10. Volume 6 — part 10

^ Irving’s Successors of Mahomet, p. 236.

ON THE EARLY USE OF GUNPOWDER IN INDIA. 463

animal became ungovernable,^ ran off, and, breaking the ranks of tbe Hindus, endeavoured to throw itself into the river. This, if true, is the first account we have of the use by the Arabs of the incen- diary preparations of the Greeks, which has hitherto not been dated earlier than from the siege of Jerusalem in a.d. 1099.^

This is also related in the Cliacli-ndma and TuTifatu-l Kirdm;^ but in one of the best copies of the Chach-ndma I have seen, while there is mention of the catapulta called The Bride,” which required 500 men to work it, there is no mention of engines throwing fire. Dahir’s elephant is distinctly mentioned to have taken fiight at an arrow of naphtha, which the Arab general ordered one of his strong naphtha-throwers to aim at the elephant-seat of Dahir.^ If we except the ChacTi-ndma, these later testimonies are of little value against the silence of Biladuri, and we must reject the story of the projectiles, the TiukhaJid-e dtish hdzi, though we may admit, on the authority of the CliacTi-ndma, that a naphtha-arrow was used. The place of action offers the same probability as to the use of such a weapon, as it does in the case of Mahmud the Ghaznivide, mentioned above.

A few years later, we find one of Muhammad Kasim’s successors using a battering ram :

‘‘And Junaid fought against Kiraj, which had revolted, and he took a battering ram with horns of great power, and demolished with it the walls of the city. He entered the breach, and slew, im- prisoned, and pillaged the inhabitants. He then sent his officers towards the Kermada, Mandavi ? Jhand ? and Baroach.®

Passing over three centuries, we come to the period of Mahmud, to which allusion has already been made. Throughout his reign,

^ The alarm with which elephants view fire is frequently a marked feature of Indian warfare, and was never better exemplified than in the gallant night-sally of the Portu- guese Governor of Daman upon the camp of Aurangzeb, when an army of 40,000 men was put to fiight by the consternation of the elephants at the fireworks incessantly playing upon them. On this occasion, it is said, the Emperor came to a resolution never to attack Europeans any more. — Voyage de Jean Baptiste Tavernier ^ part ii. p. 289 ; Niebuhr’s Lectures, vol. i. pp. 1-36.

3 See Journal of the Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. vii. p. 307, and vol. x. p. 189.

^ [See Vol. I. p. 170.] There is an important passage in two copies which I have consulted, which says that Muhammad Kksim had 900 naphtha-throwers who dis- charged naphtha from bows (p. 145).

and the whole of the Ghaznivide reigns, we find no single author alluding to such implements ; but it is incidentally mentioned that Altun Tash received a manjanik when in India.^

Nearly two centuries after that, a little before a.d. 1200, we come to the Dynasty of the Ghorians, and though no mention is made by the Muhammadan writers of any incendiary preparations used in the wars between the Muhammadans and the Hindus, yet if we are to believe the contemporary Hindu bard, Chand, we shall find even cannon-balls to be in use at that time. But it appears to me evident that the passages where they are mentioned are spurious, and in- terpolated to accommodate the poem to the knowledge of subsequent ages.^ In the 150th cliliand or stanza of the Kmiauj-Khand, Tatar Khan says to Muhammad Ghori, “ Oh ! chief of Gajni, buckle on your armour, and prepare your fire-machines.” Another meaning may be given to the passage, which, however, would be forced and unnatural.

Atish is a Persian word, and Kafir and Sidtdn used in the same stanza, are also of foreign stamp ; though they no doubt were among the first words of Muhammadan extraction which were introduced into India. The use of Atish renders the passage suspicious. In other respects the verse in which it occurs does not bear the ap- pearance of modern manufacture. In the 257th stanza, it is said, that “The calivers and cannons made a loud report, when they were fired off, and the noise which issued from the ball was heard at a distance of ten fcos.” ^ The two lines in which this passage occurs

1 Prose autkors give no information, so we must have recourse to poets. Sa’d Salman gives long descriptions of Indian battles, yet never alludes to the use of any- thing like gunpowder, but notices fire at the siege of Agra. Badar Chach notices manjaniks at Nagarkot, in Muhammad Tughlik’s time. In the Tdju-l Ma-dsir there is not the remotest allusion, though every kind of fancy is indulged in describing swords, arrows, and spears, and other weapons of war. Nor are manjaniks^ or any such implement, mentioned, though there is a description of the capture of many forts. There is a very late mention of the use of manjaniks iu India in Ahmad Yhdghr’s Afghan History, p. 183 {supra, Vol. V. p. 45].

2 [Mr. Beames, B.C.S., who has paid special attention to Chand, informed me, when he was in England, that he had not found these passages in the MSS. he had con- sulted.— Ed.]

3 Froissart heats this with his marvellous bombard at Audenarde, which made such a noise at night, even at the distance of ten leagues, that all the devils of hell could not exceed it. “Et quand cette Bombarde decliquoit, on I’ouoit par jour bien de

ON THE EARLY USE OF GUNPOWDER IN INDIA. 465

are evidently a modern interpolation, and tlie lines which precede and follow them are of doubtful antiquity. The words used in the middle lines, though Hindi, seldom occur in ancient authors, and the introduction of to]pe is decisive as to the period of composition.

In the 416th cliliand, we have : The zambur lodged in his breast and he fainted away : thus fell Kai Govind, the strength of Dehli.”

Zamhur is used in this and in the preceding extract. It is now usually applied to a camel-swivel. It used also to be applied to an arrow, and like musquet, baston, bombarde, and some other words, continued to signify an oifensive weapon introduced under the new system of artillery, which followed the invention of gunpowder. The use of the word, therefore, is equivocal, and cannot be pro- nounced decidedly to mean a fire-arm ; though, to be sure, if an arrow were meant, there was no occasion to resort to a foreign word. In other respects, the passage is not open to suspicion.

Wild fire was used against Changiz Khan at Bamian,^ and the Jahdn-huslid tells us, that in his siege of Khwarizm, Changiz Khan was compelled to use the wood of the top?

In A.D. 1258, we find the wazir of the King of Dehli going out to meet an ambassador from Hulaku, the grandson of Changiz Khan, with 3000 carriages of fireworks.^ The same word, A'tish-bdzi, being applied to pyrotechnic displays, as well as artillery, leaves the meaning of the passage ambiguous.

Khusru, who died in 1315 a.d., is full of illustrations, and leaves no manner of doubt that nothing like gunpowder was known to him ; though there is an attempt in the hdshiya of the Kirdnu-s Sa'dain (p. 49), to make out gardrd to be a cannon ball.

In A.D. 1368, we have seen (supra, p. 230) Muhammad Shah Bahmani I. possessing himself, amongst other spoil, of 300 gun- carriages, upon which the translator of Firishta observes in a note, as follows :

cinq lieues loing, et par nuit de dix, et menoit si grande noise an decliquer, que il sembloit que tous les diables d' enter fussent au cbemin.” — Chronicle, tom. ii. p. 214. See also Meyrick, v. Bombard; D’Obsson, vol. ii. p. 36 ; Taylor’s Hist, of Moham., p. 260.

2 The Khuldsatu-t Tawdrikh sdiys, that tops were used at Autore in 1303.

“ If any reliance is to be placed on Moolla Daud Bidury, the author of the Tolifutu-s Sulatin, guns were used at this time by the Hindus, and in a subsequent passage it is remarked that the Muhammadans used them for the first time during the next campaign. But I am disposed to doubt the validity of both these statements. From the latter passage it seems possible, indeed, that the Muhamma- dans might have procured guns from the west in 1368, because they are said to have been used eighteen years previously by Edward III. at the battle of Cressy, though it is very improbable ; and Firishta, in stating it to be the first time the Muhammadans employed them, also observes, that Turks and Europeans skilled in gunnery worked the artillery. That guns were in common use before the arrival of the Portuguese in India in 1498, seems certain, from the mention made of them by Faria-e-Souza.” ‘

In the same author we find a manjanik used for a horrible purpose in A.D. 1371.2

It is remarkable that ’Abdu-r Eazzak gives no hint of gunpowder at Bijanagar; there the pyrotechnists are naphtha-throwers. This would seem to show that gunpowder must have been subsequent to his time. The ITatla’u-s Sa’dain, however, in one passage speaks of muslihsdz (squib-making).

