In Volume 1-1: Qurʾānic Literature, History, and Biography | Section 2, History, Biography, etc.

previous chapter: 12.3.3 Humāyūn

§ 706. S̲h̲. Abū ’l-Faiḍ “Faidī” afterwards “Faiyāḍī” b. Mubārak, the elder brother of Abū ’l-Faḍl (for whom see p. 425 infra), was born at Āgrah in 954/1547, became Malik al-s̲h̲uʿarāʾ in Akbar’s reign and died at his birthplace on 10 Ṣafar 1004/15 Oct. 1595. He began an Akbar-nāmah, which was to be, like “Niẓāmī’s” Sikandar-nāmah, the fifth poem of a k̲h̲amsah, but, like the other four poems except the Markaz i adwār and Nal Daman, it was never finished. No copies of the unfinished poem seem to be extant. For further information concerning him and his works see the section on Poetry.

(Ẓafar-nāmah i Aḥmadābād),¹ a mat̲h̲nawī on the conquest of Aḥmadābād by Akbar and the death of the Sipahdār M. Ḥusain Mīrzā, who was defeated and put to death in 981/1573: Lahore Panjāb Univ. Lib. (see Oriental College Magazine, vol. iv no. 2 (Feb. 1928) p. 13), Rieu iii 1001a (ad 1850).

[K̲h̲ulāṣat al-as̲h̲ʿār (Sprenger p. 37 no. 485); Ṭabaqāt i Akbarī ii pp. 486–8; Muntak̲h̲ab al-tawārīk̲h̲ ii pp. 405–6 = Elliot and Dowson v pp. 544–9; Āʾīn i Akbarī pp. 235–42, Blochmann’s translation pp. 490–1, 548–63; Mirʾāt al-k̲h̲ayāl pp. 79–81 (Bodl. 374 no. 65); Hamīs̲h̲ah bahār (Sprenger p. 127); Safīnah i ¶ K̲h̲wus̲h̲gū no. 317; Maʾāt̲h̲ir al-umarāʾ ii pp. 584–90, Beveridge’s trans. pp. 513–18; K̲h̲ulāṣat al-kalām (Bānkīpūr viii p. 144); K̲h̲ulāṣat al-afkār no. 196; Sprenger pp. 401–2; Haft āsmān pp. 115–26; Browne Lit. Hist, iv 242–5; Ency. Isl. under Faiẓī [,] S̲h̲aik̲h̲; Brockelmann ii 417, Supptbd ii p. 610; For other authorities see the section Poetry.]

§ 707. M. ʿĀrif Qandahārī was Steward (Mīr-Sāmān) to Bairam K̲h̲ān K̲h̲ān i K̲h̲ānān,² the celebrated general of Humāyūn and Akbar’s reigns, and was present at his deathbed in Gujrāt. After his death he made a pilgrimage to Mecca and on his return to India lived for a time in Bihār. In 985/1577–8 he came from Bihār and was presented to Akbar.

Tārīk̲h̲ i Akbarī³ or (Tārīk̲h̲ i Muḥammad ʿĀrif i Qandahārī), a history of Akbar’s reign to the year 987/1579, being apparently only the last part of a larger work, since, according to Sri Bam Sharma, “there are cross-references to a history of the reign of Humāyūn, which, however, is missing”: Browne Pers. Cat. 86 (i) (ending abruptly with Akbar’s return from Ajmēr to Fatḥpūr-Sīkrī towards the end of Rajab 981/1573. Autograph ?), Rāmpūr State Library (see Sri Bam Sharma in jras. 1933 pp. 807–11).

Description: Tarikh-i-Muhammad Arif Qandahari. By Sri Ram Sharma (in jras. 1933 pp. 807–11).

[Autobiographical statements (for which see Sri Bam Sharma’s article); Maʾāt̲h̲ir i Raḥīmī ii pp. I^4–5, 7^6–17.]

§ 708. For the Tārīk̲h̲ i Humāyūn, a history of the reigns of Humāyūn and Akbar ending with the year 999/1591, see p. 423 supra.

