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6 History of Afg̲h̲ānistān
(4,651 words)

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

previous chapter: 5.3 Kās̲h̲g̲h̲ar

§ 544. K̲h̲wājah Niʿmat Allāh b. Ḥabīb Allāh al-Harawī, whose father spent thirty-five years in Akbar’s service, was Wāqiʿah-nawīs or Historiographer under Jahāngīr until in 1017/1608–9 he lost his post and entered the service of the general K̲h̲ān-Jahān Lōdī, whom he accompanied in 1018/1609–10 on his campaign in the Deccan. “Assisted or perhaps even directed by” Miyān Haibat K̲h̲ān b. Salīm K̲h̲ān Kākar of Sāmānah, another servant of K̲h̲ān-Jahān Lōdī’s, he began in D̲h̲ū ’l-Ḥijjah 1020/February 1612 at Malkāpūr in Berār his Tārīk̲h̲ i K̲h̲ān-Jahānī u Mak̲h̲zan i Afg̲h̲ānī which he completed at Burhānpūr on 10 D̲h̲ū ’l-Ḥijjah 1021/1 Feb. 1613.

(1)
Tārīk̲h̲ i K̲h̲ān-Jahānī u Mak̲h̲zan i Afg̲h̲ānī, a history of the Afg̲h̲āns in a muqaddimah (on Jacob and his descendants), seven bābs ((1) Saul etc. and the migration of the Afg̲h̲āns to G̲h̲ōr, Kūh i Sulaimān and Rōh, (2) K̲h̲ālid b. al-Walīd, (3) Buhlūl Lōdī and his successors to ah 932/1526, (4) S̲h̲ēr S̲h̲āh Sūr and his successors to ah 1021/1612, (5) life of K̲h̲ān-Jahān Lōdī, (6) genealogy of the Afg̲h̲āns, (7) a meagre history of Jahāngīr’s reign) and a k̲h̲ātimah (lives of 68 Afg̲h̲ān saints): Ethé 576 (damaged. ah 1063/1653), 577 (lacking Muqaddimah and Bāb v), i.o. D.P. 610, 744 (ah 1114/1702). i.o. 3772 (ah 1251/1835), Ivanow 100 (ah 1090/1679–80), 101 (18th cent.), 102 (ah 1272/1855–6), Blochet i 510 (ah 1093/1685), 511 (ah 1148/1735), 512 (defective at beginning and lacking Bābs v–vii. Early 18th cent.), 513 (lacking Bābs v and vii. ah 1272/1855), Rieu i 210a (17th cent.), 211b (lacking Muqaddimah and Bāb v., ah 1205/1790), 211b (18th cent.), Bānkīpūr vi 529 (ah 1136/1723–4), Asʿad 2137 = Tauer 476 (ah 1163/1750), Bodleian 2025, 2026 (slightly defective), Rehatsek p. 72 no. 9 (defective).
(2)
Mak̲h̲zan i Afg̲h̲ānī, a shorter recension1 of the same work lacking the life of K̲h̲ān-Jahān Lōdī, and the history of Jahāngīr, and divided into three bābs ((1) Jacob etc., (2) Saul etc., (3) K̲h̲ālid and three daftars ((1) Buhlūl, Sikandar and Ibrāhīm, (2) S̲h̲ēr S̲h̲āh etc., (3) Afg̲h̲ān darwīs̲h̲es) and a k̲h̲ātimah (genealogy of the Afg̲h̲āns): Rieu i 212a (ah 1080/1670), iii 903b (17th cent.), 903b (lacking K̲h̲ātimah. ah 1192/1778), 903b (ah 1229/1814), 904a (Daftar ii only. ah 1200/1786), i.o. D.P. 592 (Daftar iii (?), disarranged. ah 1090/1679–80), d.p. 744a (ah 1115/1703), i.o. 3945 (an abstract), Ethé 578 (ah 1180/1766 ?), r.a.s. P. 72 = Morley 602 (ah 1131/1718), Browne Pers. Cat. 77 (ah 1254/1838).

It is not clear from the catalogues whether the following are copies of the longer or the shorter recension (though the use of the title Mak̲h̲zan i Afg̲h̲ānī suggests the latter):—Browne Suppt. 1174 (ah 1181/1767–8), Dorn a.m. p. 143, Lindesiana p. 203 no. 423 (circ. ad 1760) and 155 (ah 1211/1796–7), Madras.

English translation [of the shorter recension]: History of the Afghans: translated from the Persian of Neamet Ullah, by B. Dorn. 2 pts. London 1829–36°* (Oriental Translation Fund).

Pushtu translation (with additions): Tārīk̲h̲ i muraṣṣaʿ, by Afḍal K̲h̲ān (see b.m. Cat. of Pushtu mss. nos. 9–11).

Description and 45 pp. of translated extracts:3 Elliot and Dowson History of India v 67–115.

Description: Zur Geschichte des afghanischen Emires Chantschehan Lodi nach Ni‘mat-Ullah von B. Dorn (Mémoires des savants étrangers, 6th series, vol. vii, pp. 371–400) St. Petersburg 1845*.