The testimony as to the skill of the natives in the use of fire- arms, upon the first arrival of the Portuguese, is somewhat con- tradictor3^2 Mafi'ei, who may be considered an abridger of Juan de Barros, says that the Indians far excelled the Portuguese.^ He also states that ‘‘Bador,” at the siege of Chitor, had four balistas of so large a size that each was drawn by 100 yoke of oxen, so that the ground trembled beneath them. Another author, quoted by Bohlen, speaks of a certain Indian king being in the habit of placing several pieces of brass ordnance in front of his army.^

^ Briggs, vol. ii. p. 432. 2 Briggs, vol. ii. pp. 303, 404.

3 Mickle’s Camoens, p. 79; Introd., pp. 82, 90.

• Jamque Indici sclopi, seu ferreae fistulas et sulpliureus pulvis longo intervallo Lusitanicis antecellunt. — Sistor. Indie., p. 25.

® Das alte Indien, vol. ii. p. 63. Rex magnum numerum secum trahit tormentorum aeneorum in praelium, quae solet collocare in fronte exercitus. — Hayus, de rebus Indicis, p. 698. This may be the same work that is quoted elsewhere as the Historica Eelatio, Antwerp, 1605.— Bohlen, ib. vol. i. p. 102, vol. ii. p. 69; Mod. Utiiv. Hist., vol. vi. pp. 7, 192.

ON THE EARLY USE OF GUNPOWDER IN INDIA. 467

There is certain testimony to the use of cannon in Gujarat before the arrival of the Portuguese ; which is easily accounted for by the constant communication at that time with the Turks of Egypt and Arabia.^ In a.d. 1482. Mahmud Shah I. of Gujarat is mentioned as fitting out a fleet against the pirates of Bulsar, on board of which he embarked gunners and musketeers from Kambay. Two years after, we find him using cannon to breach the walls of Champanir. and even firing shells at the palace of the Eaja. It is curious that one of the first applications of gunpowder amongst Muhammadan Indians was in the manufacture of shells. A few years later, Sher Shah met his death by the explosion of one in his own batteries, when besiegiug Kalinjar.

Castanheda, in describing Vasco de Gama’s entrance into Calicut in 1198, says, ‘‘The procession again set but, preceded by many trumpets and sacbuts sounding all the way ; and one of the Nayres carried a caliver, which he fired off at intervals.” ^ Two years after- wards the Zamorin cannonaded the Portuguese vessels.^ In Castan- heda’s work, two Milanese lapidaries are said to have deserted, in 1503, to the Zamorin, for whom they offered to make ordnance, resembling that of the Portuguese, “ which they afterwards did, as will appear in the sequel of this history, and for which service they were highly rewarded.” ^ “ This caymal had a force of 3000 Nayres, 700 of whom were archers, and forty were armed with matchlocks. He had likewise several paraws provided with orduance, with which he was supplied by the Zamorin.” ®

Vertomann says that the Portuguese who entered into the service of the native princes taught them the art of using cannon.®

2 Kerr’s Collection of Voyages, vol. ii. p. 364. The original has espingarda, “ quo leuaua hua espingarda, com que tiraua de quando au quando.” — Historia do descobri- mento, etc., vol. i. p. 96. This cannot be the espringal which in Grose’s Mil. Jntiq, (vol. i. p. 17) is described as throwing large darts called muchette. See Du Cange s.v. ; also “ Gun-barrels,” in Ency. Metr. There is an English translation of Castan- heda, dated 1582, noticed in Reloe’s Anecdotes., vol. vi. p. 263, and Rist. Gen. des Voyages, Preface.

3 Rowlandson, Tolifut-ul Mujahidin, p. 81.

^ Kerr, p. 454. The fate of these men is shown in the same Collection, vol. vii.

® Ib, vol. ix. p. 403. See Vertomann in Rakluyt, vol. iv. pp. 576, 577, 591, 600.

Faria-e-Souza speaks of a Gujarat vessel in a.d. 1500 firing several guns at the Portuguese ; ^ of the Indians of Calicut using fire-vessels in 1502 ; and of the Zamorin’s fleet carrying in the next year 380 guns.^

In 1511, the Portuguese are opposed at Malacca by a people using cannon, who defend their streets by mining with gunpowder. At sea, they employed floats of wild fire. Muhammad, King of Java, brought 3000 guns to bear, out of the 8000 which he pos- sessed.^

If we come to later times, we find Babar mentioning that the soldiers in Bengal were expert artillerists ; for which of course they were indebted to the Portuguese. He himself had in his own camp large cannon, which fired huge stones, and took a long time to load. He had also several pieces which he styled Feringis, showing their European origin.^ Arrows were also used in this action. In another part of his Memoirs, Babar speaks of cannon being cast at the capital in his days ; but the fact of the welding system being adopted at Dacca in the days of Shah Jahan, does not say much for the efficiency of Bengal artillery a century previous.^ At the battle of Panipat also, a.d. 1526, Babar had used artillery, “chained together according to the custom of Rum, with twisted bull-hides.”® He alludes no doubt to the victory gained by Salim over Shah Ism’ail in 1514, in which this method had been found very effective. Babar appears to have had no light pieces, for here also arrows were used in skirmishes.'^ Between every two gun-carriages were

^ Faria-e-Souza, Asia Portuguesa^ tom. i. part i. chap. 5.

• Leyden and Erskine, Memoirs of Babar, pp. 413-416.

Gibbon shows the use of ancient and modern artillery at the siege of Constanti- nople. See also P. Cyclo. “Artillery,” and other Encyclopaedias for this matter. Indeed, the superiority of the bow over the musket was for a long time insisted on.

“ The whole faith of historie cannot show That e’er the musquet yet could beat the bow.”

Grose’s Mil. Antiq,, vol. i. pp. 141, 151, shows the bow long maintained its place, and the same with projectile machines, ib. p. 381 ; likewise Greek-fire, p. 390. See Weyrick’s Ancient Armour, vol. iii. pp. 50, 78; Briggs, vol. iii. pp. 50, 129, 411.

ON THE EAKLY FSE OF GUNPOWDER IN INDIA. 469

six or seven tubras,^ or movable breast-works. The matchlock- men stood behind these guns and tuhras, and discharged their matchlocks.^

Shortly after this, we begin to have frequent mention of the use of rockets. Indeed, there is much reason to suppose, that as in the west, so in the east, rockets preceded cannon : yet it is strange that they should now be regarded in Europe as the most recent inven- tion of artillery. Under the Emperor Leo the philosopher, who lived at the close of the ninth century, the soldiers of the lower empire used to carry within their shields light tubes {'^(eipocn^wva)^ which were filled with artificial fire, and rushed through the air with extreme velocity. These were made under Leo’s own directions.^

In A.D. 1232, the Chinese defended themselves against the Tartars by the use of rockets.^

In modern Europe there are proofs of their use as early as a.d. 1380.® Bombshells also appear early in Europe. Stowe’s Chronicle says that Peter von Collet, in the year 1543, “ made certaine hollow shot of cast yron, to be stuffed with fire-werke,” etc.®

1 Tuhras are nose-bags, but 'Abdu-l Kadir Bad&uni makes the meaning plain, by saying they were filled with earth {Tdrikh-i Badauni, fob 136). The same author says that 800 of these gun-carriages were prepared in one day {Muntakhabu-tTawdrikh^ MS. fol. 67). The sacks used by Sher Shah as temporary fortifications on his march towards Rfijputana were tuhras (v. sup. Vol. IV. p. 405) ; Erskine’s Memoirs of Bdbar, vol. i. p. 433.

2 Calc. Rev.y no. xiii. 83. See quotations from De Barras, at p. 34 of Chesney’s Fire-arms ; see also p. 35. Gamelli Curari, in 1695, observes that even in Aurangzeb’s time, most of the soldiers had bows and arrows, and “ the swords made in that country being apt to break, the English furnish them with such as are made in Europe.” “ All the artillery, especially the heavy, is under the direction of Franks or Christian gunners, who have extraordinary pay, especially the Portuguese, English, Dutch, German, and French, who go from Goa, or run away from aboard ships. Some of them formerly had 200 roupies a month, but now the Moguls have learnt somewhat of the art, they have less.” — Churchill^ vol. iv. pp. 236- 7. Chesney’s Fire- arms, p. 60. Baldeeus has given us, in chap, ii., a copy of a farmdn from “ Mfr Chaasjan (Shah Jahan) to Miersia Arep, his Governor of Suratte,” in which the following passage occurs : “ You shall endeavour to list ten Christian constables, well versed in their art, into our service ; and you shall spare no cost to have some great cannon cast for our use.” — Churchill, vol. iii. p. 520.

