چکیده:
The importance or centrality of Persian histories (whether
imperial, regional or universal) can be gauged from the deep
reliance placed by British historians on them for their own
understanding of India’s past. The examples are numerous:
Dow, Erskine, Elliot and Dowson explored Persian sources
for their writings. Stewart also based his History of Bengal
mainly on Persian materials; Mill did not know Persian and
so wrote his History of India from Persian sources translated
into English. Marshman used published English translations
of Persian texts in the compilation of his History of Bengal.
Hunter also depended for his understanding of the insight
into the history of Muslim rule in Bengal on Persian source
materials translated for him into English. Elphinstone,
Thomas, Wheeler, Keene, Blochmann and Berveridge were
all good Persian scholars and used, in addition to Persian
sources, coins, inscriptions and archaeological finding for
their writings can be fitted with this group. The recent work
of Kumkum Chatterjee alerts us to the twin activities of
British scholars and historians: translating Persian histories,
as well as writing new histories of India based on the already
established Persian model. The former indicates a serious
engagement of colonial scholars with older models of history
writing (as the appreciation heaped on the A’in as a historical
source in the preface to its published edition indicates); the
latter proves the adage that imitation was indeed, in this
context, a form of flattery, however unintended.
خلاصه ماشینی:
"Colonial Scholars, Persian Historiographical Sources: Translations and Past India Mehrdad Ramzan-Nia1 Received: 2012/6/21 Accepted:2014/6/14 Abstract The importance or centrality of Persian histories (whether imperial, regional or universal) can be gauged from the deep reliance placed by British historians on them for their own understanding of India’s past.
Bird provided the rationale for the English translation of the work by stating that it had been done so that Europeans would understand ‘Asiatics’ better, and come to possess an accurate as well as comprehensive knowledge of their way of life: Though the acquirement of these, and the cultivation of oriental literature, may be of use, in enlarging our views of general history and geography, they serve a yet more important purpose, in this country, by removing the prejudices of early education, by interesting the feelings of Europeans for the welfare of Asiatics, and disposing the former to treat as equals those whom they had been taught to consider as inferiors….
In keeping with this section’s focus on the uses of which history was put in the colonial set up in India, we will now consider some examples of English texts translated into Persian, this time for an Indian audience.
21 Many Urdu translations of Persian and English histories of India, mostly from the Delhi College press in the mid-1840s (not all of which were intended for school or college use) were published, which mostly neglected the pre-tenth century past."