Hamdard Islamicus: quarterly journal of the Hamdard National Foundation by Hamdard National Foundation, Pakistan 1984 p88
Beyond the Legacy of Genghis Khan by Linda Komaroff

In defense of Rasid-al-din and his Letters. Studia Iranica. 32: 77–122 Soudovar, Abolala (2003).

 

Rashid al-Din Tabib also Rashid al-Din Fadhl-allah Hamadani (1247–1318)

Mokatebat e Rashidi or Mashe'at e Rashidi is a collection of 53 letters from Rashideddin.

 

Letter 48 

(A letter written by Malik Ala al-Din Khalji (r. 1296-1316 C.E.Sultan of Delhi) to the Wazir of the Ilkhanid ruler of Persia, Rashid al-Din.)

However Soudovar argues that the writer was not the Sultan from Delhi but the commander from Kerman and the coastal provinces.

The writer expresses his joy for receiving a letter from Rashid al Din which has alleviated the grief he feels at being separated from his friend. He is grateful for the accompanying presents. Rashid al Dins solicitude for the weak and the effort he has expended on establishing good relations between Sultan Ala al-Din and his own king are praised. He greatly desires that they should meet again. A list of presents for Rashid al-Din, which have been sent with merchants to Basra follows.

It provides a list of commodities mainly either produced in the vicinity of the great ports of Gujarat (1) or transshipped there. Some material in the collection in which this document is produced is clearly unauthentic, but current scholarly opinion would assign the forgeries or alterations to a date before 1400. We cannot therefore take on trust the absolute quantities of the items said to have been dispatched, ranging from diamonds weighing 2.29 and 4.58 g. to 38.52 metric tons of teak-wood but the list provides some guide as to relative quantities. The sources of the commodities are frequently noted. 

- Textiles, some noted as from Cambay (2)

- Precious stones; diamonds weighing 2.29 and 4.58 g

-Perfumes,

-Exotic birds and animals: parrots (tuti), Zag-e hendi-ye sokhan guy (myna bird from India) with the African zebra (re-exported from India) and an orang-outang, the most exotic items on the list

-Conserves and pickles,

-Spices and drugs, the last category totaling 29.25 metric tons. Among them is a very early reference to the export of a small quantity of Chinese tea and tamr-e hendi (tamarind from India)

-Furnishings include pillows and quilts, and mats of applique leather (from Gujarat) (1)

-Fragrant oils,

-Thirteen gold vessels (one described as of Bengal workmanship),

-500 vessels of Chinese porcelain,-lajvard (3) (blue and white) dishes and drinking-bowls; royal bowls (larger ones) with floral designs; big sherbet-bowls with seven color decoration; wine-ewers in lajvard (3) ornamented with gold designs, and lajvard saucers and flat dishes 

-Thirty Martaban (4) jars of pickles

-Four varieties of fruit, including 3,000 coconuts.

-Items of wood and bone, 38.52 metric tons of teak, ebony, and saj-e hendi (5): red sandalwood (from India); and elephant ivory, 'the teeth of the lion-fish', and 'beaks of the samandar'. They probably refer to walrus ivory, the most likely source for which is Kamchatka (6); and to the beak of the crested hornbill (rhinoplex vigil).

(the letter ends:)

May the white sheet of days and the pages of passing years be marked by the official signet of the one whom I serve.

 

(Compendium of Chronicles) (1310)

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Taken from: Rashid al-Din’s history of India: collected essays with facsimiles and indices By Rashid al-Din Ṭabib, Karl Jahn

Taken from: Wikipedia

Taken from: Die indiengeschichte des rasid ad-din / Karl Jahn Wien, 1980 120 S. Text, 80 Tafeln /Mss + german translation
(from here the page numbers are taken)

 

The Jami al-tawarikh consists of:

1. Ta’rikh-i Ghazani,(11)

The Mongol and Turkish tribes: their history, genealogies and legends

3. The Shu’ab-i panjganah (genealogies, of the Arabs, Jews, Mongols, Franks, and Chinese).

4. The Suwar al-akalim, a geographical compendium. (is lost)

 

p25-26

p31

Note: Although this is not true among the Habash; it might well have been through among the dark people of South

East Asia.