3 Leonis Tactiea, ap. Meursii Op. vi. 19, 57 ; Journal des Savants, 1847, p. 149.

4 A Banduli Chronicon, ap. Muratori, xii. 448.

^ Muratori, Script. Rer. Ital. iii. 1197, xv. 769; Ducange, Glossar. Med. et Inf. Lat. V. Rocheta.

® Stowe, p. 584 (quoted in Meyrick, vol. ii. p. 293) ; Fenny Cycle, v. “Artillery.” On grenades, see Meyrick, vol. iii. p. 68.

Yet we are informed by the best authorities/ that rockets were first used in warfare at the siege of Copenhagen in 1807. Even in the modern history of India, we cannot fail to be struck with the frequent mention of rockets. Every page of the native histo- rians abounds with notices of their use from Akbar to Shah ’Alam.^ The iron work of one has been found to weigh thirty pounds.^

It is probable that the indications which we have of the early use of fiery missiles in ancient Indian warfare, refer more to rockets than cannons, and we will now proceed to consider the nature of these weapons.

Manu, quoted by Elphinstone, prohibits the use of fire-arrows.* The passage most commonly quoted to show the early use of fire-arms in India is extracted from the Code of Centoo Laws, where we have the following prohibition : The magistrate shall not make war with any deceitful machine, or with poisoned weapons, or with cannon and guns, or any kind of fire-arms.” Halhed, commenting on this pas- sage, says : “ The reader will probably from hence renew the suspicion which has long been deemed absurd, that Alexander the Great did absolutely meet with some weapons of that kind in India, as a passage in Quintus Curtins seems to ascertain. Gunpowder has been known in China, as well as Hindustan, far beyond all periods of investigation. The word “fire-arms” is literally the Sanskrit agniaster, “a weapon of fire;” they describe the first species of it to have been a kind of dart, or arrow tipt with fire, and discharged upon the enemy from a bamboo. Among several extraordinary pro- perties of this weapon, one was, that after it had taken its flight, it divided into several separate streams of flame, each of which took effect, and which, when once kindled, could not be extinguished; but this kind of agniaster is now lost.” ® He then goes on to say, that

• Penny Cyclopcedia, v. “ Eocket.” They were used in the attack on Boulogne in 1806.

• Gladwin’s History of Jahangir, p. 25; Autoh, of Jahangir, p. 55 [supra, pp. 833, 344] ; Tennant’s Indian Recreations, vol. L p. 244. Shells and rockets are spoken of in the Tdrikh~i Tdhiri about 1591 a.d., hut some European was concerned, and, according to Ahmad Yadgar, they were used earlier still in Bahlol’s reign. See Ma’sumi also.

2 Moor’s Hindu Pantheon, p. 299 ; A. Hamilton in Pinkerton, vol. viii. p. 427.

® Ilalhed, Code of Gentoo Laws, Introduction, p. lii. See also the Amara Kosha and Sabda Kalpa Drama, vol. i. p. 16.

ON THE EARLY USE OF GUNPOWDER IN INDIA. 471

cannon is called shataglinee, or weapon tLat kills one hundred men at once,i and that the Poordn-slidsters ascribe the invention of these destructive engines to Viswacarma,^ the Vulcan of the Hindus, — a name which M. Eusebe Salverte ^ is tempted to believe furnished the etymology of the French word vacarme ; — which is about as reason- able as to suppose, that Charivari comes from Chakravarti, because it is a title exclusive!}^ devoted to those who have made a considerable noise in the world.

The submarine fire urva, in the drama of the Sakuntala, where it is called ‘‘ the mysterious fire which burns in the depth of the seas,” has been supposed to allude to a composition similar to Greek-fire ; but M. Langlois, appealing to an episode from the Harivansa, enter- tains the much more probable opinion, that a submarine volcano is alluded to.^ Viswamitra, who is represented in the Kamayana as giving different kinds of weapons to Eama, speaks of one as dgneija, another as sMldiara.

Carey and Marshnaan, who render sliiJcliara as a combustible weapon, deduce from this passage that the ancient Hindus were acquainted with gunpowder. The passage, however, seems to contain a mere poetic fiction. The author there speaks of numerous kinds of wea- pons, some of which were evidently imaginary, as, for instance, the vdyava or airy.^

1 It may well admit of doubt if this was really a cannon. In the Haffhuvansa it is distinctly said, that the “Daemon laid his iron-headed sataglmi upon R§ima, as Kuvera laid his celebrated club upon Jamraj.”

^ See M. Chezy, La Reconnaissance de Sacountala,^. 213. Wilson, Sanskrit Dic- tionary, Sabda Kalpa Druma, vol. iii. p. 2489, and Eusebe Salverte, Occult Sciences Eng. trans. vol. ii. p. 223, where, in allusion to this passage, it is said, “ The fire which burns and crackles on the bosom of the waves denotes that the Greek-fire was anciently known in Hindustan under the name of barrawaP

^ [The Mahhbh&rata represents the sage Bharadwaja as bestowing the dgneydstra, or weapon of fire, upon Agnivesa, son of Agni, the deity of fire, who afterwards delivered it to Bharadw§.ja’s son Drona. The manner in which this weapon is spoken of might justify the supposition of its being some special unique weapon of super- natural origin. Wilson, in a note to the passage, says, “ Fiery arms or rockets were possibly employed by the Hindus in remote antiquity, as well as in recent times ; whence came the notion of certain mysterious weapons framed of the elements, and to be wielded only by deities and demigods. These make a great figure in the battle- scenes of the Mahabharata, For a further account of these weapons, see transla- tion of the Uttara Rama Charitra.” — Johnson’s Selections from the Mahdbhdrata, p. 1. — Ed.]

The Harivansa speaks of the fiery weapon thus :

“ King Sagara having received fire-arms from Bhargava,^ conquered the world, after slaying the Taljanghas and the Haihayas.”

Urva, having performed the usual ceremonies on the birth of the great-minded (prince), and having taught him the Yedas, instructed him in the use of arms; the great-armed (Urva) (presented him) the fiery weapon,^ which even the immortals® could not stand.”

The following lengthy description in the Sri Bhdgavat of the dis- charge of the hralimdstra ^ is somewhat peculiar.

“The murderer of the princes (Aswatthama), seeing him advancing from a distance, was much alarmed, and fled for his life in his car, like Brahma running away for fear of Siva, as far as it was possible to go on the earth. When his horses ^'being fatigued, he considered himself without help, the Brahmin’s son looked upon the hrahmdstra as his only refuge. Accordingly, having washed his hands, and fixed his mind, he adjusted, and discharged it, though he did not know how to draw it in, in case of danger. Arjuna, seeing a glaring light flaming on all sides, and considering his life in danger, spoke to Krishna : ‘ 0 Krishna ! Krishna ! thou great-armed ! thou who

makest thy followers fearless ! thou art the only deliverance for those who burn in the world. Thou art the first Being, absolute God, superior to Prakriti itself. Thou dwellest in the spirit alone by the power of intellect, giving up Mdyd. Thou ordainest by thine own power the righteousness and well-being of all people, whose minds are blinded by Mdyd. Even now thou art incarnate, in order to bear the burden of the world, and even to help thine own people, who

1 M. Langlois observes that these fire-arms appear to have belonged to the Bh^r- gavas, the family of Bhrigu. — Harivansa, p. 68.

2 M. Langlois translates it arme de feu, in this and the preceding passage. The whole legend of Urva and Aurva will he found in the Harivansa, vol. i. p. 211, where the translator considers that some kind of Greek-fire is alluded to.

3 It is impossible not to he struck with the resemblance between the fights of Demons and Immortals in the Sh&,stras and the war of the Titans against Saturn, and of the Giants against Jupiter ; and in nothing is it more striking than in the use of fiery weapons and thunders. It is worthy of remark that those contests are of late importation into Greek mythology. Homer and Hesiod are silent on the subject, on which so many later writers have employed their imagination.

• Wilson, in his Sanskrit Dictionary, s. v. , calls it “ the Brahma weapon, a fabulous weapon originally from Brahma.”

