The first English translation of Tarikh-i Firishta, a history of the Muslim rulers of India up to the early 17th century by Muhammad Qasim Firishta (1560-1620), made by Alexander Dow (1735-79), a Scottish officer in the East India Company army.

The translation was published in three volumes: the first two in 1768 when Dow was on leave in England, with an appendix "containing the history of the Mogul empire, from its decline in the reign of Mahummud Shaw, to the present times," and volume 3, published in 1772, with "A Dissertation on the Origin and Nature of Despotism in Hindostan" and "An Enquiry into the State of Bengal, with a plan for restoring that kingdom to its former prosperity and splendour."