Chapter I
A CRITICAL STUDY ON THE HISTORY WRITING
DURING THE EARLY MUGHAL PERIOD
The literature produced during the Mughal period is famous for its
richness in more than one way. Not merely biographies, autobiographies
and diaries, but specialized and general histories were written. Numerous
records, official documents, coins, inscriptions, private letters, san ads,
firmans and other voluminous vivid accounts of foreign travelers, who
visited India, constitute a rich treasure house of knowledge. I
This literature can be divided into eight categories. 2 These are :-
I
2
1.
Official Histories
2.
Government Records
3.
Biographies and Memoirs
4.
Non-official histories
5.
Local provincial histories
6.
Collection of letters
7.
Gazetteers and official manuals
8.
Literary works
B. Sheikh Ali, History: Its Theory and Method, Macmillan, New Delhi, 1981, p. 323.
Ibid, p. 323.
-10-
As far as the Persian history books of early Mughal period are
concerned, the number of such writings is very slim, but Persian history
sources produced during the reigns of Babur and Humayun are important
for reasons more than one. Apart from being the early period of the
foundation of a new dynasty, it was also a period of great political turmoil
and social unrest. Some of the contemporaries could write the historical
literature of Humayun's period only in the time of Akbar, which was a
period of relative political stability.
Apart from the Tarikh-i-Rashidi of Mirza Haider Doghlat, other
important books written during early Mughal period namely Baburnama of
Babur, Humayun Nama of Gulbadan Begham, Tarikh-i-Humayuni by
Ibrahim-bin-Jarir, Tazkeratul Waqiat-i-Humayun of lauhar Aftabchi,
Tarikh-i-Humayun Shahi of Faizi Sarhindi, Tarikh-i-Humayun and Tazkerai-Humayun-wa-Akbar of Bayazid Bayat, Qanun-i-Humayuni of Khwand
Mir, Akbarnama of Abu! Fazl, Muntakhab-ut- Tawarikh of Abdul Qadir
Badauni and others are also the important sources of the information for that
period.
- 11-
Babur's Memoirs (Baburnama)
Babur, the founder of the Mughal rule in India and one of the most
fascinating characters in the history of Asia, occupies a place of pride
among the contemporary writers to whom we are heavily indebted for our
knowledge of history of the period under review. His autobiography, written
in his mother-tongue Chaghatai Turki3 and variously styled as the Tuzuk-i-
Baburi, Waqiat-i-Baburi, or simply Babumama, constitutes a fIrst-rate
authority on his own career and the history of his times.
Tuzuk-i-Baburi when translated into Persian it came to be known as
Babumama. This was twice translated into Persian during the reign of
Akbar, first by Painda Khan, and subsequently by Abdur Rahim Mirza.
These days translations of Baburnama can be had in many European and
Asian languages; three valuable translations of the book is available in
English are those of Leyden and Erskine, L.King and Mrs .A.S. Beveridge;
the first two translations were made from the Persian version while Mrs.
Beveridge has made use of the original Turkic text; her translation may,
therefore, be treated as the most authentic and reliable. The book is not a
complete record of Babur's career; all the known copies of the manuscripts
show wide gaps, thus presenting the story in fragments only_ All told it
throws light on the activities of about eighteen years out of the forty-eight
3 A native tongue spoken in Ferghana, the ancestral kingdom of Babur's father. John
. Leyden and William Erskine (trs. &ed.), Memoirs ofZahir Ed Din Muhammad BaberEmperor of Hinduswn, written by himself in the laghatai Turki; Longman, London,
1826, pp.i-il.
~
12-
years of Babur's existence. The book has no preface of introduction and
opens in an abrupt and unceremonious manner with the twelfth year of
Babur's life when he ascended the throne of Ferghana. The narrative is
broken by numerous gaps in between; the account of the years from 1509 to
1519 and 1520 to 1529 is missing altogether; again it comes to an abrupt
end on a broken passage dated September 7,1529 (Muharram 3, 936 A.H.)