For the (Tārīk̲h̲ i k̲h̲ānadān i Tīmūrīyah), a history of Tīmūr (foll. 7–134), his successors to Sulṭān Ḥusain Mīrzā (foll. 136–234), Bābur (foll. 238–73), Humāyūn (foll. 273–95) and Akbar to the 22nd year of his reign (foll. 295–338), see pp. 233–234 supra.

§ 709. S̲h̲. Abū ’l-Faḍl “ʿAllāmī” was the second son of the scholar and Ṣūfī, S̲h̲aik̲h̲ Mubārak Nāgaurī (for whom see Āʾīn i Akbarī tr. Blochmann pp. i–xx; Maʾāt̲h̲ir al-umarāʾ ii 584–5, Beveridge’s trans. pp. 513–14; Raḥmān ʿAlī 174 etc.), and the ¶ younger brother of the poet, Abū ’l-Faiḍ “Faiḍī”.⁴ He was born at Āgrah on 6 Muḥarram 958/14 Jan. 1551, was presented to Akbar in the 19th year of the reign (ah 981/1573–4) by “Faiḍī”, and soon became a close friend of the Emperor’s. He is said to have been mainly responsible for destroying Akbar’s faith in Islām. After distinguishing himself as a military commander in the Deccan he was returning to court, when on 4 Rabī i 1011/22 Aug. 1602 he was assassinated at the instigation of Prince Salīm (afterwards the Emperor Jahāngīr) by a Būndēlah chief, Bīr-Sing’h Dēv, who sent his head to Salīm at Allahabad. His body was taken to Antrī near Gwalior and buried there.

He is the author of the ʿIyār i dānis̲h̲, a modernised version of the Anwār i Suhailī, and he wrote prefaces for the Persian translation of the Mahābhārata and the Tārīk̲h̲ i alfī.⁵

Two collections of letters composed by him are extant. The best known, properly entitled Mukātabāt i ʿAllāmī (a chronogram = 1015/1606–7, the date of completion) but often called Ins̲h̲ā i Abū ’l-Faḍl or Mukātabāt i Abū ’l-Faḍl, was begun soon after his death in 1011/1602 by his sister’s son ʿAbd al-Ṣamad b. Afḍal Muḥammad and is divided into four daftars (viz. (1) letters written in Akbar’s name to kings and amīrs, (2) letters written by Abū ’l-Faḍl to kings and amīrs, (3) exordia and conclusions of letters, select extracts and detached pieces in prose, (4) fifty-two letters of which the first is written in Akbar’s name to ʿAbd Allāh K̲h̲ān Ūzbak and the rest in Abū ’l-Faḍl’s name to various persons). The fourth daftar is very rare (for mss. see Bānkīpūr ix 869 and apparently Vollers 964), but manuscripts of the first three daftars are common and numerous editions have been published. The second collection is usually called Ruqaʿāt i Abū ’l-Faḍl. It consists of private letters and was compiled by his nephew Nūr [al-Dīn] Muḥammad. Editions have been published at Calcutta in 1238/1822–3* and at Cawapore in 1872.* For mss. see Rieu ii 838b, Ethé 287 etc.

