Sources of Medieval Indian History

Sources of Medieval Indian History

Tajur Masir - Hassan Nizami : This is the first historical narrative of which deals with the beginning of the Muslim rule in India. The author gives in detail the military exploits of Qutobuddin Aibek from 1192 to 1206. The author does not mention Aram Shah but describes the events of Iltutmish's regin up to 1217.

Tabquat i Narisi - Minhajus Siraj : Siraj produced an elaborate history of the Islamic world in twenty-three compact volumes or books. He starts with the account of the earlier prophets and aneestors of Mohammad.

Each of his subsequent books is devoted to the history of the caliphs and Muslim rulers of various countries and periods.

Works of Amir Kusrau : Amir Khusrau was the first and by far the most prominent representive of Indo-Muslim culture of early medieval India. His major works include Qiran us Sa'adain, Miftahed Futuh, Khazainul Futuh, Dewal Rani, Khisly Khani, Nuh Sipir and Tughluq Nama. Quiran us Sa'adain gives an eye-witness account of the meeting that took place in Oudh between Sultan Kaigubad and his father Bughra Kha, the governor of Bengal.

Dewal Rani Khizr Khani entitled Ashiqa, narrates the romantic story of Khizr Khan, son of Alauddin Khilzi and Dewal Rani, the daughter of Rana Karan of Gujarat. Nuh Sipir is the poetic composition which deals with the region of Mubarak Shah Khilji, the successor of Alauddin Khilhji.

Tughluq Nama was composed by Amir Khusrau to commemorate the victory of Ghisuddin Tughluq over Khurram Khan (1320 AD), leading to the establishment of a new ruling dynasty.

Tarikh i Firoze Shahi - Ziauddin barani : This work preserves the history of the Delhi Sultanat for the period 1259 to 1352; it gives the histoy of nine rulers from Balban to Firoze Shah Tughluq. Barani's write up including the narrative of Firoze Tughluq, constitutes a standard a standard work of history, which establishes his reputation as premier historain of his age.

Fatawa I Jahandari-Barani: It is a complementary volume to the Tarikh i Firoze Shahi. In this book, the author recapitulates and futher elaborates the political philosophy of the sultnate on the basis of his earlier narrative.

Firoze Tughluq's Authobiography : Sultan Firoze Shan Tughluq has left a brochure of thirty two pages in autobiographical writing, called Futuhat i Firoze Shahi: it give a brief summary of his military compaigns, some of which failed to produce the desired results.

Tarikh i Forize Shahi - Shams i Siraj Afif: The book is devoted exclusively to the reign of Firoze Tughluq and constitutes the most accurate and authentic contemporary account of his times. The book is unique in sense that it also describes the life and conditions of the people at large.

Tuzuk i Mubarak Shahi - Yahaya bin Ahmed Sirhindi This is the only contemporary source discovered so far on the history of the Sayyad dynasty(1414-51). The book begins with the rise of the Ghori dynasty and the conquest of the northern India by the turns.

Futuhus Salatin - Khwaja Abdullah Malik Isami This work was written in 1349-50, on the Turkish rule in India from the Ghaznavids to Muhmmad bin Tughluq.

Kitab ur Rehla -Ibn batuttaIbn batutta was an Arab traveler and adventure frm Morocoo. His book is a primary source of history of the region of Muhmmad bin Tughluq it throws ligh on the socio-political condition of his times.

Father Hameleden was the first to master Sanskrit language and compile a grammer book.

Father Coeurdoux recognised the kinship of Sanskrit and languages of Europe in 1767.

Alexander Hamilton (1762-1824), a French, was the first person to teach Sanskrit in Europe.

Freidrich Schlegel was the first German Sanskritist.

Franz Bopp (1791-1867) succeded in reconstructing the common ancestor of classical languages of Europe and Sanskrit in 1816.

Friedrich Max Muller (1823-1900) edited the translation of Rig Veda

Otto Bohtlingk and Rudolf Roth produced the Sanskrit-German dictionary known as the St-Petersburg Lexicon

James Prinsep successfully interpreted for the first time the earliest Brahmi script in 1837. He was able to read the edicts of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka.

William Jones translated in 1789 Kalidasa's masterpiece Abhijnana-Shakuntalam into English.

Wilkins translated the Bhagwat Gita into English in 1785.