beyond which 'what is missing seems likely to have been written and lost'.4
The subject matter of Babumama falls into three territorial divisions those of the lands of his successive rule. - Ferghana (including Samarqand),
Kabul and Hindustan; the narrative usually follows the chronological order,
nevertheless while describing and on-the-spot· situation, the author
sometimes also recalls and explains much earlier events of his life with
reference to the context. The memoirs were obviously written by him during
his intervals of leisure albeit we do not know as to when he first started the
composition. From a careful study of the style and critical analysis of the
events and characterization as given by the author in the first part of the
narrative, it has been surmised that Babur had written these pages chiefly
from recollections long after the occurrence of the events while the rest of
the work, dealing particularly with his activities in India, seems to have
been scribbled down in the form of a personal diary or journal. The first
part of memoirs, which seems to have been also revised by the author at a
later date, actually reads like a romance; it deals with that part of his career
4
Memoirs (Beveridge), p.690
-13 -
when he was 'unfortunate and often a wanderer'; albeit 'always lively,
active and bold'; the reader follows him in his various adventures with that
'delight which inevitably springs from the minute and animated recital of
the hazardous exploits of a youthful warrior,.5
Babur was a man of fine literary taste and critical perception; his
style was at once simple, straightforward and graceful. He did not waste his
time or words in giving elaborate introductions or backgrounds; instead, he
was always matter of fact, brief and yet very dear in his descriptions. An
accomplished poet in Persian and Chaghatai Turkic, he is credited with a
pure and unaffected style in prose and verse, and found leisure in the
thickest of his difficulties and dangers to compose an ode on his
misfortunes. His battles as well as his orgies 'were humanized by a breath
of poetry,.6 Babur was truthful and straightforward in his utterances; he
frankly gave vent to his emotions and described his achievements and
failures, virtues· or vices in the same breath without mincing words or
exhibiting any sign of hesitation. This characteristic of his memoirs gives
them an authority equal their charm. To quote Lane Poole,
If ever there was a case when the testimony of a single
historical document unsupported by other evidence, should be
accepted as sufficient proof, it is the case with Babur's memoirs. No
5
6
Memoirs (Leyden and Erskine), p.6.
Stanley Lane-Poole, Babur, Oxford, 1899, p.12.
-14-
reader of this prince of autobiographers can doubt his honesty or his
competence as witness and chronicler. 7
According to an estimate, Baburnama is 'one of the most priceless
records; it can be considered in rank with the Confessions of St. Augustine
and Rousseau, and the memoirs of Gibbon and Newton. In Asia it stands
almost alone. , 8
Tarikh-i-Humayuni
The Tarikh-i-Humayunl of Jauhar is valuable source book which
gives interesting glimpses of the life-history and character of Humayun; it
also throws some light on the childhood days of Akbar. Jauhar was a
domestic servant of Humayun who bore the brunt of life in the company of
his master for over twenty-fiveyears. He wrote his reminiscences in 1587 at
the bidding of Akbar; these were obviously, intended to help Abul FazI in
the preparation of the A1dJarnama. Jauhar was not a scholar, nor did he
preserve any personal documents or records of the life-history of Humayun;
he wrote from memory at an advanced age when even his memory had
begun to fail him. Accordingly, the Tarikh i Humayuni is not a scholarly
work; it abounds in chronological and topographical mistakes. Even the
sequence of major events descnl>ed by the author in his book is not always
correct. In spite of all these defects, Jauhar's narrative portrays a life-like
Ibid, p.l3.
Ibid, p.l2.
9 Its other title being Tazkiral-ul-Waqiat; Tarikh-i-Humayul1 Shahi: Tarikh-i-lauhar-iShahi, or Kitab-i-lauhar Shahi.
7
8
......15 . . .
picture of Humayun's personality and character which none else but a
faithful and trustworthy personal attendant like Jauhar was competent to do
so. The author refers only to those events of his master's of life which he
himself had been an eyewitness; this is what enhances the value of his
reminisces. Jauhar Aftabchi wrote in simple language, and expressed truth
in plain manner. His account of Humayun's life and conduct reveals the
emperor's charming personality and equanimity of his temper even under
most trying circumstances. The value of lauhar's book lies in the fact that he
writes from personal observation, and so he sometimes supplements and
corrects the writings of others.
Humayun came to Bengal chasing Sher Khan, and stayed in the
capital city of Gaur for nine months. lauhar's accounts of this period,
particularly Humayun's stay in Bengal (city of Gaur), are very important,
because his is an eyewitness account. He explained that when Humayun
marched towards Gaur, Sher Khan pillaged the city and burnt it. Entering
the fort, Humayun took steps to bring it back to life; he repainted the walls,
cleansed the roads and took residence at the palace. He apportioned the
different parts of the country to his officers, posted garrisons at strategic
places and gave himself up to pleasure. He did not come out of his private
apartments for one month, even the men of his army could not see him.
Gaur was given the name of lannatabad (the heavenly city).
Ishwari Prasad explained the historical value of Jauhar's work in the
following words:
Being a knowledgeable contemporary, lauhar gives us many
interesting details about the emperor's life. He is not a rhetorician
like Abul Fazal, and often in pain and unvarnished language, he
expresses the truth. The minute details relating to Humayun's life and
conduct reveal to us his charming personality and the equanimity of
his temper under the most trying circumstances. The value of lauhar's
work is greatly enhanced by the fact that he writes form personal
observation. 10
Humayun Nama
Gulbadan Begum-'the Princes Rose-body'l1 was a daughter of
Babur l2 and half-sister of Humayun. Humayun, the second Mughal Emperor
lost the kingdom that his father Babur had established in India in the year of
1526. During the tenth year of his rule, in 1540, Humayun, who had a
tendency to be complacent and lazy, lost his empire to Sher Khan Sur, an
upstart from Bihar. With only his close family, Humayun first fled to
Lahore, and then later to Kabul. He fled with his entourage of his pregnant
10
The life and Times of Hunuryun; Orient Longrnans, 1955, pp.386-87.
