Tarikh Yamini

The Tarikh i Yamini, or Kitab i Yamini, written in Arabic[1] in an embellished, flowery rhetorical rhymed prose,[2] is a history of the reigns of Sebuktigin and Mahmud.

Tarikh Yamini
AuthorAbu Nasr Muhammad ibn Muhammad al Jabbaru-l 'Utbi
LanguageArabic
Subjecthistory of the reigns of Sebuktigin and Mahmud

Written by the historian Abu Nasr Muhammad ibn Muhammad al Jabbaru-l 'Utbi (or al-Utbi). His work comprises the whole of the reign of Sebuktigin, and part of that of Mahmud, down to the year 410 Hijra (1020 AD). The Tarikh Yamini also contains information chronicling Sultan Mahmud's expeditions as well as the end of the Samanid Empire.[3] Al-Utbi, being Mahmud's secretary, did not accompany the sultan, therefore his topography is deficient and his writing style consists of an explicit orthodox nature.[4] He also states that he intentionally suppressed many events, unnatural or strange that he found skeptical that did not fit the objectives he had set down in the preface.[5]

Content

The Tarikh Yamini starts in 965 CE, but the Samanids are not mentioned until Nuh ibn Mansur's reign in 976,[5] while it goes into detail about the Buyids prior to 983.[5] During the Qarakhanid invasion of the Samanid kingdom in 991, the Tarikh Yamini states that the Samanid governor Fa'iq, son of Simjurid Abu'l-Hasan Simjuri,[6] invited Hasan b. Sulayman{Bughra Khan} to invade Bukhara.[6]

Al-Utbi gives contradictory information owing to the names and number of Farighunid rulers.[7] Specifically never naming, Abu'l Haret Muhammad, the second Farighunid ruler.[7]

Al-Utbi states when Sebuktigin defeated Jayapala in 988, the Afghans and Khaljis of the territory he conquered between Lamghan and Peshawar surrendered and agreed to serve him.[8] Iqtidar Husain Siddiqui citing the 13th century Persian translation, claims that Al-Utbi mentions the "Afghans" were pagans given to rapine and rapacity, they were defeated and converted to Islam.[9]

Though, plagued by incorrect dates and incorrect topography, the Tarikh Yamini does contain valuable information concerning Sultan Mahmud's invasions of India.[10]

On Mahmud's 12th expedition to India in 1018–1019, the Tarikh i Yamini states, he brought back so many slaves that, "merchants came from distant cities to purchase them, so that the countries Ma wara' an nahr (central Asia), Iraq and Khurasan were filled with them, and the fair and the dark, the rich and the poor, mingled in one common slavery.".[11]

Early translations

The 13th century Persian translation of the Tarikh i Yamini, by Jurbadqani, takes many liberties and introduces images not found in the original and can be considered an independent work of art, but is a reliable copy of the narrative.[1]

Modern era

The Tarikh i Yamini was translated from Persian into English in 1858 by James Reynolds under the title, Kitab-i-Yamini.[11]

References
  1. Wink 1997, p. 127.
  2. Khan 1976, p. 114.
  3. Bosworth 2000, p. 37.
  4. Sharma 2005, p. 69.
  5. Khan 1969, p. 728.
  6. Frye 1999, p. 156-157.
  7. Dunlop 1991, p. 799.
  8. Raza 1994, p. 786.
  9. Siddiqui 1996, p. 7.
  10. Farooqui 2011, p. 7.
  11. Levi 2002, p. 282.

Sources
  • Bosworth, C. Edmund (2000). "Sistan and Its Local Histories". Iranian Studies. Vol. 33, No. 1/2 (Winter – Spring).
  • Dunlop, D.M. (1991). "Farighunids". In Lewis, B.; Pellat, CH.; Schacht, J. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam. II: C-G. Brill. p. 798-800.
  • Farooqui, Salma Ahmed (2011). A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: From Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century. Dorling Kindersley.
  • Frye, Richard Nelson (1999). "The Samanids". In Frye, R. N. (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 4. Cambridge University Press.
  • Khan, M. S. (1969). "Miskawaih and Arabic Historiography". Journal of the American Oriental Society. American Oriental Society. Vol. 89, No. 4 (Oct. – Dec.).
  • Khan, M.S. (1976). "al-Bīrūnī and the Political History of India". Oriens. Brill. Vol. 25/26.
  • Levi, Scott C. (2002). "Hindus beyond the Hindu Kush: Indians in the Central Asian Slave Trade". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. Third Series, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Nov.).
  • Raza, Jabir (1994). "The Afghans and their relations with the Ghaznavids and the Ghurids". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. Indian History Congress. Vol. 55: 786-791.
  • Sharma, Tej Ram (2005). Historiography: A History of Historical Writing. Concept Publishing Company.
  • Siddiqui, Iqtidar Husain (1996). "The Process of Acculturation in Regional Historiography:The Case of the Delhi Sultanate". In Qaisar, Ahsan Jan; Verma, Som Prakash; Habib, Mohammad (eds.). Art and Culture: Endeavours in Interpretation. Vol.1. Abhinav Publications.
  • Wink, André (1997). Al-Hind, the Slave Kings and the Islamic Conquest, 11th–13th Centuries. Brill.
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