Riyazu-s-salatin

478 Pages·2011·28.68 MB·English

by  Salim, Ghulam Husain

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I A
THE
RTYAZU-S-SALATTN,
A HISTORY OF BENGAL
RY
GHULAM HtTSAIN SA«LlM.
TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL PERSIAN
BY
MAULAVI ABDUS SALAM, M.A.,
BENGAL PROVINCIAL CIVIL SERVICE, MEMBER OF Tin? ASIATIC SOCIETY OF
BENGAL, AUTHOR OF TRANSLATIONS OF URFf AND SIH-NASR-T-ZAHURI.
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FASC.
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GALCUTTA:
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PRINTED AT THE BAPTIST MISSION PRESS, AND PUBLISHED BY
THE ASIATIC SOCIETY, 57, PA^RK STREET.
1902.
Ds
TRANSLATION
»
OF THE *
RIYAZtt-S-SALATIN OF GHULAM HUSALN SALIM.
In the name op God, the Kind and the Merciful !
Worlds of praise are due uifto the palace of that World
Creator, who adorning this world by means of His hand of
perfect power with the ornament of existence, has unfurled tin
Standard of Creatorship, and worlds of panegyric befit the shrine
of that Supreme Author who has drawn by means of his brush
of perfect art the portrait of Life in particoloured lines on* the
pages of^Creation. He (God) is thatWiseSage, who hasentrusted
the affairs of the management of the world and the people of
the world and tfhe good and the right guidance of all classes to
the persons of Sovereigns, and*who has entrusted into the hands
of authority of Sovereigns of this world}'-the reins of the opening
and stoppage of the business of divers classes of mankind. He
(God) is that Supreme Ruler of the Universe who, weighing the
opening and stoppage of the affairs of mankind and the good and
bad of Centre-Sitters in the circle of earth, in thjs scale of
expediency of the world, has left in every clime and every
country a ruler.
From the Cloud of His bounty, the garden of the world
is green. •
From the zephyr of His generosity, the orchard of the
soil is green. *
From the Colouring of the painter of His Creation,
Emerald becomes green in the centre of mine.
Praise untoLord, High is His rank and His praise.
Universal is His bounty Snd generosity, -
All praise is due unto His Beneficence !
And blessings full of white effulgence and sacred benedictions
are due unto all the messengers of the Palace of His bounty, that
r
2
is, unto the Prophets, especially unto that Symbol of Mercy,ȣ
the people of the world, that Herald of the Faithful, that Seal of
the Prophets, that Pioneer of the better Path, that Bright Lamp
of the right road, the Raisondetre of the creation of this world,
the First-born : the Last-disclosed,1 that is, the Pride of the
Prophets, the Leader8 of thedmocent,—the Interceder on the day
of Judgment, Muhammadthe Chosen Ahmad the Select; God's
special mercy and peace be on him and his descendants, and the
people of his sacred house, and on his successors and all his
companions!
After God's and,the Prophet's praise,3 this humble servant who
is hopeful of the intercession of the Prophet, namely, Ghulam
Husain, whose title is Sallm Zaidpuri,* so says that since some
period, according to chances of time, he has been in the service of
Mr. George Uduy, who is a gentleman of high position and high
rank, of graceful character, of kind heart, mild disposition, praise-
worthy deportment and great generosity, who is the Hatiin5 of
1 Thishasreference tothe Muhammadan beliefthat the Nur or light of
Muhammadwasthefirstthingcreated by God, and that all else followed,
though theProphet inbodily form was ushered intoexistenceafter all other
prophets.
2 Thishas reference totbp tragicmartyrdom of Husain and other mem-
bersof the Fatimitefamily, who were all innocent, and,whose ancestor the
Prophetwas.
8 Every Muhammadan book begins withthepraise of God. This praiseis
called hamd in Arabic, and is followed by Na't, or praise of the Arabian
Prophet.
* Ghulam Husain Salim Zaidpuri is the author of the present.historical
work entitled the Riyazu-s-Salatin, or History of Bengal. Ilahi Bakhsh in
hishistory " KhurshidJahin Numa" of which Mr. Beveridge haspublished
latelyan Analysis in theJournals of the Asiatic Society, has some notice of
Ghulam Husain. He statesthat Ghulam Husain was of Zaidpur in Oudh,
migrated to Maldah in Bengal, and held the office of Dak Munshi or Post
Master there, under Mr. George Udny. Noticing theCharitable Dispensaryat
Maldah, Ilahi Bakhsh observes that here nsed to be the house of Ghulam
Husain, and that in the quarterknown as Cak Qnrban All is the tomb of
Ghulam Husain whodied in 1233 A.H. or 1817 A.C. The chronogram com-
posed in honourofhis memorybyhis pupil,Abdul Karim, is&A3j Ji\fi \j-Aix)
which yields 1233{ Mr.Udny appears tohave beenat the time Commercial
Resident ofthe East India Company's factory at Maldah.
& Hatim wasa Prince of Yemen, in Arabia. His generous hospitality ia a
by-word in the East.
&ie world of bounty, IheNaushmwan l of t,lie world of Justice, the
**,<%
Grener—ous man of the age, and who is callous about popularity and
