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Introduction by the Editor

This volume, consisting of selections from Sir Henry M. Elliot’s great work on the history of Mohammedan India as told by its own historians, may be regarded as a new contribution, in a way, because it presents the subject from that standpoint in a far more concise form than was possible in the original series of translations from Oriental chroniclers, and it keeps in view at the same time the two volumes of Professor Lane-Poole immediately preceding it in the present series. Tributes to the value of Elliot’s monumental work are many, but one of the best estimates of its worth was given by Lane-Poole himself, from whom the following paragraph is, in part, a quotation.

“To realize Medieval India there is no better way than to dive into the eight volumes of the priceless History of India as told by its own Historians, which Sir H. M. Elliot conceived and began, and which Professor Dowson edited and completed with infinite labour and learning. It is a revelation of Indian life as seen through the eyes of the Persian court annalists. As

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a source it is invaluable, and no modern historian of India can afford to neglect it. It is, however, a mine to be worked, not a consecutive history, and its wide leaps in chronology, its repetitions, recurrences, and omissions, render it no easy guide for general readers.”

On this latter point I desire to lay emphasis and also to add that in order to bring so extensive a mass of material within the compass of a single volume I have been obliged to exercise the utmost circumspection and to confine the selections simply to those which would represent the main outlines of the most important reigns, spread over nearly a thousand years, keeping in view at the same time the aim of supplementing the two preceding books in the series without undue crossing or unnecessary repetition. In discharging this somewhat difficult task I have received material aid, which I desire to acknowledge, from my friend and pupil, Dr. Louis H. Gray. I hope that those who may use the book will find that fair justice has been done to the merits of the various Mohammedan historians included in it. We owe much to their records as a means of understanding the Moslem conquest of Hindustan better than would otherwise be possible, and we also find them helpful in preventing us from being led away too far in other directions, if former prejudice might incline us to be biased or to see only the side of the conquered.

In dealing with the text of the excerpts, considerable latitude has been used – an example which was set by Sir Henry Elliot himself, as well as by Professor

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Dowson and the various translators who lent their aid in converting the original Oriental accounts into English. Condensation was essential, excisions were often necessary, while certain changes in phraseology seemed frequently advisable; but never has the tone or spirit of the original been departed from, as will be clear to anyone who will take the trouble to consult Elliot’s complete work, which must always remain the standard and the ultimate source for the special student and historian to use.

In arranging the selections I have tried to make the story a more or less continuous one and have endeavoured to make the connections clear by introductory and transfer paragraphs, indicating also by ‘single quotes’ the point where the account of the native annalist begins and ends. The story as told by these Oriental writers has a quality of its own; and that will best be appreciated when the events described are read in connection with the two preceding volumes, to which this volume forms a supplement and sequel. The photogravures, half-tones, and cuts which serve as illustrations have been selected with the same attention as throughout the rest of the series. With these words I leave the Eastern chroniclers to narrate their own events after their own manner.

A. V. Williams Jackson

This collection transcribed by Chris Gage
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