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(Akbar-nāmah), a detailed history of Akbar’s reign with an account of his predecessors, commonly said to be divided into three daftars,⁶ of ¶ which the first, completed in S̲h̲aʿbān 1004/1596, the 41st regnal year, is subdivided into two parts ((1) Akbar’s birth, genealogy of the Tīmūrids, reigns of Bābur and Humāyūn, (2) Akbar’s reign from the first to the middle of the 17th year⁷), the second continues the narrative from the middle of the 17th year to the end of the 46th,⁸ while the third, known by the independent title Āʾīn i Ākbarī, deals with the administration and statistics of the empire:⁹ London Victoria and Albert Museum (about 110 Illustrations¹⁰ by painters of Akbar’s time, beginning with the fifth year and ending with the twenty-second. Clarke ms.), Browne Suppt. 82 (“all three vols.” ah 1007/1598–9 [sic ?]. King’s 31), 80 (Vols. ? Bears a seal of 1164/1751. Christ’s), 81 (an abridgment ? Corpus), Pers. Cat. 87–8 (Daftars i–ii, both defective. Daftar ii dated ah 1042/1632), 89 (Daftar i. ah 1034/1625), 90 (Daftar i, pt. 2. ah 1140/1728), 91 (Daftar ii. 47th year of [ʿĀlamgīr’s] reign), Āṣafīyah iii p. 92 no. 995 (“Jild i awwal.” Probably written about the author’s time), i p. 218 no. 712 (“T̲h̲ult̲h̲ i duwwum”), no. 709 (“T̲h̲ult̲h̲ i siwwum”), r.a.s. P. 115 = Morley 110 (Daftar i. ah 1014/1605), P. 114 (1) = Morley 109 (Daftars i–ii. ah 1145–6/1732–3), P. 116 = Morley 111 (Daftar i. ah 1232/1816), P. 117–8 = Morley 112–3 (Daftar i), P. 119–20 = Morley 114–5 (Daftar i), d.m.g. 10 (Daftar i. ah 1016/1607), Blochet i 566 (Daftar i. ah 1021/1612), 576 (Daftar ii. ah 1082/1671), 564 (Daftars i–ii. Early 18th cent.), 565 (Daftar i, pt. 2, and Daftar ii. Various dates from mid ¶ 17th cent, to ah 1210/1795), 567 (Daftar i. Late 17th cent.), 568 (Daftar i. Late 17th cent.), 569 (Daftar i. Early 18th cent.), 570 (Daftar i. 18th cent.), 571 (Daftar i. 18th cent.), 572 (Daftar i, pt. 2. ah 1205/1790), 573 (Daftar i, pt. 2), 574 (Daftar ii. ah 1101/1689), 575 (Daftar ii to 20th year. 18th cent.), Majlis 217 (ah 1023/1614), Leningrad Mus. Asiat. (Ṣaḥīfah i S̲h̲āhī (? ?). Two copies, one defective at beginning dated ah 1024/1615 (see Mélanges asiatiques ii (St. Petersburg 1852–6), p. 58) and the other breaking off in 979/1572 (see Dorn a.m. p. 678)), Pub. Lib. (2 copies. See Mélanges asiatiques iii (St. Petersburg 1859), p. 728), Cairo p. 499 (ah 1026/1617), Lindesiana, p. 107 nos. 798–800 (“3 vols.” ah 1044/1634–5), no. 223 (“2 vols.” ah 1042/1632–3), p. 108 no. 168 (Daftar i. Circ. ad 1700), no. 169 (Daftars i–ii, defective. Circ. ad 1750), no. 404 (Daftars i–ii. 17 Pictures. Circ. ad 1820), no. 819 (Daftar i, pt. 2, and Daftar ii. ah 1228/1813), Ethé 235 (Daftar i. ah 1065/1655, Daftar ii. ah 1106/1695), 236 (Daftars i–ii), 237 (Daftars i–ii. ah 1111/1699–1700 and 1132/1719–20), 238 (Daftars i–ii, breaking off in 19th year), 239 (Daftar i. ah 1073–4/1663), 240 (Daftar i. ah 1101/1689), 241 (Daftar i. ah 1111/1699), 242 (Daftar i), 243 (Daftar i), 244 (Daftar i), 245 (Daftar i, pt. 1. ah 1094/1683), 246 (Daftar i, pt. 1), 247 (Daftar i, pt. 1), 248 (Daftar i, pt. 1. ah 1223/1808), 249 (Daftar i, pt. 1), 250 (Daftar i, pt. 1), 251 (Daftar i, pt. 1 and fragment of pt. 2), 252 (Daftar i, pt. 2. ah 1098/1686), 253 (Daftar i, pt. 2), 254 (Daftar i, pt. 2), 255 (Daftar i, pt. 2, and Daftar ii. ah 1101/1690 (?)), 256 (Daftar ii. ah 1048/1639), 257 (Daftar ii. ah 1159/1747), 258 (Daftar ii), 259 (Daftar ii), 260 (Daftar ii with M. Ṣāliḥ’s continuation, ah 1225/1810), 261 (Daftar ii with M. Ṣāliḥ’s continuation, defective at end), 262 (large fragment of Daftar ii), 263 (fragment of Daftar ii), 3010 (Daftar i), i.o. 3917 (Daftar ii, defective), 3919 (Daftar i, defective and disarranged), 3963 (Daftar i, pt. 2), Vollers 974 (part i [i.e. presumably Daftar i]. ah 1053/1643–4), 975 (nearly complete), Bānkīpūr vii 552 (Daftar i. ah 1242/1827), 553 (Daftar ii. ah 1059/1649). Suppt. 