J.L.Mehta, Advanced History in the History of Medieval India, Vol. II, New Delhi,
1981, p. 24.
12 From his wife Dildar Begum (the mother of Hindal); Humayun's mother was Mahim
Begum.
11
wife, one female attendant and a few good men Humayun fled. He was in
exile for the next fifteen years in Afghanistan and Persia.
Gulbadan Begum was eight year old at the time of her father's death
and was brought up by the emperor Humayun. Her life, like alI the other
Mughal women of the harem, was intricately intertwined with three Mughal
kings - her father Babur, brother Humayun and nephew Akbar. Two years
after Humayun re-established the Delhi Empire, she accompanied other
Mughal women of the harem back to Agra at the behest of Akbar, who had
begun his rule.
She grew up to be a highly educated and well-cultured lady and was
married to Chaghatai Mughal noble l3 at Kabul at the age of seventeen. She
enjoyed a very happy and prosperous family life and stayed most of the time
at Kabul when, in 1557, she was invited by Akbar to join the royal
household at Agra. She wielded great influence and respect among her
members of the palace; she died in 1603.
Gulbadan Begum was commissioned by her nephew Akbar to
chronicle the story of her brother Humayun. Akbar was fond of his aunt and
knew of her storytelling skills. It was fashionable for the Mughals to engage
writers to document their own reigns (Akbar's own history, Akbarnama,
was written by the well known Persian scholar Abul Fazl). Akbar asked his
13 Khwaja Khizr Khan; served under Akbar as amir-uI- umara; his whereabouts can be
traced upto 1563; but there is no record of his death, nor does Ain-i-Akbari place him in
its list of prominent mansabdar.
aunt to write whatever she remembered about her brother's life Humayun's glory days of victories and agonies of his defeats, his joys and
trepidations. Gulbadan Begum took the challenge and produced a special
document that came to be called Humayun Namah. The original title of her
work is: Ahwal Humayun Padshah lamah Kardah Gulbadan Begum bint
Babur Padshah umma Akbar Padshah- <the account of the Emperor
Humayun, compiled by Gulbadan Begum, a daughter of Babur Padshah and
paternal aunt of Akbar Padshah'. It came to be known as Humayun-nama. 14
It is in colloquial Persian freely mined up with Turkish words and phrases. 15
Upon being entrusted with the directive by Akbar to write the
manuscript, Gulbadan Begum began as: "There had been an order issued,
'Write down whatever you know of the doings of Firdaus-Makani (Babur)
and lannat-Ashyani (Humayun)'. At this time when his Majesty FirdausMakani passed from this perishable world to the everlasting home, I, this
lowly one, was eight years old, so it may well be that I do not remember
much However in obedience to the royal command, I set down whatever
there is that I have heard and remember."
Gulbadan wrote in simple Persian without the erudite language used
by better known writers. Her father Babur had written Baburnama in the
same style and she took his cue and wrote down from her memory_ Unlike
1.L.Mehta, Advanced History in the History of Medieval India, Vol. II, New Delhi,
1981, p. 25.
IS Ibid, p. 25.
14
'" 19 '"
some of her contemporary writers, Gulbadan wrote a factual account of
what she remembered, without embellishment. In contrast to the laudatory
encomium written by the better known writers, Gulbadan's account seemed
to be fresh and from the heart. What she produced not only chronicles the
uncertainty of Humayun's rule, its trials and tribulations, but also gave us a
glimpse of life in the Mughal harem. It is the only writing penned by a
woman of Mughal royalty in the sixteenth century.
The memoir had been lost for several centuries and what has been
found is not well preserved, poorly bound with many pages missing. It also
appears to be incomplete, with the last chapters missing. Yet, whatever has
remained tells a remarkable story of a woman of privilege, with an insight
to the life in the harem of Mughal emperors. There must have been very few
copies of the manuscript, and for this reason it did not receive the
recognition it deserved. It is the forgotten document of the Mughal history.
A battered copy of the manuscript is kept in the British museum l6 .
Annette S. Beveridge translated Gulabadan's Persian work to English in
1902. (A paperback edition of Beveridge's English translation was
published in India in 2001.) The manuscript was originally collected and
gathered by an Englishman, Colonel G. W. Hamilton. It was then sold to the
British museum by his widow in 1868. Its existence was little known until
1901, when Annette Beveridge undertook the task of translating it
J.L.Mehta, Advanced History in the History of Medievallndia, Vol. II, New Delhi,
1981,p.25.
16
-20-
(Beveridge affectionately called her 'Princess Rosebud'). Historian Dr. Rieu
called it one of the most remarkable manuscripts in the collection of
Colonel Hamilton (who had collected more than 1000 manuscripts).
