{ "id": "ep3qjd6rf5", "slug": "tuhfat-al-kiram", "title": "Tuhfat al-Kiram", "updated": "2026-10-15", "topic_path": [ { "id": "society", "label": "Society and history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society" }, { "id": "society.history", "label": "History and archaeology", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history" }, { "id": "society.history.asia", "label": "Asian history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history.asia" }, { "id": "society.history.asia.india", "label": "India and South Asia", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history.asia.india" }, { "id": "society.history.asia.india.mughal-late", "label": "Later Mughals (1707 to 1857)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history.asia.india.mughal-late" }, { "id": "society.history.asia.india.mughal-late.successor-states-and-rulers", "label": "Successor states and rulers", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history.asia.india.mughal-late.successor-states-and-rulers" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t1000.society.history.asia.india", "label": "Asia (other) · 1000 to 1799: India and South Asia", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1000.society.history.asia.india", "path": [ { "id": "geo.asia", "label": "Asia (other)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1000", "label": "Asia (other) · 1000 to 1799", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1000" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1000.society", "label": "Society and history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1000.society" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1000.society.history", "label": "History and archaeology", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1000.society.history" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1000.society.history.asia", "label": "Asian history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1000.society.history.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1000.society.history.asia.india", "label": "India and South Asia", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1000.society.history.asia.india" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Tuhfat al-Kiram (تحفۃ الکرام, \"Gift of the Generous\") is a Persian-language history of Sindh by Mir Ali Shir Qani Thattvi, completed in 1767–68 and regarded as the last old Persian history of Sindh.", "snippet": "Tuhfat al-Kiram (تحفۃ الکرام, \"Gift of the Generous\") is a Persian-language history of Sindh by Mir Ali Shir Qani Thattvi, completed in 1767–68 and regarded as the last old Persian history of Sindh.", "node": "society.history.asia.india.mughal-late.successor-states-and-rulers", "markdown": "# Tuhfat al-Kiram\n\n*Tuhfat al-Kiram* (تحفۃ الکرام, \"Gift of the Generous\") is a history of Sindh by Mir Ali Shir Qani Thattvi.[1](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-royal-asiatic-society/article/abs/competing-for-distinction-lineage-and-individual-recognition-in-eighteenthcentury-sindh/47B3C1B255732F3A780862F62EBC3386) • [2](https://www.maktabah.org/en/item/2250-tuhfat-ul-kiram-ur) He completed the book in 1181 AH (1767–68).[3](https://www.sindhiadabiboard.org/Catalogue/Personalties/Book75/Book_page12.html) • [4](https://www.sindhiadabiboard.org/catalogue/History/Book55/Book_page1.html) It is regarded as the last of the old Persian-language histories of Sindh, and its third volume is dedicated entirely to a comprehensive history of Sindh.[3](https://www.sindhiadabiboard.org/Catalogue/Personalties/Book75/Book_page12.html) • [5](https://www.dawn.com/news/1943623)\n\n| Fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Author | Mir Ali Shir Qani Thattvi[1](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-royal-asiatic-society/article/abs/competing-for-distinction-lineage-and-individual-recognition-in-eighteenthcentury-sindh/47B3C1B255732F3A780862F62EBC3386) • [6](https://www.chughtailibrary.com/digital_library/repository_detail.php?id=69640) |\n| Date | Completed 1181 AH (1767–68)[3](https://www.sindhiadabiboard.org/Catalogue/Personalties/Book75/Book_page12.html) • [4](https://www.sindhiadabiboard.org/catalogue/History/Book55/Book_page1.html) |\n| Structure | Three volumes; the third is a history of Sindh[5](https://www.dawn.com/news/1943623) • [3](https://www.sindhiadabiboard.org/Catalogue/Personalties/Book75/Book_page12.html) |\n| Scope of volume three | Sindh from the Rai dynasty through Kalhora rule[5](https://www.dawn.com/news/1943623) • [3](https://www.sindhiadabiboard.org/Catalogue/Personalties/Book75/Book_page12.html) |\n| Modern translations | Sindhi and Urdu (1957)[5](https://www.dawn.com/news/1943623); English, *Gift of the Generous* (Aqsa Ijaz)[7](https://eftsindh.org.pk/product/tohfat-ul-kiram/); Urdu 3rd edition (2006)[2](https://www.maktabah.org/en/item/2250-tuhfat-ul-kiram-ur) • [8](http://archive.org/details/20250823_20250823_0701) |\n\n## Contents\n\nThe completed work is structured into three volumes, and the third is dedicated entirely to a comprehensive history of Sindh.[5](https://www.dawn.com/news/1943623) • [3](https://www.sindhiadabiboard.org/Catalogue/Personalties/Book75/Book_page12.html)\n\n## Transmission and revision\n\nAlthough the author completed the draft in 1181 AH (1767–68), he did not stop working on it: as new information reached him he recorded it in his own manuscript and deleted what his own research proved wrong, and this process of correction continued until his death in 1203 AH (1788–89).[3](https://www.sindhiadabiboard.org/Catalogue/Personalties/Book75/Book_page12.html) • [4](https://www.sindhiadabiboard.org/catalogue/History/Book55/Book_page1.html) Because the author kept correcting his autograph manuscript until his death, no two printed or manuscript copies of the work are identical.[4](https://www.sindhiadabiboard.org/catalogue/History/Book55/Book_page1.html) Parts two and three were printed together in one volume at Bombay in 1304 AH; that printing is now rare and full of errors.[3](https://www.sindhiadabiboard.org/Catalogue/Personalties/Book75/Book_page12.html) An English translation of the *Toofut ul Kiram*, a history of Sindh, appeared in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1845 (volume 14, issue 159, pages 155–173).[9](https://biostor.org/reference/280543)\n\nManuscript copies also circulated among the ruling elite: the Talpurs commissioned an illuminated manuscript of the work between 1829 and 1832 (now British Library APAC Add. 21589), and the Sindh Archives holds an 1808 manuscript whose scribe was a Hindu from [Hyderabad](https://www.edgepedia.org/hyderabad) named Monumal, son of Kandinamal.[1](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-royal-asiatic-society/article/abs/competing-for-distinction-lineage-and-individual-recognition-in-eighteenthcentury-sindh/47B3C1B255732F3A780862F62EBC3386)\n\nAt its first meeting on 20 October 1951, the [Sindhi Adabi Board](https://www.edgepedia.org/sindhi-adabi-board) decided to have three main books of Sindh's history, Fathnama-i Sindh, Tarikh-i Masumi, and *Tuhfat al-Kiram* (volume three), translated from Persian into Sindhi, entrusting the work to Makhdoom Amir Ahmad, Principal of Oriental College Hyderabad.[4](https://www.sindhiadabiboard.org/catalogue/History/Book55/Book_page1.html) Tarikh-i Masumi appeared in 1953 and Fathnama-i Sindh in 1954; the *Tuhfat al-Kiram* translation was delayed because the translator needed to consult the author's autograph manuscript, then held by Maulvi Muhammad Shafi in Lahore.[4](https://www.sindhiadabiboard.org/catalogue/History/Book55/Book_page1.html) The Board translated the third volume into Sindhi and Urdu in 1957, to preserve the literary heritage of Sindh.[5](https://www.dawn.com/news/1943623) A further Urdu translation, published by the Sindhi Adabi Board, Jamshoro, appeared in 2006 as a third edition.[2](https://www.maktabah.org/en/item/2250-tuhfat-ul-kiram-ur) • [8](http://archive.org/details/20250823_20250823_0701) The Endowment Fund Trust has published Aqsa Ijaz's English translation, titled *Gift of the Generous*, described as bringing to life a seminal eighteenth-century Persianate (culturally shaped by [Persian language](https://www.edgepedia.org/persian-language) and traditions) chronicle of Sindh's history and spirituality.[7](https://eftsindh.org.pk/product/tohfat-ul-kiram/)\n\n## Political influence\n\nUnder the Talpurs, the ruling family commissioned an illuminated manuscript of the work between 1829 and 1832 (now British Library APAC Add. 21589).