HISTORY WRITING IN THE SULTUNATE PERIOD

History writing in sultanate period

The conquest of the northern India by the Ghoris towards the close of the 12th Century was a very important event in the history of India. The primary reason is that Indian land was opened to a new culture and a new power for the very first time. On the other hand it also led to the unification of the north India under a strong central power which was foreign. It also attracted emigrants from the neighboring lands who spoke different language and represented different culture and traditions.

Of the many new traditions introduced by them, the art of history writing was the most important. It is not that Indians did not know the art of history writing, they for the first time witnessed the importance of maintaining historical accounts that were almost authentic.

In the Islamic empire the study of history was in fact considered as the third important source of knowledge after the religious scriptures i.e. the Qur'an and the Hadith. The Muslim elites gave much importance to the history writing arts and the historians were considered to be an important part of every dynasty.

The history writing in the Sultanate period traces back to the early 12th century and continued till the end of the Sultanate period in 1526. Many of the authors who wrote in Persian were attached to the court of the Sultans as officials while there were few independent scholars too who were not attached to any official positions. A general characteristics of these available historical texts is that, all of these historical accounts were the official position of events rather than a critical evaluation of the policies and events.

None of the available accounts has any critical reference to the reigning Sultan. In contrary, the style of narration is flattery to the Sultan under whose reign it is written. Also there are many earlier references mentioned in the accounts to trace the earlier period.

Apart from the historical text, a number of other Persian works are available for the period, mainly the travelogues. Abdu'r Razzaq's Matla'us Sa'dain and Shihab-al Din al-Umari's Masalik al-absar Mamalik al-Ansar are the two very important travelogues of the Sultanate periods.

The pioneer in history writing of the Sultanate period was no doubt Muhammad bin Mansur popularly known as Fakhr-i-Mudabbir. He is credited to the writing of the first history of the Ghurian conquest of India  and the foundation of the independent Sultanate in India.

He migrated from Ghazna to Lahore and compiled the first part of the account called 'Shajra-i-Ansab, the book of genealogy of the Prophet Muhammad, his companions and the Muslims rulers including the ancestors of the Sultan Shihabuddin Muhammad Ghori. Due to the political compulsions after the murder of the Sultan he added a separate introduction to it called 'Muqidimma' to  narrate the life and military exploits of Qutubuddin Aiback, the commander-in-chief (Sipahsalar) of Muhammad Ghori, who ascended the throne after the death of Muhammad Ghori.

Fakhr-i-Mudabbir's account is a rich source of Delhi Sultanate history. It mentions exploits of Sultan Ghori along with the achievement of Qutubuddin Aiback and his administrative reforms and the symbolic rituals related to the court.

Another important work compiled by Fakhr-i-Mudabbir is the Adabu'l-Harb wa'as Shuja'at dedicated to Sultan Shamsuddin Iltutmish. It contains chapter on the duties of the king, the functioning of state departments, war tactics, mode of welfare, royal animals, etc.

The second important history of the Ghurian conquest and early Sultanate period is Tajul Ma'asir by Hasan Nazami who migrated from Nishapur to India in search of fortune. It is the compilation of achievements of Qutubuddin Aiback.

The third most important historical account is Minhaj Siraj Juzjani's Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, which is the history of Islam and Muslim rulers from the early Islamic period up to his time (1259 CE), the reign of Sultan Nasiruddin Muhammad. It has valuable information about the rise and fall of the ruling dynasties of Central Asia, Persia, India and the Mongols under Chengiz khan.

Later in fourteenth century the Delhi Sultanate history was mainly compiled by Ziauddin Barani. Of the surviving 14th Century CE works, Isami's Futuh us Salatin (1350 CE), Ziauddin Barani's Tarikh-i-Firuzshahi  (1357), anonymous Sirat-i-Firozshahi (1370-71) and Shams Siraj Afif's Tarikh-i-Firuzshahi deserves mention. Of these, Ziauddin Barani's Tarikh-i-Firuzshahi is the most important and elaborate.   On the whole it is an important source of information about the life and culture in the Sultanate of Delhi during the later part of teh 14th century CE.