From her account we know that Gulbadan was married at the age of
seventeen to Khizr Khwaja Khan, a Chagtai Mughal by ancestry and her
second cousin. She had at least one son. She had moved to Delhi!Agra in
1528 from Kabul with her foster mother. After Humayun was defeated in
1540 By Sher Khan Sur, she moved back to Kabul to live with one her half
brothers. She did not return to Agra immediately after Humayun won back
his kingdom. Instead, she stayed behind in Kabul until she was brought
back to Agra by Akbar, two years after Humayun died in a tragic accident in
1556. Gulbadan Begum lived in Agra and then Sikri for the rest of her life,
except for a period of seven years, when she undertook an arduous
pilgrimage to Makkah.
She appeared to have been an educated, pious, and cultured woman of
royalty and was fond of reading. She enjoyed the confidence of both her
brother Humayun and nephew Akbar. From her account it can be deduced
that she was an astute observer, well versed with the intricacies of warfare,
and the intrigues of royal deal making. The fIrst part of her story deals with
Humayun's rule after her father's death and the travails of Humayun after
his defeat. She had written little about her father Babur, as she was too
young to remember her father when he died. However, there are anecdotes
T~loJ16g6Z
.-
and stories she had heard about him from her companions in the Mahal
(harem) that she included in her account. The latter part of it dealt with her
life in the Mughal harem.
There is one light-hearted incident that she elaborated about Babur.
Babur had minted a large gold coin, as- he was fond of doing, after he
established his kingdom in India. This heavy gold coin was sent to Kabul,
with special instructions to play a practical joke on the court jester Asas,
who had stayed behind in Kabul. Asas was to be blindfolded and the coin
was to be hung around his neck. Asas was intrigued and worried about the
heavy weight around his neck, not knowing what it was. However, when he
realized that it was a gold coin, Asas jumped with joy and pranced around
the room, repeatedly saying that no one shall ever take it from him.
Gulbadan Begum described her father's death when her brother had
fallen ill at a young age of twenty-two. Babur was downtrodden to see his
son seriously ill and dying. For four days he circumambulated the bed of his
son repeatedly, praying to Allah, begging to be taken to the eternal world in
his son's place. As if by miracle, his prayers were answered. The son
recovered and the forty-seven year old father died soon after. Gulbadan
Begum was eight years old then.17
J.L.Mehta, Advanced History in the History of Medieval India, Vol. II, New Delhi,
1981, p_ 24.
17
'" 22 . . . .
Soon after his exile, Humayun had seen and fallen in love with a
young thirteen year old doe-eyed girl named Hamida Bano. It was in the
harem of Shah Husain Mirza that Humayun frrst saw the young girl.
Hamida Bano was still a giggling young girl and refused to come to see the
Emperor, who was much older to her. Finally she was advised by the other
women of the harem to reconsider, and she consented to marry the Emperor.
Two years later, in 1542, she bore Humayun a son named Akbar, the
greatest of the Mughal rulers. Gulbadan Begum described the details of this
incident and the marriage of Humayun and Hamida Bano with glee, and a
hint of naughty mischievousness in her manuscript.
Gulbadan also recorded the nomadic life style of Mughal women. Her
younger days were spent in the typical style of the peripatetic Mughal
family, wandering from Kabul to Delhi and then back to Kabul. During
Humayun's exile the problem was further exaggerated. She had to live in
Kabul with one of her step brothers, who later tried to recruit her husband to
join him against Humayun. Gulbadan Begum persuaded her husband not to
do so.
Gulbadan Begum described in her memoir a pilgrimage she took to
Makkah, a distance of three thousand miles, crossing treacherous mountains
and hostile deserts. Though they were of royal birth, the women of the
harem were hardy women, prepared to face hardships, especially since their
lives were so intimately intertwined with the men and their fortunes.
Gulbadan Begum stayed in Makkah for nearly four years and during her
return a mishap of a shipwreck in Aden kept her from returning to Agra for
several months. She fmally came back in 1582, seven years after she had set
forth on her journey.
Akbar had provided for safe passage of his aunt on her Hajj and sent a
noble as escort with several ladies in attendance. Lavish gifts were packed
with her entourage that could be used as alms. Her arrival in Makkah caused
quite a stir and people from as far as Syria, and Asia Minor swarmed to
Makkah to get a share of the bounty.
If at all Gulbadan Begum had written about the tragic death of
Humayun, when he tumbled down the steps in Purana Qila in Delhi, it has
been lost. As a result, the manuscript seems to end abruptly in the year
1552, four years before the death of Humayun. It ends in mid-sentence,
describing the blinding of Prince Kamran. As we know that Gulbadan
Begum had received the directive to write the story of Humayun's rule by
Akbar. long after the death of Humayun, it is reasonable to believe that the
only available manuscript is an incomplete version of her writing. It is also
believed that Akbar asked his aunt to write down from her memory so that
Abul Fazl could use the information in his own writings about the Emperor
(the well known Akbarnama),
Akbar was so fond of his aunt that he showed her respect by carrying
her bier on his shoulders for a short distance when she died in 1603, after a
brief illness. Akbar lamented constantly that he missed his favorite aunt
Gulbadan for the next two years, until his own death in 1605. Gulbadan was
also said to be a poet, fluent in both Persian and Turkish. None of her poems
seems to have survived. It is said that she, along with one of Akbar's wives,
Salima; were the driving force behind Akbar's well know patronage of the
arts and literature.
