In Volume 1-2: Biography, Additions, and Corrections | Section 2, History, Biography, etc.

previous chapter: 13.8 Muns̲h̲īs

¶ § 1459. It has been convincingly demonstrated by M. Qazwīnī¹ that Muḥammad i muns̲h̲ī, the author of the Naft̲h̲at al-maṣdūr, is the same person as M. b. Aḥmad b. ʿAlī b. M. al-muns̲h̲ī al-Nasawī,² who in 639/1241–2 wrote the Arabic Sīrat al-Sulṭān Jalāl al-Dīn Mankubirnī (for which see Brockelmann i p. 319, Sptbd. i p. 552). Born at K̲h̲arandiz [?³], a fort near Nasā for many generations in the possession of his family, he was for some time in the service of the local rulers, the Āl i Ḥamzah (to use the name suggested by Qazwīnī for the dynasty), and about the year 621/1224 was sent by one of them, Nuṣrat al-Dīn Ḥamzah b. M. b. M. b. ʿUmar b. Ḥamzah, on a mission to Sulṭān G̲h̲iyāt̲h̲ al-Dīn, the brother of the K̲h̲wārazm-S̲h̲āh Sulṭān Jalāl al-Dīn Mankubirnī.⁴ Before he could carry out his mission Sulṭān G̲h̲iyāt̲h̲ al-Dīn was defeated at Ray by his brother, and M. Nasawī, proceeding to the latter’s camp near Hamadān, was taken into his service. In 622/1225, at Marāg̲h̲ah he was appointed to the office of secretary (kātib al-ins̲h̲aʾ), and thenceforward he was in constant attendance on the Sulṭān in his campaigns. After the conquest of Ak̲h̲lāṭ in 627/1230 he was sent on a mission to the Malāḥidah of Alamūt. In the following year the Sulṭān was severely defeated near Āmid by the Mongols, but escaped from the battlefield only to be killed by Kurds near Maiyāfāriqīn. Nasawī escaped in a different direction and with two or three others reached Āmid, where he was imprisoned for three months by the Ortuqid Malik Masʿūd. Thence he went successively to Mārdīn, Irbil, Urūmiyah, K̲h̲ōy, Pergerī (Muḥarram 629/Oct. 1231) and finally after great hardships, to Maiyāfāriqīn. There he settled ¶ under the protection of Malik Muẓaffar S̲h̲ihāb al-Dīn G̲h̲āzī, the Aiyūbid, and it was there that he wrote the Naft̲h̲at al-maṣdūr four years later.

(Naft̲h̲at al-maṣdūr⁵) (beg. Dar īn-muddat kih talāṭum i amwāj i fitnah), an account of the author’s adventures in four months of 628/1231 between his separation from Sulṭān Jalāl al-Dīn at Āmid and his arrival at Maiyāfāriqīn: Ṭihrān two modern mss. in private ownership (see Mujtabā Mīnuwi’s footnote on p. 2 of M. Qazwīnī’s Maqālah).

Edition: Kitāb i Naft̲h̲at al-maṣdūr …⁶ taʾlīf i K̲h̲wājah Nūr al-Dīn⁷ Muḥammad Zaidarī⁸ K̲h̲urāsānī … bā muqaddimah i marḥūm Riḍā-Qulī K̲h̲ān Hidāyat i Ṭabarī Lalah-bās̲h̲ī. Ṭihrān ahs 1307–8⁹/1928–9‡ (S̲h̲irkat i Ṭabʿ i kitāb. Pp. 105, of which 2–26³ are devoted to the introduction, written in 1281/1864–5, by “Hidāyat”).

§ 1460. Of unknown authorship is:—

Nasāʾim al-asḥār, biographies of wazīrs completed in Ṣafar 725/1325 and used extensively by the author of the Āt̲h̲ār al-wuzarāʾ: Āyā Sōfyah 3487 (see Viqār Ahmad Hamdānī’s remarks on this work in jras. 1938 p. 563).

§ 1461. Saif al-Dīn Ḥājjī b. Niẓām al-Faḍlī (or al-ʿUqailī ?) was in the service of K̲h̲wājah Qiwām al-Dīn Niẓām al-Mulk K̲h̲wāfī, who became Governor of Qum and Rai in 873/1468–9, was appointed Wazīr by Sulṭān Ḥusain in 875/1470–1 and was deposed in 892/1487.

At̲h̲ār al-wuzarāʾ, notices of celebrated wazīrs, composed in 883/1478–9, dedicated to Niẓām al-Mulk K̲h̲wāfī and divided into two maqālahs ((1) in twelve bābs devoted to the wazīrs of particular dynasties, namely ¶ (a) Pre-Islāmic kings of Persia, (b) the first four Caliphs, (c) Umaiyads, (d) ʿAbbāsids, (e) Sāmānids, (f) G̲h̲aznawids, (g) Buwaihids, (h) Saljūqids, (j) K̲h̲wārazm-S̲h̲āhs, (k) C̲h̲ingiz K̲h̲ān and his descendants, (l) Muẓaffarids and G̲h̲ōrids. (m) Tīmūrids to Abū Saʿīd, (2) on K̲h̲wājah Qiwām al-Dīn, apparently imperfect in all the mss.): Bānkīpūr viii 654 (ah 1044/1634), Rieu Suppt. 101 (17th cent.), iii 969b (ah 1239/1824), Āṣafīyah iii p. 92 no. 1059 (defective at both ends), Bodleian 347 (n.d.), Browne Pers. Cat. 109, Ethé 621, Majlis 619 (4).

