ACADEMIC JOURNAL
|
ISSN 2542-1077 (Print) ISSN 1994-5973 (Online) |
Smirnova, A. M. THE DEATH OF MIRZA HAIDAR DUGHLAT: THE MANUSCRIPT EVENTS OF KASHMIR AND THE PROBLEM OF HISTORIOGRAPHICAL DISCREPANCIES. Proceedings of Petrozavodsk State University. 2026;48(6):8–14. DOI: 10.15393/uchz.art.2026.1346
Historiography, source studies, methods of historical research |
THE DEATH OF MIRZA HAIDAR DUGHLAT: THE MANUSCRIPT EVENTS OF KASHMIR AND THE PROBLEM OF HISTORIOGRAPHICAL DISCREPANCIES
| Smirnova A. M. | Institute of Oriental Manuscripts RAS |
|
Keywords: Mirza Haidar Kashmir manuscript Kashmiri historiography Persian-language historical chronicles source study analysis |
Summary: The article is devoted to the source study analysis of the Persian-language manuscript B 720 “Events of
Kashmir” by Muhammad Aʻzam Didamari from the collection of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian
Academy of Sciences and the contradictory versions it contains regarding the death of Mirza Muhammad Haidar
Dughlat – a Mughal military commander and historian, author of “Tarikh-i Rashidi”. The research objective is to
establish the source value of the manuscript as a representative of the Kashmiri historiographical tradition and to
explain the reasons for discrepancies between various versions of a single historical event. The research material
consists of folios 91b–92a of manuscript B720, Kashmiri chronicles of the 16th-19th centuries, Mughal sources, and
European Orientalist literature. The methodology is based on the comprehensive application of source study,
comparative-historical, and textological methods. The study identifies two main versions of the circumstances of Mirza
Haidar’s death: a dramatic narrative about his death at the hands of a Kashmiri butcher and a neutral report of an
accident. Through comparison with Kashmiri sources (the work of Haidar Malik Chadura, the anonymous work
“Baharistan-i Shahi”), Mughal chronicles (Abu’l-Fazl, Firishta), and European scholarly literature, the mechanisms of
formation of regional historiographical traditions are demonstrated. The place of the studied work is defined as an
example of a transitional stage in 18th-century Kashmiri historiography that recorded the coexistence of competing
narratives about one of the events in regional history. The significance of the research lies in expanding the source base on the history of Kashmir, introducing a little-studied manuscript into scholarly circulation, and demonstrating an approach to working with contradictory evidence that can be used in studying other Persian-language historical texts of the region. |
|
Displays: 26; |
The journal is on the list of peer-reviewed academic journals recommended for PhD and doctoral students (January 10, 2019).
Indexed in RSCI (Russian Science Citation Index) since 2008.
Registration Certificate PI No FS77-69487 was issued on April 25, 2017, by the Federal Service for Media Law and Cultural Heritage Protection Law Compliance.
© Petrozavodsk State University, 2010-2026
© Petrozavodsk State University Press