ON THE EARLY USE OF GUNPOWDER IN INDIA. 473

think of no body else. Oh God of Gods ! I know not whence this is, or what it is. I see a fearful light coming from all sides.’ Krishna’s answer : — ‘ Know this to be the hralimdstra of the son of Drona. He does not know how to draw it in, in case of danger. He has no other counteracting weapon. Thou art well skilled in arms ; destroy the force of this by the power of thy arms.’ Suta continued: ‘Arjuna, the destroyer of hostile chiefs, having heard Krishna’s, language, and having washed his hands, discharged his hrahmdstra against that of his antagonist. The fury of the t\YO fiery darts acting against each other, overspread the heavens and earth, and waxed strong like the burning rays of the sun. The three worlds were illuminated by the great light of the two weapons ; the inhabit- ants were all burnt, and believed the end of the world to be at hand. Arjuna observing the calamity which befell the world and the distress of the people, drew in both weapons agreeably to Krishna’s wishes.”

In a note on the subject of the hralimdstra, the Eev. Krishna Mohan Banerjea, to whom I am indebted for the preceding reference, observes in his excellent work the “ Encyclopedia Bengalensis,” that the hrahmdstra was probably a piece of musketry, not unlike the modern matchlock.^

The Sr't Bhdgavat makes mention also of Aswatthama’s discharg- ing his hrahmdstra against Uttara while she was with child, with a view to destroy her embryo ; and Krishna, the constant friend of the Pandavas, is represented as saving her by his superhuman power. The Devi Furdna says that Brahma made the instrument for the purpose of killing Narayan.^ The curious part in the preceding description is the drawing the missile back.^ In this respect it has some resemblance to the boomerang of the Australian savages. An account of this magic stick, which returns to the persons who throw it, is subjoined.^

^ Encycl. Beng., vol. hi. p. 21. The Hindi Prem Sagar, which is founded upon the tenth chapter of the Bhdgavat, represents the guards of Krishna as seizing their weapons and firing their muskets {lage tupaJc chhorne). — End of chap. iv.

2 Was not the chakra drawn hack by a thong ?

• This instrument is a flat curved piece of hard wood, about eighteen inches long, three inches wide in the middle, tapering off towards the extremities, and nearly half an inch thick; the native ones are very roughly finished, and vary in size con- siderably ; which is of no importance : it is used either to bring down birds in their

In the MahdhJidrata we read of a “ flying ball emitting the sound

flight, or to arrest the progress of men or animals until they can he despatched by other means ; but its singular property is that of returning to the thrower, which has often excited the astonishment of travellers, and the incredulity of those who have only heard of it, until it has now become quite familiar. This curious fact has been related in such a manner as to render it much more extraordinary than it really is when correctly stated; for if it touch any object in its flight, it will not return, although, by some, it has been supposed capable of killing an animal, and then returning to the thrower.

The principle on which it acts merits some investigation : and I think I shall be able to prove that this peculiar property does not depend wholly on its form, although the one adopted may he the most convenient for the purpose. Any thin flat body, whatever may be its form, will exhibit the same phenomenon, provided a rapid rota- tion round its centre of gravity he communicated at the same time that it is projected forward at a considerable angle of elevation. The natives are, of course, perfectly ignorant of the principles, and, like all other savages, confine their knowledge to efi’ects.

Many familiar instances of rotation causing bodies to return, after being projected forward, may he adduced. A hoop, for example, will return, if thrown forward with a sudden jerk inwards from the upper part of its circumference. A billiard hall, struck with force and dexterity just below its centre, may he made to pass from one end of the table to the other and return without having touched the cushion. The blow in this direction gives the ball a rapid rotation towards the striker, and at the same time drives it forward, not rolling, hut sliding along the cloth, and revolving in an opposite direction; the moment the friction has overcome the projectile force, the hall rolls hack by virtue of the original revolving motion communicated to it by the stroke of the queue.

Another instance less known I have already mentioned in a former part, namely, that of a bullet discharged from a crooked barrel, bemg thrown at long distances, in an opposite direction to the curvature.

The boomerang^ however, is influenced by different causes. To exhibit the pheno- menon properly, it must he thrown into the air with great force, at an angle of 50° or 60° of elevation, and by an inward motion of the wrist (difficult to describe, and not easy to execute), a rapid spin must be communicated to it, otherwise it will not return. I have repeatedly thrown it forward, upwards of forty yards, and it has retm-ned backwards over my head, and fallen fifteen or sixteen yards behind me. If pieces of card be cut in various forms, rectangular, oval, circular, and semi-circular, all of them will return across a room, more or less, Avhen projected from the fingers at a considerable angle of elevation, with a rapid rotary motion ; and it is immaterial whether the rotation he from right to left, or the contrary ; the only effect of the rotation being to keep them nearly in the same plane of air as that in which they were propelled, and thus prevent them from obtaining an horizontal position to which they always incline from the situation of the centre of gravity ; thus, if left to them- selves, they would present their broad sm-faces to the air, and descend nearly in a perpendicular direction as soon as the projectile force ceased to operate, if unaccom- panied by rotation ; but the rotation, continuing after the projectile force has ceased, causes them to slide down the inclined plane of air up which they were thrown, merely because it is the line of least resistance ; that is, they cannot descend perpen- dicularly, because their broad surfaces are opposed to the resistance of the air in that direction, while their edges are inclined to the same angle as that in which they were

ON THE EARLY USE OF GUNPOWDER IN INDIA. 475

of a thunder-cloud,” which Bopp considers to apply to a meteor, though the scholiast is express in referring it to artillery.^

In this place observation may be drawn to the very singular relation of a combustible, which occurs in the Extract from the 31ujmalu-t Tawdrihli (supra, Vol. I. p. 107), where we read that the Brahmans counselled Hal to have an elephant made of clay, and to place it in the van of his army, and that when the army of the King of Kashmir drew nigh, the elephant exploded, and the flames destroyed a great portion of the invading force.^ Here we have not only the simple act of explosion, but something very much like a fuze, to enable the ex- plosion to occur at a particular period. The testimony is valuable, for the work was translated as early as a.d. 1126 from the Arabic, which had been translated a century previous from a Sanskrit original, even then acknowledged to be very old.

We have other Eastern stories, all bearing much the same char- acter, and all composed long before the invention of gunpowder; and, therefore, the writers had no opportunity of applying modern knowledge to the history of a more remote era.

Eirdusf, who died a.d. 1020, tells us that the troops of Sikandar (Alexander the Great) were greatly terrified at the sight of the two thousand elephants which Fur had brought into the field, and that some philosophers were requested to consult together to contrive some means of counteracting this tremendous force. They suggested the construction of an iron horse, and the figure of a rider, also of iron, to be placed upon wheels like a carriage, and filled with naphtha ; so that, on coming in contact with the elephants, the whole

projected. These are the principles on which the boomerang acts, for if it be thrown forward at a small elevation, or horizontally, the rotation has no tendency to cause its return ; it therefore proceeds forward, cutting the air always in that direction which opposes the least resistance, exactly in the same manner as any other body having a thin edge in one direction and extent of surface in another : for which reason it often winds round and performs a variety of curious and amusing gyrations in the air, which depend on the relative degrees of projectile and rotatory force com- municated to it and the currents of air through which it moves : hut in these in- stances, although it may describe a semi-circle, or even return within the line in which it was thrown, it never returns to the thrower. — AYilkinson, Engines of War, pp. 290-294 ; see Bonomi’s Nineveh and its Palaces, p. 135.

^ Anmerkungen zu Ardschuna' s Himmelreise, p. 74 ; Bohlen, das alle Indien,

vol. ii. p. 66 ; see also Theodore Benfey, Indien, p. 239.

engine might explode.^ The monarch approved of this invention, and collected all the blacksmiths and artizans in the country, to con- struct a thousand machines of this description with the utmost expedition. The consequence was, that when Fur advanced to attack, the combustibles were fired by the Grecians, and the horses explod- ing, many of the elejDhants were burnt and destroyed, and the rest, together with the army, fled away in confusion.^

M. Eusebe Salverte^ gives the same story from the lately discovered life of Alexander by J. Vactrius,^ referring to the Biblioih. Univers. Litt. tom. vii. pp. 225, 226.

It is not improbable that the rolling horses, mentioned in a Chinese account of India, were used for a similar purpose. “The Indians are timid in battle; their weapons are the bow and arrows, and shield. They have also, like the Chinese, flying, or winged ladders ; and according as the ground will permit, they follow the rules of the wooden oxen and rolling horses.^’ ^

^ This reminds us of Plancarpin’s story of Prester-John. The Tartars informed the monk that Prester-John, when attacked by the son of Changiz Khan, led against his assailants figures of bronze, mounted on horseback. The inside of these figures was filled with fire, and behind each there was a man, who threw something within them, which immediately produced au immense smoke. — Voyage de Plancarpin, v. 42, ap. Phil, of Magic, vol. ii. p. 236.