[Autobiographical statements in the preface and in the account of Jahāngīr (for which see Rieu etc.); Ency. Isl. under Niʿmat Allāh b. Ḥabīb Allāh (Berthels).]

§ 545. It was probably in the time of Nādir S̲h̲āh (reigned ah 1148/1736–1160/1747) that an anonymous author wrote

A sketch of the genealogy of the Afg̲h̲āns and of the kings they gave to India, in four bābs (beg.: Īn risālah īst dar d̲h̲ikr i aḥwāl i Afg̲h̲ānān): Rieu iii 904b (18th cent.).

§ 546. S̲h̲. Ḥusām Allāh wrote in 1161/1746

Fatḥ-nāmah, a mat̲h̲nawī on Aḥmad S̲h̲āh Abdālī’s [first] invasion of India: Blochet iii 1934 (late 18th cent.).

§ 547. It was for Muʿīn al-Mulk [b. Qamar al-Dīn K̲h̲ān, called Mīr Manū, d. 1169/1755: see Rieu i p. 278b and Ency. Isl. under Aḥmad S̲h̲āh Durrānī] that G̲h̲ulām-Muḥyī ’l-Dīn K̲h̲ān wrote his

Ẓafar-nāmah, an account of Aḥmad S̲h̲āh Durrānī’s [first ?] invasion of India: Lahore Panjāb Univ. Lib. (see Oriental College Magazine, vol. ii, no. 4 (Lahore, August 1926), p. 56).

§ 548. An anonymous author wrote not later than ah 1172/1758

Risālah i Afg̲h̲ānān, a short account of the genealogy of the Afg̲h̲āns (beg.: Risālah i Afg̲h̲ānān dar kaifīyat i nasl i Afg̲h̲ānān. Bi-dān kih az pus̲h̲t i malik Ṭālūt and): Ethé 579 (ah 1172/1758).

§ 549. Maḥmūd al-Muns̲h̲ī b. Ibrāhīm al-Ḥusainī, one of the muns̲h̲īs of Sulṭān Aḥmad S̲h̲āh Durr i Durrān’s Dār al-ins̲h̲āʾ, composed by order of his sovereign his

(Tārīk̲h̲ i Aḥmad-S̲h̲āhī), a history of Aḥmad S̲h̲āh Durrānī (d. 1187/1773) to ah 1171/1757–8: Rieu i 213b (lacunæ. Late 18th cent.), iii 1054a (extracts from a later edition brought down to the accession of Tīmūr S̲h̲āh. Circ. ad 1850), Bombay Univ. p. 26 no. 15 (incomplete).

§ 550. Pīr Muʿaẓẓam S̲h̲āh b. Pīr M. Fāḍil, a resident of the village of Pīr Sihbāk in the district of Peshawar, was in the service of Ḥāfiẓ Raḥmat K̲h̲ān (see § 552), at whose request he abridged Mīr Dād’s Pashtu Tārīk̲h̲ i Afāg̲h̲inah.

Tawārīk̲h̲ i Raḥmat-K̲h̲ānī or Tārīk̲h̲ i Ḥāfiẓ-Raḥmat-K̲h̲ānī, completed ah 1181/1767–8, an abridgment (in Pashtu) of Mīr Dād’s Pashtu Tawārīk̲h̲ i Afāg̲h̲inah written circ. ah 1033/1622, being a history of the K̲h̲aḳ̲ḥ̲ai and G̲h̲ōrī tribes of the Afg̲h̲āns especially of Yūsuf-zai (i.e. Bāyazīd Anṣārī) and his people in seven maqāmāt: Berlin 476 (2), Ethé 581.

Persian translation completed in 1229/1814 by Allāh-Yār K̲h̲ān b. Ḥāfiẓ Raḥmat K̲h̲ān: K̲h̲ulāṣat al-aʿjāb (a chronogram), i.o. 3993 (defective. ah 1314/1896).

§ 551. Ḥāfiẓ M. Ṣiddīq recast and translated for Ḥāfiz Raḥmat K̲h̲ān a Pashtu work written in 1031/1621–2 by K̲h̲wājū4 and called it Tawārīk̲h̲ i Raḥmat-K̲h̲ānī or Tārīk̲h̲ i Ḥāfīẓ-Raḥmat-K̲h̲ānī.

Tawārīk̲h̲ i Raḥmat-K̲h̲ānī on the same subject as Pīr Muʿaẓẓam S̲h̲āh’s work of the same title (see § 550 supra) divided into seven majālis corresponding to the maqāmāt of the former: Ethé 582, i.o. 3733 (ah 1176 [?]/1762).

German epitome by B. Dorn: Beitrag zur Geschichte des Afghanischen Stammes der Jusufsey (in Bulletin scientifique publié par l’Academie Imp. des Sciences de St. Pétersbourg iv (1838) coll. 5–16, 23–31).

