Abdul Karim Kashmiri’s Travelogueto Hejaz(1154-1155 A.H.)

Abdul Karim Kashmiri, the son of Aqebat Mahmud, the son of Khajeh Muhammad Bolaqhi, the son of Khajeh Muhammad Ridha (1198 A.H.), was a Persian writer and historian in Indian Subcontinent. Little is known apparently about his life except what one can find out in his book, Bayān-e vāqeʿ. He was from Kashmir and was living in Shahjahanabad in Delhi. During the years he was living in Delhi, Nadir Shah Afshar (1148-1160 A.H.) invaded and occupied the city (1151 A.H.). When he intended to visit the Ka'bah and other holy places of Islam, Abdul Karim met Mirza Ali Akbar Khorasani, the master of the registry office and Mirza Ali Akbar joined him to the service of the sultan as a clerk (motaṣaddī) with the promise of pilgrimage and Hajj journey. Along with Sayyid Alawi khan Hakim Bashi, Abdul Karim accompanied Nader Shah Afshar on his return journey to Iran. When Nader Shah finally arrived in Qazvin in (1154 A.H.), after successive battles in Panjab, Sind, Afghanistan, Khorasan, Transoxania, Kharazm, and elsewhere, Abd-al-Karim eventually was permitted in Qajzān to go the Hajj; on his way to Hejaz, he also visited places such as Karbala and Aleppo. After the Hajj (1155 A.H.), he returned to India through the port of Jeddah by a ship and arrived in Delhi in Jumada al-Thani (1156 A.H.). He is the author of the book Bayān-e vāqeʿ written in Persian and about Nader Shah Afshar’s life and reign, only a part of this work includes Kashmiri’s report of his journey to the land of Hejaz. Here is the analysis of this travelogue.