Translation of Newton's Principia into Arabic Under the Aegis of the East India Company: A Rumour Turning into a Myth?
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Translation of Newton’s Principia into Arabic Under the Aegis of the
East India Company: A Rumour Turning into a Myth?
K. Razi Naqvi
Department of Physics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
N-7491 Trondheim, Norway
arXiv:2104.13340v3 [physics.hist-ph] 17 May 2021
Abstract
Tafazzul Husain Khan (1727?–1800?), who began his career in the court of Awadh, spent the last
two decades of his life as a trusted ally of the East India Company. What set him apart from
other court officials was not so much his erudition, political acumen and negotiating prowess, as
his favourite pastime: delving into mathematics and astronomy. Contact with the Company per-
sonnel, some of whom were conversant with oriental languages and/or contemporary scientific
advances, provided him with the opportunity to brush up his mathematical knowledge, and in-
duced him to embark upon—and, according to some, bring to fruition—the task of translating a
few important mathematical treatises, among them Newton’s Principia. According to Campbell,
the author of an obituary notice (published in 1804), “he translated the Principia from the original
Latin, into Arabic”. The evidence gathered by Campbell is examined, and found insufficient to
warrant this astounding and oft-repeated claim. Of the three tracts authored by Tafazzul (all pub-
lished posthumously in abridged versions), none can be described as a translation of Newton’s
Principia. Until the emergence of some tangible evidence, any talk of his translations of the Prin-
cipia and other western treatises can only be characterised as rumour, a process in which recall is
often accompanied by distortion.
Keywords: Indian Mathematics (1780–1830), Reuben Burrow, Tafazzul Husain Khan, John Tytler,
Diwan Kanh Ji, Maulavi Ghulam Husain
1 Introduction dates, erroneous spellings of proper names)—
multiple citations of this work will generate
“Don’t cite a publication unless you have read what may be called the academic equivalent of
it yourself” is one of the golden rules of aca- rumour.
demic authorship [1], and perhaps one that is To offer a justification for invoking the con-
flouted most frequently. But even those who cept of rumour, I begin with the words of
abide by the rule merely shift the burden of ve- Bernard Hart, a British psychiatrist [2]:
racity from their shoulders to those of the au- Rumour is a complex phenomenon con-
thor(s) they cite. If this primary source hap- sisting essentially in the transmission of a re-
port through a succession of individuals. It
pens to be reliable, and is cited by a multitude
may be provisionally regarded as the product
of subsequent authors, the process serves to ad- of a series of witnesses, each of whom bears
vance learning. However, if the primary source testimony to a statement imparted to him by
is of doubtful authenticity, or contains factual his predecessor in the series. The reliability of
errors—even small ones (for example, incorrect a rumour depends, therefore, upon the accu-
1
racy with which each such statement is trans- his days as a littérateur, mathematician, diplo-
mitted, and ultimately upon the accuracy of mat and much else. He lived an eventful life,
the report furnished by the first member of the earning both praise and opprobrium, but here
series, who is assumed actually to have seen or only those events will be highlighted which are
heard the event in question.
relevant to his academic activities. The quali-
To be sure, the above passage refers specifi- fier Kashmı̄rı̄ was often appended to the above
cally to information communicated by word of three names, but he was born in Sialkot, Kash-
mouth, but some trivial adjustments will make mir being the region where his ancestors had
it applicable to formal citations or written state- once lived [4]. The honorific, Khān-i ‘Allāmā,
ments about the authorship of manuscripts. meaning “a scholar par excellence” became a
Three decades later two American psychol- part of his name after he achieved eminence for
ogists, Allport and Postman (A&P), wrote an his multisided erudition.
entire book on the psychology of rumour [3].
They defined a rumour as a specific (or topical)
4 Principal sources for Tafazzul’s life
proposition for belief, passed along from per-
son to person, usually by word of mouth, with- and works
out secure standards of evidence being present.
The standard reference for the personal and
The central feature of their definition is its in-
political aspects of Tafazzul’s life is ‘Imād al-
sistence that rumour thrives only in the absence
Sa‘ādat [4], written by Ghulām ‘Alı̄ Khān, an
of secure standards of evidence. A&P identified
employee of the East India Company. Among
two prerequisites for rumour: the theme of
other frequently cited authors in this context
the story must be of some import to both the
are Mirzā Abū Tāleb[5], Basu [6] and Cole [7].
speaker and listener, and the true facts must be
A short but informative biographical sketch is
shrouded in some kind of ambiguity. Among
available in Guenther’s article [8].
the multiple causes for this ambiguity, and the
resulting (often involuntary) corruption of the The major sources dealing with various as-
original report, only one—the incapacity of the pects of Tafazzul’s academic interests and ac-
rumour-receiver to grasp the vital detail(s)—is tivities are listed below. Each source will be
germane to the issue discussed below. assigned a label (written in bold italics) which
will be used for further reference to it in the
rest of this article.
2 A note on transliteration
Tuhfa: A Persian book [9] with a title usually ab-
In the main body of the text, romanization of breviated as Tuhfat al-‘Ālam. Authored by ‘Abd al-
Persian and Urdu words will be carried out by Latı̄f Khān Shūshtarı̄, who became a personal friend
supplementing the familiar substitutions with of Tafazzul, this book provides glimpses into the
scholarly schedule followed by Tafazzul during the
three diacritical signs: a macron (a bar) placed
last years of his life.
over a short vowel sign will indicate the length-
ening of the vowel, and the following substi- Obituary: An obituary notice written by Lawrence
tutions will be used: ¨ = ‘ and Z (hamza) = ’. Dundas Campbell [10]. More details about this
source are given later.
A more elaborate notation, explained in Ap-
pendix A, will be used in the bibliography. Leaflet: Syed Mahomed Ali (hereafter SMA), a de-
scendant of Tafazzul, published a leaflet titled Life
of Tuffuzzool Hussain Khan, a choice that might lead
3 Who was Tafazzul Husain Khān? a reader into expecting more than is delivered [11];
it consists of five Extracts (1–5, listed on pp. i–ii),
Tafazzul Husain Khān (1727?–1801?), who will none of which is from the pen of the compiler. Part
henceforth be called Tafazzul, was known in I consists of Extracts 1 and 2, the first of which is
2
taken from Lord Teignmouth’s Memoir published in much harder for an author writing in Persian,
1843 [12], and the second from a review of the Mem- which has a significantly smaller inventory of
oir, published a year later [13]. Part III, which is of consonants and vowels than Urdu; further-
no interest to us, reproduces Extracts 3 and 5, two more, Shūshtarı̄ follows (with very few excep-
official letters concerning pensions granted by the
tions) the customary omission of short vow-
Company to Tafazzul’s cousin and son. The text of
Part II was meant to be identical with that of Obitu- els even when he transcribes European names,
ary, but a great many clerical discrepancies and er- and seems to rely on memory rather than
rors crept in when the text was typeset for inclusion meticulous note-taking. To take just one exam-
in Leaflet (see Appendix D). The original sources
ple now, he mentions a certain ñËPAK. Q Ó, calls
for the texts of Extracts 1, 2 and 4 have existed in the him “a sage the likes of whom are few even
public domain for quite some time, which means in England” [9, p. 454], and states that it was
that citing Leaflet now amounts to drinking pol-
this scholar who imparted Western learning to
luted water when clean is available.