§ 552. Ḥāfiẓ al-Mulk Ḥāfiz Raḥmat K̲h̲ān b. S̲h̲āh ʿĀlam Kūtah-K̲h̲ail was born circ. ah 1120/1708–9 in Afg̲h̲ānistān. He was the uncle of the Rohilla chief ʿAlī Muḥammad K̲h̲ān, who had settled in Kaṭhēr on the N.W. frontier of Oudh and whom he joined in 1739. In 1161/1748 he became virtual ruler of the country. In 1772 he signed a treaty with S̲h̲ujāʿ al-Daulah, Nawwāb-Wazīr of Oudh, promising him 40 lakhs (i.e. 4,000,000) of rupees if he would expel the Marāṭhās. In 1773 the invading Marāṭhās retreated before the armies of Oudh and the E.I. Co., but Raḥmat K̲h̲ān refused to pay the promised rupees. In 1774/1188, therefore, S̲h̲ujāʿ al-Daulah with a brigade lent by the E.I. Co. attacked the Rohillas and defeated and killed Ḥāfiẓ Raḥmat K̲h̲ān on the 17th of April at Mīrānpūr Katrah in the S̲h̲āhjahānpūr District.

K̲h̲ulāṣat al-ansāb mus̲h̲tamilah ʿalā radd al-Rāfiḍī wa-’l-murtāb, completed ah 1184/1770, an account of the genealogy of the Afg̲h̲āns with a final chapter in refutation of S̲h̲īʿism: Lindesiana p. 148 (circ. ad 1790), Rieu i 212b (ah 1211/1796), iii 904a (defective. 19th cent.), 1024a (circ. ad 1850), Lahore Panjāb Univ. Lib. (ah 1248/1832. See Oriental College Magazine, vol. ii, no. 4 (Lahore, August 1926), p. 45), Bodleian 321, 322 (a pedigree of the Afg̲h̲āns extracted and translated from the K̲h̲. al-a.), Browne Pers. Cat. 78, 79, Ethé 583, i.o. D.P. 777 (ah 126 (=1260/1844?))

[Ency. Isl. under Ḥāfiẓ Raḥmat K̲h̲ān, and the authorities there cited.]

§ 553. Niẓām al-Dīn “ʿIs̲h̲rat” Siyālkōṭī Quras̲h̲ī paid homage to Aḥmad S̲h̲āh Durrānī on his return from Delhi, accompanied him to Kābul and after receiving from him the documents on which to base a poetical record of his reign, returned to Siyālkōṭ. For his S̲h̲ah-nāmah i Nādirī, composed in 1162/1749, see p. 257 supra.

(1)
S̲h̲āh-nāmah i Aḥmadī, a mat̲h̲nawī giving a history of Aḥmad S̲h̲āh Durrānī to his defeat of the Balōc̲h̲ chief Naṣīr K̲h̲ān in 1173/1759–60: Rieu ii 717b (late 18th cent.).
(2)
A continuation of the preceding dealing with Aḥmad S̲h̲āh’s [fourth] Indian campaign and concluding with his death and Tīmūr S̲h̲āh’s accession: Rieu ii 717b (late 18th cent.).

§ 554.

(1)
ʿUrūj u k̲h̲urūj i Aḥmad S̲h̲āh (i Durrānī): Lindesiana p. 111 no. 441 (circ. ad 1780).
(2)
For the Mujmal al-taʾrīk̲h̲ i baʿd-i-Nādirīyah, which includes an account of Aḥmad S̲h̲āh Durrānī, see p. 259 supra.
(3)
For the Kār-nāmah i Ās̲h̲ūb, a mat̲h̲nawī on Aḥmad S̲h̲āh Abdalī’s [first ?] invasion of India by M.-Bak̲h̲s̲h̲ “Ās̲h̲ūb” (Ivanow Curzon 302) see the sub-section History: India: Tīmurids: Aurangzeb’s successors, where also other works dealing with Aḥmad S̲h̲āh’s invasions will be found.

§ 555. Rāō Kās̲h̲ī-Rāj tells us that he was a Dakanī [i.e. apparently, a Marāṭhā] who had been in the service of Ṣafdar-Jang (Wazīr of Oudh). He was subsequently in the service of the Nawwāb S̲h̲ujāʿ al-Daulah,5 Ṣafdar-Jang’s son and successor (reigned 1754–75), and was in attendance on him when he took part inactively as an ally of Aḥmad S̲h̲āh Durrānī in the battle of Pānīpat (ah 1174/1761) against the Marāṭhās.

Bhāō-nāmah (so in the Edinburgh catalogue), an account of the battle of Panipat and of the events leading to it, written nineteen years after:6 Edinburgh 228 (ah 1199/1784), 229 (ah 1198/1783–4), Rieu iii 1012b (19th cent.), i.o. 4040.

Translation by Lt.-Col. James Browne:7 An Account of the Battle of Paniput, and of the events leading to it.—Written in Persian by Cási Raja Pundit. (in Asiatic Researches, vol. iii (Calcutta 1792°* and London reprints of 1799* and 1801°*) pp. 88–139.) Separate reprint—Oxford Univ. Press 1926* (edited with introduction, notes and appendices by H.G. Rawlinson).

§ 556. M. Jaʿfar S̲h̲āmlū, a born servant of the Ṣafawīs, in his youth served S̲h̲āh-Ruk̲h̲ S̲h̲āh Afs̲h̲ār (a grandson of both Nādir S̲h̲āh and S̲h̲āh Sulṭān-Ḥusain Ṣafawī, reigned in K̲h̲urāsān ah 1161/1748–1210/1796), for twenty-five years in middle life followed Aḥmad S̲h̲āh Durrānī in his invasions of India and was later attached to M. Bēg K̲h̲ān Hamadānī (Iftik̲h̲ār al-Daulah Fīrūz-Jang) in India.

