PREFACE Muharnmadan emperors, chiefs and private individuals of India to promote learning and diffuse education among the people of this country. Such efforts should be appreciated apart from the results achieved, and the credit due to them should in no way be diminished by the meagreness of those results. The present work is a history of such efforts and an attempt to show in a connected narrative that the long roll of Muslim rulers, emperors and invaders from Mahrnnd downwards were not altogether inattentive to the literary interests of the people, and that private individuals also were not quite inactive in this direction. As to the value that can be attached to the materials used in this work, it should be remarked that the Muhammadan historical works should not be wholly relied upon. They mix up facts with fiction in such a manner that it is often difficult to distinguish the one from the other. Under the circumstances, a question may arise as to how far they can be regarded as trustworthy. No doubt, the question is not without its difficulties. I have foIlowed the principle that where the same fact has been stated by different writers following different authorities, that fact may be relied upon, especially if the authors happen to be contemporaneous with the facts recorded. Sometimes, it may transpire that a fact connected with the subject is mentioned in a work which is considered as an authority in its -. ...