RASHI′DU-D DI′N.
Extended notices of these two authors—Abú Ríhán and Rashídu-d Dín—with other extracts from their works, appeared in the volume published by Sir H. Elliot, and will again appear in the second volume of this work. It is here only necessary to state that the Jámi’u-t Tawáríkh was written in Persian, and is a rare work. There is a copy in the Library of the East India Office and another in the British Museum. Two distinct portions of the work have been found in India, and of these there are copies among Sir H. Elliot's MSS.[1] There is also in the Library of the Royal Asiatic Society an incomplete Arabic translation.
The following translation differs considerably from that published in Sir H. Elliot's first edition, but every care has been taken to make it as accurate as possible. The MS. of the East India Library has been mainly relied upon; this will be referred to as MS. A. Occasional reference for doubtful passages and proper names has been made to the British Museum MS., referred to as MS. B. The Arabic version will be called MS. C.; and Sir H. Elliot's new copy of the Lucknow MS. D. MSS. A. and B. are not good copies. The scribes were careless and ignorant, and the texts abound with errors, particularly in the spelling of the names of persons and places. Nor are the errors confined to obscure and doubtful names. MS. A. almost always represents the name of the Ganges by 
, with no dot to the second letter. The Arabic version C is well and boldly written. The dots are more frequently, though by no means invariably, supplied, and the proper names are generally more distinct. It differs occasionally from the Persian MSS., and has often been of service. Still it is not reliable authority for the proper names, as these occasionally present some curious proofs of the work having been translated from the Persian. Prepositions like tá and ba and the Persian words of number, as sih (3) and nuh (9), have sometimes been taken as part of the names, and incorporated with them. Some instances will be pointed out in the Notes.
- ↑ [The Calcutta copy has been mislaid, and has not been used for this article.]
