Persian MS 871 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Summary of Contents: Haft Gulshan Ilāhī (Seven Divine Rosegardens) by Muḥammad Hādī Kāmvar Khān (fl. late 17th–early 18th c) presents a general history of India divided into seven chapters, or guls̲h̲an (rosegardens). The author, a Hindu convert to Islam, worked for the administration of the Mughal emperors ‘Ālamgīr I (b. 1618, r. 1658–1707), ‘Ālamgīr I (b. 1618, r. 1658–1707) and Shāh ‘Ālam Bahādur I (r. 1707–1712), in the second year of whose reign he received the title of Kāmwar K̲h̲ān at the recommendation of Prince Rafī‘ al-S̲h̲ān, Bahādur S̲h̲āh’s second son, and was appointed Mīr-Sāmān to Rafī‘ al-S̲h̲ān’s third son, Muḥammad Ibrāhīm. He first composed this work in 1132 AH (1715–1716 CE) the reign of Muḥammad Shāh (b. 1702, r. 1719–1748), and completed this revised redaction four years later in 1136 AH (1719–1720 CE). A scribe named Shīv Ratan completed this manuscript in Shāhjahānābād (Dehli) on 24 Rajab 1207 AH (7 Mar. 1793) from an original manuscript in the hand of the author, Kamvar Khan, dated Muḥarram 1136.