IO Islamic 3991 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

Local history of rulers of the Deccan region of South India with particular reference to the Niẓām al-Mulk Aṣafjāhī dynasty

The manuscript lacks a preface or introduction, and ends without formal conclusion

The account begins with a rapid summary for the reigns of the Timurid or Mughal Emperors Shāh Jahān I and ʿĀlamgīr I and then moves on to the main discourse consisting of: the extensive genealogies of the Aṣafjāhī dynasty and their main rivals, the Marathas; the dynasty's ascendence in Hyderabad; relations with the Marathas in the wake of Aḥmad Shāh Abdālī's repeated incursions; Maratha identity and social customs, including food

The work was completed "within ten or twenty years of the [Maratha] encroachment into Hindūstān," by the preface writer of the Maʾās̤ir al-umarāʾ, identified as Ghulām ʿAlī "Āzād"

Script: very rough nastaʿlīq

Copied at William Irvine's request from a manuscript in the collection of the Kashi Naresh, Mahārājah Prabū Narāyan Singh Ṣāḥib Bahādur, with the aid of Mr Roberts (Mistar Rābarts), Commissioner and Agent of the Governor-General Bahādur for the division of Benares

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