2 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. |January, 1913. 
According to this statement Mirza Rafi‘ was born in 947 
A.H. whereas Mirza Kamran, son of Emperor Babur, died 
$64 a.H., so that when Rafi‘ was about 17 years, Mirza 
Kamran died. 
So far as I can ascertain this pamphlet is not the work of 
the Prince Mirzé Kamran, because at the age of 17, Rafi‘ 
Shirazi could not have been such a scholar that Prince Kamran 
would write about him thus:— ly oS Gspelo wryip “He 
(the Mirza) must consider him the best of his contemporaries.’’ ! 
_ However there is no doubt about the pamphlet belonging 
to the eleventh century Hijra. 
e word Mirza is a short form of Amir Zadah. Mirza 
was used in ancient times for kings and princes only. The 
Timuride sovereigns from Tamerlane down to Babur are called 
Mirza, Babur is the first sovereign of the dynasty who gave up 
the title of Mirza, and used the title of Badshah. We find the 
following statement in the Ma’ asir-i-Rahimi® oypa> sVyt a5, wf 
wit lool eb (2d OSES is? Hee ty cgi pdaale “up to this time 
(913 a.H.) the descendants of Tamerlane were called M trea, but 
from 913 a.H. they were called Badshah.’’ In India this word 
began to be used for Muharrirs (clerks) from the time of Nadir 
Shah’s invasion. It is found in the Bahar-i-‘Ajam that, from 
the time Nadir Shah came and conquered India, people who 
the wise that (while travelling) through Hindustan, the abode 
of safety, in the year 14th, according to the dictates of fate, 
(He observed that), as accident would have it, a body of reck- 
1 This occurs in context, p. 5, 2 Vol. I, p. 495. 
peas J. esa eels 
