تاریخ چترال (فارسی) ۱۸۹۳

مرزا محمد غفران

Chitral’s earlier rulers though illiterate themselves, attached much importance to literary activities. Most of them kept court historians who chronicled events for them. Atalique Muhammad Shakur, Mirza Muhammad Siyar, Wazeer Muzaffar Khan Zaffar and Mirza Sher Ahmad Kabuli, all compiled historical works for their masters. These works were written in Persian poetry, according to the usage of the age. The works, especially the one by Mirza Muhammad Siyar, contain treasures of historical information, nevertheless these were basically eulogies, and such could not follow the accepted norms of historiography.
The first book on history of this country, written in prose, was the one by Mirza Muhammad Ghufran, who remained Dabeer (Chief Secretary) of the State from 1882 to 1926. He started collecting historical information during the last days of Mehtar Aman ul Mulk (d. 1892). Prince Afzal ul Mulk being a literate person himself, was behind the scheme. However the work was completed in 1893, and was presented to the then ruler, Mehtar Nizam ul Mulk.
This is a short book of 226 pages. Against the prevailing custom of writing history in the form of epic poem, Mirza Ghufran decided to write it in prose. The author says that poetry is not an ideal medium for a historical work, as its beauty is in its being false. However he has not given up the tradition of epic altogether.Many events, especially battles have been narrated in verses. The verses are either taken from Shah Nama of Mirza Muhammad Siyar, or compiled by the author himself. The work was translated to Urdu by Mirza Aziz ud Din, an Indian Munshi in the service of British Government, posted in Chitral. This translation was published, and has been reprinted many time. The original work, however could never be published and was lost. This reappeared in 1950’s, and is now in the possession of Muhammad Irfan, the grandson of the author. The book in PDF format is presented with thanks to Muhammad Irfan, the well known poet and scholar of Chitral.
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