MIRKHOND (1433-1498) [Mohammed bin Khawandshah bin Hahmfid] was born in 1433. From his early youth he applied himself to historical studies and literature in general. In Herat, where he spent the greater part of his life, he gained the favour of that famous patron of letters, Mir `Alishir (1440-15o1). At the request of Mir Alishir, himself a distinguished statesman and writer, Mirkhond began about in the quiet convent of Khilasiyah, which his patron had founded in Herat as a house of retreat for literary men of merit, his great work on universal history, fi walmulflk walkhulafei or Garden of Purity on the Biography of Prophets, Kings and Caliphs. He made no attempt at a critical examination of histori cal traditions, and wrote in a flowery and often bombastic style, but in spite of this drawback, Mirkhond's Rauzat remains one of the most marvellous achievements in literature. The main portion of the last volume is probably the work of his grandson, the historian Khwandamir (1475-1534), to whom also a part of the appendix must be ascribed.
For accounts of Mirkhond's life see De Sacy's "Notice sur Mirkhond" in his Memoires sur diverses antiquites de la Perse (Paris, 1793).
Besides the lithographed editions of the whole work in folio (Bombay, 1853, and Teheran, 1852-56) and a Turkish version (Constantinople, 1842), the following portions of Mirkhond's history have been pub lished by European Orientalists: Early Kings of Persia, by D. Shea (London, 1832) (Oriental Translation Fund) ; L'Histoire de la dynastie des Sassanides, by S. de Sacy (in the above-mentioned Memoires) ; Histoire des Sassanides (texte Persan), by Jaubert (Paris, 1843) ; His toria priorum regum Persarum, Persian and Latin, by Jenish (Vienna, 1782) ; Mirchondi historia Taheridarum, Persian and Latin, by Mit scherlik (Gottingen, 1814, 2nd ed., Berlin, 1819) ; Historia Samani darum, Persian and Latin, by Wilken (Gottingen, 18°8) ; Histoire des Samanides, translated by Defremery (Paris, 1845) ; Historia Ghaz nevidarum, Persian and Latin, by Wilken (Berlin, 1832) ; Geschichte der Sultane aus dem Geschlechte Bujeh, Persian and German, by Wilken (Berlin, 1835) ; followed by Erdmann's Erlduterung und Erganzung (Kazan, 1836) ; Historia Seldschuckidarum, ed. Vullers (Giessen, 1837) ; and a German trans. by the same.