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

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§ 1082. Jaswant Rāy b. Bhagwant Rāy b. Sundardās “Muns̲h̲ī” was a muns̲h̲ī by profession and the son of a muns̲h̲ī born at Lahore. In 1118/1706–7 he went to the Carnatic and obtained the patronage of the Governor, Saʿādat Allāh K̲h̲ān, the ancestor of the Nawwābs of the Carnatic, by composing a qaṣīdah in his praise. An autograph copy of his dīwān written ah 1124/1712 at Sarā in the province of Bījāpūr is in the possession of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Ivanow 830, cf. Ethé 1695).

Saʿīd-nāmah, a pompously written biography of Saʿādat Allāh K̲h̲ān, entitled also M. Saʿīd (properly M. ʿAlī b. Aḥmad, d. 1145/1732, see Maʾāt̲h̲ir al-umarāʾ ii 513), from his birth in 1061/1651 to 16 Ramaḍān 1135/1723: Rieu i 331a (early 18th cent.), Ethé 500 (much shorter. Damaged. ah 1229/1814), 2843 (complete, ah 1265/1849).

[Autobiography near the beginning of the Saʿīd-nāmah; Sprenger pp. 507, 508 (?); Rieu i 331; Ethé 500.]

¶ § 1083. Mīr M. Ismāʿīl K̲h̲ān “Abjadī” was born at Chingleput. He was the tutor (ustād) of the Nawwāb ʿUmdat al-Umarāʾ (ruled ah 1210/1795–1216/1801). On finishing the Anwar-nāmah in 1174/1760–1 he was rewarded by the Nawwāb Wālā-Jāh (M. ʿAlī ʿUmdat al-Mulk, who ruled ah 1163/1750–1210/1795) with 6,700 rupees. In 1189/1775–6 he received the title of Malik al-s̲h̲uʿarāʾ.

For his Persian dīwān see Āṣafīyah i p. 716 no. 482, Ivanow 873, and Nad̲h̲īr Aḥhmad 107 and for his Urdu dīwān Blumhardt’s i.o. catalogue of Hindustani mss. no. 137. A work of his entitled Tuḥfah li-ṣibyān is mentioned by Garcin de Tassy, who possessed a ms.

Anwar-nāmah, a mat̲h̲nawī on the exploits of the Nawwāb Anwar al-Dīn K̲h̲ān (d. 1162/1749) with a summary of events under his successor to the date of completion, ah 1174/1760–1: Ivanow 872 (ah 1176/1762–3), Asʿad 2077 = Tauer 553 (ah 1242/1826), Berlin 973 (slightly defective), Ethé 1716 (n.d.), 2904 (n.d.).

[Tūzuk i Wālā-Jāhī, muqaddimah (see Ethé 501); Ṣubḥ i waṭan 27–31; Sprenger nos. 64–5; Garcin de Tassy 98–9; Beale Oriental biographical dictionary p. 15.]

§ 1084. Muns̲h̲ī Burhān K̲h̲ān b. Ḥasan Hindī was commissioned in 1195/1781 by Nawwāb Wālā-Jāh ʿUmdat al-Mulk (M. ʿAlī, who ruled from 1162/1749 to 1210/1795) to compose [largely] on the basis of “Abjadī’s” Anwar-nāmah (see § 1083 supra) a history of the rulers of the Carnatic from the time of their ancestors in al-Madīnah¹ to his own time. He died on 27 Jumādā ii 1240/1825. For his Ruqaʿāt see Āṣafīyah i p. 124.

Tūzuk i Wālā-Jāhī, a history of the Carnatic, especially of Anwar al-Dīn K̲h̲ān [d. 1162/1749] and his son Wālā-Jāh, planned to consist of a muqaddimah, two daftars and a k̲h̲ātimah, but probably never continued beyond the first daftar: Ethé 501 (only the Muqaddimah (in praise of “Abjadī”) and Daftar i (completed in 1200/1786 and extending to Clive’s capture of Pondicherry in 1761). N.d.), Madras (ascribed to “Abjadī”).

English translation: Tūzak-i-Wālājāhī of Burhān ibn Ḥasan: Translated … by S. Muḥammad Ḥusayn Nainar … Part I. From the early days to the Battle of Ambur (1162 AH) … Madras 1934/?/‡, to be continued (Madras University Islamic Series No. 1).