§ 1462. G̲h̲iyāt̲h̲ al-Dīn surnamed (mulaqqab) K̲̲h̲̲wānd-Amīr, who died probably in 942/1535–6, has already been mentioned as the author of the Maʾāt̲h̲ir al-mulūk (no. 125 (1) supra), the K̲h̲ulāṣat al-ak̲h̲bār (no. 125 (2)), the Ḥabīb al-siyar (no. 125 (3)), the Humāyūn nāmah (no. 700), and the Makārim al-ak̲h̲lāq, a panegyric on Mīr ʿAlī S̲h̲īr (no. 1096).

Dastūr al-wuzarāʾ (a chronogram = 915/1509–10¹⁰), lives of eminent wazīrs arranged—apart from the first two, Āṣaf and Buzurjmihr—under dynasties from the Umaiyads to the Tīmūrids, the last being ministers of Sulṭān Ḥusain:¹¹ Ḥ. K̲h̲. iii p. 228, Bodleian 87 (ah 965/1558), Chanykov 66 (ah 974/1566), Berlin 604 (ah 1013/1604), Rieu i 335a (ah 1036/1627), Ivanow 212 (ah 1222/1807–8), Browne Coll. J. 11 (12) (ah 1268/1852), Buk̲h̲ārā Semenov 70, Flügel ii 1204, Leningrad Mus. Asiat. (see Mélanges asiatiques iv (St. Petersburg 1863) p. 54).

Edition: Ṭihrān ahs 1317/1938‡ (ed. Saʿīd Nafīsī).

¶ Extracts: [Faḍl Isfarāyinī, Aḥmad Maimandī and Ḥasanak, G̲h̲aznawid wazīrs] Elliot Bibliographical index …, Calcutta 1849, muntak̲h̲abāt pp. 25–7.

Translation of the same extracts: Elliot Bibliographical index pp. 117–20; Elliot and Dowson History of India iv pp. 148–53.

List of the biographies: Wiener Jahrbücher, Bd. 74 Anz.-Bl. pp. 1–4 (Hammer).

§ 1463. For the memoirs of Asad Bēg Qazwīnī, which extend from 1011/1602 to 1014/1605 see no. 712 supra.

§ 1464. For the Maʾāt̲h̲ir i Raḥīmī, completed in 1025/1616 by ʿAbd al-Bāqī Nihāwandī, see no. 712 supra.

§ 1465. Sh. Farīd b. S̲h̲. Maʿrūf Bhakkarī.¹²

D̲h̲ak̲h̲īrat al-k̲h̲awānīn, lives of Indian nobles from the time of Akbar to 1060/1650, dedicated to Nawwāb S̲h̲āyistah K̲h̲ān¹³ and divided into three chapters ((1) Akbar’s, (2) Jahāngīr’s, and (3) S̲h̲āh-Jahān’s contemporaries): Ḥaidarābād Prof. ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq’s private library (foll. 230, one leaf missing at end. Bears a librarian’s note of 1069/1659 or 1169/1756. See M. Abdulla Chughtai’s description in Islamic culture ix/3 (July, 1935) pp. 411–22, where information is given concerning a number of nobles associated with the arts, especially building).

Almost the whole of this work seems to have been incorporated with little alteration in the Maʾāt̲h̲ir al-umarāʾ. In S̲h̲āh-nawāz K̲h̲ān’s preface (vol. i p. 8³, Beveridge’s trans. p. 7) it is referred to in the words Agar-c̲h̲ih dar-īn waqt kitābī mausūm ba-D̲h̲ak̲h̲īrat al-k̲h̲awānīn taṣnīf i S̲h̲aik̲h̲ Maʿrūf Bhakkarī mutaḍammin i aḥwāl i umarā ba-naẓar rasīd u akt̲h̲ar i maṭālib i ān ḍamīmah i īn nusk̲h̲ah gardīd līkin c̲h̲ūn binā-yi ān bar ak̲h̲bār i samāʿī i muk̲h̲ālif i taḥqīq i ahl i īn fann būd u maʾk̲h̲ad̲h̲ i īn ¶ nusk̲h̲ah kutub i muʿtabarah i t̲h̲iqāt ast rujḥānī badīhī u mazīyatī ẓāhir bar-ān mutaḥaqqaq u t̲h̲ābit gas̲h̲t. It will be noticed that here, apparently by inadvertence, the author of the D̲h̲ak̲h̲īrat al-k̲h̲awānīn is called S̲h̲. Maʿrūf Bhakkarī¹⁴ The same thing occurs in the apparently spurious preamble of Ivanow 215, in which S̲h̲. Maʿrūf Bhakkarī is made to speak as though the work contained in the ms. were the D̲h̲ak̲h̲īrat al-k̲h̲awānīn, whereas it appears to be a defective copy of the Maʾāt̲h̲ir al-umarāʾ.¹⁵

