In the field of medieval Indian historiography, an eight-volume magnum opus, History of India as Told by Its Own Historians, by Sir Henry Myers Elliot (1808-53) and the editor-compiler of his posthumous papers, John Dowson (1820-81), was published from London between 1867 and 1877. These landmark volumes continue to retain their popularity even nearly hundred and fifty years later, and scholars still learn from and conduct their research on the basis of this work. However, an enterprise of this scale and magnitude was bound to suffer from some serious shortcomings. An eminent Indian scholar, S.H. Hodivala undertook the daunting task of annotating Elliot and Dowson’s volumes and worked through all the new material, selecting or criticizing and adding his own suggestions where previous comments did not exist or appeared unsuitable. The first volume of Hodivala’s annotated Studies, was published in 1939, while the second was published posthumously in 1957. Over the years, while the work of Elliot and Dowson has seen many reprints, and is even available online now, Hodivala’s volumes have receded into obscurity. A new edition is presented here for the first time. Hodivala also published critical commentaries on 238 of about 2000 entries included in another very famous work, Hobson-Jobson (London, 1886) by Sir Henry Yule (1820-89) and Arthur Coke Burnell (1840-82). These have also been included in the present edition. These volumes are thus aimed at serving as an indispensable compendium of both, Elliot and Dowson’s, and for Yule and Burnell’s excellent contributions of colonial scholarship. At the same time these would also serve as a guide for comparative studies and critical appreciation of historical texts. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

Richard Francis Burton (1821-90) was a British orientalist, soldier, spy, diplomat, and explorer best known for his travels in Arabia, Africa, and India. He was born in Torquay, on the southern coast of England, and was raised in France and Italy. It was there that he began to show his exceptional talent with languages by learning Latin, Greek, Italian, and French before he was 20. After two years at Oxford, he was dismissed on disciplinary grounds. He went on to join the British Army in India, where he served as an intelligence officer. Disguised as a Pashtun Muslim and supported by the Royal Geographical Society, in 1853 Burton undertook a hajj journey to the two Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina. His two-volume Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to el Medinah and Meccah recounts that journey. Burton spent years in preparation, mostly during his time in India. The journey first took him from England to Alexandria in Egypt, and further to Cairo, Suez, and Yanbu. From there he travelled to Medina and Mecca. Although Burton was not the first non-Muslim to perform the hajj, the accuracy of his well-documented account, including his measurements of the Kaaba in Mecca and his Victorian-era observations on Muslims (especially his copious notes on manners), brought him immediate fame. Burton begins the first volume of his work with a famed line of verse on cavalierism by the Arab poet al-Mutanabbi (915-65 AD): "I am well known to the night, the steeds, and the desert / the sword and [the guest], the paper and the pen." A controversial figure during his lifetime and a prolific writer and translator, Burton left behind 43 volumes of writing on his journeys and 30 volumes of translations, including of sensual books such the Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana, The Perfumed Garden of the Cheikh Nefzaoui, and the Arabian Nights. He died in Trieste, in what was then Austria-Hungary.