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Epigraphia Indica

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Epigraphia Indica ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT (In continuation of the Series Epigraphia Indo-Moslemica) 1975 EDITED BY DR. Z. A. DESAI Director (Epigraphy) ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA GOVERNMENT OF INDIA NEW DELHI 1983 1983 ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA GOVERNMENT OF INDIA Price : Rs.S-.00 PRINTED AT I.H.M.M.R. PRINTING PRESS, HAMDARD NAGAR, NEW DELHI-110062 CONTENTS PAGE An early thirteenth century Epitaph from Delhi By Dr. Z. A, Desai 1 An early thirteenth century inscription from West Bengal By Dr. Z. A. Desai 6 A Persian-Sanskrit inscription of Karna Deva Vaghela of Gujarat By Dr. Z. A. Desai 13 Inscription from the Jaunpur Fort Mosque By Dr. Z. A. Desai 21 Dohad Inscription of Mahmud Begda By Dr. Z. A. Desai 26 Some more new Inscriptions of Husain Shah from West Bengal By S. S. Hussain, Sr. Epigraphical Assistant 31 A new Epigraph of Malik Qutbu'1-Mulk from Andhra Pradesh By N. M. Ganam, Superintending Epigraphist 39 Some Mughal Inscriptions from Kannauj By M. I. Quddusi, Epigraphical Assistant 44 Nawwabs of Ellichpur and their inscriptions Dr. By M. Y. Quddusi, Sr. Epigraphical Assistant 56 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT 1975 AN EARLY THIRTEENTH CENTURY EPITAPH FROM DELHI BY DR. Z. A. DESXI In May 1973, while on a short visit to Delhi, Dr. Y. D. Sharma, ex-Deputy Director General, Archaeological Survey of India, and author of Delhi and its Neighbourhood, wanted me to inspect an Arabic record which was discovered one of those days, in Mehrauli. On examination, it was found to be the epitaph of one who later on turned out to be a celebrated nobleman and a trusted lieutenant of the Mamluk Sultan Shamsu'd-DIn Iltutmist (1210- 1236). The same is being published here from the impressions subsequently prepared by the office of the Superintending Epigraphist for Arabic and Persian Inscriptions, Nagpur. The the is situated the grave bearing inscription on outskirts of the Mehrauli village, a suburb of Greater Delhi, in the area full of monumental remains and ruins, to the south-south- of west the world-famous Qutb-Minar, It lies immediately to the right of the Mehrauli by- pass to Gurgaon, on the east-west stretch thereof, before it again takes a south-west turn to the old 1 meet Delhi-Mehrauli-Gurgaon road passing through the village. The grave com- prising a casket-shaped sarcophagus of red sandstone lies on the open ground; there is no trace of or any platform plinth, nor does there appear to have been originally any building erected over it, A few graves can still be seen nearby. This interesting inscription, the second earliest epitaph to be found so far in Delhi and also one of the not many early epigraphs of this seat of political power over the centuries, bad escaped the notice of scholars and officers of the Survey till Dr. Sharma was informed about it by on of the officers of the then North-Western Circle of the Survey. In the official list of Muhammadan and Hindu monuments of the Delhi Province prepared in the main in the second decade of the present century by Maulavl gafar Hasan, then Assistant Superintendent who was specially deputed for the purpose, no mention of the epigraph studied here is made, It is indeed gratifying to note that this early record has survived. The epitaph is very brief. Its short four-line text is engraved in relief on the arch-shaped headside of the sarcophagus. The style of writing is bold Thulfh of more or less the same variety as found in contemporary records. Typical of it are vertical strokes with a pronounced in size as taper, increasing they go up and ending in a forty-five degree slant. The calligraphy, though not as exquisite as in the short epigraph on the foot-side of the same grave containing 2 only Ya-Allah, is fairly good, but its overall effect is marred by the not-so-neat execution of the text. The letters* some of which are written one above the other, have been jumbled to- * Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy (ARIE), 1973-74, No, D, 4. * This was left inscription inadvertently out from reporting in ARIE, 1973-74; it is being listed in the Report for 1980-81. 