§ 1466. Ṣadr al-Dīn M. “Fāʾiz” b. Zabardast K̲h̲ān is the author of poetical works in Persian and Urdu, including a Persian mat̲h̲nawī dated 1134/1721–2, which are preserved with some Persian ruqaʿāt in the Bodleian ms. 1177 (Kullīyāt i Fāʾiz). The Urdu mat̲h̲nawī describing a bang-seller has been translated into French by Garcin de Tassy (i pp. 436–8). He wrote a short astronomical (or astrological ?) work entitled Najm al-Ṣadr (ms.: Panjāb Univ. Lib. (dated 1135/1723 and probably autograph). See ocm. x/3 p. 106) and doubtless also the treatise on gardening entitled Zīnat al-basātīn (ms.: Panjāb Univ. Lib. See ocm. x/1 (Nov. 1933) p. 99, where the date of transcription, given as “probably 1032”, should perhaps be read 1132).

Irs̲h̲ād al-wuzarāʾ, short notices of celebrated viziers written (according to Elliot History of India iv p. 148) in Muḥammad S̲h̲āh’s reign (1131–61/1719–48) and divided into twelve maqālahs devoted for the most part to particular dynasties, the last being concerned with the viziers of the Indian Tīmūrids: Rieu i 338b (foll. 65, breaking off in the notice of D̲h̲ū ’l-Faqār K̲h̲ān b. Asad K̲h̲ān, vizier to Jahāndār S̲h̲āh. 18th cent.), iii 1014b (extracts only. Circ. ad 1850), 1046a (extract only).

§ 1467. Early in 1160/1747 Mīran [?¹⁶] Lāl wrote:

Tad̲h̲kirah i aḥwāl i Saiyid M. K̲h̲ān (beginning Az ān-jā kih pīs̲h̲-gāh i Dāwar i ḥaqīqī), an account of the career of a contemporary official: Ivanow Curzon 159 (7) (foll. 301b–317. ah 1207/1792–3).

The same official’s career, especially the events of 1160–1/1747–8, is the subject of another short tract with the same title but of unstated authorship (beginning Īn sipihr i luʿbat-bāz rā rasmī ast qadīm): Ivanow Curzon 159 (3) (foll. 249–256b. ah 1207/1792–3).

¶ § 1468. M. ʿAbbās K̲h̲ān “ʿAbbās” Afg̲h̲ānī b. M. Ziyārat Allāh died in 1188/1774 according to Nad̲h̲īr Aḥmad, who gives a reference to Ak̲h̲bār al-ṣanādīd.¹⁷ part i, pp. 373–5.

Ḥālāt i ʿAbbās K̲h̲ān, an autobiography: Rāmpūr Ḥāfiz Aḥmad ʿAlī K̲h̲ān’s library (see Nad̲h̲īr Aḥmad 66).

Extracts: Ak̲h̲bār al-ṣanādīd, loc. cit.

§ 1469. Rāy Kēwal Rām, son of Rag’hunāt’h Dās, describes himself as an Aggarwālah by caste and a resident of Kāsnah in the ṣūbah (province) of Delhi.

Tad̲h̲kirat al-umarāʾ, concise notices of Indian nobles (k̲h̲āns from nuh-hazārī to dū-ṣadī, untitled amīrs from s̲h̲as̲h̲-hazārī to hazārī, Hindū zamīndārs, and Deccan amīrs from haft-hazārī to pānṣadī) who served under Akbar and his successors to the death of Aurangzēb [ah 1119/1707], completed in 1140/1727–8 (so Bodleian 258), or 1184/1770–1¹⁸ (so Rieu i 339 and Sprenger, mss. of the late Sir H. Elliot (jasb. xxiii (1854) p. 239), or 1194/1780 (so Ethé 629, Ivanow 216, and Elliot History of India viii p. 192), and divided into two bābs ((1) Muslims, in two faṣls, (a) those who bore the title k̲h̲ān, with a d̲h̲ail devoted to those who bore such other titles as Amīr al-umarāʾ, Amīn al-Daulah, and Iʿtimād al-Daulah, (b) those without official titles, such as Ibrāhīm Mīrzā, S̲h̲. Ibrāhīm, S̲h̲. Abū ’l-Faḍl, Ḥakīm Abū ’l-Fatḥ, (2) Hindūs, in two faṣls, (a) those who bore the titles Rānā, Mahārājah, Rājah, Rāō, Rāwat, Rāwal, Rāy-Rāyān, or Rāy, (b) Rājpūts and others without these titles): Rieu i 339a (ah 1195/1781), ii 876b (18th cent.), iii 971b (circ. a.d 1850), Ivanow 216 (probably defective in middle. Late 18th cent.), Bodleian 258, Ethé 629.