Tafazzul. When Edward Rehatsek (1819–91)
UrduBio: Some seven years after the publication of reviewed Tuhfa for a library catalogue edited
Leaflet, SMA wrote an Urdu biography [14], which by him [17], he came to the eminently rea-
draws from Ref. [4], Tuhfa and Obituary, and pro- sonable conclusion that Shūshtarı̄ must have
vides very little additional information of value. meant “Mr. Barlow”, and there indeed was
Chronograms: Thomas William Beale, whose main a Sir George Hilaro Barlow in the neighbour-
literary interest was collection and composition hood [18], but hardly likely to have been a
of chronograms (in Persian and Urdu), published good enough mathematician to be called a sage
a massive collection of chronograms (along with with few peers. The name of the real sage was
some biographical information in prose) under the “Reuben Burrow” [18]. Other spelling aberra-
title Miftāh al-Tawārı̄kh [15]. This rather unusual tions will be mentioned later.
compilation (in Persian) was described in some de-
tail by Elliot in The History of India as told by Its Own Far more alarming than transcription id-
Historians, The Muhammadan Period [16]. The literal iosyncrasies and scribal transgressions is that
meaning of the title is Key to Histories, but a glance Shūshtarı̄ has earned the reputation of hav-
at the contents makes it clear that Beale is using ing been well informed about post-Newton as-
the noun tārı̄kh, which could mean history or chrono- tronomy. For example, Schaffer writes [19]:
gram, in both senses. A concise biographical note, “QAbduPl-Lat.ı̄f Shushtarı̄, Tafazzul’s friend
not a single word of which is superfluous, may be
and biographer, . . . learnt the orthodox New-
found in this book. A translation of the note will be
presented later. tonian views that comets were planets moving
in ellipses round the Sun in one focus”. This is
So far as Tafazzul’s mathematical stud- what we have learnt about planets and periodic
ies and writings are concerned, there are comets from Kepler and Newton. As to what
only two cardinal references, namely Tuhfa Shūshtarı̄ was told by his astronomically edu-
and Obituary. When allowance is made cated friends we can only speculate, but any-
for Shūshtarı̄’s numerous mistransliterations of one who reads Tuhfa will find out that, accord-
European names (see below), Tuhfa and Obit- ing to its author, the sun is located at the centre
uary agree except on one crucial point: Tuhfa of the ellipse! Even those who cannot read Per-
does not include the Principia among the books sian will be able to see his “heliocentric” illus-
translated by Tafazzul. tration of the solar system on p. 360. Since the
A minute examination of these sources will lithographic edition was published long after
not be carried out in this section, but some gen- the author’s death, it is important to rule out
eral observations appear to be necessary for the possibility that the illustration (in which
preparing the ground. Mars and Earth are shown, probably as a re-
It is difficult enough to transcribe Euro- sult of an oversight, orbiting along a common
pean names in Urdu, but the task becomes path!) was prepared by an inattentive person
3
who atrociously misrepresented the trajectory conclusion that, despite claims to the contrary,
of a comet drawn by the author, one should go Shūshtarı̄’s knowledge of European astronomy
to p. 352 (line 2) and note the word ¡ð, which and mathematics was much too paltry and
means “in middle or centre of”. muddled to earn him a place in this discussion.
5 The received wisdom about Tafazzul.
Part 1
For describing Tafazzul’s mathematical exer-
tions and their concrete manifestations, Rizvi,
the author of a two-volume work on the socio-
intellectual history of Twelver Shı̄‘ism in In-
dia [20], has essentially paraphrased the ac-
count given on p. 443 of Tuhfa (see Figure 1).
Most other authors have relied heavily, and a
few exclusively, on the information presented
in Obituary.
In the rest of this section, braces are used to
separate my passing comments on Rizvi’s ac-
count [20, p. 228], which is reproduced below
(with all the typographic errors left intact):
. . . Tafazzul Husayn learnt Greek, Latin and
English and obtained considerable proficiency
in these languages. He translated many philo-
sophical works from Western languages into
Arabic and wrote some original ones on phi-
losophy, hikma and mathematics. He was the
author of the following works:
1. Commentary on the makhrūtat (Conica) of
Abullūniyūs (Appollonus) of Tyana (ca 81–
96).
{It will become clear, after reading § 9, that this
notion is probably based on a misunderstanding
of the contents of the manuscripts Tafazzul copied
for Warren Hastings. As for the phrase “of Tyana”
(inserted by Rizvi), let us note that our Apollo-
nius, the famous geometer, was from Perga, and
Figure 1: Page 443 of Tuhfa [9, p. 443]; an En-
was born some 250 years before Jesus; his name-
glish translation of the text is presented in Ap- sake from Tyana will be recalled later for a differ-
pendix B. ent purpose.}
A reader of Tuhfa with a sound knowl- 2. Two treatises on Algebra.
edge of elementary astronomy cannot fail to {Shūshtarı̄ stated: “two treatises on algebra, one
notice that its author had misconstrued the containing algebraic solutions, the other algebro-
teachings of Newton. Also, our author ap- geometric solutions”. We will return to this item
pears to be out of touch with the history in § 10.}
of astronomy, for he calls (p. 351) ñºKQK ñ» 3. Commentary on the makhrūtat by Devanpal
(kūparnikūs=Copernicus), the inventor of the [Diophant and Simson/Robert Simson].
