XVI INTRODUCTION 



Invocations. — When a Muslim buys a horse he should repeat 

 the following Arabic tasbl^, exhaling the breath over the horse's 

 forelock ; then the horse will never fail in faith to him as long as 

 he possesses it : " In the name of God the Compassionate, the 

 Merciful. Holy is God ; and Praise be to God ; and there is no 

 deity but God; and God is Great; and there is no strength nor 

 power except in God the High, the Mighty. What He wills 

 happens ; and what He does not will, does not happen." ^ 



If his horse is restive on mounting, let him repeat this charm in 

 each ear : " In the name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful. 

 In the name of God ; there is no strength nor power except in God, 

 who has guided us up to this ; for we could not have been guided 

 had not God guided us. Holy be God, who has subdued these 

 cattle for us ! else we could not have mastered them."^ Or else let 

 him repeat the following : " In the name of God the Compassionate, 

 the Merciful. Do they not see that We have created for them, 

 from amongst the creations of Our Hands, domestic animals of 

 which they are the masters, and that we have humiliated these for 

 them ; for some are for their riding and some for their eating ? '" 



LIFE OF THE AUTHOR 



Life of the Author. — Sa'adat Yar Khan, the author of this 

 Fars-Ndma, wrote under the taMiallus of " Rangin." His ancestors 

 are said to have come from Turkey. Rangin was the son of 

 Tahmas Beg, Khan Bahadur, I'tiqad Khan, and was born at Delhi. 

 His father fell on evil days, which resulted in his leaving Delhi for 

 Lahore and taking service as an officer of cavalry, first with Nawdb 

 Mu'tn^ 'l-Mulk Bahadur (better known as Mir Mannii) son of the 

 Wazlr'^ 'l-MamdliJc, rtimdd^ 'd-Dawlah, Shahld, and afterwards 

 with three other princes or nobles. " Rangin," his son, first 

 followed in his father's footsteps, serving in the cavalry; but 



stable should be so constructed that the horses stand there facing north. 

 Lights should be kept burning all night. Fowls, a goat, a cow with its 

 calf, and small monkeys should be kept in the stables ; but if bees build 

 in them the horses will die. 



1 Part of this is the tasbih usually repeated after the fixed prayers. 



3 Qur., xliii, 12. 



^ Qur., xxxvi, 71 and 72. 



