Bibliography of Indo-Moslem History Excluding Provincial Monarchies (An Old and Rare Book)

The idea of drawing up an index to the original works on Indo-Moslem History was first conceived by the Government of the United Provinces as far back as the forties of the last century. At that time a scheme was drawn up by Sir Henry Elliot for publishing these works in lithograph, but this scheme proved too costly and, as an alternative, it was suggested that an index of them might be prepared with a view to gradually collecting such as might be accessible in one or other of the College libraries and eventually printing them as circumstances might permit. The task of drawing up this index was entrusted to Sir Henry Elliot himself, who planned to issue it in four volumes, but only the first of these volumes had been printed, when his untimely death cut short the undertaking. Although the idea of a bibliographical index was dropped, the valuable materials collected by Sir Henry Elliot were turned to excellent account in the well-known " History of India as told by its own historians " which Prof. John Dowson subsequently edited.

The present Bibliographical List makes no pretence to be either as descriptive or as elaborate as the index contemplated by Sir Henry Elliot. It comprises only those works on the Muslim History of India which are known to exist, leaving out others which have been quoted by later historians but are not available. For the sake of brevity and convenience it has been drawn up in a tabular form and I hope that it will suffice to give students at least a summary idea of the works referred to. The first column shows the serial number of these works, the second and third columns contain their titles, the names of their authors, the dates of their composition, and brief remarks about their contents including the period which they embrace. The fourth column gives the name, of printing presses and places where they have been issued, and, in the case of manuscripts, the names of public libraries or private persons possessing them. For further convenience also, the works are divided into two groups-one of printed books and the other of manuscripts-and these two groups are subdivided into sections according as they relate to general history, or to successive dynasties and individual rulers, the titles being arranged alphabetically under each section.

A perusal of the list will show that for the period of Muslim rule in India prior to the advent of the Mughals there are very few contemporary works by native historians. No doubt time has robbed us of a number of productions of this period (this is evident from the notices in later writers of many works that have disappeared) ; but even so the output in those days must have been a singularly small one and proves how little developed was the current taste for history. Indeed the task of compiling historical records seems to have been confined to those who were directly connected with the Court and entrusted with that work by their royal masters.. Matters however improved under the Mughal Emperors, who had an inherent aptitude for history. Babur, the founder of that dynasty, was himself the author of his personal Memoirs, and Humayun, his son, had his Memoirs written by his attendant Jauhar.. Akbar, being illiterate, was unable to maintain the family tradition, but he made amends by introducing the system of court bulletins which supplied all the essential data for the history of his reign. Jahangir following the example of his forefathers drew up his own Memoirs, but this practice was again discontinued by his successors, who employed court historians to 'compose the annals of their reigns. The patronage extended by the Mughal Emperors to history and literature had the effect of creating a real literary spirit among their subjects, with the result that most of the chronicles mentioned in the List below were written by private persons including Hindus, who also made an appreciable contribution ' to the historical literature of the period despite the disadvantage of adopting the foreign Persian language.

The total number of works comprised in the list is 307, but of these only 53 have been printed and these include six published in European countries. Seeing that of the books printed in India 10 only have been published in the present century (including 5 reprints of the earlier editions) as against 40 in the last one it is evident that far more attention was devoted to the study of Indo-Moslem history and the preservation of its records during the early days of British rule in India than during the last generation, notwithstanding all our professed patriotism or genuine enthusiasm for the revival of ancient culture. Even the Asiatic Society of Bengal with all its literary traditions is not free from this reproach ; for is will be seen from the list that this Society has published only 4 historical works of the Muslim period in the last 30 years as compared with 14 published from 1862 to 1900.

The History of Muslim rule in India offers an immense volume of material which, if adequately published, would be invaluable to students engaged on historical researches. This treatment will also afford facility in reading the Persian texts, since the original manuscripts, being mostly written in the Shikasta script, require special practice and intimate knowledge of the Persian language for deciphering them. The spadework of searching for manuscripts, collecting them in public or private libraries and making their existence known to scholars has been to a large extent accomplished. Is it too much to expect that Government will now take up the task of having them edited and printed in a uniform edition ?

It now remains to add that the present Bibliographical List was prepared by me in the first instance for my personal use, when I was engaged in listing the ancient monuments at Delhi. It was Sir John Marshall who suggested that it should be amplified and published for the use of others engaged on historical research. Needless to say it lays no claim to finality, although every effort has been made to render it as complete as possible.

I take this opportunity of expressing my sincere thanks and gratitude to Sir John Marshall, who encouraged me to undertake this work, and whose aid. and guidance have throughout been of inestimable value to me.

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