1865.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 121 



quite at a loss to understand it. I venture to think, however, that he 

 would not have made these remarks, had he been aware, which it is 

 evident he was not, of the part taken by the author of the Iqbdl-ndmeh 

 in the preparation of the autobiography of the emperor, on which, in 

 his notice of that work he has lavished so much praise. What Mr. 

 Morley means by omissions in an original work I do not know. One 

 history may be fuller and enter into greater detail than another, but 

 though we may call the latter an abridged history, we cannot say that 

 it contains omissions ; and as to the errors of the Iqbdl-ndmeh, with no 

 other authority but the autobiography to compare it with, Mr. Morley 

 was not in a position to say that either work contained errors. On 

 the contrary did many of the statements to be found in the Iqbdl- 

 ndmeh differ from those made in the autobiography, it would have made 

 the work all the more valuable, but I do not find such to be the case. 

 As to the style of the work, again, I think it in no way detracts from 

 the merits of the book that the author has eschewed bombast, and 

 after the evidence I have produced under the emperor's own hand, it 

 will certainly be admitted, that Motamad Khan, was not only well 

 qualified to write a history of his life, but competent also to express 

 himself in good language. But passing from negative to positive 

 arguments, I would observe that all the respectable Muhammadan 

 historians of subsequent periods, who have alluded in their histories 

 to the events of the reign of Jahangir, quote the Iqbdl-ndmeh. 

 Amongst these I would mention the author of the Tdrikh-i-Saldtin-i- 

 Chaglitai, and 'Abd-al-Hamicl-i-Lahauri, the author of the Bddshdh- 

 ndmeh, which I hope soon to see published in our Series. I hold in 

 my hand, moreover, a biography of the Emperor Jahangir which Mr. 

 Morley had not the good fortune to be aware of. It is the Madsir-i- 

 Jalidngiri, written by Kamgar Hosaini, and written, as stated in the 

 preface, with the express approval and sanction of the emperor Shah- 

 jahan. Now, though, during his lifetime, Shahjahan did not show 

 any very remarkable amount of filial affection, he had some literary 

 attainments, and probably an average amount of family pride. It 

 is extremely unlikely then, that he would authorize an incompetent 

 author to write the life of his father ; and, to adopt an idea of Mr. 

 Morley's, more improbable still, that that author, three years after 

 Jahcingir's death, which is all that had passed when he wrote his 



