Abd al-Karim Kashmiri

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Abd al-Karim Kashmiri († 1784 ) was an Indian - Persian historian who wrote a historical work dealing in particular with the government of Nadir Shah .

life and work

Little is known about the early life of Kashmiri Abd al-Karim; it is also not known when he was born. From his historical work it can be deduced that he was living in Delhi in 1739 when Nadir Shah conquered this city after the invasion of India. He escaped the bloodbath wreaked by the Persians in Delhi, entered the service of Nadir Shah and stayed in his surroundings when the victorious prince left Delhi and set out to march back to Persia. Abd al-Karim accompanied Nadir Shah on his campaigns against the Afghans , visited the grave of his maternal grandfather on the way through Kabul and then followed the Persian army through Khorasan , Transoxania , Khoresmia and Māzandarān to Qazvin .

Now Abd al-Karim quit his service with Nadir Shah, left the city of Qazvin in June 1741 with the important doctor Alawi Khan, a favorite of Nadir Shah, and went on a pilgrimage to Mecca . The making of this pilgrimage had also been his main motivation to leave India and join Nadir Shah. After a three-month stay in Mecca, in April 1742, he boarded a European ship in Jeddah , which on its sea voyage to India made stops in Mokka , Puducherry and Madras and finally landed at Calcutta . In July 1743 he arrived back in Delhi. His death fell in 1784.

Abd al-Karim Kashmiri wrote a historical work under the title Bayān-i Wāki that extended from Nadir Shah's incursion into India until 1784. In this, the author reports in great detail and objectively on the life and campaigns of Nadir Shah, relying on his own observations and information from the Prince's servants, including Allawi Khan. In addition, Abd al-Karim describes trips he made himself, such as his pilgrimage to Mecca, and gives an overview of the political events in the Mughal empire of his time. Some translations of the work written in Persian were made by Paul in the Repertory for Oriental and Biblical Literature (Jena 1789), F. Gladwin under the title The Memoirs of Khoja Abdulkurreem a Cashmerian of distinction (Calcutta 1788; London 1793) and Louis-Mathieu Langlès as Voyage de l'Inde à la Mekke (first volume of the portative des voyages collection , Paris 1797). KB Nasim ( Bayān-e Wāqi , Lahore 1970) brought out a new edition .

literature

personal data
SURNAME Abd al-Karim Kashmiri
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Persian-Indian historian
DATE OF BIRTH 17th century or 18th century
DATE OF DEATH 1784