NIMATULLAH; DORN, Johannes Albrecht Bernhard (trans.)

£1,200 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

History of the Afghans: First edition. Dorn (1805-1881) was a pioneer in many areas of Iranian studies in Russia. "He was particularly interested in the Pashtuns and published annotated editions and translations of texts on tribal history. Dorn never visited Afghanistan, but he nevertheless established the scientific basis for Afghan studies, particularly the first systematic description of Pashto" (Encyclopaedia Iranica).Ni'mat Allah al-Harawi (fl. 1613-1630), called Nimatullah, was a chronicler and waqia-navis, or court reporter, at the court of the Moghul Emperor Jahangir. He compiled the Makhzan-i-Afghani from materials accumulated by Haibat Khan of Samana, and, while some of the content is somewhat fanciful, the book was a major source for the origins of the Pashtuns, also including the genealogies of the Afghan rulers in Bengal and some events contemporary with its composition. For this translation Dorn used a copy from the library of the Royal Asiatic Society: "it is very carelessly written, by one Fut'h Khan, for his own use, in the year 1131 of the Hejra (a.d. 1718)" (Preface).

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