The Persian chronicler Ferishta (1560-1620) composed his great work, published in this four-volume English translation in 1829, at the court of Bijapur - where he spent most of his life - under the patronage of King Ibrahim Adil Shah II. It covers Muslim India from around 975 to 1612 and is notable for its balance, despite Ferishta's close involvement with some of the events and people he records. In the translator's preface, East India Company officer John Briggs (1785-1875) highlights the danger of misconceptions about the people of India and the importance of religious policy in the success or failure of her various governments. Volume 1 includes introductory matter, a chapter on pre-Muslim India, histories of the Ghaznavid kings of Lahore, and information on the rulers of Delhi. Also included is Briggs' valuable comparative chronology of events in Europe and India.

The Persian chronicler Ferishta (1560-1620) composed his great work, published in this four-volume English translation in 1829, at the court of Bijapur - where he spent most of his life - under the patronage of King Ibrahim Adil Shah II. It covers Muslim India from around 975 to 1612 and is notable for its balance, despite Ferishta's close involvement with some of the events and people he records. Valuable additions to the text made by the translator, East India Company officer John Briggs (1785-1875), include genealogical tables and notes, as well as a comparative chronology of events in Europe and India. Volume 2 examines the descendants of Timur (or Tamerlane) and the founding by Babur of the Mughal dynasty in the early sixteenth century. It also contains coverage of the kings of the Deccan to the dissolution of the Bahmani sultanate after 1518.

The Persian chronicler Ferishta (1560-1620) composed his great work, published in this four-volume English translation in 1829, at the court of Bijapur - where he spent most of his life - under the patronage of King Ibrahim Adil Shah II. It covers Muslim India from around 975 to 1612 and is notable for its balance, despite Ferishta's close involvement with some of the events and people he records. Valuable additions to the text made by the translator, East India Company officer John Briggs (1785-1875), include genealogical tables and notes, as well as a comparative chronology of events in Europe and India. Volume 3 continues with coverage of the five Deccan sultanate states from 1518. This includes Briggs' own valuable account of the history of the kings of Golkonda and a chronology of the Portuguese wars in India. The coverage of the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur in the sixteenth century notably draws on Ferishta's first-hand knowledge.

The Persian chronicler Ferishta (1560-1620) composed his great work, published in this four-volume English translation in 1829, at the court of Bijapur - where he spent most of his life - under the patronage of King Ibrahim Adil Shah II. It covers Muslim India from around 975 to 1612 and is notable for its balance, despite Ferishta's close involvement with some of the events and people he records. Valuable additions to the text made by the translator, East India Company officer John Briggs (1785-1875), include genealogical tables and notes, as well as a comparative chronology of events in Europe and India. Volume 4 covers the kings of Gujarat, Malwa, Khandesh, Bengal and Bihar, Jaunpur, and Multan. There are also histories of Sindh and Kashmir. A comparative chronology of the minor kingdoms that eventually became part of the Mughal empire is included, and Briggs' appendices provide glossaries of names and places.

Serving in Bengal as a captain of the East India Company, Jonathan Scott (1753 1829) became a private Persian translator to Governor-General Warren Hastings in 1783. A gifted orientalist, he was elected a member of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784, returned to England in 1785, and a year later published the first of his many translations, Memoirs of Eradut Khan (also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection), shedding light on the Mughal empire in the seventeenth century. This two-volume work, published in 1794, narrates the fortunes of the Islamic kingdoms in southern India from the thirteenth century onwards. Volume 1 comprises a translation of the work of the Persian chronicler Ferishta (1560 1620), documenting the history of the Deccan Plateau to the end of the sixteenth century.

Serving in Bengal as a captain of the East India Company, Jonathan Scott (1753 1829) became a private Persian translator to Governor-General Warren Hastings in 1783. A gifted orientalist, he was elected a member of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784, returned to England in 1785, and a year later published the first of his many translations, Memoirs of Eradut Khan (also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection), shedding light on the Mughal empire in the seventeenth century. This two-volume work, published in 1794, narrates the fortunes of the Islamic kingdoms in southern India from the thirteenth century onwards. Based around translations from various manuscripts, Volume 2 covers the conquest of the Deccan Plateau by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, the rise of the Maratha leader Shivaji and the reigns of the later Mughal emperors. Also included is an account of the state of Bengal from the mid-eighteenth century.