Yahya expected to become a courtier of Mubarak Shah (r. 1421-1434), a ruler of the Delhi Sultanate. Therefore, he wrote Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi and presented it to the Sultan, hoping to win the royal patronage.[1]
The book begins with the conquests of Muhammad of Ghor (1149-1206), and ends abruptly in 1434.[2] Several earlier royal chroniclers had written texts describing the 13th-15th century history of the Delhi Sultanate. For example, Minhaj-i-Siraj covered the period up to 1259 in his Tabaqat-i Nasiri, Ziauddin Barani covered 1259-1356, and Shams-i Siraj Afif covered 1356-1388. Yahya carried forward this chronology all the way to 1434.[3]
For the events up to 1351, Yahya selectively borrowed from the earlier writers, and arranged the material in a chronological order. For the events after 1351, he relied on personal memory and observations, besides the accounts of some trustworthy narrators. His work is a regional history, generally limited to military and political events. For example, Yahya omitted the economic reformsofAlauddin Khalji (r. 1296-1316).[1]
