3 Review(s)

The Persian chronicler Ferishta (1560-1620) composed his great work, published in this four-volume English translation in 1829, at the court of Bijapur - where he spent most of his life - under the patronage of King Ibrahim Adil Shah II. It covers Muslim India from around 975 to 1612 and is notable for its balance, despite Ferishta's close involvement with some of the events and people he records. Valuable additions to the text made by the translator, East India Company officer John Briggs (1785-1875), include genealogical tables and notes, as well as a comparative chronology of events in Europe and India. Volume 3 continues with coverage of the five Deccan sultanate states from 1518. This includes Briggs' own valuable account of the history of the kings of Golkonda and a chronology of the Portuguese wars in India. The coverage of the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur in the sixteenth century notably draws on Ferishta's first-hand knowledge.