^ Shdh-ndma, Turner Macan’s edit., vol. iii. p. 1308 ; see MirJchond. Mohl’s version of this passage is as follows : “ Ils firent un cheval de guerre en fer, son cavalier etait de fer, et de fer la bride ; ils rattacherent les jointures avec des clous et de la soudure de cuivre, polirent le cavalier et son cheval, et les trainerent sur les rous devant Iskender, apres en avoir rempli et noirci tout I’interieur avec du naphte. Iskender vit leur invention et elle lui pint. Le roi intelligent sut en tirer parti et ordonna que Ton fabriquait en fer plus de mille chevaux et cavaliers semblables. ... On alluma le naphte qui remplissait les chevaux de fer et les Indiens se frapperent le front d’etonnement. Le feu alluma le naphte noir et ebranla toute cette troupe de fer; I’armee indienne poussa un cri immense, on rendit furieux les elephants par les coups de crochets ; mais quand ils saisirent avec les trompes ces cavaliers en fiammes leurs conducteurs resterent confondus. Toute I’armee des Indiens recula, et les elephants de guerre qui portait haut la tete quand ils furent ainsi repousses par ces hommes de fer, se retirerent en tout hate avec les troupes.” — Le Livre des Rois, tom. i. p. 50.

• A great error has been committed here in the name, which should be J ulius Valerius. The error is, I fancy, Salverte’s. The whole story will be found in Muller’s edit. (Didot) of Pseudo-Calisthenes, p. 97, to which “ versionis loco” J. Valerius’s work is appended. Respecting these fabulous histories, see Niebuhr’s Lect. on Anc. Hist., vol. ii. p. 351.

® Ma-twam-lin, Peep Researches into Ancient Monuments, translated in As. Journal, 1836, vol. XX. p. 218.

ON THE EARLY USE OF GUNPOWDER IN INDIA. 477

Kazwini, writing at the close of the thirteenth century, says, in his Chapter on the Islands of the Indian Sea, that the inhabitants of a certain island petitioned Alexander to free them of an enormous dragon, who used to require two bulls for his daily sustenance, and if he did not get them, he would take his revenge by laying waste the fields and killing men and women : “ which when Alexander heard, he ordered the hides of two bulls to be brought, and stuffed them with pitch, sulphur, lime and arsenic, together with iron hooks, and then directed that they should be placed where the dragon used to come for his daily food. The dragon came, and devoured them as usual ; but, as he was retiring towards his den, a flame was kindled in his belly, and the hooks adhered to his entrails, so that he died.” ^

The Bauzatu-s Safa speaks of Alexander’s meeting Porus with explosive machines. Western authors also connect Alexander’s name with many anecdotes relating to the use of incendiary prepara- tions in warfare. These accounts, combined with those given by Oriental writers, make it difficult to believe that the ancient Indians did not possess a knowledge of some substances which had much the same power and effect as gunpowder. Philostratus says : “ Had Alexander passed the Hyphasis, he never could have made himself master of the fortified habitation of these sages. Should an enemy make war on them, they drive him off by means of tempest and thunders, as if sent down from heaven. The Egyptian Hercules and Bacchus made a joint attack on them, and by means of various military engines attempted to take the place. The sages remained unconcerned spectators, until the assault was made, when it was re- pulsed by fiery whirlwinds and thunders, which, being hurled from above, dealt destruction on the invaders.^

Themistius also mentions the Brahmans fighting at a distance, with lightnings and thunders.^

Alexander’s use of incendiary compositions is a favourite topic with the early romancists. One was furnished to him by a certain Alcays, with which he fired the city of Tyre from a mangonel. No

^ Gorres, Heldenhuch von Iran^ vol. ii. p. 387 ; see Edrisi, vol. i. pp. 198, 200.

2 Philostrati Vit. Apollon, lib. ii. c. 33, G. Olearius, p. 86.

2 Oral, xxvii. p. 337, ap. Dutens, Origine des dicouvertes attribuees aux Modernes^ p. 196 ; Maurice, Mod. Hist, of Hindustan, vol. i. p. 144 ; Weston’s Fragments, p. 58.

doubt this instructor is the same as the Kej^d of the ShdJi-ndma, the Kefend of the Mujmalu-t TawdriTch, and the Kend of Mas’udi.^

In the famous treatise of Marcus Graecus, entitled Liber ignium ad comburendos liostes, we find recipes headed, — “Ignis quern invenit Aristoteles, quando cum Alexandro rege ad obscura loca iter ageret and again, “ Sequitur alia species ignis, quo Aristoteles domes in montibus sitas destruxit incendio.” The use of fire, however, is so obvious an auxiliaiy, that we are surprised it is not more often men- tioned. Thucydides speaks of it at the siege of Platsea (ii. 77). Livy mentions the use of Trvpo/SoXoi, by the ^tolians (xxxviii. 6). And jLneas, the tactician, who lived about the time of Aristotle, enjoins its use in his valuable Commentarius PoUorceticus (J. C. Orelli, Leipzig, 1818). Josephus also slightly mentions it (iii. vii. 9).- Some other early instances are adduced in Note A., Yol. V. p. 550.

In the apocryphal letter of Alexander- to Aristotle, we find men- tion made of the terrific flashes of flame, which he beheld showered on his army on the burning plains of India. Dante has immortalized the tmdition, which, according to Landino, he obtained from Albertus Magnus :

Quali Alessandro in quelle parti calde D’ India vide sovra lo suo stolo Fiamme cadere infino a terra salde.

Con le sue schiere, perciocche’l vapore Me’ si stingueva, mentre ch’ era solo ;

Tale scendeva I’eternale ardove. — Inferno^ xiv. 31-7.

Ctesias says that the Indians manufactured an oil on the banks of the river Indus, inclosed in earthen jars, and that on being shot out against woodworks, a flame was kindled, which could only be extin- guished by a quantity of mud, thickly laid on it; that it was manufactured solely for the king ; and no one else was allowed to have it in his possession.^

iElian, while he quotes Ctesias, at the same time improves upon this relation. He says that the oil has such strength, that it not only

1 Histoire de V Artillerie^ p. 48 ; Fragments Arabes, p. 45 ; Shdh-ndma, vol. iii. p. 1290 ; Eeinaud’s Mem., p. 62 ; Spiegel, die Alex., 20, 53 ; Thomas, mJourn. Boy. As. Soe. N.s. vol. i. p. 453.

2 See Potter’s Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 47.

3 Ctesige Indica Excerpta, xxvii. ed. Baer, p. 356.

ON THE EARLY USE OF GUNPOWDER IN INDIA. 479

Lurns up wood, but men and animals, and, indeed, anything it touches ; that the king of the Indians takes cities by its means ; that no battering-ram, or other poliorcetic machine, can resist it ; earthen jars are filled with it, and thrown upon city gates ; the jars being fractured, the oil spreads, and is inextinguishable and insatiable, burning both arms and fighting men.^

Philostratus, speaking of the same, says, there is in the Hyphasis an insect which looks like a white worm, producing an oil, from which issues a flame of such a nature, that it can only be extinguished by mud.^ This insect is the King’s sole property, and is used by him in destroying the walls of besieged towns ; for, the moment it touches the battlements, it is sai^l to kindle such a flame as cannot be put out by any of the ordinary means for extinguishing fire.^ These three authors concur in representing that this oil is procured from a worm, which must be a pretty large one, as it is

seven cubits long, and of proportionate breadth. However fabulous may be the origin of this product, we cannot entertain a doubt that it was something highly inflammable and destructive. This river worm is described as having two teeth, one above and one below, and with them devouring whatever comes within its reach. During the day it burrows in the mud, but at night emerges on the land, and carries off oxen, and even camels. It is taken with a large hook, to which a goat or sheep is fastened with an iron chain. When captured, it is hung up for a- month, with vessels placed underneath, into which runs as much oil as would fill ten Attic cotylse. Professor H. H. Wilson considers that the alligator is alluded to. He is not, however, aware, that oil is extracted from the alligator; but, at the dissection of one at which he assisted, enormous masses of yellow fat were found under the skin, which might have been converted into oil.” ^ But there can be no doubt

2 t:7]Kov. The edition of Olearius reads yeAoG, -which is folio-wed by Berwick, -who translates it ; “ only to be contained in a glass vial,” — -which is very forced and un- natural ; besides, the former is used both by Ctesias and ^Elian. — Fhilostratarum qua supersunt omnia, Lipsia, 1709, fol. p. 93. Much the same property is ascribed to Greek-fire in the monkish lines quoted in Grose’s Mil. Antiq., vol. i. p. 389.

