H. Blochmann — Koch Bihar and A'sdm. 
51 
1872.] 
the ’ Alamgirnamali, and the Fathiyah i ’ Ibriyah . The first four works are 
sufficiently known ; but the last mentioned work requires a few introductory 
remarks. 
The Fathiyah i ’Ibriyah is also called Tarikh Fath i A sham, or 
History of the Conquest of A'sam. It was written by Ibn Muhammad Wali, or 
Shihabuddin Talish, between the 4th Muharram and the 20th Shawwal, 1073, 
A. H., or between the 9th August, 1062, and 13th May, 1063, A. D. 
We know very little about the author. He was in the service of Mir Muham- 
mad Sa’id of Ardistan, better known to European historians under the name 
of Mir Jumlah, lvlnin Khanan and Governor of Bengal in the beginning of 
Aurangzib’s reign, and accompanied the general, apparently in the position 
of a clerk, on his expedition to A'sam in 1662, and returned with him to 
Bengal. His brother Muhammad Sa’id, too, held an inferior office during the 
expedition. In the preface the author states that the reports which the 
imperial Wdqi’ahnawises used to send to Court, were often in the opinion of 
Mir Jumlah defective and incorrect ; hence the object of the author is to 
give a detailed and faithful account of the whole expedition to As&m up to 
the death of Mir Jumlah, with which the book closes. The office of Waqi’ah- 
nawis, or writer of events, had been introduced by Akbar :* his duty was 
to report to Court whatever happened in the district to which he was ap- 
pointed. Before the time of the Mughuls also the office existed, though 
reports were not so systematically forwarded, as from the time of Akbar. In 
the TdriJch i Firuzshahi, for instance, we find the word bar id, an Arabic 
corruption of the Latin veredus, used instead of ‘ Waqi’ahnawis.’ Dr. 
Fryer, who was in India from 1672 to 1681, in his most interesting ‘ New 
Account of East India and Persia’ (London, 1698), calls these officers 
‘ Public Notaries,’ or ‘ Public Intelligencers,’ and has the following remark 
{loc. cit., p. 140). — “This cheat [he means the practice of false musters] 
is practised all over the Realm, notwithstanding here are Puhlick Notaries 
placed immediately by the Mogul, to give Notice of all Transactions ; which 
they are sure to represent in favour of the Governors where they reside, being 
Fee’d by them, as well as paid by the Emperor ; so that if a Defeat happen, 
it is extenuated ; if a Victory, it is magnified to the height : Those in this 
Office are called Focanoveces.” 
On comparing the account of Shihabuddin with the shorter account 
of Mir Jumlali’s expedition in the ’ A! lamgirnd rnah, which contains a his- 
tory of the first ten years of Aurangzib’s reign and was issued with the 
Emperor’s permission, we find a remarkable coincidence in language and 
phraseology. Whole sentences, in fact occur word for word in both books ; 
and we are led to conclude that the author of the ’Alamgirnamali either 
used Shihabuddin’s account, or both had access to the official reports which 
were sent to the Emperor. I shall notice this circumstance below. 
* Vide A'm translation, p. 258. 
