IN I865 I was led to read the printed text of the Tabakat-i-Nasiri, published at Calcutta in I864, in search of materials towards a history of the Afghans and their country, which
is very much mixed up with that of India. Having gone through a great portion of it, and finding it defective in many places, and full of errors, I thought it advisable to examine the India Office Library M5., No. 1952, from which the printed text was said to have been
taken, went through the whole of that work, and found that it also was defective, and contained numerous errors. I found nothing, however, respecting the Afghans, except in
one place, and there they were briefly mentioned in a few lines, but very characteristically.
I had already discovered, when in search of other materials, what lamentable errors the available Histories of India, so called, in the English language contained, and I now found how they had arisen. With a view of correcting them, I made a translation of those portions of the Iabakat-i-Nasiri which related to India, and the History of the Qaznawi and Ghfiri dynasties : and, when I offered a translation to the Bengal Asiatic Society some twelve
years ago, my intention was, as stated in my letter on the subject, merely to have made a fair copy of the translation of those identical portions. Soon after, I obtained a very old copy of the work ; and, on comparing it with the I. O. L. MS. No. 1952, I found such considerable and important differences to exist, that I determined to begin anew, and translate the whole work. The Society having accepted my offer, and the defective
state of the printed text being well known, Mr. Arthur Grote, to whom I am very greatly indebted for assistance“ in many ways, advised that, in making this translation, I
should avail myself of any other copies of the text that might be procurable in Europe. On instituting inquiry the following were found, and have been already referred to in
my report to the Society, published in the “Proceedings ” for February, 1873, and have been used by me in my task. I must here give a brief description of them, and notice and number them according to their apparent age and value, which arrangement, however,

Mughal Library