THE Majálisu-s Salátín, or “Assemblies of the Sultáns,” was written by Muhammad Sharíf Hanafí. The reason he assigns for writing it is, that no one had courage enough in his time to wade through long histories, especially mentioning those of Zíá Barní, Kází 'Ajáz Bádsháhí, and 'Abdu-l Kádir, which are each works of considerable size, and he therefore determined, notwiṭh-standing his constant avocations, to write an abridged history of India. In the midst of a hundred interruptions, he set himself to the work, but, short as it is, he was nearly failing in his resolution to complete it, and “a wind arose occasionally which was nearly making his pen fly away like an arrow from a bow, and converting his paper into a flying kite.” At last he asked his spiritual teachers for their aid and countenance, and through their encouragement he brought it to a completion.

The same irresolution and want of leisure seem to have deprived us of the account of his travels, which, as will be seen from one of the following extracts, extended to a distance quite unusual in his days. He had travelled from Madura in Southern India to Kashmír, and had dwelt for some time in the inter­mediate countries; and he tells us that if he had recorded all the wonderful things he had seen, he might have filled a thousand volumes. He was employed in some public capacity during the whole time that he was making these tours, for he signifies that he was a person of no mean consideration.

The work was composed in the early part of Sháh Jahán's reign, in the year 1038 A.H. (1628 A.D.), according to a chrono­gram at the close of the work in which the date is recorded.

The Majálisu-s Salátín is not divided into chapters, but the following abstract will show the pages where the principal dynasties and reigns commence and end.