It gives me immense pleasure in presenting to the scholars of Indian history the reprint edition of the Maathir-ul-Umara, the biographical dictionary of Muhammaddan and Hindu Officers of the Timurid Sovereigns of India from 1500 AD to 1780 AD as prepared by Nawab Samsam-ud-Daula Shah Nawaz Khan (the first edition) and his son Abdul Hayy (the second edition) and as translated by Mr. Henry Beveridge, a well-known name to every student of History of the Mughal period.
The revised and annotated edition by Dr. Baini Prashad was published by the Asiatic Society under its Bibliotheca Indica series in two volumes. The first volume was published in 1941 comprising 361 biographical entries and the second volume was published in 1952 comprising 370 entries.
This time, we have decided to bring out two volumes comprising 731, entries together so that scholars may have access to the "Peerage of the Mughal Empire" at a time.
I am sure this two-volume reprint edition would be an indispensable guide to facilitate further research and an indepth study of the Mughal period in Indian history.
Dilip Coomer Ghose
General Secretary
PREFACE:
The first fascicle of English translation of Maathir-ul-Umara-"the Peerage of the Mughal Empire."-which the late Mr. H. Beveridge in July 1906 had offered to prepare for publication by the Asiatic Society of Bengal was printed in 1911, but the printing of the first volume was completed only in 1941. The typescript of the second volume was sent to the press on 30th January, 1950, and the printed volume issued in 1952.
In the Tables of Contents of the two volumes, the names of the Officers dealt with were arranged in alphabetical order except for the ten biographies which had somehow been omitted in the first volume. For facilitating reference the number of the volume and the pages on which the various accounts were printed in the Text-edition were also included after the name of each Officer in the Table of Contents.
It was not planned originally to issue any other Index, but in reviewing the work after its completion it was felt that in the absence of a comprehensive Index it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to locate the very large number of names of persons, places, events, works of reference etc. mentioned throughout the work. It was, therefore decided to compile an Index to the two volumes of the translation. This work owing to the similiarity of names and titles has involved a great deal of labour. While all care has been taken t identify the officers referred to in the biographies, it has not always been possible to be certain of the officers referred to in various accounts; for such omissions I crave the indulgence of the readers.
The entries are arranged alphabetically, and the spellings of the names and titles are given exactly as they are printed in the two volumes. The various references in the footnotes are not included in this index. The names of provinces, towns etc. are spelt as in the Imperial Gazetteer, and no diacritical marks are used in their transcription.
I am grateful to the Ministry of Education of the Government of India for sanctioning a grant-in-aid to the Asiatic Society for the preparation and publication of the Index. I am also indebted to the successive General Secretaries of the Society for their interest and help in connection with the printing of this work.
The typescript was sent to the Press on 30th October, 1961, and the printing was completed by the end of February, 1964. It has thus taken some sixty years for this work to be completed.
BAINI PRASHAD
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