Manāzil al-futūḥ, an account of the battle of Pānīpat (see § 555) preceded by a description of the route from Qandahār to Delhi, written (more than 30 years after the battle) by desire of the Ṣafawī prince, Abū ’l-Fatḥ Sulṭān M. S̲h̲āh Bahādur K̲h̲ān (see p. 250): Rieu ii 839b (late 18th cent.), 841b (18th cent.), iii 942b (circ. ad 1850).

Translation by Major A.R. Fuller: b.m. ms. Add. 30,784, foll. 81–100, and (with some omissions) Elliot and Dowson History of India viii 144–157.

§ 557. S. G̲h̲ulām-ʿAlī Naqawī b. S.M. Akmal K̲h̲ān, who wrote the ʿImād al-saʿādat in 1223/1808–9 (see the subsection History: India: Oudh), wrote subsequently for Col. John Baillie his

Nigār-nāmah i Hind, an account of the battle of Pānīpat, based mainly on information received from Kās̲h̲ī-rāj (see p. 312): Rieu iii 942b (circ. ad 1850), 1056a (extracts).

Translation by Major A.R. Fuller: b.m. ms. Add. 30,784, foll. 162–230.

Description with 5 pp. of extracts from Fuller’s translation: Elliot and Dowson History of India viii 396–402.

§ 558. Imām al-Dīn Ḥusainī C̲h̲is̲h̲tī went in 1211/1796–7 to Lahore, where S̲h̲āh-Zamān then was, accompanied the king’s army to Peshawar and there devoted himself to composing a history of S̲h̲āh-Zamān and his family. Returning to Lucknow in 1212/1798 he received from his pīr, K̲h̲wājah Abū Muḥsin Ḥusain Ḥusainī C̲h̲is̲h̲tī Maudūdī Kumhārī, a rough draft of a history of Aḥmad S̲h̲āh and Tīmūr S̲h̲āh, which, after rewriting, he incorporated in his work.

Ḥusain-S̲h̲āhī, a detailed history of the Durrānīs Aḥmad S̲h̲āh (1160/1747–1187/1773), Tīmūr S̲h̲āh (d. 1207/1793) and S̲h̲āh-Zamān to 1212/1798, completed at Lucknow in 1213/1798 and named after K̲h̲wājah Ḥusain: Bānkīpūr vi 530 (autograph. ah 1213), Rieu iii 904a (ad 1826), 905b, Blochet i 514, Ethé 588, 589, Ivanow 104, r.a.s. P. 73 = Morley 61.

§ 559. At the request of Archibald Seton S. Maḥmūd al-Mūsawī wrote, apparently in 1223/1808–9,

An account of the four Afg̲h̲ān tribes (firqah), Abdālī or Durrānī, G̲h̲iljaʾī, Bardurānī or Rōhēlah and Sūr or Yūsufzaʾī, with their clans (qaum) and notices of their leading men from the rise of the Durrānīs to the reign of S̲h̲ujāʿ al-Mulk: Rieu iii 1032b (circ. ad 1850).

§ 560. At the desire of Mr. [Henry] Ellis, British Minister in Persia, S. Muḥammad al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī al-Iṣfahānī wrote in 1224/1809

Nasab-nāmah i Afāg̲h̲inah u kaifīyat i ḥukūmat i ānhā, an outline of Afg̲h̲ān history from their usurpation in Persia to the time of composition, concluding with a description of Harāt, Qandahār, Kābul, Peshawar etc. and an account of the Hazārahs, the Balōc̲h̲īs and other tribes: r.a.s. P. 74 (1) = Morley 62 (ah 1224/1809).

§ 561. For Mīr ʿAbd al-Karīm Buk̲h̲ārī’s Histoire de l’Asie centrale, which contains a history of Afg̲h̲ānistān under the Durrānī’s from 1160/1747 to 1233/1818, see p. 300 supra.

§ 562. S̲h̲ujāʿ al-Mulk, son of Tīmūr S̲h̲āh (reigned ah 1187/1773–1207/1793), grandson of Aḥmad S̲h̲āh Durrānī (reigned 1160/1747–1187/1773) and younger brother of Zamān S̲h̲āh (reigned ah 1207/1793–1215/1800), proclaimed himself king at Peshawar when his elder brother Maḥmūd dethroned Zamān S̲h̲āh. In 1218/1803 he took Kābul and imprisoned Maḥmūd, but in 1224/1809, having been defeated at Nīmlah, he fled to India and lived as a pensioner of the Indian Government at Lūdiyānah. In 1250/1834 he made an attempt to recover Qandahār, but was defeated by Dōst-Muḥammad, the Bārakzaʾī, who had driven Maḥmūd out of Kābul in 1235/1818. In 1255/1839 the Anglo-Indian Government declared war (the First Afg̲h̲ān War 1839–42) against Dōst-Muḥammad, who had received a Russian envoy, and replaced S̲h̲ujāʿ al-Mulk on the throne. In 1841 the British Indian army abandoned Kābul and were almost annihilated by M. Akbar K̲h̲ān, Dōst-Muḥammad’s son, at the K̲h̲wurd Kābul Pass. On 5 April 1842/1258 S̲h̲ujāʿ al-Mulk was murdered. A collection of his poems C̲h̲amanistān i S̲h̲āh was published at Delhi in 1308/1890°. For a manuscript of his dīwān see Rieu Suppt. 361.

