Chapter XLIX: Preface: Of the Editor

TO THE MULFUZĀT TIMŪRY.

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HE commences with the usual form of praise of God, and blessings on Muhammed, on the four Khalifs, Abū Beker, Omer, Osman and Aly; he then repeats the account given by Abū Talib Hussyny of discovering the book in the library of Jāfer Pashā, and of its contents.

He then states that the Emperor Shāh Jehān of Hindūstān, having perused the book was not satisfied with it, and ordered him, Muhammed Afzel Bukhāry, to revise it.

“In the year 1047 of the Hejira, and tenth of his Majesty Shāh Jehān’s reign, (A. D. 1637) the royal orders were issued to me, the meanest of the servants of the Imperial Court, (Muhammed Afzel Bukhāry) to read and revise this book from beginning to end, and to assimilate it with the _Zuffer Nameh_,[120] of the correctness of which no intelligent person can have a doubt, and compare it with some other trust-worthy histories, to omit some things which the translator had inserted, and to insert some occurrences which he had omitted; also to translate the Tūrky and Arabic sentences into Persian, and to correct several of the dates, which do not agree with the _Zuffer Nameh_.”

“In submission to the royal order, the least of the servants of his Majesty, having bound round him the girdle of obedience, has exerted himself as much as possible in revising and correcting the said translation, and has thrown out all the unauthenticated passages which Abū Talib had inserted. He has inserted several passages that have been omitted by that translator, and he has thereby made the book conform with the Zuffer Nameh. Thus under the happy auspices of his Imperial Majesty, equal in dignity to Solomon, the Defender of the Faith, and the Protector of Princes, this work has been brought to a conclusion, and now only waits the stamp of approval of his Majesty (the King of the world).”

* * * * *

It appears in Dow’s History of Hindostan, that Muhammed Afzel was the name of the Emperor, Shāh Jehān’s preceptor; he was probably the person employed to revise this work, but he has not complied with his promise of translating all the Tūrky passages, although a native of Bokhārā, where that language was well understood.

The conclusion of the work states the arrival of the Emperor Timūr at _Atrar_,[121] on his route to China; of his last illness; of his having assembled all his family, his ministers, and other principal personages, and of his having in their presence made his will, consisting of four clauses.

The two first clauses are to recommend union among his descendants, and loyalty to his nobles; the third clause appoints his grandson Pyr Muhammed Jehāngyr to be his successor and possessor of the kingdom of Samerkund, and that all his descendants should consider Jehāngyr as their superior.[122] The fourth clause entreats his posterity to observe the rules and regulations that he had written during his reign, and to insert them as an Appendix to his Memoirs; he further desires that they will continue his Memoirs to the last moment of his existence as if written or spoken by himself;

“I desire that this my Testament, and whatever I shall say to the last moment of my existence, shall be written in my Memoirs as if proceeding from my own mouth.” (Appendix 11.)

He repeats his exhortation to his descendants to observe union, “to support the religion of Muhammed, to give currency to the tenets of the _Sūnies_, and to exert themselves in eradicating every false religion.” (Appendix 12.) He then forbids any one to speak to, or again disturb, him, but leave him to the mercy of God.

Shortly after this exhortation he resigned his soul to his Creator, on Tuesday the 17th of Shabān, A. H. 807, March 19th, A. D. 1405.

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Footnote 120:

The Persian history by Sherif Addyn Aly Yezdy, and the work translated
by Petis de la Croix.

Footnote 121:

Atrar was a large town situated two Parasangs or leagues north of the
Sihūn, (Jaxartes).

Footnote 122:

This distribution was conformable to the English law, Jehāngyr being
the heir of his deceased eldest son, but the throne was taken
possession of by Khelyl Sultān, another of Timūr’s grandsons, the son
of Mirān Shāh; he died at the end of three years, when Maveralnaher
was taken possession of by Shāh Rūkh, the youngest son of Timūr, but
the other Princes having also seized upon the different provinces
under their command, the mighty empire fell to pieces.

It may be interesting to some persons to know that the dominions of
Timūr were visited in the year 1812, by Izzet Allah, an intelligent
native of India, whose journal has been published in the Asiatic
Researches, from which we learn that the Chinese have extended their
conquests as far as the Sihūn or Jaxartes, that the _towns_ of
Transoxiana are in possession of different Uzbek chiefs, and the
_country_ is occupied by the Nomade Kirghys hordes.

FINIS.

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PRINTED BY W. NICOL, CLEVELAND ROW, ST. JAMES’S.

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_The following works of Major Stewart may be had at_ Messrs.
Parbury, Allen, and Co. _Booksellers to the Honourable East
India Company, Leadenhall Street_.

1. Descriptive Catalogue of Tippoo Sultān’s Library, 1 vol.
4to.
2. Travels of Abu Mirza Talib, 3 vol. 12mo.
3. History of Bengal, 1 vol. 4to.
4. Introduction to the Anvari Soohyly, 1 vol. 4to.
5. Original Persian Letters, 1 vol. 4to.

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Transcriber’s Notes

New original cover art and table of contents included with this eBook are granted to the public domain.

Archaic and non-standard spelling has been retained, except for what seem to be obvious printer’s errors, listed below.

Hyphenation has been regularized in cases where there is a predominant form in the text. Changes made have been noted below.

Diacritic (Macron) use by the author is very inconsistent within the text, and has not been regularized. The system of transcription is the author’s own, but is not followed with any rigor.

Spelling of various words of Turkic and Persian origin is similarly inconsistent, and has not been regularized, except in cases of what seem to be obvious printer’s errors.

