1853.] Early Hindustani/ Poetry. 443 



The terms Hinduy and Hindy in these two passages mean the 

 language in use among the Musalmans of India. I need hardly 

 say that the terms Zubane Urdu, court language and Shi're Rekh- 

 tah are very modern. The former of these terms is but very rarely 

 used by natives of India and the latter is already obsolete, the 

 usual term even now applied to the language and poetry which we 

 call Hindustany is Hindy, and always has been " Hindy." The very 

 name of " Dywan" which is given to Mas'ud's collection of Hin- 

 dustany poetry is a guarantee, that it did not consist of Slokas, 

 Kabits, and Dohras, but of Mathnawies, Qacydahs and Ghazals writ- 

 ten in the Persian character. 



As to Mas'ud himself. His name is Abii-lfakhr Mas'ud, a son of 

 Sa'd and a grandson of Salman and his titles were Sa'd aldawlah 

 and 'amyde ajall. By the latter of these titles, he is named in a 

 poem which Sanay has written in his praise : 



The statement of MoAammad 'awfy that Mas'ud was born in 

 Hamadan is supported by the author of the Haft Iqlym, and he says 

 himself that his origin <-M was of Hamadan. But it seems that he 

 means merely that his family was of Hamadan, and that the above 

 two authors have been misled by this statement. Dawlat-shah be- 

 lieves that he was of Jorjan, but Taqyy Kashy shows that he was 

 born at Ghaznah and, surrounded by Hindu slave women as the 

 MoAammadan nobles of Indian courts always were, it is not unlikely 

 that the language of India was his mother-tongue. 



His father Khwajah Sa'd was a noble at the court of Qabus of 

 Dylam, the son of "Washamgyr. He left Jorjan and went to Ghaznah 

 for reasons which are not recorded. Mas'ud was born towards the 

 end of the reign of the successor of Ma^mud and grew up at 

 the court of the Ghaznawides, and being a great financier he attain- 

 ed to the highest distinctions and was made Mostawfy and Mun- 

 shiy of the kingdom. But he had his downfall, and he had 

 the misfortune to be imprisoned in the fortress of Nay ^ for 

 twenty-two years. The cause of his imprisonment is variously 

 stated. Some say that he was arrested by order of an Amyr (mili- 

 tary leader) of the name of Qomaj, when on a deputation to Systan 

 and Zabulistan, because the mind of the King was poisoned against 



