THIS history, by Mullá 'Abdu-l Kádir Mulúk Sháh of Badáún, is called by the author Muntakhabu-t Tawáríkh; but many others have compiled works under that title, and the name most frequently given to it in Hindústán is Táríkh-i Badáúní.

Is is a general history of India from the time of the Ghazni-vides to the fortieth year of Akbar; and, in the reign of the latter, it is especially useful, as correcting, by its prevalent tone of censure and disparagement, the fulsome eulogium of the Akbar-náma . Despite this systematic depreciation, it has been observed* that 'Abdu-l Kádir's narrative conveys a more favourable im­pression of the character of Akbar than the rhetorical flourishes of the Court journalist. It concludes with lives of the saints, philosophers, physicians, and poets of Akbar's reign.

['Abdu-l Kádir, poetically styled Kádirí, was born at Badáún in 947 or 949 H. His father, whom he lost in 969, was called Shaikh Mulúk Sháh, and was a pupil of the saint Bechú of Sambhal. 'Abdu-l Kádir, or Badáúní as he is familiarly called, studied various sciences under the most renowned and pious men of his age, most of whom he enumerates in the third volume of this work. He excelled in music, history, and astronomy; and on account of his beautiful voice he was appointed Court Imám for Wednesdays. Early in life he was introduced to Akbar by Jalál Khán Kúrchí, and for forty years he lived in company with Shaikh Mubárak, and Faizí and Abú-l Fazl, the Shaikh's sons. But there was no real friendship between them, as Badáúní looked upon them as heretics, and his notices of them are couched in bitter sarcastic terms.]* Badáúní died at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The Tabakát-i Sháh-Jahání gives A.H. 1024 (1615 A.D.) as the year of his death.

Badáúní was a very learned man, and was frequently employed by the Emperor to make translations into Persian from the Arabic and Sanskrit, as in the case of the Mu'jamu-l Buldán, Jámi'u-r Rashídí, and the Rámáyana; yet, notwithstanding this employment, for which he acknowledges he received, in one present only, 150 gold mohurs and 10,000 rupees, besides a grant of rent-free land, his distinguished patron receives no favour at his hands. He wrote a work on the Hadís called Bahru-l asmár, and he composed a moral and religious work, entitled Najátu-r Rashíd, which he wrote at the suggestion of his friend Nizámu-d dín Ahmad, the historian, and which he must have completed very late in life, because the Muntakhabu-t Tawáríkh is men­tioned in it. He also informs us that he translated two out of the eighteen sections of the Mahábhárata, and abridged a history of Kashmír, which, under the annals of A.H. 998, is said to have been translated from the original Hindí by Mullá Sháh Muham­mad Sháhábádí,* —but apparently not the Rájá-taranginí, for the translation of that work is usually attributed to Maulání 'Imádu-d dín. According to Professor H. H. Wilson,* there were frequent remodellings or translations of the same work, but amongst those which he notices he does not mention one by Mullá Sháh Muhammad Sháhábádí.*

Many of the translations from the Sanskrit which were made about this period, and those of 'Abdu-l Kádir, probably, among the rest, appear to have been executed under the superintendence of Faizí, the brother of the minister Abú-l Fazl, and he is usually supposed to have been the first Musulmán who applied himself to the language and literature of the Brahmins; but this seems to be a mistake.*

The aversion with which 'Abdu-l Kádir Badáúní regarded the Emperor and his able ministers arose, as he himself frankly confesses, from his own bigoted attachment to the most bigoted of religions, in which it was apprehended that Akbar, with their aid and countenance, was about to introduce some dangerous innovations.* He acknowledges, however, that he temporized, and never hesitated to make his own religious views subordinate to the primary consideration of self-interest [and it is evident that envy of his fellow-courtiers, and discontent with the amount of favour bestowed upon his own unappreciated merits, were ever present in his mind, and embittered his feelings].

Though the author of the Táríkh-i Badáúní professes to derive his information chiefly from the Táríkh-i Mubárak-Sháhí and the Tabakát-i Akbarí,—indeed, in a passage in the Najátu-r Rashíd,* he calls his work a mere abridgment of the Tabakát,—yet, con­trary to the usual Indian practice, there is much more original matter in it than such a declaration would lead us to suppose, and the whole narrative, even when avowedly taken from his predecessors, is tinged with his peculiar prejudices, of which many traits will be found in the extracts which are subjoined.

The history ends with the beginning of the year 1004 A.H. 1595-6 A.D. [“The book was kept secret, and according to a state­ment in the Mir-átu-l'álam, it was made public during the reign of Jahángír, who showed his displeasure by disbelieving the statement of Badáúní's children, that they had been unaware of the existence of the book. The Túzak-í Jahángírí un­fortunately says nothing about this circumstance; but Badáúní's work was certainly not known in A.H. 1025, the tenth year of Jahángír's reign, in which year the Ma-ásir-i Rahímí was written, whose author complains of the want of a history beside the Tabakát and the Akbar-náma.”]*

The author gives the following account of his own work: “The writer, 'Abdu-l-Kádir Mulúk Sháh Badáúní, in obedience to the orders of His Majesty King Akbar, finished the abstract of the history of Kashmír in the year A.H. 999, which, at the request of the same monarch, was translated from Hindí into Persian by one of the learned men of his time; but as I cherished a great love for history from my very childhood, and as it was seldom that my hours were not employed either in the reading or writing some history, I often thought of compiling a brief account of the kings of Dehlí, beginning from the com­mencement of the Muhammadan rule in India to the present time. * * * But circumstances gave me little opportunity of executing my design, and day after day I encountered numerous obstacles. Moreover, the scantiness of the means of subsistence obliged me to leave my country and friends, and thus the per­formance of the work was for a time suspended, until my excel­lent and beloved friend* Nizámu-d dín Ahmad Bakhshí went to Paradise. Excellent as is the history composed by this in­dividual, yet I reflected that some additions could possibly be made to it; and I accordingly commenced to abstract briefly the accounts of some of the great kings of India, from the historical works called Mubárak-Sháhí and Nizámu-t Tawáríkh Nizámí, sometimes adding my own observations. Great brevity has been observed in the style, and the use of figurative and flowery language throughout avoided. I have named this work Muntakhabu-t Tawáríkh. It is hoped that this history, the object of which has been to place upon record the deeds of the great Muhammadan kings, and to furnish the means of transmitting my own reputation to posterity, will rather prove a source of my lasting happiness, than tend to aggravate my misfortunes.

“As it is my intention to write only what is true, I hope that God will forgive me, if I should ever allow myself to descend to the relation of minute and trivial particulars.”

At the conclusion, he says that it was at one time his inten­tion to have added a history of Kashmír, Gujarát, Bengal, and Sind, and an account of the wonders of India; but as they had no necessary connexion with the history of the Dehlí Emperors, he changed his determination, and concluded his labours, in the year of the Hijra 1004, and as Nizámu-d dín died in 1003, it would appear that he was only one year employed upon this history. But the preface is not very explicit upon this point, and the meaning must be conjectured.