For much of history the manuscript of Gulbadan Begum remained in
obscurity. There is little mention of it in contemporary literature of other
Mughal writers, especially the authors who chronicled Akbar's rule. Yet,
the little known account of Gulbadan Begum serves as an important
document for historians, with its window into a woman's perspective from
inside the Mughal harem.
Tazkira-i-Humayun-wa-Akbar
The Tazkira comprises events or half a century, from 1542-43 to
1590-91. In the former year Bayazid had entered Humayun's service in
Persia. IS Since he was to write an eye witness account of events, he
commenced his work from 1542-43. The other date signifies the year of
writing. 19
18
19
Bayazid, op.cit.,p.l06.
Ibid., pp. 2, 373.
Bayazid did not write the book himself on account of paralysis of his
left side. 2o Instead, he dictated it to a scribe appointed by Abul Fazl. 21 Nor
had the author prepared any rough draft for the purpose. As a result, the
whole work is disjointed. The facts given are of "a rambling character.,,22
Bayazid would suddenly remember some events, as it were, and dictate
them to his scribe even if it meant disturbing the whole sequences of his
narrative.
Although Bayazid claimed to have written (or dictated, to be precise)
everything from memory,23 there is inferential evidences to believe that he
might have used some records at some points of his narration. For example,
he has given in full Shah Tahmasp's fIrman to the governor of Khurasan in
which the. minutest details regarding the reception to be accorded to
Humayun on his entry into Persia have been mentioned. 24 At another place
Bayazid gave three list of men who were attached to Humayun, Prince
Akbar and Bairam Khan on their return from Kabul to Hindustan. 25
Perhaps the most valuable information that this book provides is of
the various lists of nobles (given in different contexts) and the details of
administration. It contains, for example a list of the amirs who accompanied
Ibid., p. 373.
Ibid., p. 2
22 H. Beveridge, "The Memoirs of Baya:dd Biyat," l.A.S.B., Vol. LXVII, Part I, No.4,
1898, p. 297.
23 Bayazid, op. cit, p. 1.
24 Ibid., pp. 12-31.
25 Bayazid, op. cit, pp. 176-187.
20
21
'....., 26.....,
Humayun to Shah Tahmasp.26 Similarly, there is a list of the Persian nobles
deputed by the Shah to assist Humayun.
27
There is a list of nobles who were
with Humayun on the eve of his departure for Kabul after the conquest of
Qandhar,28 and there is another of those who accompanied the Emperor
from Kabul to Hindustan. 29
The language of the Tazkira is entirely devoid of any polish. At times,
the impression becomes inescapable that Bayazid was speaking Persian but
thinking in Hindustani. One could spot out passage after passage to show
that the author's language was grammatically as well as idiomatically
deficient and that what he said made sense only in Hindustani. He uses
Hindustani words like "jhakkar" Persianized into ''jakkar.,,30 At times the
Hindustani word "chaar" replaces the Persian "chahar.,,31 The phrase "baad
yak ghari,,32 would be intelligible only to one conversant with the Indian
divisions of time. The phrase ''jhak zadah" is obviously a literal translation
of the Hindustani ''jhak maari.,,33 On the whole, Bayazid displays a gross
departure from the literary idiom of the Persian language.
Ibid., pp. 4-7.
Ibid., pp. 35-36.
28 Ibid., pp. 52-53.
29 Ibid., p. 376.
30 Ibid., p. 246.
31 Ibid., pp. 283, 285
32 Ibid., p. 283
33 Bayazid, op. cit, p. 287.
26
27
Akbarnama
Akbamama, yet another significant source of Mughal history was
written by Abul Fazl, who occupies a place of distinction among the
contemporary historians and chroniclers of the Mughal period~ he has left an
indelible mark on the tradition of historiography during the medieval age.
Born at Agra in 1551, Abul Fazl was the second of the eight sons of Sheikh
Mubarak,34 a liberal minded theologian of sufi dispositions. Dubbed as a
Mahdavi and shia, Sheikh Mubarak and his family had to suffer persecution
and humiliation at the hands of the fanatic ulama for over two decades. He
was introduced to Akbar and received patronage from him in 1574.