§ 1470. For the Ṭahmās-nāmah, the memoirs of Ṭahmās K̲h̲ān, written in 1193/1779, see no. 800 supra.

§ 1471. S̲h̲āh-nawāz K̲h̲ān Aurangābādī, i.e. Mīr ʿAbd al-Razzāq b. Mīr Ḥasan ʿAlī Ḥusainī K̲h̲wāfī Aurangābādī, entitled Nawwāb Ṣamṣām al-Daulah S̲h̲ah-nawāz K̲h̲ān Ṣamṣām-Jang, the descendant of a Saiyid who had ¶ migrated from K̲h̲wāf to India in Akbar’s reign, was born on 28 Ramaḍān 1111/20 March 1700 at Lahore,¹⁹ where his father had died fifteen days before at the age of nineteen.²⁰ His grandfather, M. Kāẓim K̲h̲ān,²¹ who died in 1135/1722–3, had been appointed Dīwān of Lahore and subsequently of Multān by Aurangzēb, but many of his relations were resident in Aurangabad,²² and there Mīr ʿAbd al-Razzāq settled in the year in which the Amīr al-Umarāʾ Ḥusain ʿAlī K̲h̲ān went to the Deccan [i.e. in 1127/1715].

In his twenties²³ he entered the service of Nawwāb Niẓām al-Mulk Āṣaf-Jāh (the first of the “Niẓāms” of Ḥaidarābād) and in 1145/1732–3 he was appointed Dīwān of Barār (“Berar”). In 1155/1742²⁴ he was dismissed for taking part in the rebellion of Nāṣir-Jang, Āṣaf-Jāh’s second son, who had been vice-gerent during his father’s absence in the north,²⁵ and he had five years of leisure, which he devoted to the compilation of his great work, the Maʾāt̲h̲ir al-umarāʾ. In 1160/1747 Āṣaf-Jāh reappointed him Dīwān of Barār. In 1161/1748 Nāṣir-Jang succeeded his father and made S̲h̲āh-nawāz K̲h̲ān Dīwān of the Deccan, i.e. Prime Minister.

Nāṣir-Jang’s succession, however, was contested by a nephew, Muẓaffar-Jang, who sought French help to further his designs. On Nāṣir-Jang’s assassination in December 1750, Dupleix, the Governor of Pondicherry, installed Muẓaffar-Jang ¶ as Ṣūbah-dār of the Deccan and provided him with a bodyguard of French troops and sepoys under the command of M. Bussy²⁶ Muẓaffar-Jang, however, was murdered in February, 1751, and his uncle, Ṣalābat-Jang, was proclaimed Ṣūbah-dār by Bussy, who now made French influence predominant at Aurangābād, Ṣalābat-Jang’s capital. In 1165/1752 Ṣalābat-Jang appointed S̲h̲āh-nawāz K̲h̲ān Ṣūbah-dār of Ḥaidarābād, but he was soon dismissed at Bussy’s instance. In 1167/1753, again at Bussy’s instance, he was appointed Prime Minister²⁷ with the rank of a haft-hazārī and the title of Ṣamṣām al-Daulah.

S̲h̲āh-nawāz K̲h̲ān now made an effort to terminate the French predominance in the Niẓām’s dominions, and at his advice Ṣalābat-Jang dismissed Bussy. Bussy, however, marched on Ḥaidarābād, took up a strong position in which he withstood a siege for nearly two months and was then reinstated by Ṣalābat-Jang. In 1170/1757 S̲h̲āh-nawāz K̲h̲ān’s downfall was precipitated by his failure to satisfy the demands of the army, whose pay was much in arrear. Rising against him, they obtained his dismissal and he fled to Daulatābād with his family and nearly five hundred followers. His property was confiscated and troops were sent to besiege him. His friend G̲h̲ulām-ʿAlī “Āzād”, one of the few who remained faithful to the fallen minister, exerted himself on his behalf and eventually secured his return to favour. Shortly afterwards, however, Ḥaidar-Jang, Bussy’s right-hand man, seized an opportunity of putting him under arrest and five weeks later, on 3 Ramaḍān 1171/11 May 1758, he was murdered by one of Bussy’s Hindu soldiers. With other members of his family he lies buried to the south of Aurangābād.

His tad̲h̲kirah, the Bahāristān i suk̲h̲un, has already been mentioned (no. 1156 supra). His muns̲h̲aʾāt are highly praised by G̲h̲ulām-ʿAlī “Āzād”, who expresses regret that they had never been collected (Maʾāt̲h̲ir al-umarāʾ i p. 36⁸). A small collection of them (87 foll.) is preserved in an acephalous ms. at Bombay (Bombay Univ. p. 110 no. 39).