telescope! One is driven to the uncharitable {The text within the square brackets, added by
4
Rizvi, is his decipherment of the two names men- immersed himself in study and research. Af-
tioned in Shūshtarı̄’s text. Recall that short vowels ter his morning prayers he slept for a very
are usually omitted in Persian writing. The second short time. Before he went to bed his musi-
name has no long vowels and its consonants are cians played for him. No physician could per-
smsn. Rizvi inferred that the cluster stood for sim- suade him to take more rest. He was enam-
san, written in Persian characters as áÖÞ ; Robert oured of the company of scholars. Shustarı̄
Simson, a recognised mathematician, did write a [Rizvi’s spelling] frequently called on Tafazzul
text on conics, but Tafazzul made no mention of Husayn. The latter also paid return visits and
Simson, not for this book nor for any other by him. both discussed problems of rational and tradi-
As for the first author, readers familiar with the tional sciences. Shustarı̄ was proud of consid-
names of European mathematicians would be able ering himself as one of Tafazzul Husayn’s dis-
to guess that they are looking at a mauled form ciple[s], although he had not studied regularly
of de l’Hospital, the French mathematician whose under him.
name is familiar to every student of calculus. With
this background, Shūshtarı̄’s text can be given the Apart from the first sentence (which looks,
following truly literal rendering: “commentary on in the absence of concrete evidence, a face-
conics of delopitāl and on conics of simsan”.} saving gesture), the above passage is essen-
tially a translation of what Shūshtarı̄ wrote in
4. Persian translation of Newton’s (d. 1827)
Philosophiac naturalis principiamathematica. Tuhfa [9, p. 444]. I cannot help recall what
{Persian translation? In lines 8–10 of the text in Gibbon wrote about Apollonius of Tyana [21]:
Figure 1, Shūshtarı̄ likens the status of Latin in “His life is related in so fabulous a manner
Europe to that of Arabic in the non-Arab Muslim by his disciples, that we are at a loss to dis-
world, and speaks specifically of translations (by cover whether he was a sage, an imposter, or
Tafazzul) of several European philosophical works a fanatic.” The last epithet will have to be re-
into Arabic. In fact, Rizvi himself states, in the sec-
placed, in Tafazzul’s case, by one of the many
ond sentence of the passage quoted above “trans-
disparaging alternatives used by his detractors
lated . . . . . . from Western languages into Arabic”.
The “Arabic or Persian?” question will continue [15, 22, 23]: utter unbeliever, perfidious and
to vex us. (Newton died in 1727.)} treacherous, spy.
5. A book on Physics.
{This item and the next have no counterparts in
Shūshtarı̄’s text.}
6. A book on Western astronomy. {See § 10.}
It is natural to enquire into the fate of Tafaz-
zul’s putative writings (original works as well
as translations). Rizvi, having anticipated the
question, does not keep his readers waiting,
and answers it immediately after his list of
Tafazzul’s written contributions:
Some of these books [which ones?] were
taught in Shı̄‘ı̄ seminaries in the nineteenth
century but are now scarce. He also wrote
commentaries and glosses on the works of fiqh.
His devotion to teaching and studies knew no
bounds. Early in the morning he taught math-
ematics to scholars. He then performed his of-
ficial duties. In the afternoon he lectured on Figure 2: An excerpt from UrduBio [14, p. 37].
Imāmiyya (Isnā QAshariyya) fiqh. Before sun-
set he taught Hanafi fiqh. After night prayers Let us turn now to UrduBio [14]. The ac-
5count of Tafazzul’s scholarly output occupies all. [Figure 2 ends here; Tafazzul’s theologi-
about a page and a half in this booklet with cal writings are mentioned in the last two lines
fifty pages of text; an excerpt of the relevant of the page, and excerpts from Obituary are
section is displayed in Figure 2. Urdu authors quoted on the next page.]
of that era (early twentieth century) used few Unfortunately, one cannot tell which partic-
punctuation marks, and made excessive use ular book was bought by the library of the Hy-
of the letter “ð” for a purpose similar to that derabad State. It is also regrettable that SMA
served by the ampersand sign “&”; in Figure 2, could not arrange for a publication of the trans-
one sees only dashes, which are Urdu equiv- lation of Simson’s book on conics, making it
alents for full stops, and parentheses. SMA available for examination by those who believe
uses Shūshtarı̄’s incorrect, two-dotted spelling that seeing (but not only seeing, also reading
ñJKñÊK @ for Apollonius, writes Emerson as áP@ carefully) is believing. What engulfs SMA’s
(Irson), and de l’Hospital as ÉJ
Aï È X, but in claim (about inheriting the translation of Sim-
f
the literal translation presented below, such son’s Conics) in a dense cloud of doubt, call-
slips will be ignored; a few additional pauses ing into question his competence, is the fact
will also be inserted for the sake of making the that Tafazzul (who never mentioned Simson)
passage readable. claimed to have translated, among other books,
After extolling Tafazzul’s mastery of Arabic Thomas Simpson’s book on algebra and a tract of
and Persian, SMA tells us that he enjoyed Apollonius (but not that on conic sections).
The phrase “knowledge (or science) of
complete command over English & Latin & disputations” is my translation of the ti-
Greek, the proof of which are his writings &
tle èQ£AJÓ ÕΫ mentioned by SMA; if ibn al-
compilations & translations. Khān-i ‘Allāma
did not translate romances & fables; rather, Haytham (Latinized as Alhazen) did write
he taxed his mind with hard sciences & ab- such a book, I have yet to come across it. I will
struse topics of the kind whose study is con- assume that SMA meant Q£AJÖÏ @ H . AJ» (Kitāb al-
sidered even today as advanced education, manāżir), usually translated as Book of Optics.
and those who acquire knowledge of this kind A concise summary of what we have just
are called M.A.’s and wranglers. We will now
read, unenucmbered by cavillings on SMA’s
refer to Tuhfat al-‘Ālam [Tuhfa] and the biogra-
phy published in London [Obituary] for de-
faulty text, would be helpful before we move
scribing Khān-i ‘Allāma’s (original) compo- on. SMA averred that he would base his ac-
sitions & compilations. [He] wrote two al- count on Tuhfa and Obituary, but the text it-
gebraic treatises, one on algebraic solutions self does not bear this out. Let us list some of
and another on algebraic & geometric solu- the discrepancies.
tions. (Indeed, I have seen some pages of the
second treatise, published in Calcutta). [He] 1. Whereas Tuhfa states that Tafazzul wrote
translated into Arabic Apollonius’s conics & a commentary on Apollonius’s Conics,
conics & common notions [alternatively, ax- SMA claims that Tafazzul translated this
ioms] & de l’Hospital (Frenchman) and also book into Arabic. Obituary speaks nei-
wrote commentaries. [He] also translated Sim-
ther of a commentary nor of a translation.
son’s conics into Arabic (I inherited this book
and it is still in my possession). [He] trans-
2. SMA chooses to include the two books
lated Simson’s algebra and Emerson’s me-
chanics. [He] wrote mustaqil tracts [tracts of
on algebra mentioned in Tuhfa, but not
lasting value?] on logarithms, mathematical in Obituary; he also claims to have seen
science & curves, marginal comments on Ibn-i some pages of one of these books.
