I am pleased to share that Enayatullah Khan, (Assistant Professor, Department of History, Aliah University, Kolkata)  has been nominated, and awarded the Professor Syed Hasan Askari Prize (Rs. 5000) for the best paper (Ṭibb-i Dārā Shukohī: An Introduction to an Important Medical Treatise of the Seventeenth Century) based on archival/primary source on Medieval India which will be officially announced at at the  84th session of Indian History Congress at Government Brennen College, Dharmadam, Thalassery, Kannur (Kerala), 28–30 December 2025.

 

Heartfelt congratulations to Enayatullah Khan (Assistant Professor, Department of History, Aliah University, Kolkata) on behalf of the Professor Syed Hasan Askari Historiography Project for his stellar research paper (Ṭibb-i Dārā Shukohī: An Introduction to an Important Medical Treatise of the Seventeenth Century) and for being the recipient of the Professor Syed Hasan Askari Prize for the best paper based on archival/primary sources on Medieval India.

 

As we know, the Indian History Congress (IHC) announced on July 28, 2025, the institution of the lifelong Professor Syed Hasan Askari Memorial Award, to be awarded annually in perpetuity to the best paper in this category. The first award is being conferred to  Enayatullah Khan (Assistant Professor, Department of History, Aliah University, Kolkata) at the Eighty-Fourth Session of the Indian History Congress at Government Brennen College, Kannur, Kerala. Through my recent interactions with Enayatullah Khan (Assistant Professor, Department of History, Aliah University, Kolkata), I have found him to be an outstanding scholar and researcher, and above all, a humble, down-to-earth, and remarkably helpful person.

 

I was recently informed by the eminent historian Professor Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi, Secretary of the Indian History Congress (and Professor of History at the Centre of Advanced Study, Department of History, AMU, Aligarh; President of the Aligarh Society of History and Archaeology; and Treasurer of the Aligarh Historians Society), that Enayatullah Khan has been selected for the Professor Syed Hasan Askari Prize for the best paper based on archival/primary sources on Medieval India. I would like to take a moment and express my sincere gratitude to Professor Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi sahib for his valuable collaboration with the Professor Syed Hasan Askari Historiography Project in instituting this lifelong memorial award. I had the opportunity to work with him on identifying the domain areas for paper submissions, which include: Sufism, the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughals, Bihar’s regional history, and other aspects of cultural and social history between the 12th and 18th centuries.

 

For context, Professor Syed Hasan Askari became an associate member of the IHC in 1936 and actively participated in its annual sessions, presenting papers until 1958. He was elected President of the Medieval India Section during the X Session in Bombay and served on its Executive Committee for several years. Although later elected President of the Indian History Congress for its Varanasi session, he regrettably had to decline due to health reasons.

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Syed Ahmer Raza

Professor Syed Hasan Askari Historiography Project 

Los Angeles, California, USA

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About the Indian History Congress

Founded in 1935, the Indian History Congress is the largest association of professional historians in South Asia, with approximately 35,000 members and attendance of more than 2,000 delegates at its annual sessions. Since its inception, the IHC has consistently held annual sessions and published their proceedings. Its primary mission, as stated on its website, is to promote secular and scientific historiography.

 

Award Details

Professor Syed Hasan Askari Prize (Rs. 5000)
Best Paper based on Archival/Primary Sources on Medieval India
Recipient: Enayatullah Khan (AM-23518)
Assistant Professor, Department of History, Aliah University, Kolkata
Email: khanecology@gmail.com
 

Title of Paper: Ṭibb-i Dārā Shukohī: An Introduction to an Important Medical Treatise of the Seventeenth Century
Publish Date: December 28–30, 2025

About the Author: Dr. Enayatullah Khan, an alumnus of Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia, is an Assistant Professor of History at Aliah University, Kolkata. He has been teaching since 2016 and has previously served as Senior Research Assistant at the Centre of Advanced Study in History, AMU. His areas of interest include Natural History, the Historiography of Natural History in Medieval India, and the history of health and disease in Medieval India. He has published extensively in national and international journals and edited volumes.
Website: https://aliah.ac.in/department/people-details.php?key=history&id=298