Abul Fazl was brought up in the school of adversity. As a young boy
he had seen his father moving from pillar to post along with his unusually
large family for their bare existence, which inculcated in him the virtues of
forbearance, humility, patience and tolerance; it was this virtuous character,
coupled with the brilliant intellect of Abul FazI, which drew Akbar towards
him as a guide and personal friend at a later stage. Abul Fazl became a
sober and serious student enabled him subsequently to score an edge over
the fanatic mullas at the court of Akbar in their religious discourses. He
grew up to be a God-fearing and broad minded youth of an ideal character
who was extremely tolerant in his attitude towards others. He had learnt the
noble lesson of sulh-i-kul (peace with all) from his father who acted as his
34
Died 1593; had a dozen children-eight sons and four daughters.
-28-
teacher and guide in his days of infancy. Like his father, Abul Fazl also
started his career as teacher when he was hardly twenty. He had a spiritual
bent of mind and displayed repulsion for all the worldly temptations; but for
his timely contact with the imperial court he might actually have turned a
recluse. He was introduced to Akbar by Sheikh Mubarak and Faizi towards
the end of 1574, and was 'favourably received' by the Emperor. It proved a
turning point in his career and outlook towards life which finds mention in
his Akbarnama thus he says:
As fortune did not at first assist me, I almost became selfish and
conceited, and resolved to tread the path of proud retirement. The
number of pupils that I had gathered around me, served but to
increase my pedantry. In fact, the pride of learning had made my
brain drunk with the idea of seclusion ... I passed the nights in lonely
spots with thru seekers after truth and enjoyed the society of such as a
re empty-handed but rich in mind and heart... The advice of my father
with difficulty kept backfrom the out breaks offolly; my mind had no
rest, and my heart felt itself drawn to the sages of Mongolia, or to the
hermits of Lebanon; I longed for interviews with the lamas of Tibet or
with the Parsis and the learned of the Zendevestu. I was sick of the
learned of my own land...
Happy, indeed, am I now that I have found in my sovereign a
guide to the world of action and a comforter in lonely retirement; in
-29-
him meet my longing after faith and my desire to do my appointed
work in the world; he is the orient where the light of form and ideal
dawns; and it is he who has taught me that the work of the world,
multifarious as it is, may yet hannonise with the spiritual unity of
truth. 35
Abul Fazl accepted 'the bondage of a courtier' as a mansabdar of 20
and his progress in the imperial rank was rather slow. He became a
mansabdar of 1000 in 1585 and was promoted to the rank of 5000 in 1602,
a short while before his assassination at the hands of Bir Singh Bundela. an
agent of prince Salim, later the emperor J ahangir. Abul Fazl wielded,
however, great influence over Akbar who regarded him as his friend,
philosopher and guide in the management of his personal as well as state
affairs.
Abul Fazl received the mandate from his imperial patron in 1589 to
'write with the pen of sincerity , the account of the glorious events and of
our dominion-increasing victories'; he worked hard at his official
assignment as the court historiographer for seven years to complete the
narrative till the forty first year of Akbar's reign. As a result of subsequent
five revisions and additions,36 the story was brought up to the beginning of
1602, a few months before the author fell a victim to the assassins. The
35 H. Beveridge (Irs. & ed.), The Akbarnama, by Abul Fazl AUami, 3 vols; Bib. Indica,
Calacutta, I (1902), Delhi Ess Ess reprint.
36 Some manuscripts contain a further continuation by Muhammad Salih to the fiftieth
year of Akbar's reign, viz, 1604 AD.
Akbarnama constituted the main source of our knowledge about the history
of Akbar and his times; its contents had been culled by the author from a
huge mass of material, official as well as non-official, not to be found in any
other single source. The author expressed:
I spent much labour and research in collecting the records and
narratives of His Majesty's (Akbar's) actions and I was a long time
interrogating the servants of the State and the old members of the
illustrious family... The royal commands were issued to the provinces
that those who from old service remembered, with certainty or with
adminicle of doubt, the events of the past, should copy out their notes
and memoranda and transmit them to the Court... In as much as this
auspicious invitation was not fully responded to nor my wish fully
accomplished, a second command shore forth ... I obtained the
chronicle of events beginning at the nineteenth year of the Divine Era
(AD 1574) when the Record Office was established by the enlightened
intellect of his Majesty, and from its rich pages I gathered the
accounts of many events. Great pains too were taken to procure
originals or copies of most of the orders which had been issued to the
provinces from the Accession up to the present day (fortieth or forty
first year of Akbar's reign) which is the dawn of fortunes morning
(namely the completion of the book) ... I also took much trouble to
incorporate many of the reports which ministers and high officials
had submitted, about the affairs of the empire and the events of
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foreign countries. And my labour-loving soul was satiated by the
apparatus of inquiry and research. I also exerted myself energetically
to collect the rough notes and memoranda of sagacious and well
informed men. By these means, I constructed a reservoir and
moistening the rose garden offortune. 37
The outcome of Abul Fazl's strenuous labour was the comprehensive
work entitled the Akbamama in three volumes. The first volume contains an
account of Akbar's ancestors, including that of Babur and Humayun, while
the second one is devoted exclusively to the exhausted treatment of Akbar's
reign in chronological order. The third volume of Akbamama has been
given a sub-title Ain-i-Akbari; it was prepared simultaneously with the first
two volumes, and is practically a separate work, complete in itself. 38 By
bringing this monumental work within the purview of history, Abul Fazl
widened the range and scope of the discipline much beyond the
comprehension of ancient historiographers. He interpreted history in terms
of national advancement which took a note of the political, administrative,
economic and cultural realities of the period. The Ain-i-Akbari is not merely
a descriptive and statistical survey of the Mughal Empire; it throws a flood
of light on the administrative system and the state policy of the imperial
Mughals. Through its pages is revealed the inner working of the Mughal
Abu! Fazl's Akbamama (Beveridge), I, p.29.