Haytham’s knowledge (or science) of disputa-
tions [see below]. All these works are in Ara- 3. Neither Obituary nor Tuhfa cred-
bic. (This book was acquired at great expense its Tafazzul with marginal comments
by the Government Āsifya Library. This is not (glosses) on Alhazen’s Book of Optics.
6Let us conclude this section by looking at what that is available in the public domain [24]. For
Beale wrote in Chronograms [15]. The prose our purpose it will be sufficient to note that ev-
part of his note is translated below: ery volume is divided into many independent
sections, each of which is paginated separately,
Tafazzul Husain Khān Kashmı̄rı̄ and that biographical accounts of various no-
tables, including Tafazzul’s obituary, are pre-
He is also known as Khān-i ‘Allāma. sented in a section designated as “Characters”.
Among all the writings of this peerless in- The subscribers to the Asiatic Annual Reg-
dividual are one on the astronomy of the
ister (who are listed at the beginning of each
h.ukamā (philosophers) of Europe and two
more manuscripts on s.anā‘at-i jabr wa muqābala volume) were deeply interested in the affairs
(the art of algebra). Shortly before the of the East India Company, and many, perhaps
demise of Nawāb Ās.af-ud Daula he [Tafazzul] most, of them must have been familiar with the
achieved eminence as the Nawāb’s represen- names of the top ranking servants of the Com-
tative; afterwards, during the reign of Nawāb pany (and their immediate subordinates). The
Sa‘ādat Alı̄ Khān, he went for a sojourn in Cal- likes of Warren Hastings, Lord Teignmouth,
cutta; while returning home, he passed away
Marquis Cornwallis and Sir William Jones still
in Murshid-Ābād on the fifteenth of Shawwāl
1215 Hijra [which corresponds, according to
need no introduction, but the reader of this ar-
my reckoning, to 1st March 1801]. The text ticle would find it helpful to acquire a nodding
of a panegyrical chronogram penned by Shāh acquaintance with some other characters, in-
Muh.ammad Ajmal Ilāh-Ābādı̄ is given below cluding two brothers, David Anderson (1750–
[skipped here]. 1828) and James Anderson (1758–1833), who
The reader will have noticed that Beale are commemorated in the gallery of benefac-
does not mention any works of translation. He tors of Edinburgh University Library. We are
refers to only three books, which correspond to told [25] that they may have both studied
items 6 and 2 in Rizvi’s list (at the beginning of at the University of Edinburgh like their el-
§ 5). It will be convenient to introduce descrip- der brother Francis, but only James appears to
tive names for these books; accordingly I will have graduated. They entered the service of
name item 6 as Copernican Astronomy, and the East India Company, David as a writer or
the other two tracts as Algebra and Algebra-in- clerk, and James as a cadet in the HEIC army.
They became assistants to and close friends of
Geometry.
Warren Hastings, Governor-General of Bengal,
for whom David was a major political diplo-
mat, and James a Persian interpreter. David re-
6 The received wisdom about Tafazzul. turned to England with Hastings in 1785, and
Part 2 gave evidence for the defence at Hastings’ im-
peachment; James returned to England the fol-
The news that Tafazzul had accomplished an lowing year. David helped Hastings prepare
Arabic translation of Newton’s Principia was his defence for his impeachment, and was one
of the few witnesses who refused to be brow-
broken to the English-reading public by the
beaten by the managers of the prosecution, Ed-
publication of Obituary, an essay written by mund Burke, Charles James Fox and Richard
Lawrence Dundas Campbell [10], the then edi- Brinsley Sheridan.
tor of a book series with a title that will be ab- Like Hastings they assembled their own
breviated in the main text (but not in the bib- collections of Oriental books and manuscripts.
liography) as Asiatic Annual Register. Succes- David gifted 113 volumes from his extensive
sive volumes in the series are not numbered, collections of Oriental manuscripts to the Uni-
and the editor’s name appears in the front mat- versity, and James’ nephew Adam Anderson
gifted his uncle’s 54 Persian manuscripts after
ter of only some volumes; however, the miss-
the latter’s death.
ing information may be found in a catalogue
77 Synopsis of Tafazzul’s English obitu- Some credible evidence, to be presented
ary in Section 9, suggests that in all likelihood
“the learned Mr. Broome” was Captain Ralph
The text of Obituary occupies eight double- Broome. Reuben Burrow, the man who had
column pages. Campbell informs us that he the capacity to widen Tafazzul’s mathemati-
solicited information about Tafazzul’s life and cal horizons, was still in England in 1781. In
works from David Anderson and Lord Teign- Obituary his name is consistently misspelt as
mouth, and both replied. The former also en- “Ruben Burrows”, and the error has perco-
closed two letters he had received, after leav- lated to the works of those who have cited this
ing India, from Tafazzul. When a passage is source without checking whether a mathemati-
quoted from Obituary, the spellings for proper cian with such a name went to work in India in
names written in Latin characters will be re- late 18th century.
tained; three of the excerpts reproduced here After Anderson’s letter (which occupies
contain a footnote (FN) each, which are placed just over four columns) comes to its end,
at the end of the quoted passage. Campbell continues the narrative in his own
The first three columns of Obituary contain words:
introductory comments and a brief account of In 1788, a reconciliation took place between
Tafazzul’s life from his birth “in the celebrated the vizier Assof-ud-Dowlah and Tofuzzel Hus-
valley of Cashmir” [!] up to the time when he sein, and the latter was soon after appointed
decided to leave the court of Lucknow and ac- vakeel from the court of Lucknow to the
British government. In this capacity he resided
cept an offer from Warren Hastings to become
some years at Calcutta, where he cultivated
“assistant to Major Palmer in conducting some the society of Sir William Jones and Lord
political negotiations with the Rana of Gohud”. Teignmouth (then Mr. Shore), and where,
For subsequent events in Tafazzul’s life, we at the hospitable mansion of his friend Mr.
turn to David Anderson’s letter, which was re- Richard Johnson, at Russipughilee, he had
produced in toto by Campbell, but here we will every facility afforded him of pursuing his
be content with a single paragraph: favourite studies of mathematics and astron-
omy; and had also an opportunity of availing
During the intervals of these tedious and himself of the instruction of Mr. Ruben Bur-
vexatious negotiations [in November 1781], rows, the celebrated mathematician; by which
Tofuzzel Hussein delighted to pass his time means he acquired a knowledge of the philos-
with my brother, Mr. Blaine, and myself, in ophy of Newton. And with a view of combin-
conversing on the different laws, customs, and ing his study of the languages with that of the
manners of Europe and of Asia; on Persic, Ara- sciences, he translated the Principia from the
bic, and Hindu literature; and above all, on original Latin, into Arabic.
