Tarikh-i-Firuzshahi1

Tarikh-i-Firuzshahi1 written by Shams Siraj Afif, gives a detailed account of the reign of Sultan firuz shah tughlaq (1351-1388 AD). Afif was born of a noble family, whose members are known to have served the sultanate since the days of Sultan Alauddin Khalji. Shams Afif, Afif's father, served the sultanate in various capacities in the reign of Firuz Shah, particularly during the Sultan's Bengal expeditions. Shams Siraj Afif was born in 1342 AD (according to another account in 1350 AD, probably the earlier date is correct), so he saw the whole reign of Firuz Shah and was in a position to write from personal experiences. The date of writing Afif's history is not known, it was written some years after the invasion of Delhi by Timur (1398) and a study of its contents also shows that the book was written in the first decade of the 15th century.

Both the Bengal invasions of Firuz Shah ended in failure. Afif gives detailed account of the two invasions, the first against Sultan Shamsuddin iliyas shah, and the second against Iliyas Shah's son sikandar shah. Afif is the only authority to give the reason of Firuz Shah's second expedition to Bengal. He says that when Firuz Shah returned to Delhi after his first expedition, seemingly satisfied with his victory over Iliyas Shah (though he gained nothing after that victory), Zafar Khan, son-in-law of Sultan fakhruddin mubarak shah of Sonargaon was supplanted by Iliyas Shah of Lakhnauti. Sultan Firuz took Zafar Khan as an ally, and thus the prospect of occupying Lakhnauti was revived and he ordered for a second expedition to Bengal. In Afif's Tarikh-i-Firuzshahi one also gets the information that Firuz Tughlaq renamed ekdala as Azadpur and pandua as Firuzabad. Ekdala was the famous fort in which both Iliyas Shah and Sikander Shah entrenched themselves during Firuz Shah's invasions. Though Afif catrgorically says that Firuz Tughlaq renamed Pandua as Firuzabad after his name, the statement seems to be incorrect, because the name Firuzabad appears in the coins from the time of Sultan shamsuddin firuz shah of Bengal (1301-1322 AD), ie more than thirty years before Firuz Tughlaq's invasion of Bengal. The book is written in simple and lucid style. [Abdul Karim]

Bibliography SS Afif, Tarikh-i-Firuzshahi, Bibliotheca Indica, 1890; AM Husain, The Tughlaq Dynasty, Delhi, 1976.