1764 (from the latter part of the 30th to the 46th year. Dated 38th year of Aurangzēb), Bodleian 200 (Daftars i–ii with M. Ṣāliḥ’s continuation. ad 1831), 201–4 (four copies of Daftar i), 205–7 (three copies of Daftar i, pt. 1), 208 (Daftar i, pt. 2 with M. Ṣāliḥ’s continuation), 209 (Daftar i, pt. 2, and Daftar ii. ah 1133/1721), 210 (Daftar i, pt. 2 and fragment of Daftar ii), 211 (Daftar ii. ah 1064/1654), 212 (an abridgment of Daftar ii), ms. Pers. c. 25 (Daftar i. ad 1812–14), Leyden iii p. 9 no. 920 (Daftar ii. ah 1072/1661–2), v p. 230 no. 2638 (part of Daftar ii (end of 27th year to 47th)), Āyā Ṣūfiyah 3017 = Tauer 546 (vol. i. ah 1073/1662), Rieu i 247 (Daftars i–ii (the latter defective) with part of iii. Text differs in places considerably from the Lucknow ed. ah 1080/1670), 248b (Daftar ¶ i. ah 1097/1686), 249b (Daftar i. 17th cent.), 249a (Daftar i. 17th cent.), 249b (Daftar i. ah 1114/1702), 249b (Daftar i. ah 1119/1707), 249b (Daftar i. 18th cent.), 250a (Daftar i, pt. 1. 17th cent.), 250a (Daftar i, pt. 1. 18th cent.), 250a (Daftar i, pt. 1. 18th cent.), 250a. (Daftar i, pt. 2. 17th cent.), 250b (Daftar i, pt. 2. ah 1151/1738), 250b (Daftar i, pt. 2. 18th cent.), 250b (Daftar i, pt. 2. ah 1113/1701), 250b (Daftar i, pt. 2 and Daftar ii. 18th cent.), 251a (Daftar i, pt. 2, and part of Daftar iii. ah 1166/1753), 251a (Daftar i–ii. Early 17th cent.), 251b (Daftar ii. ah 1183/1770), 251b (Daftars i–ii. 76 Pictures, ah 1232/1817), iii 928a (Daftar i, pt. 1, defective. 17th cent.), 928a (fragment. Circ. ad 1850), 928a (fragment. 2 Pictures. 17th cent.), 1047a (extracts. Circ. ad 1850), Mehren 51 (Daftar) i, 52 (Daftar i, pt. 2 and Daftar ii. ah 1099/1687–8), 53 (Daftar i, pt. 2 to end of 12th year. ah 1180/1766–7), Nūr i ʿUt̲h̲mānīyah 3081 = Tauer 544 (Daftar i, 11th/17th cent.), 3154 = Tauer 547 (Daftar i. 11th/17th cent.), Asʿad 2201 = Tauer 545 (Daftar i. 11th/17th cent.), Adabiyāt Kutubk̲h̲ānah-sī 788 = Tauer 548 (Daftar i, pt. 1. 11th/17th cent.), 783 = Tauer 549 (Daftar i, pt. 2. ah 1002/1593 (? ?)), Berlin 482 (Daftar i, pt. 1. ah 1105/1694), 481 (Daftar i), 483 (Daftar i, pt. 1), Aumer 248 (Daftars i–ii. ah 1107–8/1696), 249 (Daftar i, pt. 2), 250 (Daftar i, pt. 2), 251 (Daftar ii with M. Ṣāliḥ’s continuation, ah 1100/1688–9), Calcutta Madrasah 129 (Daftar i. Late 17th cent.), 130 (Daftar i, pt. 2 and Daftar ii. ah 1107/1695–6), 131 (Daftar ii, defective, 18th year to 40th year. 19th cent.), Rehatsek p. 76 no. 14 (Daftar i. ah 1151/1738–9), p. 92 no. 39 (Daftar i), p. 93 nos. 40 (Daftar i, defective, ending in Bābur’s reign), 41 (Daftar ii, slightly defective. Ornate copy), Oxford Ind. Inst. ms. Pers. A. i. 10 (Daftar i, pt. 2. ah 1154/1742), Būhār 63 (Daftar i, pt. 1. 17th cent.), 64 (Daftar i, pt. 2, defective at end), Ivanow 122 (Daftars i–ii with M. Ṣāliḥ’s continuation, ah 1206/1791–2), 123 (Daftar i, defective at end. 18th cent.), 124 (Daftar i. 18th cent.), 125 (Daftar i, defective at end. 18th cent.), 126 (Daftar i. 19th cent.), Curzon 26 (Daftar i, pt. 2. 17th cent.), Edinburgh 78 (Daftars i–ii. Old), Lahore Panjāb Univ. Lib. (one old copy of “vol. i,” one defective copy, two copies (one defective) of “vol. ii”. See Oriental College Magazine, vol. ii, No. 4 (Lahore, August 1926) p. 50), ʿAlīgaṛh Subḥān Allāh mss. p. 61 no. 28 (Daftar i), Buk̲h̲ārā Semenov 12 (?), Dorn Asiat. Mus. (defective, ending with ah 979/1572), Eton 181, Madras (3 (complete ?) copies and 1 of Daftar iii), Mas̲h̲had iii p. 73, t.c.d. 1580.