the sciences of mathematics and astronomy,
The material presented immediately after-
in which he had made a considerable profi-
ciency, derived partly from his study of Ara- wards (four columns, amounting to almost a
bian authors, and partly from his communi- quarter of the entire text) quotes at length from
cations with the learned Mr. Broome [my ital- the two letters sent by Tafazzul to David An-
ics]. These conversations he always enlivened, derson, in both of which he speaks mainly of
by occasionally intermixing sallies of wit and his services in the interests of the Company, but
pleasantry. He became, at this time, anxious one paragraph in the second letter (written in
to learn the English language, and my brother
Persian) does provide a glimpse of his schol-
took great pains to teach it to him. He did not
then make much progress, but he continued arly activities:
to pursue this study with such ardour and ap- You ask me if I continue my studies as usual,
plication, that he was, some years afterwards, or if my employment in public business has di-
able, not only to read, but to write English with verted my thoughts from literary pursuits?—
accuracy. Some time ago, I employed myself, for a few
8months, in reading the history of England, not been printed; and we believe Mr. Burrows
chiefly with a view of acquiring competent never added the annotations he mentions.
knowledge of the language. I have since given
it up, and have been engaged in translating We come at length to the letter written by
the Principia of Sir Isaac Newton, Thomas “Lord Teignmouth, who was long intimately
Simpson’s book on Algebra, Emerson on Me- acquainted with this singular man”, and it will
chanics, Appolonius de Sectione Rationis, trans- be sufficient for our purpose to quote the sec-
lated into latin by doctor Halley, and a work ond of the two long paragraphs which ap-
on Conic Sections by ( ÈAJK ñË@X) Del-hopital a
∗
peared in Obituary:
Frenchman. All these books I am translating
into Arabic, besides several short treaties on Mathematics was his favorite pursuit; and per-
Logarithems, curve lines, &c. &c. Some of ceiving that the science had been cultivated
them I have already finished, and some more to an extent in Europe far beyond what had
of them will soon be brought to a conclusion.— been done in Asia, he determined to acquire
In short, I continue to devote my leisure hours a knowledge of the European discoveries and
to these pursuits. improvements; and, with this view, began the
———— study of the English language. He was at this
∗
FN: Del-hospital. William Francis, Marquis time between forty and fifty; but his success
de ’l Hospital, the celebrated author of the was rapid; and in two years he was not only
L’Analyse des infinimens Petits, and the friend able to understand any English mathematical
of Malbranche. work, but to peruse with pleasure the volumes
of our best historians and moralists. From the
The text of this footnote has so many blem- same motive he afterwards studied and ac-
quired the Latin language, though in a less
ishes that a correction is warranted: “Guil-
perfect degree; and before his death had made
laume François Antoine de l’Hospital, the cel- some progress in the acquisition of the Greek
ebrated author of the Analyse des infiniment pe- dialect.
tits, and the friend of Malebranche.”
In Obituary Campbell corroborates Tafaz- Campbell winds up Obituary by adding a
zul’s account of his “literary pursuits” by ad- solitary concluding sentence: “We have noth-
ducing an “extract of a letter from his friend ing to add to this summary of his qualifications
and associate in these labours, Mr. Ruben Bur- and endowment, except our anxious wish, that
rows, to Lord Teignmouth”. The excerpt reads: the whole account may have been rendered
sufficiently interesting to reward the perusal of
Tofuzzel Hussein continues translating the those, who are best able to estimate the merits,
Principia of Newton, and I think we shall and discriminate the peculiarities of his charac-
soon begin to print it here in Arabic:—my ter”.
notes and explanations are to accompany
To fulfil Campbell’s anxious wish, some
the translation†.—He has likewise translated
Emerson’s Mechanics, and a Treatise on Al- two centuries after he expressed it, is the pur-
gebra, (that I wrote for him) into Arabic. He pose of this article.
is now employed in translating Apollonius As Lord Teignmouth’s letter of appreciation
de Sectione Rationis. The fate of this work is says nothing about Tafazzul’s writings, we dip
singular; it was translated from Greek into into his Memoir (where Tafazzul’s name is spelt
Arabic, and the Greek original was lost; it as Tufuzzool Hossein Khan), and we find there
was afterwards translated from Arabic into
[12, p. 403]: “His fame as a scholar and a math-
Latin, from an old manuscript in the Bodleian
library; the Arabic of it is now totally lost in ematician was established by a Translation of
Asia.—I translated the Latin version into English, Newton’s ‘Principia’ into Persian, and an origi-
and from the English Tofuzzel Hussein is now ren- nal Treatise on Fluxions”. We will return to this
dering it into Arabic again. [My italics] two-part remark in Section 14 when we come
———— to speak of the first two English translators of
FN: † The translation was finished, but it has the Principia.
9It is time now to look at the statements treatise”, as if they are censuring him for con-
made by some other people who knew Tafaz- triving the early demise which prevented him
zul well, including the two grandees men- from fulfilling his promises and plans!
tioned by Campbell, namely Sir William Jones Reuben Burrow was perhaps the only em-
and Warren Hastings. ployee of the Company with a genuine math-
ematical flair. A short account of his life and
expertise is needd to understand what role
8 Other witnesses. Part 1: Sir William he played in Tafazzul’s mathematical training.
Jones, Reuben Burrow and James Din- According to an obituary [27], Burrow sailed
widdie for India in 1782, and the
first employment after he arrived at Calcutta
We find at least one mention of Tafazzul in a was private teaching; this we learn from a
letter (Nr. 520, dated 13 Sept. 1789) written by paragraph which appeared in one of the En-
Sir William Jones (1746–94) to William Steuart. glish newspapers, stating, that a Cashmirean,
The first sentence of a rather long postscript one of M. Burrow’s pupils who understood
reads [26, pp. 838–40]: “Give my best com- English, was translating Newton’s Principia
into Persian!