3 Script. Vet. by Dr. Schauffelberger, p. 48.

about alligator — or rather, when referring to India, crocodile — oil ; for almost all the native works on Materia Medica notice it, and ascribe wonderful properties to it. Even in the crocodile’s products live the wonted alarms which its natural voracity insjDires. Happ}’^ the man in whose frail bark its oil, or fat, burns ! Him will not assail the croak of frogs, when —

mali culices ranaeque palustres Avertunt somnos. — Sorat.

from those unhappy mortals not similarly provided.^ Let it even be mixed with wax, let even the rains be the season of their operations, and their eternal croaking, while it may be distracting the ears of his next neighbours, is as inaudible to him as if he were in Seriphus or Sicendus.^ Happy the he-goat on whose forehead it is rubbed ! for he can put to flight all competitors. Happy the city which has its skin ! for if drawn round the walls and suspended from the entrance gate, no hail will fall within it, or blast the tender crops of its inhabitants : ^

Expectata seges vanis eludet aristis. — Georg, i. 226.

On the whole, then, we may conclude that fire-arms of some kind were used in the early stages of Indian History ; that the

^ The Greeks attributed this miraculous effect to the hurniug of amj lamp. Africanus says :

Bdrpaxoi (TicoTVTjcrovai Kpa^ovr^s, idv Xvxvov dij/as drjs Trphs Tr]v ux^W-

2 See Pliny, Nat. Mist. lib. viii. c. 58, and Tzetzes, Chiliad, 8.

^ Tuhfatii-l Miiminin ; see also Muhammad Husain’s Makhzan-i Adwiya, Hooghli edit. vol. i. p. 425.

The prescription in the text affords another curious coincidence between Asiatic and European superstitions. The value of the crocodile’s skin in averting hail was well known to the Greeks and Romans, and the same mode of circuit and suspension was adopted.

Grandini creditur ohviare, si quis crocodili pellem vel hysense vel marini vituli per spatia possessionis circumferat, et in villae aut cortis suspendat ingressu, cum malum viderit imminere.— Palladius, Me Re Rusticd, lib. i. tit. 35; Cod. Justin., lib. ix. title 18, quoted in Hutchinson on Witchcraft, p. 202.

Again, an unknown author in the Geoponical Collection of Cassianus Bassus says :

ndXiv idv iv tu> x^P^^ trepiaydy-ps vaivrjs ^ KpoKoB^lXov ^ <pcl'Kr]s Bipp-a, Ka) tovto irph TTuXuv rrjs oiKijaews dvaprii<Tr\s, oh ireaelrai xctAo^a. — Geoponicorum, lib. i. cap. xiv.

^ From the annexed extract it vdll he seen that the subject has been discussed . by the person most competent to illustrate it.

Jtme 17. — Prof. "Wilson in the chair. — The Director, Prof. Wilson, read to the Asiatic Society a paper vvitten by himself, “ On the Military Science of the Ancient

ON THE EARLY USE OF GUNPOWDER IN INDIA. 481

missiles were explosive ; and that the time or mode of ignition was dependent on pleasure ; that projectiles were used which were made to adhere to gates, buildings, and machines, setting fire to them from a considerable distance ; that it is probable that saltpetre, the principal ingredient of gunpowder, and the cause of its detona- tion, entered into the composition, because the earth of Gangetic India is richly impregnated with it in a natural state of preparation, and it may be extracted from it by lixiviation and crystallization

Hindus.” The paper began with the observation, that although the Hindus had always been inferior to their foreign invaders in practical warfare, they were probably superior to them in its theory. A supplementary portion of their Vedas, or Sacred Institutes, was devoted to the science of war, under the denomination of Bhanuk Veda. This original treatise is probably lost ; hut many interesting particulars are derivable from the Agni Furdna, the Mahubhdrata, and other of their standard works. The bow appears to have been their chief weapon (as is demonstrated by the word dhanuk “ a how,” in the name Bhanuk Veda) ; hut other missile arms, as the discus, javelins, short iron clubs, etc., were used. The troops were also generally armed vuth swords, maces, axes, and spears, and defended by helmets, quilted jackets, and coats of mail. Their armies were theoretically arranged in bodies of relative proportions, consisting of elephants, chariots, horse, and foot — the former being equal in number, and the latter in the proportion of three horsemen and five footmen for each chariot. The number of chariots and elephants is the great characteristic of Hindu warfare ; and it is remarkable that in their heroic poems the heroes are generally represented as riding in a chariot, and never on a horse. In a few cases they are mentioned as coming to battle on an elephant ; but in the course of time horses have entirely superseded chariots in India as in Britain, where the chariot once played so impor- tant a part in battle. The paper proceeded with a description of the various sorts of hows, arrows, and other weapons used by the ancient Hindus. The question as to the knowledge of gunpowder, or any similar explosive substance, by the ancient people of India, said the Professor, is one of great historical interest. It is clear from their medical works that they were acquainted with the constituents of gun- powder, and possessed them in great abundance : and our acquaintance with their literature is as yet too imperfect to warrant a reply in the negative because we have not met with a positive account of the invention. Their writings make frequent reference to arms of fire ; and rockets — which appear to he an Indian invention, though not mentioned by name in Sanskrit wvitings — had long been used in their armies when Europeans first came in contact with them. Tactics also were not omitted in Hindu military science. The division of the army into centre, fianks, wings, and reserve, is laid down ; and rides for the order of march, the modes of overcoming obstacles, the choice of a position, and the different kinds of array, are given, and illustrated by quotations from the Agni Furdna. The subject of encamp- ment received attention ; in illustration of which the paper concluded with a quota- tion from the 3Iahdbhdrata, describing in considerable detail the pitching of Yudhishthira’s camp upon a level and fertile spot on the hanks of the Himhvati, agreeably to the precepts laid doivn for the regulation of the practice. — AtJmicewn, July 8, 1848. [The paper of which this was a summary seems to have remained in MS.— Ed.]

without the aid of fire ; and that sulphur may, for the same reason, have been mixed with it, as it is abundant in the nortli-west of India.

This destructive agent appears to have fallen into disuse before we reach authentic history, and, notwithstanding the assertions to the contrary, there seems reason to suppose that, at the time of the Muhammadan invasion, the only inflammable projectiles which were known were of a more simple nature, composed chiefly, if not entirely, of bituminous substances, — from naphtha, the most liquid, to asphaltum, the most solid of them, — and that, whether from cumbrousness or “ inefi'ectual fires,” they were very rarely brought into action.

It is not to be gathered for certain that the natives of Southern India were superior in the use of artillery to the Portuguese on their first arrival ; but, even if they were, they might easily have acquired their skill from Egypt, Persia, and Arabia, with which during the period of Muhammadan supremacy there was constant communication ; so that there is nothing in the testimony of either native or foreign witnesses sufficiently positive to lead to the con- clusion that, in modern times at least, the knowledge of fire-arms was indigenous in India, and antecedent to their use in Europe.

These Extracts are from a treatise by ’Abdu-1 Hakk Hakki Deblawi/ containing memoirs of certain famous philosophers and poets of Dehli, with notices of some of their writings, and a catalogue of the works composed by himself in Arabic and Persian, which was compiled in the reign of the Emperor Nuru-d din Jahangir. Translated from a copy in the possession of Nawab Ziau-d din Khan of Loharu by (Major) A. K. Fuller, Artillery.

As soon as 2 these eternal lights, by reflecting the elfulgent rays of Muhammad (on whom be the choicest of favours and the greatest of blessings !), illumined every quarter and corner of Hindustan, they shone on the metropolis of Hehli also, which is the centre of the circle of sanctity and holiness, and the true tabernacle of faith and religion. For a vast host and multitude of all classes of men professing the creed of Islam, and consisting of august shaikhs, learned sages, and eloquent orators, repaired to this city from all quarters of the globe, both from Arabia and Persia, and took up their illustrious residence in it. They then enlightened and civilized with the lustre of religion and wisdom all parts and bounds of this realm, which had previously been shrouded and enveloped in the gloom of paganism and ignorance.