(Autobiography of S̲h̲ujāʿ al-Mulk) from his accession at the age of seventeen ah 1216 [sic]/1801 to the “current year” ah 1241/1825–6: Rieu iii 905b (defective at end, concluding with events of ah 1235–6/1819–21. 19th cent.), Aṣafīyah i p. 228 no. 428 (apparently. “Tārīk̲h̲ i Kābul zamānah i M. S̲h̲ujāʿ al-Mulk S̲h̲āh” composed in 1241).

Imperfect English translation: Biographical sketch of Shah Soojah, ex-King of Cabul, written by himself, at Loodianah, in 1826–7. Translated byLieutenant Bennet (The Calcutta Monthly Journal, 1839, Jan.–Apr., Original communications, pp. 1–30. Calcutta 1839°*; reprinted in the Asiatic Journal, vol. 30, n.s., pt. 2, pp. 6–15. London 1839°*).

Quotations: J.W. Kaye History of the War in Afghanistan i 27–115.

[Buckland Dictionary of Indian biography 385; Ency. Isl. under Afg̲h̲ānistān.]

§ 563. History of S̲h̲āh S̲h̲ujāʿ from the time of his escape from Lahore [in 1816] “to ah 1261”/1845 [!!], unfinished: Rieu iii 1038b (extracts only. Circ. ad 1850).

§ 564. ʿIṣmat Allāh b. M. Aslam [?] b. Mīr M. wrote

K̲h̲ulāṣāt al-ak̲h̲bār, a concise biography of Dōst-Muḥammad K̲h̲ān (d. 1280/1863) to ah 1254/1838: Ivanow 106 (19th cent.), 107 (defective. 19th cent.).

§ 565. ah 1257/1841 is mentioned as the current year at the beginning of an anonymous

(Tārīk̲h̲ i Afg̲h̲ānistān), a history of Afg̲h̲ānistān mainly in the 18th and 19th centuries to ah 1251/1835: Ivanow 105 (defective at both ends and much damaged).

§ 566. Maulawī Ḥamīd Allāh “Ḥamīd” Kas̲h̲mīrī composed in 1260/1844 his Akbar-nāmah, a mat̲h̲nawī on the exploits of Prince Akbar K̲h̲ān, the son of Dōst-Muḥammad: Ivanow 889 (late 13th cent. ah), Āṣafīyah iii p. 92 no. 1101, Bombay Univ. p. 190 no. 110 (defective at beginning).

§ 567. Qāsim ʿAlī K̲h̲ān “Qāsim” Akbarābādī8 was a resident of Āgrah.

Muḥārabah i Kābul (so the title-page of the 1272 edition), or Ẓafar-nāmah i Kābul (so Rieu and the Āṣafīyah catalogue), or Ẓafar-nāmah i Akbarī (so Sprenger), or Akbar-nāmah (so the Peshawar catalogue), a poem on the First Afg̲h̲ān War completed in 1260/1844: Sprenger 448, Āṣafīyah i p. 248 no. 203 (Ẓafar-nāmah i Kābul by K̲h̲wājah Qāsim Dihlawī. ah 1264/1848), Peshawar 1456, Rieu iii 1038b (extracts only. Circ. ad 1850).

Edition: Muḥārabah i Kābul, Āgrah 1272/1855–6*.

[Beale Oriental biographical dictionary; Niẓāmī Badāyūnī Qāmūs al-mas̲h̲āhīr (in Urdu).]

§ 568. An anonymous eye-witness,9 evidently attached to the court of S̲h̲ujāʿ al-Mulk, wrote “for the benefit of the English and his absent friends”

(K̲h̲ulāṣah az ḥāl i jang i Kābul) (beg. Bar ḍamāʾir i arbāb i naẓāʾir), a short (27 foll.) account of the Afg̲h̲ān rising against S̲h̲ujāʿ al-Mulk, the massacre of the British force and the subsequent events of the First Afg̲h̲ān War in 1841 and 1842: Rieu i 214a (19th cent.), Blochet i 516.

