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BOOK NOTICES.
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the Ulama." Ferishtah he considers "a type of the truth telling historians of the Mussulman period." Yet Ferishtah does not belong to that period at all, but to the beginning of the 17th century, the culminating point of his "Moghul period," during which, he says-" History de- generated into flattery and falsehood. European historians of India have believed in the fulsome flattery of Persian parasites and party writers. They have ignored the authority of European contemporaries, who had no temptation to depart from the truth." Such are his somewhat startling dicta, and in proof he says-"Abul Fazl and Khâfi Khan are types of the flatterers who flourished during the Mogbul period. This statement by no means diminishes the value of Mr. Block- mann's translation of the An-i-Akbars of Abul Fazl. Mr. Blockmann's work is invaluable." Very dif- ferent has been the estimate previously formed by Elphinstone, Grant Duff, and Sir H. Elliot of these writers: the high character of Abul Fazl's Akbar-dma is well known.t and Khaft Khân's Muntakhabu-l Lubab is regarded by Sir H. Elliot as “one of the best and most impartial Histories of Modern India ;" and from the high and welldeserved repute of these authors among scholarst Mr. Wheeler's condemnation will be able to detract nothing.
Having thrown overboard the native historians, Mr. Wheeler adduces his favourite authorities, whose evidence" beyond all question" places "Moghul history" upon "a truthful footing." They are-William Hawkins, "who spent two years at Agra between 1608 and 1611"; Sir Thomas Roe, “who followed the court of Jehangir from 1616 to 1618"; Sir Thomas Herbert, "who travelled in India about 1627 and 1628"; John Albert de Mandelslo, who "travelled in India between 1638 and 1640"; Francis Bernier, “who lived in India from 1656 to 1668; John Baptista Tavernier, "an intelligent jeweller who travelled through India two or three times in the reigns of Shah Jehan and Aurangzeb "; Monsieur de Thevenot, "who travelled through India in the early years. of Aurungzeb. Such are the authorities on which the historian has relied ; they present a true picture of native rule." We do not question the value of their testimony: they were honourable men and told the truth, so far as they knew it; but the question is how much had they the opportunity of seeing and judging of for themselves, and what were their qualifications as impartial historians P Bat Mr. Wheeler has "other authorities :" Manouchi,
a Venetian physician, resided forty-eight years in India. "He was in the service of Shah Jehan; afterwards in that of Aurungzeb." His memoirs fell into the hands of 'ather Catrou, a Jesuit priest, who wrote "a history of the Moghul empire" in French, which was translated into English and published in London in 1826. "It forms," says Mr. Wheeler," the very best author ity for the history of the reign of Shah Jehan." “Catrou quotes letters which reveal the inner nature and disposition of the writers. The substance is given in the sixth chapter of the present volume" (pp. 251-320). "They impart a dramatic character to the history." But “Father Catrou's history is incomplete." He wrote a history of the reign of Aurangzeb, but it does not appear to have been published, and so Mr. Wheeler finds that his reign"is difficult and obscure," and "under these circumstances the present volume has been brought to a close with the reign of Shah Jehan."
Those who seek for history will scarcely find it among Mr. Wheeler's facts and fancies strung together in this volame, which adds nothing to our previous information, nor even utilizes to any satisfactory extent the results of recent research. We can only hope Mr. Wheeler will find better materials, and present a picture moro in accordance with facts in the forthcoming Part of this volume, which is to to deal with the Hindu history of the Peninsula. NALOPAKHYANAM, or the TALE of NALA; containing the
Sanskrit text in roman characters, followed by a Vocabulary in which each word is placed under its root, with references to derived words in cognate languages, and a Sketch of Sanskrit Grammar. By the Rev. Thomas Jarrett, M.A. (Edited for the Syndics of the University Press.) London : Cambridge Warehouse, 1875.
In a short introductory note the editor states that this edition of the Nalopdlchydnam is "intended for the benefit of those persons who are deterred from the study of Sanskrit in consequence of the complicated characters in which that language is usually printed." From the completeness of the aids and the ingenuity of their arrangement, however, the book seems well calculated to be of great use to the beginner in Sanskrit, quite in. dependently of the character used. The text occupies 83 pages, or scarcely half the volume, and to each of the first eleven of the twenty-six sections or cantos into which the poem is divided is affixed a short list of roots alphabetically arranged and numbered. Each of these roots occurs in composition once or oftener in the section, and the numeral belonging to it in the list is written over each of these derivatives or compounds in that canto; in this way the learner is
• Mr. Blochmann's well-known name is uniformly thus mis-spelt by Mr. Wheeler.
+ See Blochmann's Ain i Akbart, pref. p. vi.; Sir H. Eiliot's Historians of India, vol. VI. pp. 6-8.
I Conf. ante, p. 235.