*
praise
May God always preserve liis good fortune, and advance h—is
rank, and elevate his position, and double his.life and dignity!
and that he has been in the class of Irs servants, and has ever
been and is still the recipient of hie! favours. In short, the
excellencies-abounding and bounties-springing person of that
mine of discernment, is unique and matchless in this age.
He is a paragon of all excellencies,
He is superior to all praise that can be couceived.
He is enlightened, sees through things aright, like old
sages,
But he has the fortune, the age and the rank of manhood.
He weighs his words which are pregnant with meaning,
His two lips, like two palms, at the time of conversation,
are pearl-scattering.
The tray of his bountyis ready for the poor and theneedy
;
He always keeps gold and dinar2 for the indigent.
Inasmuch as his high mind is always pursuant of the study
of histories and1travels, and is seeker of all sorts of knowledge
and accomplishments, in the"1 year 1200 A.H. corresponding to
1786 A.O., his bent of noble mind turned towards seeking a
knowledge of the lives and careers cf past sovereigns and rulers
who unfurling the standard of sovereignty over Bengal, the
Paradise of Provinces,3 have now passed into the secret regions of
Eternity. Accordingly, the order was given to this man of poor
ability, that whatever he might gather from historical works, &c,
he should compile in simple language, so that it might be intel-
ligible to all, and might deserve the approval of the elite. This
i<
1 Nanshirwan wag a King of Iran1 or old Persia. He flourished in the
sixth century, and belonged to the Sassanian dynasty His wazlr was the
famous Buzurchemeher-or Bouzour, author of theZafarnamah. Naushlr-
wan'sjusticeisproverbial in the world.
2 Dinar, agold coin weighing one misqal, i.e., If dirhams. For details
see Ain-i-Akbari, Vol. I (Blochmann's Trans., p. 36).
8 Ourauthor calls Bengal "Jinnat-ul-bildd," or ' Paradiseof Provinces. '
1 am not sureif there is any historicalbasisfor thisexpression, as there is
for the expression " Jinnat-dbdd " which latter epithet was bestowed by
EmperorHumayun on Gaurin Bengal (see Tabaqaft-i-Akbari, Elliot's History
of India, Vol. V, p. 201, Ain-i-Akbari, Vol. II, p. 123, and Badaoni, Vol. I,
ignorant man, of limited capacity, deeming the execution of th.
order of his master incumbent on himself, being the slave of order,
has placed the finger of consent on the eye, and girded up""the loin
of effort and venture,,collected sentence after sentence from every
source, and for a period of two years has devoted himself to the
compilationand preparation of this history. And after completing
it, he has named'it Riyazu-o-Salatin,1 according to the date of its
completion. It is hoped that this work may merit the approval of
all persons of light. It is desired of people conversant with past
times, that if they detect any mistake or oversight, they will over-
look it, inasmuch ag this humble man is not free from shortcom-
ings, according to the saying " Man is made up of sins of commis-
sion and omission," and further,,£hat, according to their capacity,
they will correct the mistakes and defects, and if they cannot do
so, they will be good enough to overlook them.
The plan of this work consists of an Introduction and Pour
Chapters. —
Its arrangement is as follows :
(a) The Introduction consists of Four Sections.
Section I relates to a description of the state of populousness
of the country of Bengal, and of its boundaries and environs.
Section II relates to a description of certain characteristics of
that country.
c
p. 349). Howeverthatmaybe, Bengal well deservedtobe styled " Jinnat-ul'
biZad"or'Paradiseof Provinces,'owingtothe fertility of its soil, the richness
of itsproduce, andthe vastness of itsnatural resources. During Musalman
rule,theProvinceof Bengal yieldedthelargestrevenuetotheDelhi Emperors,
and in consequence its Viceroyalty was always coveted byPrinces Royal of
Delhi,from soremoteaperiodasthetimesof Emperors Shamsuddin Altamsh
and Ghiasuddin Balban—whose sons in succession ruledover Bengal, not to
speakoflaterMughal PeincesRoyal ofDelhi. Under Britishrulealso, Bengal
Proper, inclnding Assam, Behar and*Orissa and Chutia Nagpur, forms the
largest Administrative Division of India, contains one-third of the total
populationof British India, and yields a gross reveuueof 17 or 18 millions
sterling, or one-third of the actual revenues of the Indian Empire. It is
worthy of note that the above expression is alsoused in Mughal Imperial
(official) documents, videJ.A.S.B.for 1901, Vol. LXX, PartI, No. 1,pp. 21-22.
I "Riyazu-s-Salatin " is achronogram yieldingdate 1202 A.H.,correspond-
ingto 1788 A.C., the year in which this historical work was completed.
• Rauzah ' in Persian means a ' garden,' its plural being ' Riyiiz 'meaning,
' gardens.' "Salatin " means " Kings "; therefore, 'Riyiizu-s-Salatm'means
"gardens of Kings." Itis apity the author does not specify all the sources