Chanderi Inscription of ʽAlāʼ al-Dīn Khaljī
The Chanderi Inscription of ʽAlāʼ al-Dīn Khaljī is an epigraphic record in four lines, written in Naskh script in the Persian language. It records the completion of a mosque during the governorship of Amīr al-Umarā', Ikhtiyār al-Dawla wa al-Dīn Tamur Sulṭānī by Ismā‘īl, son of ‘Abd al-Salām, entitled Wajīh-i Najīb, the muḥarrir of the district (khiṭṭa) of Kol (Aligarh) during the reign of ‘Alā' al-Dunyā wa al-Dīn Abu al-Muẓaffar Muḥammad Shāh (i.e. ‘Alā' al-Dīn Khaljī, popularly known as Alauddin Khalji, d. 1316 AD).
Date and importance
editThe inscription is dated 20 Sha'ban 711 A.H. on the Islamic calendar, a date that corresponds to 10 December 1311 C.E.[1] making it the oldest-known Islamic inscription from Chanderi.
Publication
editThe inscription was first mentioned in 1924-25 by M. B. Garde in the annual reports of the Gwalior State archaeological department.[2] Later it was published in Indian Historical Quarterly,[3] and listed in the Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy.[4] An edition appeared in the 1968 volume of Epigraphia Indica, Persian and Arabic Supplement.[5] The inscription was later listed in a volume by M. Willis.[6]
Location
editThe inscription, lost for a number of years, was located by Muzaffar Ansari who donated it to the Archaeological Museum, Chanderi, where it is registered under the number AMC 97/98. The museum is under the supervision of the Archaeological Survey of India.
References
edit- ^ According to the Islamic Finder conversion tool date-converter.com Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ GAR (VS 1981/AD 1924-25): number 10.
- ^ IHQ 1 (1925): 655-56.
- ^ ARE (1962-63) D: number 59.
- ^ EIAP (1968): 4-10.
- ^ Willis, Inscriptions of Gopakṣetra (London, 1996).
Further reading
edit- Z. A. Desai (1973). "The Chanderi inscription of 'Alau'd-Din Khalji". Epigraphia Indica Arabic And Persian Supplement 1969. Archaeological Survey of India.