Maʾāt̲h̲ir al-umarāʾ, biographies of Indian nobles from the reign of Akbar to the author’s time (pānṣadīs and upwards in Akbar’s reign, sih-hazārīs and upwards thereafter to the middle of Aurangzeb’s reign, thenceforward panj-hazārīs or haft-hazārīs) arranged in groups alphabetically according to the initial letter of the title and within these groups chronologically according to the dates of death, begun in 1155/1742 ¶ (author’s preface p. 6¹⁴, Beveridge’s trans. p. 6¹⁸), worked at for five years (“Āzād’s” preface p. 11⁴, Beveridge’s trans.p. 10¹), neglected then for some twelve years (“Azad’s” preface p. 11⁸, Beveridge’s trans. p. 10⁶) and still unfinished at the author’s death, after which the ms. was lost until eventually recovered a year or more later²⁸ in fragments and incomplete by the author’s friend G̲h̲ulām-ʿAlī “Āzād” Bilgrāmī (cf. no. 1162 supra), who prepared an edition extant in several mss., but soon superseded by the greatly enlarged edition of Mīr ʿAbd al-Ḥaiy, the author’s son.²⁹

I. G̲h̲ulām-ʿAlī “Āzād’s” edition, containing a preface by the editor (beg. Ḥamd i S̲h̲āhans̲h̲āhī), his life of the author (beg. Nawwāb Ṣamṣām al-Daulah … Nām i aṣlī i ū, Mīr ʿAbd al-Razzāq ast), the author’s preface (beg. al-Ḥ. l. wa-salām ʿalā ʿibādihi), and a series of biographies (two hundred and thirty-four in Bodleian 166, two hundred and sixty in Morley 101–2, two hundred and eighty-seven in Bānkīpūr 655) beginning with Adham K̲h̲ān Kōkah, ending with Yāqūt K̲h̲ān Ḥabas̲h̲ī, and including three (S. ʿAbd Allāh K̲h̲ān Quṭb al-Mulk, Nawwāb Āṣaf-Jāh, and Nawwāb Niẓām al-Daulah Nāṣir-Jang) added by the editor from his Sarw i Āzād (for which see no. 1162 (16) supra): Lindesiana p. 219 no. 824 (circ. ad 1770. Not described in the catalogue as “Āzād’s” edition, but if the conjectural date is correct it can be nothing else), Madrās i 444 (ah 1192/1778), Ethé 622 (ah 1199/1785), 623 (ah 1203/1789), 624–5, R.A.S. P. 104–5 = Morley 101–2 (ah 1204/1789), P. 106–7 (ah 1261/1845), Ivanow 213 (ah 1221/1806–7), 215 (some differences, for which see Ivanow’s description. The beginning partly spurious), Lahore Panjab Univ. Lib. (ah 1244/1828. See Oriental College Magazine, vol. iii, no. 1 (Lahore, Nov. 1926), p. 68), Bānkīpūr viii 654 (287 biographies. 19th cent.), Bodleian 166 (234 biographies), 167 (“quite modern”).

¶ II. ʿAbd al-Ḥaiy’s edition, begun in 1182/1768–9 some time after the recovery of further fragments of the author’s ms., completed in 1194/1780 and containing ʿAbd al-Ḥaiy’s preface (beg. Sitāyis̲h̲ i bī-karān), the author’s preface, “Āzād’s” preface, “Āzād’s” life of the author, a list of the biographies (in which the many added by ʿAbd al-Ḥaiy are marked with a Q as an abbreviation for Ilḥāq), the series of biographies, seven hundred and thirty³⁰ in number according to a statement prefixed by ʿAbd al-Ḥaiy to his list, the first being Ismāʿīl Bēg dwldī, the last Yalangtōs̲h̲ K̲h̲ān, and finally a k̲h̲ātimah devoted to a brief autobiography of the editor and specimens of his poetry: Ethé 627 (apparently autograph first brouillon, lacking seventy-two leaves between foll. 4 and 5 and containing about three hundred and seventy-one biographies), 626 (containing, without preface or k̲h̲ātimah, a series of biographies beginning with Īsmā‘īl Bēg dwldī and ending with Yalangtōs̲h̲ K̲h̲ān, perhaps ʿAbd al-Ḥaiy’s biographies separately copied. Received by Richard Johnson from Mīr M. Ḥusain at Ḥaidarābād in 1788), i.o. 3903–5 (transcribed probably in 1886), Rieu i 339b (ah 1196/1782) 341b (two copies, both dated 1196/1782), 342a (two 18th-cent. copies), Blochet i 639–40 (late 18th cent.), 641 (late 18th cent.), Ivanow 214 (18th cent.), R.A.S. P. 108 = Morley 103 (ah 1242/1826), Bānkīpūr viii 656–7 (19th cent.), Āṣafīyah i p. 252 no. 520 (from dāl to mīm).

Edition (of ʿAbd al-Ḥaiy’s recension): The Maásir-ul-umará by Nawāb Samsámud-Dowla Shah Nawáz Khan … Edited … by Maulaví ’Abd-ur-Rahím (and Maulaví Mirzá Ashraf ’Alí). Calcutta 1888 [1887]-91°* (3 vols. Bibliotheca Indica).

