A letter to Major-General John Briggs, Honorary Secretary to the Royal Asiatic Society, on the discovery of part of the second volume of the Jámi al Tawáríkh of Rashíd al Dín / by William Morley.

  • Morley, William H. (William Hook), 1815-1860.
Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to Major-General John Briggs, Honorary Secretary to the Royal Asiatic Society, on the discovery of part of the second volume of the Jámi al Tawáríkh of Rashíd al Dín / by William Morley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    CD •a o bo o toi o^ U> cr K) U) VO O L/1 . O o =r •-! n> a a> n FT a a> n> CO OQ p—' o c O —►5 GO 3 T3 O 3 c OQ O O '-C a: TO o o o •-1 c/3 n o o p 3 m a (TQ ..raft— a 22390935 PACTS 1258(16) lirciA.a^fiLiil.tO.. in c 01 E a. Ic to J3_ JAMI AL TAWARlKH. 17 posterity are called Altdn Kh&n by the Turks. Karazdn was suc- ceeded by Shtijii' in Mdchm, for a short period: he was the last of the native kings of China, and in his reign the army of the Khdn possessed themselves of Machin. This Shdju, according to the historical books of Khitd, was the two hundred and sixty-seventh^ king from Nikd, who was the first. Our author then gives an enumeration of the kings of the Khdrjah race; he also states that in former times there arose a blood-feud between the Allan Khans and the ancestors of Changiz Khan, and that in consequence, the latter proceeded, in the 607th year of the Flight, against Khita, and conquered Shiidi Shiishd^ the last of the Khiirjah kings; in the year of the Flight 631, Oktai Khan pursued his victories, and having taken Shddi Shdshu’s capital, destroyed it: the last monarch of Khita perished in the conflagration of his own palace, and the whole empire became subject to the authority of the Mongols. The third portion of the MS. contains the Talmh al Hind wa al Sind; this most important history is perfect with the exception of one lacuna. It comprises twenty folia and is illustrated by nine paintings. Our author divides the history of Hind and Sind into two parts, the first of which is subdivided into eleven sections or chapters. The first section contains an account of the various divisions of time employed by the Hindils, and commences by giving the opinions of the. inhabitants of Hind, Kashmir, and Khitd, with regard to the creation of the world; it proceeds to enumerate and describe the diffe- rent yugs, (cycles, or periods,) giving the duration of each. Rashid al Din here mentions that he derived his information from an Arabic translation of the Hindd work Bdnatajal or BatanajaV, by the cele- brated Abd Raihdn al Biruni\ who was for a considerable period in 1 * There are considerable discrepancies between this history and that of the Tdrlkhi Binikiti in the number of the kings; in the latter work Shdju is described as the 305th king of Khitd. 8 • A • • • • . Ik •• “ There is some doubt as to the right reading of this word, it occurs three times, thus J-sKjLj Our author says that the word was originally ! one letter here, it is doubtful which, wants the diacritical points; it is by this last name that the book is mentioned in the Tar'ikhi Bin&kUi; but the ortho- graphy is not fixed bjtho MSS. of that work which I have consulted.