The writer of these lines (may the Lord preserve his fortunes from calamity and disaster !) introduced memoirs of Kings and

1 [The title of the work is not given. But it is evidently a distinct work, and not a portion of the same author’s History. The note, supra, page 181, is therefore not quite accurate.]

2 Beferring to the men of eminent sanctity and learning who immediately suc- ceeded the Prophet.

nobles into bis history of this realm, which is a work entitled Zilcru-l JIuluk (The Chronicle of Kings), and abounds with his- torical matter ; while he gave a full account of virtuous shaikhs in his book called Akhhdru-l Akhydr (Eeminiscences of the Good), which is stamped with the brand of publicity and renown. After fully making up his mind, however, he was unable to write the memoirs of the best of the philosophers and poets, notwith- standing that they were numerous enough, inasmuch as scarce a trace remained of their names and lineage, and hardly any vestiges of their compositions were extant. Nevertheless, there are

some few whose names are mentioned, and whose literary labours are quoted and described. One of those learned men, who flourished in the august age of Sultan Nasiru-d din, the son of Sultan Shamsu-d din Altamsh (may the Lord brighten his judgment !), whom they style Sultan Nasiru-d din Ghazi, was Kazi Minhaj Juzjani, the compiler of the Tahahdt-i Ndsiri, a history dedicated to the aforesaid monarch, which he wrote and left behind as a monument of his genius. Although he had not a perfect mastery over the art of pure and elegant writing, yet his style, from its brevity and conciseness, was not wanting in the requisites of boldness and vigour. A few of the particulars regarding him, detailed in the memoirs of the aforesaid shaikhs, are given in the ATchhdrii-l Akhydr, and may God’s mercy be upon him !

Another one was Zia Barni, the author of the Tdrikh-i Firoz Shdhi, who continued the history from the commencement of Sultan Ghiyasu-d din Balban’s reign, where the Tahakdt-i Ndsiri leaves ofi*, down to the occurrences of the seventh year of Firoz Shah ; besides which, he wrote other works and treatises as well. He was a disciple of Shaikh Nizamu-d din Aulia’s (may the Lord sanctify his tomb !), and in the Akhhdru-l Akhydr some of his sayings and doings are also recorded (God have mercy upon him!). After him came another individual, w^ho wrote all the rest of the annals of Sultan Firoz’s reign, as well as those of the Gujarat sovereigns, under the title of Tdrikh-i Bahddur Shdhi.

Tdrikh-i Muhammadi is likewise the name of an historical work that somebody composed, and the Sirdj-i 'Afip is another. One of

^ [The Tdrikh-i Firoz Shdhi, of Shams-i Siraj ’Aflf, supra, Yol. III. p. 269.]

those who are famous for their literary efforts, both in prose and verse, is Zia Nakshabi, who lived in Badaun. Although his works scarcely possess merit enough to make them worthy of remark, yet as he was a man who had retired into the nook of asceticism and solitude, he was callous to the world’s praise or blame, acceptance or refusal, and confidence or mistrust, and gave free vent to his own opinions. Mention has been made of him likewise in the Akhhdrii-l AJchydr, and a few extracts from the Silk-i Siiluk, which, of all his publications that touch upon the sentiments of this class of mankind, is, to my mind, the most pleasing, have been introduced. There was also a person in Badaun called Shahab Mahmarah, of whom mention has been made in Amir Khusru’s poems, where lie says, It cast a tremor over Shahab Mahmarah’s grave,” from which it is evident that the individual in question had formerly flourished, though at the present time none of his works are extant.

Taj Kezah, too, was an inferior poet, who cultivated his talents under the tuition of Shamsu-1 Mulk, who was Sadr (Prime Minister) in the time of Sultan ’Alau-d din. Most of the learned men of that age, indeed, studied under this individual, and even Shaikh Nizamu-d din Aulia (may the Lord purify his tomb !), in the course of his education, read the Makdmat-i Hariri with him, and has said in his writings : —

“Now the Sadr has succeeded according to the best wishes of his friends,

For he has become prime minister of the realms of Hindustan.”

During the time of Sultan ’Alau-d din, Dehli was the great rendezvous for all the most learned and erudite personages ; for, notwithstanding the pride and hauteur, the neglect and supercilious- ness, and the want of kindness and cordiality, with which that monarch treated this class of people, the spirit of the age remained the same.

Among the philosophers and poets of those times, the cleverest and most renowned were Mir Hasan and Mir Khusru (on both of whom be mercy and forgiveness!). Mir Khusru, however, is the Prince of Poets and the First among Philosophers, for he was one of those steeped in spiritual wisdom, and such skill as he pos- sessed in every kind and manner of literary composition, both in the use of ordinary or unusual phraseology, and of plain or dubious

terms, has seldom been allotted to any one. He wrote a great many verses, but made no choice selection from them ; and he compiled and arranged several cliwdns (books of odes). With respect to the aggregate number of his own verses, he made this mirthful remark by way of a puzzle and enigma : “ My verses are fewer than 400,000, but upwards of 300,000.” As for Mir Hasan, although he has written but little poetry, yet what he has written is musical and pleasing. The illustrious Shaikh’s opinion, however, respecting the difference between their two styles, is sufficient ; for he declared that our Khusru is the salt ocean, and Hasan a sweet stream.

After the close of ’Ala’s reign, the high standard of wisdom and erudition began to sink to an inferior level, and literature assumed quite another complexion ; for, although Sultan Muhammad Tughlik fully appreciated all sorts of learning, yet there was not such a number of learnecfmen flourishing in his time as had congregated together under ’Alau-d din’s rule.

One of the most famous sages and philosophers of the city was Maulana Muaiyyanu-d din ’Umrani, the author of sound and in- structive commentaries on the JTanz, Mindr, M^usdmi, Talkhis, and Jliftali. Sultan Muhammad despatched him to Shiraz with an invitation for Kazi ’Azdu-1 Millat wa-d din Alichi, and a request that the latter would prepare and publish a suitable work (or the work called MudMf), dedicated to his royal person. As soon as Maulana reached the Kazi’s dwelling, he began persuading him to an excursion into Hindustan, and acquainted him with all tjiat Sultan Muhammad required of him ; whereupon the monarch of that period called upon Kazi ’Azd, and made him an offering of the whole realm and sovereignty. The Kazi, therefore, in obedience to the dictates of modesty and sound sense, dismissed the idea of travelling to Hindustan from his mind, and resolved upon remaining at the court of his own monarch.

In the reign of Sultan PTroz, also, there were many sages, philosophers and lawyers, who held a place on the throne of study and erudition ; and Tdtdr K lidni, which is a lengthy and copious work on law and religion, was composed in the time of that auspicious monarch, and dedicated to Tatar Khan, one of his chief officers of

state, by the author Maulana ’Ailim A'ndapathi. This Tatar Khan, however, in whose name the work in question is published, is said by some to have been one of ’A]a(u-d dm)’s nobles, but God only knows if such be the case. One of the learned men of Firoz Shah’s time was Maulana Khwajagi, the preceptor of Kazi Shahabu-d din Daulatabadi. Maulana Ahmad Thanesari and Kazi ’Abdu-1 Muktadir Shanihi were also distinguished literary characters of that period ; and the latter, besides possessing vast knowledge, could compose excellent poetry, his Arabic verses being even superior to his Persian. The most talented and clever authors of Persia and Arabia having agreed upon trying to write something equal to the Ldmiatu-l 'Ajam, which is a celebrated elegy, he also made an attempt to rival it, and came out of the trial with great eclat Maulana Ahmad Thanesari likewise wrote poetry in the Arabic language, and his noble elegies, the whole of which are copied into the Ahlihdru-l AlcJiydr, bear convincing testimony to his eminent talents and genius. Subsequently to the auspicious time of Firoz Shah, whom they call the last of the sovereigns of Hind, inasmuch as after him the monarchy of this country came to an end, and, like as in the neighbouring kingdoms, an independent ruler sprung up in every district. During Sultan Ibrahim Sharki’s time, a prince who ruled in the direction of Jaunpur, there flourished Kazi Shahabu-d din Zawali Daulatabadi, who is both a shining star and a brilliant luminary of this realm. He used to be called the ‘‘King of Sages” by his contemporaries ; for although there were many more learned men in existence at that time, yet none of them enjoyed the popu- larity and fame that he had acquired. He is the author of several works that have been stamped with the die of general favour and celebrity, such as Hawdsh KdJiaTi, which is the cleverest of his writings, Irshdd, Badiu-l Baydn, etc. He has also written an unfinished commentary on the Pazliddni, and an exposition in Persian entitled Bahr-i Mawwdj. But in preserving the due rhythm of his sentences, he exhibits laborious exertion ; and to that end has made use of many awkward and inapplicable words and expressions. With the exception of this drawback, however, it is a useful and profitable book, and well adapted for affording enlightenment and instruction.

