Al-Utbi
Also called: Tarikh-i-Yamini · Topic: Turkic Invasions and the Delhi Sultanate · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 4 "Turning Tides: The 11th and 12th Centuries"
Meaning
Al-Utbi was the court historian of Mahmud of Ghazni. A court historian is a writer kept by a king to record his reign. Al-Utbi wrote an Arabic chronicle, the Kitab-i-Yamini (also called Tarikh-i-Yamini), about Mahmud's campaigns in India in the early 11th century. It matters because it is an eyewitness-era source. It shows that Mahmud raided India to collect plunder and also to spread his version of Islam.
Example
Writing about Mahmud's attack on Mathura in 1018, al-Utbi said the great temple was so magnificent that describing it was beyond "the pens of all writers". He also praised Mahmud for "destroying their temples" and building mosques in their place, "making the light of Islam visible".
Don't confuse with
- Al-Biruni: he was a scholar who travelled with Mahmud, learned Sanskrit and wrote a survey of Indian learning. He was not the court historian who praised Mahmud's wars.
- Minhaj-us-Siraj Juzjani: he wrote the Tabaqat-i-Nasiri in the 13th century about the Ghurids and the early Delhi Sultanate, not about Mahmud's reign.