Lieut. -Colonel Briggs on the Life mid Writings ofFerishta. 351 



world, that he would be influenced by no consideration of partiality to lavish 

 unmerited encomium on the family of his prince. There may be some 

 persons so fastidious as to condemn him for exposing, in the manner he lias 

 done, the treachery displayed, on the occasion just mentioned, by his friend 

 and benefactor; but others will justify his conduct, by asserting that the 

 fidelity of the historian predominated over friendsliip for the individual ; 

 and that the love of truth supported him in braving the indignation of an 

 incensed master and an absolute despot. While we respect this admirable 

 trait of Ferishta's character, I would not for a moment imagine that he had 

 much cause for apprehension from the patron of literature, to whom we are 

 mainly indebted for the work now before us ; for I should be unwilling to 

 believe that Ibrahim Adil Shah II., though guilty of revenge, and even of 

 systematic deceit towards his greatest enemy, a traitor to his country, and 

 who sought to subvert his kingdom, and, perhaps, to deprive himself of life, 

 would be capable of so ignoble a deed as to punish the honest historian who 

 dared to relate the acts of his reign with truth and impartiality. 



Before I proceed to give an account of the history, it may be proper to 

 make some observations on Ferishta's qualifications as an liistorian. 



The circumstance of his being born on the shores of the Caspian bordering 

 on Persia and on Chorasmia, or Transoxania, rendered Iiim familiar in his 

 youth with the Toorky and Persian languages ; with the names of places, 

 and of tribes ; and with the peculiar habits of those northern races. His 

 travels tlu-ough Khorassan, Ghizni, and Peshawur into India, and his 

 journeys throughout Hindoostan, afforded him great advantages in point of 

 observation ; and witli a mind naturally delighting in historical narrative, it 

 is not surprising that he should have early formed the design of compiling 

 the work which he lived to complete. The scenes he describes in the north 

 were acted on a field ever present to his youthful mind ; and iiis lively 

 imagination followed with enthusiasm the glorious marches of Mahmud of 

 Ghizni ; or accompanied Baber in all his romantic exploits in Transoxania. 

 When we consider that Ferishta was at once a soldier, a statesman, and a 

 scholar, associating all his life witli princes and courtiers, that he had 

 travelled over the greater part of the country in which the extensive scope 

 of liis history lies, and that he was an eye-witness to many of the events he 

 describes, it must be acknowledged that he came to the task with advantages 

 which few historians have possessed before him. 



It is but riglit to observe, however, that the work has not always been 



2 Z 2 