pliments to Major Palmer & tell him that his
friend Tafazzul Husain Khān is doing won- At this point Tafazzul understood English
ders in English & Mathematicks. He is read- (but not Latin). Burrow, who knew Latin and
ing Newton with Burrow, & means to translate some French before he set sail for India, seems
the Principia into Arabick”. At the end of the to have acquired a working knowledge of Per-
sentence, Cannon (the editor) has added a foot- sian after his arrival in India (see below). It is
note to announce, as did Campbell in Obitu- conceivable that, after Tafazzul and Burrow be-
ary, that the translation did come to fruition: came well acquainted, the duo planned to trans-
“William Palmer (1740–1816) was Resident at late (into Arabic and/or Persian) some impor-
Lucknow in 1782 and at Sindhia’s Court, 1797– tant tracts written by English and French math-
8. . . . His former Indian colleague completed the ematicians. However, Burrow soon found a
Arabic translation”. (My italics). well paid job in the Company, and was very
Jones and Burrow, being active members of active in the Asiatic Society, which means that
the Royal Asiatic Society, knew each other inti- he could not have devoted much time to su-
mately, and we may safely conclude that Bur- pervise (or collaborate with) Tafazzul, who too
row (not Burrows, not Barlow) was the name was busy with political conjuring and deliver-
of the person who introduced Tafazzul to the ing theological lectures. Burrow’s unexpected
works of English and European mathemati- death in 1792 must have been a great blow to
cians. Jones expresses, in another letter (Nr. Tafazzul.
460, written on 17 June 1787), the hope that The arrival (in September 1794) of James
“the ingenious author [Burrow]” would find Dinwiddie, a scientific entrepreneur and odd-
the time to prepare a Dissertation on the As- jobber, passionate advocate of experimental
tronomy of the Hindus. To this remark, Cannon science, and presenter of scientific shows, must
added the following footnote: “Reuben Bur- have been a godsend to Tafazzul. Dinwiddie’s
row (1747–92: D.N.B.), mathematician and a letter (dated 27 Feb 1796) to Joseph Hume con-
loyal Society member, never finished his astro- firms the conjecture [28, p. 134]:
nomical treatise. Several of his short papers
The only good mathematician I have met with,
and lists are in Asiatick Researches (ii).”
in this country, is a native, the Nabob of
Campbell and Cannon use, when speaking Oude’s vakeel—his name Tuffoz-ul-Hussien.
of Burrow, the phrase “never added the anno- He is well-known to Mr. Hastings, who sends
tations” and “never finished his astronomical him out mathematical books. He has trans-
10lated Newton’s Principia into Arabic; also the India House, to serve as an Oriental Repos-
Maclaurin’s Fluxions, and the uncouth Emer- itory, and they invited their servants in India
son’s Mechanics. He has been a constant at- to deposit valuable oriental works in it; on the
tendant on me since my arrival in Bengal, and 18th of February 1800, they appointed Charles
is extremely pleased to see the application of
Willkins, Esq., to be their Librarian [31]. On
theory to practice. Of the latter he had not the
least knowledge. the 23rd of February 1809, Warren Hastings
wrote a long note of enquiry to Wilkins, parts
Fluxions are mentioned again, but now of which are reproduced below [32]:
Tafazzul is said to have merely translated
To Charles Wilkins, Esq.
Maclaurin’s book, not authored one of his own.
Sir,
Being desirous of making a sale of all my Per-
sian, Arabic, and Sanscrit, I think it my duty,
9 Other witnesses. Part 2: Warren Hast- independently of my interest, to make the first
ings tender of them to the East India Company,
for their valuable museum under your charge.
A book critical of the impeachment proceed- . . . . . . Of their value, I have no standard,
ings against Warren Hastings was published in or other means, for forming an estimate, and
1790 [29]. Its author, Ralph Broome (d. 1805), wish to submit it to the same authority to
which I have referred my first proposal, if this
had learnt enough Persian to earn his bread as
shall be accepted; candidly confessing, that the
a translator for the Company, and was “well in- books, whatever may have been my original
formed in Oriental laws, Mohammedan man- purpose in collecting them, are of no use to me
ners, and British transactions in Hindostan” now, but in the pecuniary profit which I may
[30]. He was probably the person whom David derive from the disposal of them.
Anderson called the “learned Mr. Broome”, I have the honour to be, &c.
Tafazzul’s first guide to western mathematics. Warren Hastings, &c.
At any rate, Ralph Broome, the author of the A month later, Hastings wrote again: “My
said book, described an incident that is worth dear Wilkins, I am going back to the country
recalling here [29, p. viii]. After a chance en- immediately. Be so kind as to ask the Chair-
counter between Broome and Hastings, they man whether he will consent to take my books
dined together, and during the dinner Hastings for the Company. I cannot transport them back
expressed a wish that I would call on him at again, and their warehouse hire will be an ac-
his house in town, where he wanted to show cumulating charge to me. I have, therefore,
me an Arabic book, which was given to him made my determination, which depends for its
by a native of India as a mathematical treatise, immediate performance on his. This do, my
and supposed to contain problems unknown dear friend, obtain for me, and let me know it
to Europeans.—I understood that I had been
as soon you are in possession of it.—Yours af-
mentioned to him by some of the natives as
the likeliest Englishmen [sic] to translate such fectionately, Warren Hastings; the 23d of March
a work, as it required a knowledge of Arabic 1809.”
and Mathematics, two kinds of learning sel- Wilkins replied with the following valua-
dom united in one person residing in India. tion: Persian and Arabic books (190 in all) at £3
This invitation I did not accept, nor did I a piece and 12,120 leaves of Sanskrit and Hin-
ever see him again till long after he was im- dovi material at 2s. 6d. for eight leaves. Hast-
peached.
ings was offered the total sum of £759 7s. 6d;
If Broome was fluent in both Arabic and on the 7th of April 1809, he wrote:
mathematics, he was learned. My dear Wilkins, I thank you for the trou-
In the year 1798, the East India Company ble which you have taken. I approve of your
appropriated a room for the new building at valuation of my books, and should have ap-
11proved of it, if it had been less. Yet, I own, I volumes. First, according to my judgment, its
wish that a separate estimate were made of the scribe is not the same as the person (Tafazzul,
mathematical books, because I have been told according to Hastings) who copied the T.ūsı̄ se-
that some of them are curious and uncommon, lections. Second, one finds, between front pa-
and two of them [of a set of three (see below)]
pers i and ii, a loose leaf of paper on which
are beautifully written and drawn, and well
selected. They are from the hand of Tofuzzel is inscribed a brief note in Persian, written
Hossein Khaun. I will tell you frankly, that I in the free running scribbling style known as
had made up my mind to present them to the shikasta. This is evidently a personal message
Company, if the Chairman made any demur for someone whom the writer addresses in the
about the purchase. Of course I leave the dis- IkA àAg” (mean-
top line as “ àAK. QêÓ ð ®Ó
posal of them wholly to your judgment, and
.
ing benevolent and kind khān s.āheb); the message
final determination. . . .
