MUHAMMAD HÁDÍ KÁMWAR KHÁN is the author of this general history, which was written in A.H. 1132 (A.D. 1719-20), in the second year of Muhammad Sháh's reign, after whom he names the work, though he dedicates no portion of it to an account of that Emperor.
In a very wordy Preface, the author informs us, that, from an early period of his life, he took a delight in reading the history of kings and saints, and that, in consequence of his entering the service of the Emperor Aurangzeb, “the destroyer of all signs of superstition and idolatry,” and being employed in the Dakhin, he was for a long time precluded from pursuing his favourite occupation. He subsequently appears to have been reduced to great distress, “from the occurrence of certain miserable accidents, and he conceived a disgust for all the world and everything in it, insomuch that no taste for any kind of occupation remained in his mind.”
In these afflicting circumstances 'Ináyatu-llah Khán, “the best of ministers,” came forward to assist him, and he accompanied that officer on his return to the capital. While residing there, he seems to have been contented with his lot, for he tells us, with some exultation, that he considered the corner of a house, and an old mat to sit on, better than the lofty palaces of the lords of splendour and magnificence, and that he pursued his old studies with avidity. He preferred wandering among the pleasant leaves of a book to a walk among the parterres of a flower-garden; he altogether abandoned the fruitless attendance upon the gates of the proud and arrogant, and shook sorrow and discontent from the skirts of his heart.
While he was so happily occupied in the revival of his former pursuits, he met with a severe affliction in the loss of his dearest friend, who is spoken of in such terms that we are led to conclude his bereavement to have been that of his wife, whose name the usual Oriental delicacy respecting females prevented his revealing for the information of his readers. “The fire of grief burnt up the harvest of his hopes, destroying the stock of his patience, and nothing remained to him but sighs and tears.”
From this stupor of grief he was aroused by no human aid. On this occasion an invisible angel and a divine inspiration told him not to sorrow as one without hope, but to occupy his mind by composing some work, which might serve to hand down his name to posterity. In compliance with this philosophical advice, so secretly conveyed to him, he addressed himself to his task, and the result is before us, which he trusts will render the perusal of any other history devoted to the same period unnecessary.
The Haft Gulshan-i Muhammad-sháhí is scarcely worthy of the important preliminaries which heralded its birth. But the author did not confine himself to this general history; he wrote four years afterwards a much more important work, called the Tazkira-i Chaghatáí, which is the subject of the next article, and he is the same Muhammad Hádí who wrote the Introduction and Conclusion of the Autobiographical Memoirs of Jahángír (No. LVI.).
The present work may be considered an abridgment of Firishta. It comprises a general history of India, including all the minor dynasties; but the Kings of Dehlí are not carried down later than Bábar; and at the conclusion of the account of that conqueror, we are promised a completion of the history of the Tímúrian family in a second volume, which promise has been fulfilled in the Tazkira-i Chaghatáí.
This history is divided into Books and Chapters, principally styled Rose-gardens (Gulshan) and Rose-bushes (Gulban); and as it contains seven Books, it is entitled Haft Gulshan.