After Kazi Slialiabu-cl elm’s demise, Maulana Shaikliu-l Hadad Jaunpuri, who was a pious and unaffected divine, began plying his pen in literary composition. He made notes to the Kazi’s Commentaries, and further wrote expositions of the Sidmjah, Maddrik, and Pazliddni, though his questions are evidently more powerful than the replies. Many more people of that country likewise made notes on the Kazi’s Commentary ; but in comparison with them, those of Mianu-1 Hadad are much clearer and more pertinent. The literati of that country paid no attention to the subjects of grammar, syntax and scriptural law, together with its rudiments ; while as for the other reasoning • sciences, they were seldom or rarely studied, and became as it were totally extinct. One of the poets of Sultan Firoz’s reign, or even of an earlier period than that, was Muttahar Kurrah, whose style is by no means wanting in grace and elegance. He is the author of a diwdn (col- lection of odes) , and several elegies, the latter of which are extremely scarce, and in fact not to be procured anywhere in the present day. In the Aklibdru-l AJchydr are introduced several lines of his descrip- tion of Shaikh Nasiru-d din Mahmud, may the Lord sanctify his tomb !

Within the same brief period of time, too, there lived an indi- vidual called Mughis Hansavi, who held a high position in the literary world from his discourses on practical and metaphysical subjects. He is the author of a treatise, which enjoys no great publicity, however, and mention of him has been made in the notices of Shaikh Nasiru-d din Mahmud’s life.

Another one was Zahir Dehlawi, to whom Shaikh JamMi used to apply the epithet of Zahir, on account of the want of freshness in his style. This same Shaikh JamMi, in the time of Sultan Sikandar Lodi, and Nasiru-d din Humayun Badshah, ranked among the chief nobles of the city. He is the author of a diwdn, which com- prises both elegies and odes, as well as of a masnavi (book of moral doctrine in verse) entitled Milir-o-Mali (Sun and Moon). After him, his son displayed eminent genius and a cultivated understanding, and had he lived in the present times, would undoubtedly have been the paragon of the age in poetry. They say that he wrote a history, which was compiled and published under the patronage of Salim

Shah, but it is not now extant. In later times, just before the present age, the writer’s father. Shaikh Saifu-d din, flourished, who used to bear the literary soubriquet of Saifi, and was distinguished among his contemporaries in Hindustan for the perspicuity of his style and the elegance of his diction. The shock that your humble servant endured on that august individual’s demise is ably portrayed in the lines which Amir Khusru indited, as his father’s funeral dirge.

“ The sword has passed over my head, and my heart is left split in two ;

The running stream has flowed hy, and the oi'phan pearl remains behind.” ^

He owns several treatises on the subject of theology and the Unity of God, and his verses were very numerous, insomuch, that had he been bent on collecting and publishing them, they would have made up a complete diwdn. The carelessness and indifference of his dispo- sition to the compliments of popularity, however, made him pay no heed to the matter ; for his mind was absorbed in the contemplation of eternity and tlie Unity of God. A few of the events of his life are given at the conclusion of the Akhhdru-l Ahhydr, from whence the true scope of his genius can be detected, of which it is otherwise impossible to gain an idea.

Your humble servant’s illustrious uncle, too, who owned the literary soubriquet of Shaikh Eizk’u-lla, was one of the wonders of the age, a perfect and uj)right character, and a follower of the right road. He was also an ardent votary of love and devotion, and wrote some very pleasing things both in Persian and Hindi ; his compositions in the latter language having gained considerable celebrity. The Tdrihh-i Wdhi’dt-i Miishtdhi, containing the adventures of Sultan Bahlol Lodi and others, is also by him ; for in Persian he uses the soubriquet of Mushtaki, and in Hindi that of Eagan to write under.

Maulana Hasan Nakshi, Shaikh Taju-d din, and Maulana ’Ali Ahmad Nishani, were also numbered among the sages, poets, and saints of that period (may the mercy of God rest on them all!). Besides these, there were many more learned and talented men, as well as poets, both in this and other cities of Hindustan, a detailed

1 There is a play on the Persian word Saif in this line. The verse may be also translated : “ Saif has passed away from my society, and my heart is therefore severed in twain.” The term “ orphan,” as applied to a pearl, signifies a very large and handsome one.'

account of whom would lead to prolixity; whereas the object at present in view is to furnish a memoir of those deceased authors only who have left some work or remains behind them, and not to quote merely a host of names and persons.

One of these, who within a very recent period has ppened his lips in poetry, and reached the highest standard of literary merit, is Faizi of A^gra, so eminently distinguished for the graceful ease and fervid eloquence of his periods ; but, alas ! that he should have drawn censure, obloquy, and misfortune on himself through sinking into the abyss of error and infidelity, for now all men of piety and religion, and all friends and supporters of the apostolic faith, refrain from ever uttering his name or speaking of his accursed clique (may the Lord have patience with them, if they be true believers !).

Among the blessings, too, of which the good fortune of people in these times announces glad tidings, as a favour for which it is incum- bent on all impartial and liberal characters to return thanks, is the auspicious child, the light of the eye of wisdom and intelligence, Nuru-1 Hakk, commonly called Mashriki ; for the effulgent lumin- ary of his talent and learning in each of the two paths of literature and erudition has almost reached the zenith of the firmament of excellence and maturity. I feel convinced that if he were to direct his attention to the matter, and, after the manner of the poets of the present age, were to apply his energies night and day to practising composition, and brooding over poetry, he could both imitate and rival the five standard works of Nizami and of Khusru. His time and attention, however, being entirely devoted to the depart- ments of science, virtue, and essential religion, they will not admit of his applying himself to poetry after the manner of poets. May the Sublime and Noble Protector preserve the star of his prosperity and good fortune from sinking into obscurity ! The beloved child, Muhammad Hashani, likewise, is a good imitator and follower of his brother in the acquisition of science and virtue ; and his innate disposition is eminently distinguished for its liberality, soundness and vigour, both in theory and practice, and more especially in the knowledge of the scriptural law, and traditions. May God, the helper of mankind, aid him in attaining his object !

(The author then enters into a fabulous dialogue with his pen, at whose urgent request he eventually proceeds to give an account of himself and his writings.)

A brief memoir of your humble servant is contained in the follow- ing paragraph : The poet Hakki, who roams a wanderer over the road of humility and superiority, was a crazy fellow, who, under the influence of companionship with the wise, according to the adage, ‘-Madness delights in the sciences,” exerted himself for some time in mastering and acquiring the sciences ; but ultimately, in verification of the saying, “The sciences produce madness,” finding his capacity unequal to the task, he gave way altogether to madness.

(The pen next requests him to give some particulars of the lives of godly and pious men, to which he replies thus :)

A detailed account of them also is introduced in certain places ; the commencement of the narrative being at the conclusion of the Aklibdru-l Ahliydr, which contains the memoirs of the shaikhs of this country ; the middle portion in the Jazbu-l Kulub, which is a history of the glorious city (Medina) ; and the finale in the Zddii-l Mutakiyin, which gives the lives of the shaikhs at the two holy shrines. However, I will produce a summary of these particulars in a brief style, as well as some of the things that have not been recorded and set down in that book, in order that by these memiors the main object in view, which is the enumerating and classifying of my writings, may be faithfully accomplished and carried into execution.

(The author next speaks of the progress he made in his studies during his youth, and of his pilgrimage to Mecca, with the immense intellectual profit he gained from it ; after which he thus continues ;)

The works which are about to be enumerated were all composed subsequently to my return from this auspicious journey, with the exception of the Akhbdru-l Akhydr, the Addbu-s Sdlihin, and one or two more treatises on grammar and logic, the rough copies of which were written previously, during the period of my education, but were only finally corrected and methodically arranged some time subsequently. Now, after bringing forward the said works, I shall conclude my dissertation ; and as a separate treatise on their