲h̲allāq i jān) on the operations against Rājah Durjan Sāl of Bharatpūr in 1825–6, written in 1241/1826: i.o. D.P. 1276 (19th cent.), probably also Lindesiana p. 193 no. 344 (“Waqāʾiʿ jang-i Bharatpūr” (in verse or prose?). ah 1241/1825–6), no. 459 (circ. ad 1840–50).

Apparently different from this and beginning differently (Kunam yād i ān dāwar i dāwarān) is the

Tārīk̲h̲i Bharatpūr, or Ẓafar-namah, “a poetical account of the siege of Bharatpūr by Lord Lake⁴ … ascribed to Maulavī Faẓl ʿAẓīm, and said to be founded on a prose narrative by a Brahman called Shambū, or Shambhū”: Sprenger 520 (a.s.b.), Ivanow 886 (calligraphic), Rieu iii 1054a (extracts only. Circ. ad 1850), 1056a (extracts only. Circ. ad 1850).

§ 894. Ānand Rāy is the author of a

Tārīkh i Bharatpūr, an account of Lord Combermere’s siege of Bharatpūr in 1826 preceded by a short history of the Jāṭ Rājahs: Bānkīpūr vii 602 (ah 1247/1831–2), i.o. 3937 (apparently transcribed from the preceding, ad 1892).

§ 895. Francis Gottlieb describes himself as a German born in Poland and educated in India. He is apparently identical with the Urdu and Persian poet ¶ “Farāsū” (for whom see p. 508 supra). It was for Major Abraham Lockett that he wrote his history of the Jāṭ rājahs of Bharatpūr.

History of the Jāṭ Rājahs of Bharatpūr from their origin to ad 1826: Rieu i 305b (19th cent.).

§ 896. Of unknown authorship is

A history of Bharatpūr from AD 1805 to AD 1827 (accession of Balwant Sing’h) written in continuation of D’hōnkal Sing’h’s history (for which see p. 541 supra): Rieu iii 958a (19th cent.).

§ 897. Major James Browne (for whom see p. 523 supra) obtained from Jaipūr in 1198/1783–4 a Hindī history of the Kac̲h̲hwāhah Rājahs. This was translated into Persian by the Major’s muns̲h̲ī Jān i ʿĀlam S̲h̲īrīn-raqam, who completed his task at Āgrah in S̲h̲awwāl 1198/Aug.–Sept. 1784.

Bansāwalī⁵ i buzurgān i Mahārājah D’hīrāj⁶ Sawā’ī Pratāp Sing’h Bahādur, a history of the Kac̲h̲wāhah Rājahs of D’hūnd’hār (afterwards of Jaipūr) from their origin to 1198/1783–4: Rieu i 301a (ah 1198/1784).

§ 898. Basāwan La‘l “S̲h̲ādān” b. Nansuk’h Rāy Kāyat’h Saksēnah, of Bilgrām, was for twelve years Nāʾib Muns̲h̲ī to a certain Rāy Dātā Rām. It was in 1240/1824–5 that he wrote his Amīr-nāmah at the request of Amīr al-Daulah M. Amīr K̲h̲ān. a leader of banditti who in 1817 was recognised by the British as first Nawwāb of Ṭōnk and who died in 1834, and his son, Wazīr al-Daulah M. Wazīr K̲h̲ān.

Amīr-nāmah, a life of Amīr K̲h̲ān: Āṣafīyah i p. 220 no. 2 (ah 1240/1824–5), Lahore Panjab Univ. Lib. (ah 1242/1826–7. See Oriental College Magazine, vol. ii, no. 4 (Lahore, August 1926) p. 60), Ivanow 217 (ah 1251/1835–6. Inartistic Pictures), Bānkīpūr vi 531 (19th cent.), i.o. 3895 (ad 1895), Rieu iii 1019a (extracts only. Circ. ad 1850).

English translation by H.T. Prinsep: Memoirs of the Puthan soldier of fortune, the Nuwab Ameer-ood-Doulah Mohummud Ameer Khan, Chief of Seronj, Tonk, Rampoora, Neemahera, and other places in Hindoostan. Calcutta 1832°*.

Abridged Urdu translation by Muns̲h̲ī Dēbī Pras̲h̲ād: Delhi 1317/1899–1900*, 1909* (title of this last edition Iftik̲h̲ār al-tawārīk̲h̲).

[For Amīr K̲h̲ān see H.T. Prinsep History of the political and military transactions in India during the administration of the Marquess of Hastings, London, 1825; Buckland Dictionary of Indian biography p. 12; Ency. Isl. i 330.]

¶ § 899. Other works:

(1)

Account of the Rājahs of Alwar to the then reigning Bēnī Sing’h (d. 1857): Rieu iii 1012b (19th cent.).

(2)

Aḥwāl i rājahā i Jaipūr: Browne Suppt. 17 (King’s).

(3)

History of the Rājahs of Anbēr and Jaipūr from their origin to the time of composition (circ. ah 1260/1844): Rieu iii 1029b (extracts only. Circ. ad 1850).

(4)

Fragment (4 foll.) of a history of Kōtah: i.o. 4061 (ad 1897).

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