English translation (rearranged): The Maas̤iru-l-umarā [fasc. 7 The Maāt̲h̲ir-ul-umarā], being biographies of the Muḥammadan and Hindu officers of the Timurid sovereigns of India from 1500 to about 1780 ad by Nawāb [fasc. 7 Nawwāb] Ṣamṣāmu-d-Daula Shah Nawāz K̲h̲ān and his son ʿAbdul Ḥaqq [sic, but correctly on fasc. 7 ‘Abdul-Ḥayy]… Translated by H. Beveridge … [fasc. 7 adds and revised, annotated and completed by Baini Prashad, D. Sc., F.R.A.S.B.]. Calcutta 1911- °*, in progress [fasc. 1–6, 600 pp., published in 1911–14°*, and fasc. 7, pp. 601–840, published in 1941°*, form “Vol i” and contain the biographies of those persons whose names ¶ or titles,³¹ when transliterated, begin with the letters A-L, the first being ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz K̲h̲ān Bahādur (Persian text, vol. ii p. 836), and the last Luṭf Allāh K̲h̲an Ṣādiq (Persian text., vol. iii p. 177). Bibliotheca Indica.]

[Maʾāt̲h̲ir al-umarāʾ iii pp. 721–8 (an autobiography appended to the biography of his grandfather, M. Kāẓim K̲h̲ān), i pp. 14–40 (a biography prefixed to the work by the editor, G̲h̲ulām-ʿAlī “Āzād”. English translations of this biography have appeared in the Quarterly Oriental Magazine (Calcutta 1825) p. 269 onwards and in Beveridge’s translation of the M. al-u. pp. 12–32); K̲h̲izānah i ʿāmirah pp. 62–3 (in the account of Ṣalābat-Jang); contemporary European writers such as Orme and Dupleix; Mirʾāt al-ṣafāʾ (b.m. Add. 6540) foll. 103–4, etc.; Persian histories of Ḥaidarābād; M. Wilks Historical sketches of the south of India, i (London 1810) pp. 382, 387, 389; J. Grant Duff History of the Mahrattas (1826), revised edition, Oxford 1921, vol. i pp. 434, 460, 463, 476, 486–7, 494–9, 500; H. G. Briggs The Nizam (London 1861) i pp. 124–33; Elliot and Dowson History of India viii pp. 187–91; Rieu i p. 340; Buckland Dictionary of Indian biography p. 385; Bānkīpūr catalogue viii pp. 11–12; Ency. Isl. under Ṣamṣām al-Dawla (H. H. Schaeder); Pictorial Hyderabad compiled … by K. Krishnaswamy Mudiraj, Hyderabad 1929, vol. i pp. 183–4; etc.]

§ 1472. Nawwāb ʿAlī Ibrāhīm K̲h̲ān died in 1208/1793–4 (see no. 922 supra).

Declaration concerning his governorship [sic ?] of Benares: Rieu Suppt. 405A (see no. 922 (1) supra).

§ 1473. For the Ḥairat-nāmah i sufarāʾ of Mīrzā Abū ’l-Ḥasan S̲h̲īrāzī, Persian envoy in London, and afterwards Minister for Foreign Affairs, see no. 1417 supra.

§ 1474. M. Riḍā “Najm” Ṭabāṭabā (see no. 180 supra).

Notice of S̲h̲āh-nawāz K̲h̲ān [Dihlawī],³² S̲h̲āh-ʿĀlam’s Wazīr: Rieu iii 10186 viii (ad 1849).

¶ § 1475. Rājāyān-rājah Rājah C̲h̲andū La‘l “S̲h̲ādān” Mahārājah Bahādur has already been incidentally mentioned in this work (no. 333, Persian translations (2) footnote, no. 1038 1st par.). A member of a family claiming descent from Rājah Tōdar Mal, Akbar’s Finance Minister, he was born in 1766 and, like his paternal uncle before him, became Kaṛōṛgīr of the town of Ḥaidarābād in the time of Mīr Niẓām-ʿAlī K̲h̲ān (ah 1175–1218/1761–1803). In 1221/1806 Mīr-ʿĀlam (for whom see no. 1034) obtained the Niẓām’s sanction for his appointment as Pes̲h̲kār (Mīr-ʿĀlam Rājah C̲h̲andū, La‘l rā bah pēs̲h̲kārī i k̲h̲wēs̲h̲ az pēs̲h̲gāh i Ḥuḍūr i pur-nūr sarfarāz u sarbuland u mumtāz gardānīdah, Gulzār i Āsafīyah p. 101¹³). After the death of Mīr-ʿĀlam in 1223/1808 Munīr al-Mulk was appointed Dīwān, but the administration of the state was in the hands of C̲h̲andū La‘l, its virtual ruler (Gulzār i Āṣafīyah p. 105 penult.³³). In 1235/1820 the title of Mahārājah Bahādur was conferred upon him (G. i Ā. p. 109¹⁰), in the time of Mīr Fark̲h̲undah ʿAlī K̲h̲ān (1829–57) he received the additional title of Rājāyān-rājah (G.i Ā. p. 234¹⁰), and on 15 April 1845 he died.

