AND ITS FOUNDER. 365 



exclusively confined. Da'yezid, at first, appears to Have advanced no 

 pretensions but eloquence, to persuade men to follow his doctrines ; but 

 he no- sooner found himself at the liead of a formidable party, than he 

 asserted his' right to conquer, by the sword, those who were deaf to the 

 persuasions of his eloquence,. Established by the ability of its founder, 

 and supported by the united influence of tv^o powerful principles, a sec- 

 tarian, and a national spirit,, the Rosheniahistct maintained its ground, for 

 the greater part of a century, during the most prosperous period of the 

 iVfo^Aw/ government; and flourished, in spite of the most vigorous exer- 

 tions to suppress it, from the beginning of the reign of AKBAR,.to that of 

 Shah-JehaV. 



The two principal authorities, which I have followed in the account of 

 Ba'yezid A^ns^a 'ri, are of the most opposite description ; and have very lit- 

 tle in common, either in manner or matter. Mohsani Fa'ni, the author 

 of the D'ahistdn-i-Ma^dhib, appears to be almost as favourably inclined 

 towards Ba'yezid, as Akhu'n Derwe'zeh,* the author of the Makhzafi 

 Afghani, is rancorous and hostile. The chara6ler of Mohsani Fa'ni is al- 

 ready known to orientalists, by the eulogy of the illustrious founder of the 

 Asiatic Society ; and his account of the Roshemah se6t and its fomider, 

 which is concise, distindl, and luminous, I have closely translated.. Akhun"- 



• Derwe'zeh, the author of the Makhzan AJghdni, is less known to JEm-- 

 ropeans, than Mohsani Fa'ni, though a much more celebrated charadier 

 in Afghanistan. He is however chiefly famous for his s an dlity ; for of 



- his history, httle more is known than what he himself has recorded. He 

 was of Tajik origin, and resided chiefly at Banher, m the country of the 



* Akhu N a religious instructor, a doctor in theology, is usedin Afghanistan as syno- 

 nimoiis witli the term Mu lla, a judge, a doctor iu laws, and both terms are applied 

 indiscriminately to a man of learning. 



U 4 



