[THIS work is also called Sháh Jahán-náma. It is the completion of the Bádsháh-náma of 'Abdu-l Hamíd by his pupil and assistant Muhammad Wáris, who was appointed to carry on the work when his friend and master had become incapacitated by age. It embraces the last ten years of Sháh Jahán's reign, from the beginning of the twenty-first to the thirtieth year, in which his actual reign closed. The work was submitted for revision to 'Aláu-l Mulk Túní, entitled Fázil Khán, who became wazír in Aurangzeb's days, and the part of the work subsequent to the death of 'Allámí Sa'du-lla Khán was written by Fázil Khán, under the command of the Emperor himself. Little is known of Muhammad Wáris, but the author of the Ma-ásir-i 'Alamgírí records that “On the 10th Rabí'u-l awwal, 1091 (1680 A.D.), Wáris Khán, news reader, the graceful author of the third volume of the Bádsháh-náma, was killed by a blow of a pen­knife from a mad student, whom he had taken under his pro­tection, and who used to sleep at night near his patron.”

The work is composed in a style similar to that of 'Abdu-l Hamíd, and is of considerable length. It closes with a list of the shaikhs, learned men and poets who flourished during its decade.

The history of this period of Sháh Jahán's reign has been so fully supplied by the Extracts from the Sháh Jahán-náma of 'Ináyat Khán, that only one short Extract has been taken from this work.

Sir H. M. Elliot's MS. is a poor one. It is an 8vo., twelve inches by six and a half, and contains 357 leaves, of nineteen lines to the page. There is a copy in the British Museum, and one in the Library of the Royal Asiatic Society.]

[* When the Emperor set off from Sháhjahánábád to chastise the Persians, it was his intention to march on and make no stay until he reached Kábul. * * But afterwards it appeared clear to his far-reaching judgment, that it was very improbable that the Sháh of Persia would enter upon a campaign in the winter season, when grain and forage are very difficult to procure in that country (of Kandahár). The Emperor's counsellors also repre­sented that the Sháh of Persia had resolved upon this evil enterprise in that infatuation which arises from youth and inexperience. During the winter he would be busy making preparations in Khurásán, and in the spring he would commence operations. In this way the late Sháh 'Abbás came up against Kandahár in the reign of the Emperor Jahángír. The severe cold and the heavy snow and rain, together with scarcity of provender for the horses, would be sources of great suffering to the Imperial army; so under all circumstances it was desirable to postpone the march until the Nau-roz. * * So it was resolved to wait the arrival of news from Kandahár. On the 12th Muharram a despatch arrived from the commandant of the fortress, to the effect that on the 10th Zí-l hijja the Sháh of Persia had invested the fortress, his evident object being to ac­complish this, the first enterprise of his reign, before the spring, when the roads would be open for the advance of the Imperial army.]