Muḥammad Ja'far Šāmlū

Historian

Muḥammad Jaʿfar Šāmlū is mostly known for his work Manāzil al-futūḥ, also referred to as Tārīḫ-i-Manāzil al-futūḥ. Manāzil al-futūḥ is an eyewitness account of the battle of Pānīpat between the Marāthās and Aḥmad Šāh Abdālī in 1175/1761. (The Marāthās were a semi-autonomous faction that began challenging Mughal rule in the latter the half of the 11th-12th/17th century.) According to the preface of the work, Šāmlū was in Abdālī’s service for twenty-five years and “was himself present on the field, and witnessed the circumstances with his own eyes.