.
The original text of the Ain-i·Akbari, as prepared by AbuJ Fazl, consisted of a single
volume, albeit its Pers. Text was edited by H. Blochmann and published by the Asiatic
Society of Bengal in two volumes; Bib. Indica, Calcutta, 1867-77.
subject matter of
these two volumes was further split up to form of three volumes by its Eng. translators.
37
38
The
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bureaucracy, the steel-frame of the empire, which helped Akbar in
transforming his territorial possessions into a mighty nation-state of
medieval India. After Kautliya's A rthasashtra , the Ain-i-Akbari is the
second greatest work historical significance produced by an Indian, the like
of which is hard to find even in the annals of European historical literature.
Abul Fazl introduced an intellectual element in the field of
historiography: he adapted a rational and secular approach to the subject
and, while reconstructing the contemporary history of Akbar's time, made
an appeal to reason as against religious bigotry, cultural traditionalism or
orthodoxy and prejudice. To him the history of India did not consist in the
conflict between Hinduism and Islam but rather between rationalism and
regionalism, secularism and religious fanaticism, stability and disintegration
consider these points of view, Abul Fazl stands unsurpassed amongst all the
historiographers of his age.
In the words of a modem historian:
No other medieval historian can lay a claim to a rational and
secular approach to history and to the application
of a new
methodology to collect facts and marshal dam on the basis of critical
investigation. These are the hallmarks of Abul Fazl's historical
. .
wntmgs.
39
39
Noman Ahmad Siddiqi, 'Shaikh Abul Fazl' in M. Hasan, Historians of Medieval
India; Meenakshi, Meerut, 1968, pp.l23-24.
-33 '"
Besides the above mentioned standard works of Abul Fazl, the
collection ofbis letters, entitled the Ruqat-i-Abul Fazl,40also constitutes one
of the most authentic and useful sources of information regarding the
history of Akbar's time. These letters were written by Abul Fazl on and off
to the emperor Akbar, the members of the royal family, including the
princes, queens and other notables of the harem and the bureaucracy.
Similarly, the lnsha-i-Abul Fazl or the Maktubat-i-Allami41 comprises a
collection of official dispatches, prepared by the learned prime minister in
his official capacity. The compilation is divided into three parts; part one
incorporates the letters and the fmnans prepared by Abul Fazl and sent on
behalf of the emperor to the nobles and the foreign dignitaries, including
Shah Abbas of Persia, Abdullah Khan Uzbek of Turan, the monarch of
Kashghar and the sheikhs of Makkah. The second contains a collection of
Abul Fazl's petitions and representations made to the emperor very often on
matters of state policy and issues of national importance, as well as letters
written by him to his colleagues. The third part of the Muktubat-i-Allami
consists of Abul Fazl's write-ups on general and miscellaneous subjects as
well as comments on his literary and historical compositions. Being a man
of literary taste, he possessed an inborn urge to write and through these
writings, AbuI Fazl actually seemed to have set the models in Persian prose
style.
40
41
Nawal Kisbore Press, Lucknow, 1913.
Nawal Kishore Press; Lucknow, 1846.
-34-
Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh
Mulla Abdul Qadir ibn Mulukshah of Badaon (modem UP) was born
at Todah42 in c. 1541. He, however, became popular as Al Badauni, or
simply Badauni and was poetically styled (Takhallus/alias) Quadiri. He was
a great scholar of Persian and Arabic and Sanskrit, well versed in the
subjects of Islamic theology, astronomy and history; he was also a born
singer and poet. Badauni released religious indoctrination as a disciple of
Sheikh Becho of Sambhaland lived in the company of Sheikh Mubarak for
over forty years. He had very intimate association with Abul Fazl and Faizi,
the two illustrious sons of Sheikh Mubarak, first as their friend and later on
as their critic, rival and arch enemy. He and Abul Fazl came into contact
with the emperor Akbar and received favors
from him almost
simultaneously. Badauni received appointments as Imam of the royal court
for Wednesdays and was frequently employed by Akbar to make
translations from Arabic and Sanskrit into Persian. His first major scholarly
assignment was to translate the Ramay~na into Persian verse; he
accomplished this task after having put in and arduous labor of four years
was richly rewarded by the emperor. 43 Thereafter, Badauni was asked to
translate the Mahabharata into Persian but he left the work half done.