in the next two lines—about deferment of a
Yours affectionately,
Warren Hastings &c. meeting between the writer and the recipient
(line 2) and a prescription for constipation (line
The final determination remained the same 3)—will be of interest only to such as want to
as the first, and the two manuscripts of know, for academic or personal reasons, the
Tafazzul (in his own calligraphic handwriting) composition of the laxative.
fetched Hastings the paltry sum of £6. Un-
fortunately, Hastings did not reveal the con-
10 Calcutta School-Book Society digs
tents of the two manuscripts, nor whether any
of his other “mathematical books” were also out three mathematical MSS. of
“curious and uncommon”. Had an Arabic Tafazzul
(or Persian) translation of Newton’s Principia
been among the books he wanted to get off his In 1817 the Calcutta School-Book Society
hands, would Hastings have been just as de- (CSBS) was formed for answering the demand
mure about the pearl in his Indian collection, for printed books of a sufficiently high quality
and Wilkins equally thrifty? at low prices [37]. In their second annual re-
port, the Society made an exciting announce-
A set of three MSS. (items 743–745 in Otto
ment [38, pp. 17–8]:
Loth’s catalogue [33] of the Arabic books in
the India Office Library) fit the description Three valuable Mathematical MSS. composi-
given by Hastings; the catalogue adequately tions of the celebrated Tufuzzool Hoosyn Khan
describes the contents of each item, and the (the Prime Minister of the late Nuwwab Vuzeer
Asif’ood Dowluh) and the property of his son Tu-
cover pages of the online versions [34–36] pro- jummool Hoosyn Khan of Lukhnow, have been
vide some additional, non-trivial details. We kindly lent to this Society in order to their be-
need only a condensed description here. Items ing copied. One of them exhibits a view of the
743 and 744 are copies of earlier translations Copernican System of Astronomy, the other two
(in Arabic or Persian) of the first and second are Algebraic treatises. It may be attributed to
parts (respectively) of a collection, edited by the enquiries of your Committee that their exis-
Nas.ı̄r al-Dı̄n T.ūsı̄ ( úæ ñ£ áK YË@ Q ), of ancient tence has come to light, and their preservation been
secured.* [Emphasis added here.]
Greek treatises; item 745 is a copy of a pre- ————
existing Arabic translation of Books 1–7 of Con- FN: * A brief notice and extract of these works
ics of Apollonius of Perga. drawn up by Mowluvee Hydur Ullee is intended
The script, ornamentation and binding of to form a part of the Persian abstract account of
the volumes indicate that all three belong to the Society’s proceedings and Report for the past
a set of mathematical tracts. The name(s) of year, illustrated by a copper-plate engraving of
the Solar system.
the copyist(s) are not recoreded. Two features
of item 745 are not shared by its companion Presumably, this Persian document (to be
12
named henceforth as Persian Synopsis) was ºKQK ñ» Õæºk éJ.KQÓ Õæ QËñ (meaning the so-
given a meaningful Persian title by its author. lar system as organized by the philosopher Coperni-
A hint as to what this title might have been may cus).
be gleaned from a catalogue of the Library of We know that Tafazzul’s son Tajammul lent
the British Museum [39], where its identifica- three unabridged MSS. to the CSBS for the pur-
tion tag is 14117. a. 2 (1). It makes two appear- pose of being copied. What happened to the
ances, once under the name of the author and copies and to the originals themselves, which
once under Tafazzul’s name (see Figure 3). One were presumably in Tafazzul’s own hand, and
notices that the Persian titles in the two entries which must have been returned to Tajammul?
are not identical, that the first has definitely Were there any copies prepared within the au-
been truncated, and that the second might have thor’s lifetime by professional scribes? None of
been abbreviated. It is curious that the singular these questions I am able to answer with cer-
form H
. AJ» (kitāb) has been used here. tainty, but I can report reading the following
remark in the same report where their recov-
ery had been announced with so much joy [38,
p. 43]:
The MSS. some months ago obtained from
Lucknow, the compositions of the famous Tu-
fuzzool Hoosyn Khan, and in a fair way of be-
coming food for worms, not students, furnish a
case in point to shew the truth of Mr. Robin-
son’s observations, that our interposition may
save valuable performances from perishing.
The Society’s sense of achievement—
that, thanks to the efforts of their Commit-
tee, the “preservation [of the three Tafazzul
Figure 3: Two entries for Persian Synopsis in a manuscripts had] been secured”—seems to
catalogue of the Library of the British Museum have been premature (or dashed, if it was just
[39]. The upper entry occurs in column 108; the an earnest hope). The Committee members
lower, in column 330 might have concluded that worms had caused
enough damage to prevent a mathematically
Two other cataloguers list Persian Synop- untrained scribe from making useful copies.
sis, but skip the Persian title; Zenker [40] The worms, it seems, were allowed to do their
gives the same English title as that stated work for a few more years (see below).
by Blumhardt [39], whereas Deloncle [41]
provides an equivalent French description in
which Tafazzul’s name is misspelt as “Cafaz- 11 John Tytler connects with Indian
zoul Houssein-Khan”. This 23-page summary mathematicians
(of three tracts, written by Tafazzul in Arabic)
has now become a rare book. Though I have John Tytler (1787–1837) arrived in India in
not been able to find Persian Synopsis in the 1813, and was assigned in the beginning of
public domain, the effort to find it did dredge 1814 to the civil station of Patna. There he
up some additional information in the pages met Dı̄wān Kanh Jı̄, an Indian scholar who had
of a recent commercial catalogue [42, p. 43], prepared a compendium (written in Persian)
and of the publicity brochure for an auction of whatever mathematics he could learn from
[43]. The most valuable part of the additional Indian and foreign sources; fortunately, he in-
information is an illustration with the legend cluded the contents of Algebra and Algebra-in-
13Geometry in two sections of the compendium. Bardawānı̄, one of the teachers at the College Haji
Referring to Tafazzul as “the late Tafazzul Hu- Mohsin, Hoogly, September, 1837.
sain Khan”, the Dı̄wān informs the reader that
Tafazzul prepared his material by translating Failing health compelled John Tytler to discon-
English books into Arabic. The first of these tinue his involvement with the book; he de-
sections (pp. 546–579) covers algebra and the cided to leave India, and arrived in England
second (pp. 579–624) discusses the solution of in May 1835. Despite being “broken in health,
geometrical problems by means of algebraic depressed in spirits, and impaired in fortune”
analysis. The printed version of the com- [47], Tytler spent a great deal of energy on
pendium, which provides the English equiv- promoting the work of “a Maulavi, by name
alent of all important terms (written in Per- Gholaum Hosain”, who had come to see Tytler
sian characters), uses the term “geometric al- (shortly before his departure) in the hope that
gebra” for what may also be named “algebra- the latter would recommend his manuscript to
assisted geometry”. The compendium is com- the Government Education Committee. Tytler
monly dubbed Khazanat al-Ilm (also Khazanat-ul obliged by endorsing the book enthusiastically
Ilm), though the full title is a little longer and in a long and characteristically thorough arti-
far more informative [44]. The contents of the cle, published posthumously [48].