[1](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-royal-asiatic-society/article/abs/competing-for-distinction-lineage-and-individual-recognition-in-eighteenthcentury-sindh/47B3C1B255732F3A780862F62EBC3386) \n\n## Reception and assessment\n\nThe Sindhi Adabi Board's account calls *Tuhfat al-Kiram* the best and last old Persian-language book on the history of Sindh, apart from *Aina-e-Jahan Numa*.[3](https://www.sindhiadabiboard.org/Catalogue/Personalties/Book75/Book_page12.html) A scholarly reading in the [Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society](https://www.edgepedia.org/journal-of-the-royal-asiatic-society) treats it more critically: the work is read as a normative exposition of a Sayyid-led social order rather than a transparent description of Sindh, in which claims of descent served to close off mobility in a [Persianate society](https://www.edgepedia.org/persianate-society). Sayyid priority in eighteenth-century Sindh was, on this reading, a newly-fashioned claim that remained contested and contradictory even within the text, which is silent on Hindus and women, reflecting anxieties about threats to the old Persianate elite of Thatta.[1](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-royal-asiatic-society/article/abs/competing-for-distinction-lineage-and-individual-recognition-in-eighteenthcentury-sindh/47B3C1B255732F3A780862F62EBC3386) The textual tradition itself is uneven: because the author revised continuously, copies differ, and the early Bombay printing is described as rare and full of errors.[4](https://www.sindhiadabiboard.org/catalogue/History/Book55/Book_page1.html) • [3](https://www.sindhiadabiboard.org/Catalogue/Personalties/Book75/Book_page12.html)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Competing for Distinction: Lineage and Individual Recognition in Eighteenth-Century Sindh, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-royal-asiatic-society/article/abs/competing-for-distinction-lineage-and-individual-recognition-in-eighteenthcentury-sindh/47B3C1B255732F3A780862F62EBC3386)\n2. [Tuhfat-ul-Kiram, Urdu translation, Maktabah Mujaddidiyah](https://www.maktabah.org/en/item/2250-tuhfat-ul-kiram-ur)\n3. [Mir Ali Shir Qani Thattavi, Sindhi Adabi Board Online Library](https://www.sindhiadabiboard.org/Catalogue/Personalties/Book75/Book_page12.html)\n4. [Introduction to the Sindhi translation of Tuhfat al-Kiram, Sindhi Adabi Board Online Library](https://www.sindhiadabiboard.org/catalogue/History/Book55/Book_page1.html)\n5. [NON-FICTION: A heritage masterpiece, now in English, Dawn](https://www.dawn.com/news/1943623)\n6. [Tuhfat al-kiram catalogue record, Chughtai Digital Library](https://www.chughtailibrary.com/digital_library/repository_detail.php?id=69640)\n7. [Tohfat ul Kiram, Endowment Fund Trust](https://eftsindh.org.pk/product/tohfat-ul-kiram/)\n8. [Tuhfat al-Kiram, Urdu translation by Akhtar Rizvi, Internet Archive](http://archive.org/details/20250823_20250823_0701)\n9. [Translation of the Toofut ul Kiram, a History of Sindh, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (1845)](https://biostor.org/reference/280543)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Asian history › India and South Asia › Later Mughals (1707 to 1857) › Successor states and rulers*\n\n*Initially written Sep 23, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/tuhfat-al-kiram", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/tuhfat-al-kiram.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Tuhfat al-Kiram\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/tuhfat-al-kiram. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Tuhfat al-Kiram](https://www.edgepedia.org/tuhfat-al-kiram)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/tuhfat-al-kiram](https://www.edgepedia.org/tuhfat-al-kiram). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Tuhfat al-Kiram\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/tuhfat-al-kiram. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Tuhfat al-Kiram is a Persian-language history of Sindh by Mir Ali Shir Qani Thattvi, completed in 1767–68 and regarded as the last old Persian history of Sindh." }