 

 

Excerpts from Ṭibb-i Dārā Shukohī: An Introduction to an Important Medical Treatise of the Seventeenth Century by Enayatullah Khan

 

Abstract:
Medieval period is known for its production of large genre of literature. Medical sciences have been important aspects for scholars of Sultanate and Mughal periods. As a result, a number of medical treatises have been composed on the different issues of the medical science such as Ṭibb-i Fīroz Shāhī and Ummul ‘Ilaj. In the seventeenth century an important medical work entitle Ṭibb-i Dārā Shukohi was compiled by Nuruddin Mohammad Abdullah Ain-ul Mulk Shirazi in the reign of Mughal emperor Shāh Jāhān. The work was dedicated to Prince Dārā Shukoh as its title suggests. An attempt has been made to introduce hitherto untapped manuscripts of this work which are now preserved in the Asiatic Society of Bengal and the Niẓamiah Ṭibbīya College, Hyderabad. A comparative study of these two manuscripts highlight some new information related to prevalent diseases and its cure.

 

Reference Text: Syed Hasan Askari in his paper ‘Medicines and Hospitals in Muslim India’ has mentioned this manuscript with slightly changed title Zakhīra-i Dārā Shukohī. It seems likely that he is mentioning the same manuscript Ṭibb-i Dārā Shukohī.

 

Bibliography: 10. Syed Hasan Askari, ‘Medicines and Hospitals in Muslim India’, Journal of the Bihar Research Society, Vol. XLIII, March–June, 1957.

 

 

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Notes: Prof. Askari’s 1957 article (MEDICINES AND HOSPITALS IN MUSLIM INDIA) which was cited mentioned by Enayatullah Khan, (Assistant Professor, Department of History, Aliah University, Kolkata) in his award-winning research paper, and is accessible online.

 

Journal article: MEDICINES AND HOSPITALS IN MUSLIM INDIA by Hasan Askari

Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 20 (1957), pp. 170-183 (14 pages)

Published By: Indian History Congress

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44304460

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Hasan Askari. “Medicines and hospitals in Muslim India” in Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 20, (1957). pp. 170-183. & ‘Medicines and Hospitals in Muslim India’, Journal of the Bihar Research Society, Vol. XLIII, March–June, 1957.

 

 

​Abstract:

This article outlines a history of medicine in India between the 13th-17th centuries. It opens with an outline of ancient and medieval medical scholarship, focusing first on the Islamic imperative to seek knowledge, and continuing with the central role of Ayurvedic scholarship in the development of Islamic medicine through the 13th century in Baghdad. Professor Syed H. Askari notes that Indian travelers may have lived and worked in Baghdad during this period. Professor Askari then turns to the Indian subcontinent itself, focusing on Sultanate-era translations of Sanskrit treatises into Persian and Arabic before turning to Mughal-era patronage of public health. In the final pages, it becomes clear that Professor Syed Askari wrote this article in direct response to colonial-era British scholarship, which took a dim view of Muslim government in India. Professor Askari highlights the seemingly intentional lack of success to translate portions of texts describing the patronage of hospitals and dispensaries, and mentions Henry Beveridge’s mis-translation of sihat khāna (hospital) as a “privy,” noticing in the next line that Edinburgh University Library possessed a copy of the Tibb-i Bahri o Barri, a treatise on medicine from the Bijapur Sultanate court (and so Beveridge should have been aware of it). Professor Askari makes his point clearly: medical knowledge and practice flourished for centuries before the arrival of the British.

Keywords: Unani, tibb, Ayurveda, Firuz Shah Tughluq, Sanskrit, Persian, translation, Delhi Sultanate, Bihar, Mughal medicine, hospitals, Henry Miers Elliot, Henry Beveridge, colonial translation, public health, Mughal physicians