He was the author of dīwāns in Persian and Urdu and was a generous patron of letters. Some information about his lavish benefactions will be found in the Gulzār i Āṣafīyah, pp. 234¹²–36.

One of his descendants was Mahārājah Sir Kishun Pershad [i.e. Kis̲h̲an Pars̲h̲ād], g.c.i.e., “Hereditary Peshkar and President of the Executive Council of the State [of Ḥaidarābād],” who was born in 1864 and died on 13 May 1940 (see Who was Who 1929–40 under Kishun Pershad).

ʿIs̲h̲rat-kadah i āfāq, in three fuṣūl³⁴ ((1) dar aḥwāl i k̲h̲ānadān i Āṣafīyah … [bā ?] nabdhī az aḥwāl i ābā wa-ajdād i kirām i k̲h̲wud, (2) dar d̲h̲ikr i g̲h̲azalīyāt u rubāʿīyāt u afrādī kih bī mas̲h̲īyat u fikr sar-zad i k̲h̲āmah … gardīdah, (3) dar d̲h̲ikr i ḥikāyāt i ʿajībah u nikāt i g̲h̲arībah): i.o. 4386.

Edition: place ? [presumably Ḥaidarābād] 1325/1907 (see Āṣafīyah iii p. 6 no. 264).

[Gulzār i Āsafīyah pp. 233–6, 101, 109, and elsewhere; Briggs The Nizam i pp. 149–54; Garcin de Tassy iii pp. 90–2; Buckland Dictionary of Indian biography p. 79; Niẓāmī Badāyūnī Qāmūs al-mas̲h̲āhīr (in Urdu) i p. 191; Saksena History of Urdu ¶ literature p. 201; K. Krishnaswamy Mudiraj Pictorial Hyderabad i p. 196 (portrait, p. 195); see also no. 333, Persian translations (2) footnote supra.]

§ 1476. Ḥasan C̲h̲elebī “S̲h̲aidā” was evidently a dependent of Dāwud Pās̲h̲ā, Governor of Bag̲h̲dād.³⁵

Durrat al-tāj wa-g̲h̲urrat al-ibtihāj, described as the fourth volume of the K̲h̲amsah i Dāwud-S̲h̲āhī and devoted mainly to a metrical chronicle of Dāwud Pās̲h̲a’s movements and the daily occurrences at his residency from Rajab 1236/April 1821 to Ramaḍān 1237/May-June 1822 (foll. 56–212), but also to six prose tracts (foll. 5–55) and the author’s dīwān (foll. 213–77): Rieu Suppt. 356 (ah 1237/1822).

§ 1477. An as yet unidentified author born at Iṣfahān on 16 Jumādā 1197/19 May 1783, who traces his descent to Ḥājjī Qiwām al-Dīn S̲h̲īrāzī, of S̲h̲āh S̲h̲ujāʿ’s time [ah 760–86/1359–84], and mentions brothers named Mīrzā ʿAlī Akbar, Mīrzā ʿAlī Riḍā, and Fatḥ Allāh K̲h̲ān, and a great-uncle named ʿAbd al-Raḥīm K̲h̲ān, began in D̲h̲ū ’l-Ḥijjah 1239/Aug. 1824 at the request of some friends to note down the events of his life and thus produced an autobiography, from which it appears that he held various positions in the reign of Fatḥ-ʿAlī S̲h̲āh.

Autobiography (beginning: Bas bi-gardīd u bi-gardad rūzgār dil ba-dunyā dar na-bandad hūs̲h̲yār), divided into four bābs ((1) dar kaifīyat i nasab, (2) az zamān i wilādat ilā awān i mag̲h̲ḍūb s̲h̲udan az sulṭān i jahāniyān …, (3) dar inḥirāf i mizāj i mubārak i sulṭānī …, (4) tafṣīl i aḥwāl baʿd az siyāsat u yāsā …) and followed by (1) Mīrzā Kūc̲h̲ak [“Wiṣāl”] S̲h̲īrāzī’s poetical description of an earthquake at S̲h̲īrāz some years before the composition of the autobiography, fol. 53a, (2) a concise account of the ancient Persian kings (guftār dar d̲h̲ikr i muk̲h̲taṣarī az waqāʾiʿ i auḍāʿ u aḥwāl i mulūk i pasandīdah-s̲h̲iyam i ʿAjam …, foll. 61a–139): Ethé 706 (transcribed ah 1253/1837 by Abū ’l-Qāsim b. ʿAbd-al-Riḍā Qazwīnī).