§ 570. Muns̲h̲ī M. ʿAbd al-Karīm ʿAlawī wrote not only the Muḥārabah i Kābul u Qandahār and the Tārīk̲h̲ i Aḥmad mentioned below but also a history of the Panjāb, Tārīk̲h̲ i Panjāb tuḥfatan li-l-aḥbāb, which was published at [Lucknow ?] in 1265/1849.* He is spoken of as still alive in the prefaces contributed by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān K̲h̲ān b. M. Raus̲h̲an K̲h̲ān10 (the brother of the printer M. Muṣṭafā K̲h̲ān) to the editions of the Muḥārabah i Kābul u Qandahār and the Tārīk̲h̲ i Aḥmad printed by M. Muṣṭafā K̲h̲ān at the Muṣṭafāʾī Press, Cawnpore, in 1267/1851 and by Ilāhī Bak̲h̲s̲h̲ at the Sulṭān al-maṭābiʿ [Lucknow] in 1266/1850. In the preface to the Wāqiʿāt i Durrānī published in 1292/1875 he is spoken of as dead. In the preface to the Muḥārabah i Kābul u Qandahār he says that in his retirement he had translated into Persian several Arabic works, including al-Suyūṭī’s History of the Caliphs, a history of Egypt, an abridgment of Ibn K̲h̲allikān and the Arabian Nights, as well as English works on astronomy, geography and other subjects.

(1)
Muḥārabah i Kābul u Qandahār, an account of the British invasion of Afg̲h̲ānistān in support of S̲h̲ujāʿ al-Mulk (1838–42)11 based on oral information corrected in the light of Muns̲h̲ī Qāsim Jān’s Akbar-nāmah,12 a poem recounting the exploits of M. Akbar K̲h̲ān, Dōst-Muḥammad’s son, which came to ʿAbd al-Karīm’s notice in 1263/1847: Ivanow Curzon 22 (ah 1288/1871).

Editions: [Lucknow? 1848°], Cawnpore 1267/1851°*.

(2)
Tārīk̲h̲ i Aḥmad (S̲h̲āh Durrānī),13 a history of the reigns of Aḥmad S̲h̲ah, Tīmūr S̲h̲āh and Zamān S̲h̲āh to ah 1212/1797, abridged from the Ḥusain-S̲h̲āhī (see p. 314) with a brief sketch of subsequent history to the beginning of the First Afg̲h̲ān War: Browne Suppt. 228 (ah 1281/1864–5. Corpus 180), Rieu iii 1054a (foll. 51, 52. Extracts only), Bombay Univ. p. 269.

Edition: Sulṭān al-maṭābiʿ [Lucknow] 1266/1850°*.

Urdu translation: Wāqiʿāt i Durrānī, tr. by Mīr Wārit̲h̲ ʿAlī Saifī by desire of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān K̲h̲ān b. M. Raus̲h̲an K̲h̲ān. Edition: Cawnpore 1292/1875*.

This Urdu translation was retranslated into Persian (with considerable expansion of the history after ah 1212 and a continuation to the death of S̲h̲āh S̲h̲ujāʿ, ah 125714/1842) by Saiyid Ḥusain S̲h̲īrāzī Karbalāʾī, Urdu translator of the Dār al-tarjamah at Ṭihrān: Rieu Suppt. 74 (ah 1305/1888), Majlis 221 (ah 1305/1888).

French translation of the final section dealing with Turkistan (Narbūtah K̲h̲ān etc.): Histoire de l’Asie centralepar Mir Abdoul Kerim Boukhary publiée, traduite et annotée par C. Schefer. Traduction francaise, Paris 1876°*, pp. 280–8.

[Beale Oriental biographical dictionary; Niẓāmī Badāyūnī Qāmūs al-mas̲h̲āhīr (in Urdu) under ʿAbd al-Karīm Muns̲h̲ī; Ency. Isl. under Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Karīm (Berthels).]

§ 571. Tārīk̲h̲ i Afg̲h̲ān dar d̲h̲ikr i salṭanat i Aḥmad S̲h̲āh u Tīmūr S̲h̲āh u S̲h̲āh-Zamān u S̲h̲āh Maḥmūd wa-g̲h̲airah: Majlis 622 (1).

§ 572. ʿAlī-Qulī Mīrzā b. ʿAbbās Mīrzā b. Fatḥ-ʿAlī S̲h̲āh, entitled Iʿtiḍād al-Salṭanah, died in 1298/1881 (see § 316, p. 185 supra).

Tārīk̲h̲ i waqāʾiʿ u sawāniḥ i Afg̲h̲ānīstān, a history of Afg̲h̲ānistān from the accession of Aḥmad S̲h̲āh (1160/1747) to 1273/1857, the date of composition and of the “conquest” of Afg̲h̲ānistān by Nāṣir al-Dīn S̲h̲āh.

Edition: [Ṭihrān ?] 1273/1857°*.

[E.G. Browne The press and poetry of modern Persia, Cambridge 1914, pp. 10 n. 1, 14, 50, 95, 164, 166.]

§ 573. Sulṭān-Muḥammad K̲h̲ān “K̲h̲āliṣ” b. Mūsā K̲h̲ān Bārak-zaʾī.

Tārīk̲h̲ i Sulṭānī, begun in Ramaḍān 1281/1865, a history of Afg̲h̲anistān to 1279/1862–3: i.o. 3989 (incomplete = pp. 1–209 of the Bombay edition). Edition: Bombay 1298/1881*.

Translated extracts: The last years of Shah Shujaʿa, with an appendix on the affairs of Hirat. Translated from the Târîkh Sulṭânîby E. Rehatsek (in Indian antiquary, vol. xv (Bombay 1886*), pp. 162–70, 261–7, 289–99).

