NOTES TO PAGES I 5 6-I 60 215
first volume deals with the history of the prophets down to the early caliphs.
The second volume is divided into seven sections, each section containing
histories of cities and towns in Sind, along with descriptions of the spiritual
and ruling elite. The third volume is dedicated to the history of Sind, from
Chach to the Sindhi Kalhora regime, contemporary to Qani'.
- The best scholarly treatment of Firishta is in Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Courtly
Encounters: The Courtliness and Violences of Early Modern Eurasia (Cam-
bridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012), pp. 34,;-103.
- See Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah Astariibiidi Firishtii, Ta'iikh-i Firishta
(Tehran: Anjuman-i Asar va Mafiikhir-i Farhangi, 2009).
ro. It is little discussed, but Firishta presents a complex theory of historiography,
providing criteria for how kings, cities, and regions should be assembled in
a broad universal history. Take, for example, his insistence that Qabacha not
be mentioned in the rise of the Delhi sultans but should rather be included
in the accounts of Sind. Firishta is here commenting directly on Juzjahi's Ta-
baqat and later universal histories.
II. It was Ham, son of Adam, Firishta writes, whose six sons-Hind, Sind, Jaish,
Afranj, Hormuz, and Buiya-laid the foundation of a city in Hindustan.
- Alexander Dow, The History of Hindostan; from the Earliest Account of
Time, to the Death of Akbar; Translated from the Persian of Mahummud
Casim Ferishta of Delhi: Together with a Dissertation Concerning the Re-
ligion and Philosophy of the Brahmins; With an Appendix, Containing
the History of the Mogul Empire, from Its Decline in the Reign of Ma-
hummud Shaw, to the Present Times (London: T. Becket and P. A. de Hondt,
1768), p. ii.
- Ibid., p. vi.
- Ibid., p. xiii.
- Alexander Dow, The History of Hindostan, from the Death of Akbar, to the
Complete Settlement of the Empire under Aurungzebe. To Which Are Pre-
fixed, I. A Dissertation on the Origin and Nature of Despotism in Hind-
ostan. II. An Enquiry into the State of Bengal; With a Plan for Restoring
That Kingdom to Its Former Prosperity and Splendor (London: T. Becket
and P. A. de Hondt in the Strand, 1772), p. xv.
- Jbid., p. XXXV.
- See Adrian Duarte, The History of British Relations with Sind, 1613-1843
(Karachi: National Book Foundation, 1976).
- Such treaty arrangements to exclude Americans and other Europeans were
standard clauses in East India Company's dealings with the Princely States.
For Sind, see the treaties in 1809 and 1820 in Parliamentary Papers, Reports
and Committees: East India Company's Affairs, vol. 14 (London: H.M. Sta-
tionary Office, 1831-1832), p. 202. For Crow, see Mubarak Ali, ed.,. Crow's
Account jf Sindh (Karachi: Fiction House, 2004).
- C. U. Aitchison, A Collection of Treaties, Engagements, and Sanads Relating
to India and Neighboring Countries, vol. 7 (Calcutta: Office of the Superin-
tendent of Government Printing, 1892), pp. 308-309.
- Alexander Burnes, Travels into Bokhara: Being the Account of a Tourney
from India to Cabool, Tartary and Persia; also, Narrative of a Voyage on the
