PREFACE

ONE page of this book is, alas! already obsolete. My dear friend H. H. Sir Udaji Rao Puār died while it was in the press, and to him no thanks can now be offered. The dedication must therefore be read as written in his memory. This will long be cherished by his people for his many noble qualities, and by me for the friendship and affection where- with he honoured me for over sixteen years, during which I was often his guest at Māndu.

I desire, however, to express my indebtedness and to offer my sincerest thanks to the following gentlemen:

M. Bashir-ud-din, B.A., LL.B., of Bhopāl, who found page by page and put together the Persian Manuscript and checked the translation: L. S. Balbhadra Sinha of Senore, who collected and gave much aid in the translation of Rup Mati’s songs: Pandit Gulab Shankar Dixit, for the spade­work of the translation of the Persian and assistance with that of the Hindi text: Colonel C. E. Luard, C.I.E., for much general assistance, especially in finding, extracting, and translating passages from the Persian Chroniclers: Sir John Marshall, C.I.E., for permission to make use of photographs taken under his instructions for the Archaeo­logical Department of the Government of India: Mr. Lawrence Binyon for assistance with and criticism of the five pictures belonging to the Persian Manuscript: and the late Rai Bahadur D. B. Parasnis for finding me the pictures reproduced as illustrations III and VIII. No. VII is from a photograph obtained from the Agra Museum.

The five pictures belonging to the Persian Manuscript and referred to in the Introduction as Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 correspond to illustrations Nos. IV, I, V, VI, and VII respectively.

L. M. C.

THE RESIDENCY,
GWALIOR.