2 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT the suffers from at gether. Moreover, writing orthographical mistakes, least in .two places as will be seen from the text cited below and its illustration. The text merely purports to register the date of the death of *Izzu'd-Dm Bakhtyar. He had died on Monday, 19th of Jumada II 616 (1st September 1219). The text occupies a writing. space of 45 cm. from apex to bottom and 45 cm. in width and has been deciphered as follows: TEXT Plate I (a) '>*> (0 t J 1* Jjj jl?*i ji oil J (US') j>.U.P TRANSLATION (1) The demise of the Chief of the Sipahsalar (lit. Army) taken into the mercy of Allah, 'Izzu'd-Din 2 (2) Bakhtyar the pardoned, was (on) Monday the nineteenth of the month of (3) Jumada the Second, of the year (A.H.) sixteen and six hundred Jumada II 3 (19 616=1 September 1219). thUS rtS that Si ahsl ar ~ PUrp P 'Izzu'd-Din Bakhtyar left this world in A.H. ( } - ThlS Would make h the second earliest * l , f epitaph, beyond any doubt and one of the few early thirteenth records century that have been so far reported from Delhi thl the reC rd Under Study is the only ePitaPh of an Offial or a nobleman off theA ^TN-r ^ , Mamluk period that seems to have survived. As is well-known, no epitaph of the Mamluk rulers or their noblemen has been known.' The one under study is the only record tmgthedeatl1 f a U0ble f r firstrank ^erShamsu'd-DIn Iltutmish 1 " " The Ul here " appears to be the engraver's error for ^ The word " meaning 'was' occurs in the | ^ next line in the text v ras 192 ' Ist September 1219 was ?', i9iSSffi2t^2!^* sr Tneeariiest epitaph known so fifromrShlis^* tbat of As ad son 15 A.D. of Susam, who had died in A.H. (ARIE, 1964-65, No. D, 22) 611/1214- V ii^^^^ Three of these are frorathe exact nature of the ^ m khla Or MehraulL laSmentioned^w JSSS^ R^S? ^ ? ^ mosque or a tomb-has not - Museum, Delhi-whether it was set up on a 7yet been deterged nor is t? detenmned, there any definite Place of find. information available about its exact K'.S;SS^^ 16 - Wahto, Prime (1316 17 A - D Minister of FirOz Shah Tu^luq SS55S" SSSi?;! -> * Maqbul Kh^- 1972-73, No,. 13 7 ^^ W E>, (wherTthe ofQI ?> " SpUri US records' See reSgs me~ - - 6ffl year^nA H 668 is an ? and Introduction. inadvertent error for A.H. 688), 22, 26 Pi \u 1 INSCRIPTION FROM DLL Hi i-:pit.iphor*l//u'ii-Di/! BakiJ^r. dated A.H. MfMjv 2'< J^j m, y^ ^f&^^l+^JirSB ^^ SCALE: .2 INSCRIPTION FROM \\ESTBENGAL (b) of 'All Unique inscription Shir, dated A.H. 618 c p. 7j SCAL t: : .18 AN EARLY THIRTEENTH CENTURY EPITAPH FROM DELHI 3 nobleman and a trusted and loyal lieutenant of Iltutmi&h. Minhaj-i-Siraj lists him among 1 the nobles of that monarch, but does not give any details about his career, In one of the manuscripts of Minhaf s work, he is called Malik Izzifd-DIn Bakhtyar Ghon,2 while accord- ing to all but one copy of that work consulted by Major H. G. Raverty, its English transla- tor, the Malik's name was *Izzu'd-Dm Bakhtyar, the Khalj. The remaining one copy calls s fc him ghori. Our inscription merely calls him !zzu*d-Din Bakhtyar, without his clan-name jChalj or the nisba Ghori indicating his connection, by origin or domicile^ with the region of Qhor in central Afghanistan, It is very likely that 'Izzifd-Din Bakhtyar belonged to the Khalji tribe of Ghor and was known as KJhdj and Qhori, as mentioned in some copies of Minhaj's work. Minhaj, as stated above, does not give any information beyond listing him among the nobles of high rank of Iltutmish. However, the earlier contemporary Hasan Nigami does provide welcome bits of information regarding him. We are informed that he was one of the ^chiefs of the Time and Champions of the Age' like Nasiru'd-DIn Marxian Shah, Hizibrifd- Din Ahmad and Iftikharu'd-Din Muhammad who had headed a large army against Sarjandar Tatar who had risen in open rebellion in A,H. 607 (1211 A.D.) when Iltutmish ascended the throne after the death of Qutbu'd-Dm Aibek. 4 "Izzu'd-DIn Bakhtyar also figures in the Sultan's expedition to and reduction of Jalor in south-west Rajasthan, some time after the rebellion just referred to or in other words, not long after his accession. The former was among such 'Chiefs of the Time, Champions of the Age, Pillars of the kingdom and the Grandees of the Time' as Ruknu'd-DInHamza.Nasiru'd- 4 Dm Mardan Shah, Naslru'd-Dm A1I and Badru'd-DIn Sunqurtigln, who were in the army 5 that reduced Jalor. This would provide a definite date, A.H. 607 (1210-11 A.D,) or A.H, 608(1211~12A,D.), in the career of 'IzzuM-Dm Bakhtyar. Dr. A.B.M. Habibu'llah is inclined to ascribe the reduction of Jalor recorded by Ilasan Nigami to 1226-27 A.D.
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