§ 574. Mīrzā S̲h̲ēr Aḥmad Jalālābādī wrote the

Fatḥ-nāmah i Kāfiristān, a poem on the conquest of Kāfiristān by the Afg̲h̲āns in 1896.

Edition: Lahore [1896°*], 1331/1913* (published here as an appendix to “Maḥfil’s” Jang-nāmah i ḥaḍrat i Imām M. Ḥanīfah).

§ 575. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān K̲h̲ān, the son of Afḍal K̲h̲ān, Dōst-Muḥammad’s eldest surviving son after Akbar K̲h̲ān’s death in 1266/1849–50, was born circ. 1844 and spent his earliest years in Kābul. At the age of nine he joined his father, who had become Governor of Balk̲h̲, and lived the next ten years in Afg̲h̲ān Turkistān, taking part, towards the end of them, in the fighting “which extended Dost Muḥammed’s power through Katag̲h̲ān, Badak̲h̲s̲h̲ān and Derwāz and all the territory south of the Oxus up to the Pamīr”. When S̲h̲ēr ʿAlī succeeded Dōst-Muḥammad in 1863, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān supported the rebellion of his father, Afḍal, and his uncle, Aʿẓam. Eventually he defeated S̲h̲ēr ʿAlī and took G̲h̲aznī, with the consequence that for a short time Afḍal ruled as Amīr at Kābul, striking coins dated 1283/1866–7. In October 1867 Afḍal died and Aʿẓam succeeded, but by the end of 1868 S̲h̲ēr ʿAlī had re-established his rule over the whole of Afg̲h̲ānistān and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān for a time led a wandering life of much hardship. Eventually he reached Samarqand and there he lived for eleven years on an allowance granted by the Russians. S̲h̲ēr ʿAlī died in 1879 and his son Yaʿqūb K̲h̲ān was deposed in 1880. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān was then recognized as Amīr. In September 1881 he finally defeated Aiyūb K̲h̲ān, the second surviving son of S̲h̲ēr ʿAlī. In 1886 he quelled the rebellion of the G̲h̲alzaʾīs, in 1888 that of Isḥāq, son of Aʿẓam K̲h̲ān, and in 1891–2 that of the Hazārahs. In 1896 he conquered Kāfiristān. Frontier questions were settled with the Russians in 1885 (Panjdēh dispute) and 1895 and with the British in 1893 (Durand Treaty). He greatly strengthened the military organisation of his country, but he consistently adhered to his policy of remaining on good terms with Russia and Great Britain. He died on 1 October 1901.

Autobiography: ms. at one time in the possession of Sulṭān-M. K̲h̲ān, present whereabouts unknown.15

English translation: The life of Abdur Rahman, Amir of Afghanistan … [Translated and] edited by Mir Munshi Sultan Mahomed Khan.16 2 vols. London 1900°*.

Retranslation into Persian from the English by G̲h̲ulām Murtaḍā K̲h̲ān, of the British Consulate General at Mas̲h̲had, and Ḥusain ʿAlī S̲h̲īrāzī: Ḥālāt i wālā ḥaḍrat i Amīr ʿAbd al-Raḥmān.17

Edition: Lahore printed (but published at Mas̲h̲had) 1319/1901–2 (see Mas̲h̲had iii p. 120, where the place of printing is given as Mas̲h̲had, Semenov Ukazatel’ p. 10, and Panjab Quarterly catalogue of books for 1st quarter of 1904).

Urdu translation: Tuzuk i ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. Edition: Āgrah 1902* (vol. ii only in i.o.).

[S. Wheeler The Amir Abdur Rahman, London 1895; Buckland Dictionary of Indian biography p. 5; Ency. Isl. under ʿAbd al-Raḥmān K̲h̲ān, where further authorities are mentioned.]

§ 576. Faiḍ-Muḥammad Kātib b. Saʿīd Muḥammad Mug̲h̲ūl wrote

Sirāj al-tawārīk̲h̲, a history of Afg̲h̲ānistān to the accession of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān K̲h̲ān.

Edition: Kābul 1331/1913 (see Semenov Ukazatel’ p. 19 and a review and resumé of the work by the same writer in Izv. T. Otd. R. Geogr. Obshchestva xvii (Tashkent 1924), pp. 197–207).

