A one-volume anthology of the Arabic and Persian accounts of the Ghurid conquest. For 1200 it gives, side by side, Ibn al-Athir's notices of Mu'izz al-Din's Indian wars, the first extracts of Hasan Nizami's Taj al-Ma'athir on Aibak, Awfi's anecdotes, and Juzjani on Bakhtiyar Khalji's raids into Bihar and Bengal. Its value is convenience; its weakness is that the extracts are chosen to show Muslim rule in a bad light, as Elliot said in his preface, and the renderings are often loose.
About this source
- Title
- The History of India as Told by its Own Historians, vol. 2
- Author
- Various (Ibn al-Athir, Hasan Nizami, Awfi, Juzjani and others), edited by H. M. Elliot and John Dowson
- Author's dates
- Elliot 1808 to 1853; Dowson 1820 to 1881
- Written
- the sources date from the 1190s to the 14th century; the collection was published in 1869
- Language
- English translation of Arabic and Persian sources
- Covers
- about 1000 to 1300
- Kind
- Collection of sources
S. H. Hodivala's Studies in Indo-Muslim History (1939, 1957) corrects many of the renderings. Prefer Raverty for Juzjani and Saroop for Hasan Nizami where available.
Where to read it
Translations
- H. M. Elliot and J. Dowson, The History of India as Told by its Own Historians, vol. 2 (London, Trubner, 1869; the scan is dated 1867 by the library)
- Another scan of vol. 2 (Historical Resources of India collection)