The book’s appendix originally had its own page numbering. The transcriber opted to continue main page numbering.

The Year markings, which appear in sidenotes throughout the text, are inconsistent, see for example pages 40, 66 and 72. This has not been remedied in the eBook.

The following changes have been made:

Pg. v: Proper name consistency: ‘Langlés’ to ‘Langlès’ - Langlès
correct spelling

Pg. vi: Proper name consistency: ‘Langlés’ to ‘Langlès’ - Langlès
correct spelling

Pg. ix: Corrected typo: ‘at page 1’ to ‘at page v’ - Corrected
reference to page number

Pg. 2: Punctuation consistency: ‘A.D. 1628.’ to ‘A. D. 1628.’ -
Inserted space for consistency

Pg. 3: Punctuation consistency: ‘N.B.’ to ‘N. B.’ - Inserted space for
consistency

Pg. 3: Punctuation consistency: ‘A.D. 1783’ to ‘A. D. 1783’ - Inserted
space for consistency

Pg. 3: Punctuation consistency: ‘A.D. 1787’ to ‘A. D. 1787’ - Inserted
space for consistency

Pg. 3: Reference error: ‘Appendix No. 2’ to ‘Appendix No. 3’ - The
appendix refers to this page, and seems to contain two non-persian
lines

Pg. 11: Quote corrections: ‘from this dream.”’ to ‘from this dream.’ -
Removed close-quote from middle of extended quotation

Pg. 15: Proper name consistency: ‘Behardur’ to ‘Behadur’

Pg. 21: Corrected typo: ‘See Appendix VI. also’ to ‘See Appendix
VI. Also’ - Corrected capitalization

Pg. 21: Quote correction: ‘shake_,” (Tamurū)’ to ‘shake_,’ (Tamurū)’
Changed double-quote to single

Pg. 22: Corrected typo: ‘dont’ to ‘don’t’

Pg. 23: Quote corrections: ‘this dignity.”’ to ‘this dignity.’’ -
Changed double-quote to single

Pg. 23: Quote corrections: ‘1stly, etc.’ to ‘“1stly, etc.’ - Added
open-quotes to 4 paras

Pg. 23: Corrected typo: ‘terrestial globe’ to ‘terrestrial globe’

Pg. 23: Abbreviation consistency: ‘2dly. That you will’ to ‘2ndly. That
you will’ - 2ndly elsewhere

Pg. 32: Corrected typo: ‘to to the dignity of’ to ‘to the dignity of’ -
Doubled word removed

Pg. 33: Corrected typo: ‘eat a quantity’ to ‘ate a quantity’ - Corrected
tense

Pg. 33: Proper name consistency: ‘Irāk’ to ‘Irāc’ - Corrected for
consistency

Pg. 41: Corrected typo: ‘dependance’ to ‘dependence’ - Corrected for
consistency

Pg. 53: Corrected typo: ‘he he was under great obligations’ to
‘he was under great obligations’ - Doubled word removed

Pg. 56: Quote corrections: ‘the state of the case’ to ‘“the state of
the case’ - Added missing open-quote to quotation

Pg. 56: Corrected typo: ‘and the pins philanthrophy’ to ‘and the pins
philanthropy’

Pg. 63: Corrected typo: ‘sent a a party’ to ‘sent a party’ - Doubled
word removed

Pg. 66: Punctuation fix: ‘other means of redress”’ to ‘other means of
redress.”’ - Added missing period to quote end

Pg. 83: Corrected typo: ‘se uel’ to ‘sequel’ - Missing letter in word

Pg. 86: Quote corrections: ‘I will support you;’ to ‘I will support
you;”’ - Added missing close-quote

Pg. 88: Corrected typo: ‘retrogade’ to ‘retrograde’

Pg. 90: Corrected typo: ‘fortified the town opposed’ to ‘fortified the
town, opposed’ - Added missing comma

Pg. 94: Punctuation fix: ‘I entered, the thirty-second’ to ‘I entered
the thirty-second’ - Removed extra comma

Pg. 108: Corrected typo: ‘to to his protection’ to ‘to his protection’
- Doubled word removed

Pg. 108: Corrected typo: ‘I I took two of his’ to ‘I took two of his’ -
Doubled word removed

Pg. 120: Hyphenation consistency: ‘recrossed’ to ‘re-crossed’ -
Hyphenated elsewhere

Pg. 123: Quote corrections: ‘taken away from him.’ to ‘taken away from
him.”’ - Added missing close-quote

Pg. 127: Corrected typo: ‘to take the the command’ to ‘to take the
command’ - Doubled word removed

Pg. 131: Quote corrections: ‘cattle and property:’ to ‘cattle and
property:”’ - Added missing close-quote

Pg. 133: Changed ‘Book V.’ to read ‘Book VI.’ as noted in the Corrigendum

Pg. 135: Quote corrections: ‘and inaugurated me.”’ to ‘and inaugurated
me.’ - Removed extra close-quote at para end

Pg. 138: Corrected typo: ‘for my goverment’ to ‘for my government’

Pg. 139: Corrected typo: ‘manœuvring armies’ to ‘manœuvering armies’ -
manœuvering elsewhere

Pg. 143: Proper name consistency: ‘Abūal Mualy’ to ‘Abū al Mualy’ -
Separated elsewhere

Pg. 146: Punctuation fix: ‘them, he Ky Khuserū’ to ‘them, he, Ky
Khuserū’ - Added missing comma

Pg. 148: Corrected typo: ‘bethrothed’ to ‘betrothed’