1864.] 



Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 



467 



" What is related, however, is doubtless taken from the authorities 

 considered most trustworthy at that early period — authorities some of 

 which are no longer extant ; and it will be interesting and satisfactory 

 to this Society to hear that the author supports their opinion of Bai- 

 haki as a historian, for he opens his account of this period in the 

 following words : c The Imam Abu 1-Pazl Baihaki relates as follows ;' 

 and quotes Baihaki often, in preference to Mohammad Ali Abu 1-Kasim 

 Imadi, the compiler of the court chronicle and historian of the time, 

 thus establishing, that he had in his possession the last portion of this 

 valuable historj^, and leaving fair grounds for us to conclude that he 

 consulted it, as the best authority then extant, for the history of the 

 early portion of this period. 



" As it was a matter of serious doubt whether we could obtain full 

 materials for illustrating satisfactorily, the history of this period ; and 

 as under any circumstances, Minhaj ol-dm's brief sketch appeared 

 valuable as a correct index of the truth of other works, our edition of 

 the Tabaqat i-Kasir ol-din commences from the rise of the Grhaznavide 

 dynasty. 



" This work we have now completed, and it forms the third volume 

 of those very valuable histories we have published within the last few 

 years. 



" III. The third period of the history of the Mohammadan Kings 

 of India, may be said to commence with the reign of Akbar, for though 

 Babar and Humayoon are numbered amongst the kings of Hindustan 

 by most Mohammadan and all European Historians, it cannot be said 

 that either succeeded in founding a dynasty or in consolidating an 

 Empire. 



" In fulfilment of our object in regard to this period, we are now 

 about to publish the Muntakhab al-Tawarikh or the Tarikh i Badaoni 

 and it is already in the Press. We have three MSS. and copies of 

 the Tarikh i Nizami and the Tabaqat i Akbari, from which the author 

 abridged a large portion of his work. This work is divided into three 

 parts: (1.) The lives and times of the Kings prior to the reign of 

 Akbar; (2) the life and time of Akbar himself; (3) Biographies of the 

 learned and pious men who were contemporary with Akbar ; and as 

 giving us the character of the great king, from a different point of 

 view to that of all other historians of the day, this history has a special 

 value for that period. 



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