AN INDIAN DECORATIVE DESIGN. CHAPTER XI BEGINNING OF THE EEIGN OF THE EMPEROR HUMAYUN J 53<> - 1556 A. D. AN interesting account of the opening of Humayun's reign has been preserved from the pen of the historian Khwandamir, who died four years after his sovereign's accession to the throne. The general his- torical work of this author is well known, and it is worth observing, with Dowson, that in his old age Khwandamir became quite a courtier, abandoning the role of the true historian to become a royal panegyrist. A specimen of the Humayun Namah, his last work, will sufficiently illustrate this fact by its somewhat Oriental style. It is chosen here particularly because it gives a picture of court life rather than a descrip- tion of endless wars and massacres, which are all too common in the history of Mohammedan India. 263