§ 1478. Mīrzā M. Jaʿfar b. Mīrzā M. K̲h̲ān, better known as M. Jān, was the grandson of Nawwāb Mīrzā Mahdī ʿAlī K̲h̲ān Bahādur Ḥas̲h̲mat-Jang K̲h̲urāsānī, whose father, Mīrzā M. Ṣādiq K̲h̲ān, was Ḥakim-bās̲h̲ī to the Persian court after the murder of Nādir S̲h̲āh.

Majmūʿah i Jaʿfarī, a biography of the above-mentioned Nawwāb Mīrzā Mahdī ʿAlī K̲h̲ān (b. 1168/1755, sent to Turkey as envoy by S̲h̲āh-Ruk̲h̲ Mīrzā, invited to India by Nawwāb D̲h̲ū ’l-Faqār al-Daulah Najaf ʿAlī K̲h̲ān³⁶ ¶ [d. 1196/1782, cf. no. 637, footnote, no. 798 (2)], reached Sūrat in 1193/1779, S̲h̲āhjahānābād in 1195/1781, and ‘Aẓīmābād in 1198/1783–4, entered the E.I. Co.’s service, was given an appointment in the Customs and Revenue Department at G̲h̲āzīpūr, became a friend of Jonathan Duncan, Collector of Benares, who later, when Governor of Bombay, invited him thither and sent him on a mission to Fatḥ-ʿAlī S̲h̲āh, was granted a pension by the Marquis Wellesley and died on 17 Rabīʿ ii 1219/5 July 1804): Bombay Univ. p. 148.

§ 1479. S̲h̲afīʿ al-Dīn Ḥasan b. Niʿmat Allāh al-Mūsawī al-S̲h̲ūs̲h̲tarī completed in Ṣafar 1259/March 1843:—

Muʿtamadīyah, a life of Muʿtamad al-Daulah Minūc̲h̲ihr K̲h̲ān (cf. no. 1214 2nd par. footnote): Berlin 31 (8) (ah 1259/1843), 31 (1) (a few additions (mulḥaqāt) only).

§ 1480. ʿAbd al-ʿAlīm M. Naṣr Allāh K̲h̲ān K̲h̲wēs̲h̲gī K̲h̲ūrjawī, who died in 1299/1881, has already been mentioned (no. 1043) as the author of a Tārīk̲h̲ i Dakan.

Jāmiʿ i Fatḥ-K̲h̲ānī (a chronogram = 1263/1847), a biography of the author’s maternal uncle, Fatḥ K̲h̲ān b. Ṣadr K̲h̲ān, who was born in 1193/1779 and died in 1262/8 Nov. 1846 after serving as Taḥṣīldār at Niẓāmābād (Aʿẓamgaṛh District) and elsewhere, with much autobiographical information: Delhi 1848*.

Urdu translation by Pandit Dayā Nāt’h “Ārām” Dihlawī: Jāmiʿ i Fatḥ-K̲h̲ānī. Delhi 1849*.

§ 1481. S. Ḥaidar Ḥusain K̲h̲ān b. M. Ḥusain K̲h̲ān S̲h̲āhjahānābādī wrote in 1264/1848:—

Tārīk̲h̲ i aḥwāl i Islām K̲h̲ān Mas̲h̲hadī:³⁷ Āṣafīyah iii p. 94 no. 1135.

§ 1482. Mubāriz al-Daulah Pīr Ibrāhīm K̲h̲ān K̲h̲wēs̲h̲gī Qaṣūrī has already been mentioned (no. 840 supra) as the author of a history of Bahāwalpūr.

Sairistān, a brief account of the author’s visit to England in 1851–2 together with a short history of his tribe.

Edition: [Multān according to M. S̲h̲afīʿ, Bahāwalpūr according to Edwards] 1854°.³⁸

¶ Description (by M. S̲h̲afīʿ): Islamic culture iii no. 3 (July 1929) pp. 454, 472.

§ 1483. S̲h̲. Aḥmad ʿAlī “Rasā” Lak’hnawī was a taḥṣīldār in British India until 1857.

D̲h̲ikr i yārān i zamān, an autobiography with accounts of the author’s contemporaries: Āṣafīyah ii p. 848 no. 39 (ah 1276/1859–60, autograph).

§ 1484. Appendix.

(1)

Ḥālāt i Āṣaf-K̲h̲ānān, short accounts of four persons entitled Āṣaf K̲h̲ān, viz., (1) K̲h̲wājah ʿAbd al-Majīd Harawī, who became Ā. K̲h̲. in Akbar’s fifth year, (2) K̲h̲wājah G̲h̲iyāt̲h̲ al-Dīn ʿAlī Qazwīnī, who became Ā. K̲h̲. in Akbar’s eighteenth year, (3) Jaʿfar Bēg, who became Ā. K̲h̲. in Akbar’s twentieth year, and (4) Abū ’l-Ḥasan b. Iʿtimād al-Daulah: Edinburgh 413 (ah 1161/1748).

(2)

(Tārīk̲h̲ i Mīrzā Masʿūd), a history of ʿAbbās Mīrzā Nāʾib al-Salṭanah: see no. 434 supra.

next chapter: 13.10 Orientalists