Description and summary: Nawab Anwaru’d-din Khan of the Carnatic. From the Tuzuk-i-Walajahi of Burhanu’d-din. By C.S. Srinivasachari (in Indian Historical Records Commission. Proceedings of meetings. Vol. xiii, Calcutta 1932, pp. 121–9).

¶ [Ḥadīqat al-marām (in Arabic) p. 12.]

§ 1085. An anonymous author (Saʿd-Allāh K̲h̲ān? see Ethé 2844) completed in 1218/1803 his

Waqāʾiʿ i saʿādat, a short history of the Nawwābs of Arkāt (from Saʿādat-Allāh K̲h̲ān to Ṣafdar ʿAlī K̲h̲ān (d. 1155/1742)) and the Jāgīrdārs of Vellore (from G̲h̲ulām-ʿAlī K̲h̲ān to G̲h̲ulām-Murtaḍā K̲h̲ān (d. 1176/1762–3)) in three faṣls: Ethé 2844 (lacks Faṣl iii), 2845 (with an appendix containing the history of Vellore to 1803).

§ 1086. M. Karīm² K̲h̲air al-Dīn Ḥasan G̲h̲ulām-Ḍāmin b. Iftik̲h̲ār al-Daulah Ḥāfiẓ M. Nāṣir K̲h̲ān Bahādur Ṣamṣām-Jang was born in 1194/1780, received the title of Ṣāḥib al-Daulah Jalādat-Jang in 1210/1795–6, that of K̲h̲wurs̲h̲ēd al-Mulk in 1231/1816 and on his father’s death in 1236/1820 that of Iftik̲h̲ār al-Daulah M. Nāṣir K̲h̲ān Bahādur Ṣamṣām-Jang. In Rajab 1249/1833, when living at Madrās, he paid homage to ʿAẓīm-Jāh, the Regent, and was requested by him to write a history of his ancestor ʿUmdat al-Umarā’, as “Abjadī” had done for Anwar al-Dīn K̲h̲ān in his Anwar-nāmah (see p. 612 supra). He therefore wrote the Sawāniḥāt i mumtāz, which he completed on 27 D̲h̲ū ’l-Ḥijjah 1252/4 April 1837.

Sawāniḥāt i mumtāz, a history of the years 1209–16/1794–1801, i.e. the last year of Nawwāb Wālā-Jāh ʿUmdat al-Mulk and the reign of ʿUmdat al-Umarāʾ (ad 1795–1801), with a summary of later events under ʿAẓīm al-Daulah (ad 1801–19), ʿAẓīm-Jāh (ad 1820–25), Aʿẓam-Jāh (1825) and G̲h̲ulām M. G̲h̲aut̲h̲ (1825–55) under the regency of Nawwāb ʿAẓīm-Jāh, the first Prince of Arcot: Ethé 502 (ah 1266/1850), Nad̲h̲īr Aḥmad 68 (ah 1281/1864–5. Ahl i Islām Library, Madras), probably also Āṣafīyah iii p. 100 no. 1299 (“Tuzuk i Wālā-Jāhī” written in 1249 by M. Karīm K̲h̲air al-Dīn Ḥasan G̲h̲ulām-Ḍāmin).

English translation: “has been finished, and will be issued” (presumably in the Madras University Islamic Series).

Description: Tūzak-i-Wālājāhī … Translated … by … Nainar … Part I, pp. xiii–xvii.

§ 1087. Other works:

(1)

Asās i riyāsat i Karnāṭak, a history of the Carnatic by M. K̲h̲air al-Dīn K̲h̲ān Maḥmūd-Jang.

¶ Edition: Fak̲h̲r i Niẓāmī Press [Ḥaidarābād³] date? (see Ḥaidarābād Coll. p. 44).

(2)

Taḥrīk al-s̲h̲ifāh bi-auṣāf Wālā-Jāh, by Raus̲h̲an al-Daulah Bahādur-Jang b. Nawwāb Wālā-Jāh: Āṣafīyah ii p. 1740 no. 34 (4).

(3)

Tārīk̲h̲ i niyābat i ʿAẓīm-Jāh, a history of the year 1252/1836–7, by G̲h̲ulām-Muḥammad ʿAlī entitled (al-muk̲h̲āṭab bah) ʿAẓīm-Jāh, brother of Aʿẓam-Jāh, Nawwāb of the Carnatic: Āṣafīyah iii p. 98 no. 1092.