PREFACE. 



The Tatikh-i-Nusratjangi was written by Nawab Nusrat Jang of Dacca, who died 

 in 1822. It is difficult to ascertain the exact year in which the book was composed, 

 but it is certain that the work was finished before 1817, for the MS. of it, which was 

 presented to the Horary of the Asiatic Society, Bengal, by Mr. Swinton in 1820, bears 

 on its last page the following words : — 



" Account of Dacca by the Nawab Nusrat Jung, the present Nawab of that city, 

 1817." 



The book was undertaken, as the author states in his preface, at the request of 

 some of his English fiiends. After Nawab Nusrat Jang's death, it was continued by 

 his arzbegi's son Sayyid 'Abdul Ghani alias Hamid Mir, who brought it down to the 

 year 1843 when the line of JasaratKhan became extinct with the death of Ghaziuddin 

 Muhammad. 



In editing the Tarikh-i-Nusratjangi I have made use of the following MSS. : — 



(1) A very good MS. in nastaliq in the possession of Maulavi Abu Musa Ahmad- 



ul-Haq, Assistant-master, Collegiate School, Dacca. This MS. was 

 copied from an original, now lost, and is the only MS. which gives the 

 continuation of Nawab Nusrat Jang's work by Sayyid 'Abdul Ghani. 



(2) A manuscript in shikasta, belonging to my pupil Maulavi 'Abdul Mu'id 



Khan of Noakhali. It does not contain the portion written by Sayyid 

 'Abdul Ghani. 



(3) The MS. (Persian Catalogue D 170) in the possession of the Asiatic 



Society of Bengal. It is written in shikasta and comes down as far as 



Nusrat Jang's own time. It bears the well-known autograph note of 



the late H. Blochmann,the correctness of which is more than doubtful : — 



' ' This book is good-for-nothing. The history of Dacca is written in the 



last two leaves. The other leaves contain the history of Bengal, but 



most facts are wrong and nothing is new." 



I have not noted the varietates lectionis as the subject-matter of the work is 



much more important than its artificial Hindustani-Persian diction. 



I avail myself of this opportunity to express my gratitude to Mr. J. T. Rankin, 

 I.C.S., Secretary to the Board of Revenue, Eastern Bengal and Assam, without whose 

 generous encouragement I should never have found myself in a position to edit this 

 booklet. Had it been customary for the editor of a Memoir submitted to the Asiatic 

 Society of Bengal, to prefix a formal dedication to his work, these pages would have 

 most certainly been dedicated to Mr. Rankin, whose knowledge of the history of Dacca 

 is, if not unrivalled, at least unsurpassed. 



A translation of this book, with historical notes, will follow in due course. 



Harinath De. 



Imperial Library, 

 Calcutta : 



18-3-1907. 