§ 577. Miscellaneous works on the Afg̲h̲ans:—

(1)
Account of the descendants of Abdāl son of Tarīn without preface or author’s name (recording at some length their dealings with the Bēglarbēgīs who governed Qandahār for the Ṣafawids: Rieu iii 904a (18th cent.).
(2)
As̲h̲raf al-ʿunwān fī maʿrifat i nasab i Afg̲h̲ān, by “Mujhar Ben Ăysa Dáwud Am known by the name of Hamand Am”: Rehatsek p. 68 no. 2 (ah 1152/1740).
(3)
Genealogical tables of the Afg̲h̲āns (1) Sarbānīs, (2) Batanīs, (3) G̲h̲urg̲h̲us̲h̲tīs, compiled not earlier than 1263/1847: Blochet i 515.
(4)
History of the family of Sadū Mīr Afg̲h̲ān: i.o. 3742.
(5)
History of Afg̲h̲ānistān by Nūr Muḥammad “Naurī” Qandahārī: i.o. mss. Per. B. 36.
(6)
History of Qandahār under the Durrānīs: i.o. 3769.
(7)
Mirʾāt al-wajh (Tārīk̲h̲ i M. al-w.), by M. Zabardast surnamed Qurbān i Nabī, an account of the descendants of ʿAbd al-Ras̲h̲īd called Pathans or Afghans: Rehatsek p. 81 no. 20.
(8)
Miscellaneous papers relating to Afg̲h̲ānistān (W. Anderson mss.): i.o. 3766–7, 3770.
(9)
Nasab-nāmah i k̲h̲awānīn i Durrānī: i.o. 3765.
(10)
Risālah dar bayān i nasab i Afg̲h̲ānān: i.o. 3775.
(11)
Risālah dar nasab i Afg̲h̲ānān: Ivanow 103 (defective at end. 18th cent.).
(12)
Tārīk̲h̲ i nisbat i Afg̲h̲ānī, by Imām al-Dīn S̲h̲. Kabīr, surnamed Bālā Pīr: i.o. 3743.
(13)
Tawārīk̲h̲ i k̲h̲wurs̲h̲īd i jahān, a genealogical history of the Afg̲h̲āns (320 pp.), by S̲h̲īr Muḥammad K̲h̲ān. Edition: Lahore 1894°.
(14)
Treatise on the alleged Jewish origin of the Afg̲h̲āns, by Saʿādat-Yār K̲h̲ān, grandson of Ḥāfiẓ Raḥmat K̲h̲ān: Browne Suppt. 1462 (Trinity).
(15)
Two short tracts on the origin of the Afg̲h̲āns, both anonymous, the second being an extract from the Tārīk̲h̲ i Afg̲h̲ānī of ʿAbbās Sarwānī: Ethé 580 (defective at end).

next chapter: 7 History of Asia Minor and Turkey

Notes

^ Back to text1. For the differences between these two recensions see Elliot and Dowson History of India v 67–70. The Tārīk̲h̲, apart from the memoir of K̲h̲ān-Jahān Lōdī and the history of Jahāngīr, “may be considered as only a revised version of the Makhzan. It is fuller than the latter in some parts, especially in the lives of the saints, but still the notes in the following Extracts will show that, although it is generally better, it is occasionally inferior to the Makhzan.”

^ Back to text2. This is the manuscript from which Dorn made his translation.

^ Back to text3. The reign of Buhlūl was translated by “Ensign” C.F. Mackenzie, the rest by H.M. Elliot.

^ Back to text4. The Pashtu work ascribed here to K̲h̲wājū seems to be identical with that mentioned in § 550 and there ascribed to Mīr Dād.

^ Back to text5. As a mutaṣaddī according to James Browne.

^ Back to text6. This statement of date does not occur in Browne’s translation.

^ Back to text7. Resident at Delhi 1782–5 and author of India Tracts (see Buckland’s Indian Biographical Dictionary).

^ Back to text8. This poet, who uses the tak̲h̲alluṣ “Qāsim”, is called Qāsim ʿAlī K̲h̲ān (without a nisbah) on the title-page of the Āgrah edition.

^ Back to text9. Not improbably “Muns̲h̲ī Niẓām al-Dīn, a special friend and companion of Shāh Shujāʿ”, who wrote the “chronicle of the events of the British invasion of Afghanistan”, on which Karīm al-Dīn or Karīm-Bak̲h̲s̲h̲ based his Urdu poem Jang i K̲h̲urāsān (see Blumhardt Catalogue of the Hindustani manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, no. 40).

^ Back to text10. For works by him see Edwards and Ellis.

^ Back to text11. According to Ivanow ʿAbd al-Karīm originally wrote the work in Urdu.

^ Back to text12. Possibly the poem of Qāsim ʿAlī K̲h̲ān mentioned p. 316 supra.

^ Back to text13. The author says in his preface that he wrote this work after completing his work on S̲h̲āh S̲h̲ujāʿ (i.e. the Muḥārabah i Kābul u Qandahār).

^ Back to text14. The correct date appears to be 5 April 1842/1258.

^ Back to text15. In the preface to his translation Sulṭān-M. K̲h̲ān expressed his intention of depositing the Persian original in the British Museum, but this intention was never carried out.

^ Back to text16. In the preface to his translation Sulṭān-M. K̲h̲ān expressed his intention of depositing the Persian original in the British Museum, but this intention was never carried out.

^ Back to text17. This is the title given in the Panjab Quarterly catalogue. The Mas̲h̲had catalogue calls it Tārīk̲h̲ i Afg̲h̲ānistān, while Semenov gives the title in the form Tāj al-tawārīk̲h̲ yaʿnī sawāniḥ i ʿumrī i aʿlā ḥaḍrat i Amīr ʿAbd al-Raḥmān wālī i mamlakat i k̲h̲udādād i Afg̲h̲ānistān.

Cite this page
“6 History of Afg̲h̲ānistān”, in: Storey Online, Charles Ambrose Storey. Consulted online on 25 March 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2772-7696_SPLO_COM_10206000>
First published online: 2021



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