Near Fatehpur Sikri, and not at Badaon as was wrongly presumed earlier by some
historians-Muntaklwb-ut-Tawarikh, vol-II, translated and edited by W.H.Lowe, and
further annotated by B.P.Ambashthya, Academica Asiatica, Patna, ]973, p.243. The
parents of Abdul Qadir bad settled at Badaon, and even after the death of his father,
Badaoni's widowed mother continued to live there. Ibid; p.88.
43 His reward comprised a borse, a shawl and one thousand bighas of rent-free land as
madad-;-muash.
42
...., 35....,
Meanwhile, Abul Fazl and Faizi rose into prominence at the imperial court
and excited the jealousies of Badauni who dubbed them as shameless
'flatterers', 'intriguers' and 'yesmen' of the emperor. Being an orthodox
sunni, Badauni, disliked Akbar's religious outlook and his liberal state
policy based on secular notions; he, therefore, lost in the estimation of his
royal patron and stopped attending the court. He was later deprived of his
land-grant, by his political rivals and died a broken hearted man in 1596.
Badauni started writing his book after the death of Nizamuddin (AD
1591), the celebrated author of Tabakat-i-Akbari, and concluded his
narrative in February 1596, a short while before his death. His book is more
detailed than that of Nizamuddin and contains a lot of original material
which is not found in any other contemporary work. As it constituted a sort
of an adverse, rather prejudicial commentary on the reign of Akbar, and
made public during the reign of Jahangir.
Badauni's Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh is a comprehensive history of the
Turk -Afghan rule in fudia from the Ghaznavids to the fourteenth year of
Akbar's reign. The original manuscript was in two parts; the first half
comprised Humayun's death while the second one gave an exhaustive
account of Akbar's reign and a tazkirah, devoted to the biographies of the
poets, saints and men of learning who adorned the court of Akbar. The
tazkirah, which gave the biographical sketches and works of 38 sheikhs
(religious leaders), 69 scholars and 15 philosophers and physicians and 167
~36-
poets, was separated from the editors and translators of the Asiatic Society
of Bengal, thus converting the Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh into three volumes.
Badauni was not a scientific historian nor did he show much interest
in the political history. His book can be categorized as 'memoirs rather than
histories' and seen as being highly subjective in 'its bitter criticism of
Akbar's favorites and his reforms, as deriving from fanaticism, ingratitude
or sheer perversity;44 nevertheless, it is a great asset to the historical
literature of the times, in no way less useful than the Akbamama of Abul
Fazl. Badauni was very much original in his approach to the subject; he
elaborated and reinterpreted even the old and well-known facts in highly
intellectual and refreshing overtones. A 'free-lance' writer, Badauni (wears
no grab or disguise) owed no obligation to anyone, and wrote 'whatever he
felt like writing,45 .. He adopted 'a general tone of censure and
disparagement for Akbar', albeit his book conveys a much more favorable
impression of character and achievements of that great monarch than the
'rhetorical flourishes' of Abul Fazl.
The historical records of the period which are mainly in the Persian
language have played a vital role in not only understanding the social,
political and cultural life of that period besides, the Persian literature of the
period also helped to know the culture of the Mughals and other people of
Central Asia and the regions adjoining it. It can be largely claimed that there
44
45
M.Mujeeb in MJIasan. Historians of Medievallndia, op. cit, pp. 108-09.
Ibid; p.l12.
can be no more authentic source of the information of any period than the
king himself writing their biographies-History directly narrated from the
horse's mouth. Tuzuk-i-Babari is an example of that. It is the most
important book available on that period, giving details of the historical
developments. This book is also considered a literary master piece. Other
than these, there were court historians too who were appointed for the
purpose to record the affairs of the state. The magnum opus by Abul Fazl,
Akbamama, possesses the minutest details of the Mughal Empire during the
Akbar period. One is amazed to see the painstaking work that would have
been taken upon by the writer. Mughal emperors and princes and court
members gave special emphasis on history writing. Books were not onl y
written about that period but also on the past. Many books from other
languages were translated into Persian. The Mahabharata was translated in
to Persian with the name of Razmnama, which later helped in creating an
environment of confidence and understanding of different communities.
As writing of history has been patronage by the state, they tend to lose
the objectivity and often indulge in falsely glorifying their benefactors. Abu!
Fazl has given the information about the state which is difficult for a
common reader to comprehend.
Based on the reading we can say that the history writing was well
prevalent in India even before coming of Mughals, though it was narrated in
a different pattern. The change was brought about with the coming of
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Mughals. They were more particular about the dates and other technical
information being provided in the book. They not only wrote about their
history but also the geography, culture and other details were mentioned in
their writings.