THIS work may be considered an abridgment of the Rauzatu-s Safá. It was written by Mírkhond's son, Khondamír, whose full name is Ghiyásu-d dín Muhammad bin Humámu-d dín.*

Khondamír was born at Hirát, about the year 880 H. (A.D. 1475), for he states in the Preface to the Habíbu-s Siyar, that when he commenced it in the year 927 H., he had advanced through seven or eight stages beyond the fortieth year of his life.

From his early youth he showed a predilection for history, and perused with indefatigable ardour books which treated of that science; and guided by the example and advice of his illustrious father, he prepared himself for the composition of some work by which he might attain equal celebrity. In this purpose he was assisted by the learned minister 'Alí Shír,* who, having collected a valuable library of the most esteemed works, placed our author in charge of it. According to Hájí Khalfa, it was about the year 900 H.,* that Khondamír completed the Khulásatu-l Akhbár, and at the close of it he gratefully acknow­ledges that, had it not been for 'Alí Shír's considerate kindness in placing him in charge of the library, he could not have com­pleted in six years a tenth part of what he had concluded in as many months, and to that excellent minister he gratefully dedicated his work.

Khondamír was occasionally employed in a public capacity. In the year 909 H., when Sultán Badí'u-z Zamán resolved on repelling the Uzbeks, who were preparing to make an attack upon Khurásán, under the command of Muhammad Shaibání Khán, he despatched an embassy to Khusrú Sháh, the chief of Kundúz, in order to invite him to join the common cause, and to second the preparations which were making for the destruction of this formidable enemy. Our author joined this embassy, and was deputed by the head of the mission to convey certain im­portant intelligence to the Sultán.

Under the reign of this Sultán, the last of the descendants of Tímúr who sat on the throne of Persia, we find Khondamír appointed to the office of sadr, or Judge of the Ecclesiastical Court, a post which had been held by his uncle Nizámu-d dín Sultán Ahmad; and shortly after he was commissioned by the Sultán to proceed to Kandahár, to induce its ruler to join the general league; but the death of one of the Sultán's daughters at that time put a stop to his journey. Khurásán was soon invaded by the Uzbeks, and in the year 913 (1507-8), the capital itself, not being able to make any effectual resistance, offered terms of submission. Khondamír drew up the conditions, and his nephew was commissioned to negociate the surrender.

Under the rule of the Uzbeks, our author had to submit to great indignities, and he was not sorry to see it overthrown by the victorious arms of Sháh Isma'íl in 916 H. (1510 A.D.). During the troubles of this period he went to reside at Basht, a village in Georgia, and there devoted his leisure to literary pur­suits. While in this retreat, he seems to have composed the Ma-ásiru-l Mulúk, the Akhbáru-l Akhyár, the Dastúru-l Wuzrá, the Makárimu-l Akhlák and the Muntakhab Táríkh-i Wassáf.* He is found again as a negociator in 922 (1516 A.D.).

After the death of this monarch, A.H. 932 (1525-6), Khonda-mír seems to have found little inducement to reside in Persia, for in the year 935 H. (1528-9 A.D.), he was introduced to the Emperor Babar at Ágra, and that monarch and our author concur in mentioning the very day of the interview. At the conclusion of the first volume of the Habíbu-s Siyar he tells us, “Under the unavoidable law of destiny, the writer was compelled in the middle of Shawwál, 933 H., to leave Hirát, his dear home (may it ever be protected from danger!), and bend his steps towards Kandahár. On the 10th of Jumáda-s sání, 934 H., he undertook a hazardous journey to Hindustán, which, in consequence of the great distance, the heat of the weather, the setting in of the rainy season, and the broad and rapid rivers which intervened, it took him seven months to complete. On Saturday the 4th of Muharram, 935 H., he reached the metropolis of Ágra, and on that day had the good fortune to strengthen his weak eyes with the antimonial dust of the high threshold of the Emperor, the mention of whose name in so humble a page as this would not be in conformity with the principles of respect. He was allowed, without delay, to kiss the celestial throne, which cir­cumstance exalted him so much, that it placed the very foot of his dignity over the heads of the Great and Little Bears in the Heavens.”

He accompanied the Emperor on his expedition to Bengal, and upon his death attached himself to Humáyún, in whose name he wrote the Kánún-i Humáyúní, which is quoted by Abú-l Fazl in the Akbar-náma. He accompanied that monarch to Guzerát, and died in his camp in the year 941 H. (1534-5), aged sixty-one or sixty-two years. At his own desire, his body was conveyed to Dehlí, and he was buried by the side of Nizámu-d dín Aulyá and Amír Khusrú.* For the saint and the poet he entertained a high veneration, and of both he speaks in most eulogistic terms in the Habíbu-s Siyar.

The Khulásatu-l Akhbár is a most able compendium of Asiatic history, brought down to A.H. 875 (A.D. 1471), but events are recorded in it as late as A.D. 1528. It is held in high repute both in Asia and Europe. A portion of the first book has been translated in the first volume of the Asiatic Miscellany, and the history of the Saljúkians has been given in original, with a French translation, by M. Dumoret, in Nouv. J. As. xiii. pp. 240-256. Major Price is largely indebted to it in his Retrospect of Mahommedan History and his History of Arabia, and D'Herbelot's* obligations to it are still greater.

M. Charmoy has published the text, with a translation, of Tímúr's expedition against Tuktamish Khán, of Kipchak, in the Mem. de l'Acad. Imp. de St. Pétersbourg, 6me série, tome iii.

The chapters relating to the Ghaznivides, the Ghorians, and the kings of Dehlí, are contained in the eighth Book, and the Indian occurrences are narrated down to A.H. 717 (A.D. 1317). But we derive no information from his short abstract, he himself referring for fuller accounts to the Tabakát-i Násirí, the Táríkh-i Wassáf, and the Rauzatu-s Safá.

The Khulásatu-l Akhbár comprises an introduction, ten books, and a conclusion. Size, large 8vo., 734 pages of 19 lines each.