compendium inspired Tytler to publish two ar- Whether or not Ghulām Husain received
ticles [45, 46], the first of which concluded with any financial assistance from the Education
the following words [45]: Committee is not known (at least to me), but
we know from an 1838 report on the state of ed-
It is but justice that I should add, that
my first knowledge of this rule was obtained ucation in Bengal that the book was published
from the Khazanut-ul Ilm, which is a complete [49]:
system of Arithmetic, Algebra, and Geometry, Maulavi Gholam Hossein, dwelling at Sa-
as far as known to the Arabians and Hindus, hebgunge in the thana of that name, has
composed in the present day by Khan Jee, a written in Persian a compilation called Jam-i-
most intelligent inhabitant of Patna. On my re- Bahadur Khani, from various Arabic works on
questing to know from what original authors arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and the nat-
the rule was taken, this gentleman was kind ural sciences with additions of his own. This
enough to favour me with the above extract. work has been printed and contains 720 pages.
No more I think is required to demonstrate, He is now engaged in the preparation of astro-
that his own work highly deserves translation nomical tables to be entitled Zij Bahadur Khani.
and publication. The names of both works are intended as a
The publication of Kanh Jı̄’s Khazanut-ul Ilm compliment to his patron Bahadur Khan, one
of the sons of Mitrajit Singh, the Raja of Tikari.
became a printing ordeal, which is described
already in the middle of the title page. The de- Passionate about the publication of scien-
scription is divided into three centred blocks of tific books in Arabic, Tytler wrote as well as
text in the format shown below: translated several pieces himself. To quote
from his obituary [47]:
Adopted for publication, by the General
Committee of Public Instruction, for the general The interest first imbibed by Mr. Tytler at
use of the Persian Colleges under their control, and Patna from the example and aid of his friend
printed up to the 492nd page under the Khan Ji, in these arduous and abstruse en-
supervision of Dr. J. Tytler. quiries, continued unimpaired to the last: and,
Suspended by order of Government, and after his return to England, he communicated
transferred with other unfinished Oriental works to the Royal Asiatic Society an analysis of a
to the Asiatic Society, in March 1835, work analogous to the Khazanat al Ilm, named
the Jamia Bahadar Khani, by Maulavi Gholam
and completed at the Society’s expence, under the Hosein, a scientific native in the service of
gratuitous supervision of Maulavı̄ Mansūr Ahmed Buhadar Khan, the son of the Raja of Tikari,
14another of Mr. Tytler’s Patna friends, and a pa- on to conclude that, some thirty years after his
tron of mathematical learning. Mr. Tytler also demise, the unravaged portions of the mathe-
prepared for the Ashmolean Society of Oxford, matical papers of Tafazzul—which might have
an account of an Arabic version of the Conic included some presentable translations—were
Sections of Apollonius, and of other mathe-
still in the hands of his heirs. We also have to
matical works originally written in Europe,
of which he had brought home a manuscript assume that the reviewer was not speaking of
copy. the three short tracts that had been loaned by
Tafazzul’s son to CSBS.
So much space has been devoted to Tytler
in an article about Tafazzul, because if a pre-
sentable Arabic translation of the Principia had 12 Tafazzul’s mathematical works: sep-
existed, Tytler would probably have been in-
arating rumour from fact
formed by his Indian “men of mathematics”.
I have not come across a reference to any
By now we have heard so many claims on be-
of Tafazzul’s putative translations in one of
half of Tafazzul that it is not easy to recall who
Tytler’s articles. However, the rumour must
said what. Did Tafazzul translate the Principia
have been floating around, as may be judged
into Arabic or Persian? Did he use the origi-
from the concluding remarks, in a few pages
nal Latin text of Newton or an English transla-
devoted to book reviews. After spending one
tion? Did he also write an original treatise on
paragraph on the Indian and Arabian part of
fluxions, or did he merely translate Maclaurin’s
Khazanat al-Ilm, the reviewer states [50]:
tract? Did he translate other books as well?
The European part of the Khizanut-ool-Ilm Emerson’s Mechanics? A book on conic sec-
consists of two sections: first, a complete trans- tions by de l’Hospital and another on the same
lation by the Dewan of Bonnycastle’s Alge-
bra; secondly, an extract consisting of a col-
topic by Robert Simson? Did he also translate
lection of Geometrical Problems from the pa- Burrow’s English version of a book of Apollo-
pers of the celebrated T UFUZZOOL H OSAIN nius? Did he translate Simpson’s book on alge-
K HAUN of Delhi. This person during his life, bra, or that written for him by Reuben Burrow,
was considered we believe, the best Moham- or both?
madan mathematician in India, and he ap- It will be well to recall, before attempting to
pears to have employed his time [all his time?]
answer the above questions, what Allport and
in translating European mathematical works
into Arabic; after his death, which took place
Postman wrote about rumour [3, p. 43]: “To
some years ago, Government, we are told, be sure, in rumour there is often some resid-
made strong efforts to obtain his MSS, but in ual particle of news, a “kernel of truth,” but
consequence of legal disputes between his re- in the course of transmission it has become
lations these were unsuccessful, and the fate of so overlaid with fanciful elaboration that it is
the papers is probably not known. It is much no longer separable or detectable. In the ru-
to be wished that they could be procured. moured story it is almost always impossible to
Tafazzul did spend, we happen to know, a tell precisely what the underlying facts are, or
few years in Delhi but many more in Lucknow, indeed whether there are any at all.”
and—not by the bye—the second section of Let us recall SMA’s words in UrduBio (see
Khazanat al-Ilm is not (as already stated above) Figure 2 or the English rendering which fol-
quite “an extract of Geometrical Problems from lows it): “He wrote two algebraic treatises,
the papers of” Tafazzul. The rest of the state- one on algebraic solutions [i.e. Algebra] and
ment may also have been vitiated by some im- the other on algebro-geometric solutions [i.e.
precision or involuntary distortions, but per- Algebra-in-Geometry]. (Indeed, I have seen
haps not enough to have squeezed all truth out some pages of the second treatise, published
of the words. If that is granted, one may go in Calcutta).” The first sentence is correct, but
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