Part I. The MSS. themselves.

_Preliminary._—Much of the information given below was published in the

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society from 1900 onwards, as it came into

my possession during a search for reliable Turki text of the

_Babur-nama_. My notes were progressive; some MSS. were in distant

places, some not traceable, but in the end I was able to examine in

England all of whose continued existence I had become aware. It was

inevitable that some of my earlier statements should be superseded

later; my Notes (_see s.n._ JRAS.) need clearing of transitory matter

and summarizing, in particular those on the Elphinstone Codex and

Klaproth's articles. Neither they nor what is placed here makes claim to

be complete. Other workers will supplement them when the World has

renewed opportunity to stroll in the bye-paths of literature.

Few copies of the _Babur-nama_ seem to have been made; of the few I have

traced as existing, not one contains the complete autobiography, and one

alone has the maximum of dwindled text shewn in the Persian translation

(1589). Two books have been reputed to contain Babur's authentic text,

one preserved in Hindustan by his descendants, the other issuing from

Bukhara. They differ in total contents, arrangement and textual worth;

moreover the Bukhara book compiles items of divers diction and origin

and date, manifestly not from one pen.

The Hindustan book is a record—now mutilated—of the Acts of Babur alone;

the Bukhara book as exhibited in its fullest accessible example, Kehr's

Codex, is in two parts, each having its preface, the first reciting

Babur's Acts, the second Humayun's.

The Bukhara book is a compilation of oddments, mostly translated from

compositions written after Babur's death. Textual and circumstantial

grounds warrant the opinion that it is a distinct work mistakenly

believed to be Babur's own; to these grounds was added in 1903 the

authoritative verdict of collation with the Haidarabad Codex, and in

1921 of the colophon of its original MS. in which its author gives his

name, with the title and date of his compilation (JRAS. 1900, p. 474).

What it is and what are its contents and history are told in Part III of

this chapter.