Editions: Lucknow 1867°*¹¹ 1913* (Akbar Nama. Part I. With explanatory notes. A rapid reading course for the [Allahabad Univ.] B.A. examination … ¶ for 1914–1915), Calcutta 1873–87 °* (edited by Āg̲h̲ā Aḥmad ʿAlī and ʿAbd al-Raḥīm. With index. Bibliotheca Indica), Cawnpore-Lucknow 1881–3°* (with notes by M. Ṣādiq ʿAlī Lak’hnawī), Cawnpore 1881° (vol. i only? With notes).

English translation: The Akbarnāma of Abu-l-Faẓl, translated … by H. Beveridge …, Calcutta 1897–1921°* (Bibliotheca Indica).¹²

Abridged English translations: (1) [the whole work] by Lieut. Chalmers: r.a.s. ms. (2) [Bābur and Humāyūn] Chronological retrospect, or memoirs of the principal events of Mahommedan history … By Major David Price, vol. iii, part 2 (London 1821*) pp. 658–950. (3) [Humāyūn’s reign and that of Akbar to his 29th regnal year] b.m. mss. Add. 26607, 26620–1.

Translated extracts: (1) An account of the siege and reduction of Chaitúr, by the Emperor Akbar. From the Akbar-Namah of Shaikh Abul Fazl. Translated by Major D. Price (in Miscellaneous translations from Oriental languages, London 1831–4°* (Oriental Translation Fund), vol. 2). (2) Koch Bihár, Koch Hájo, and Ásám, in the 16th and 17th centuries, according to the Akbarnámah, the Pádisháhnámah, and the Fathiyah i ’Ibriyah. By H. Blochmann (in the jasb. 41 (1872) pp. 49–101). (3) Elliot and Dowson History of India vi pp. 9–102 (translated by J. Dowson).

Continuation [or continuations]: Takmilah i Akbar-nāmah, a detailed account of Akbar’s reign from the 47th year to his death by ʿInāyat Allāh [b.¹³] Muḥibb ʿAlī [?] or M. Ṣāliḥ [?] or both [?¹⁴]: Aumer 251 (author not specified in the catalogue. ah 1100/1688–9), Ivanow 122 (M. Ṣāliḥ. ah 1206/1791–2), Ethé 260 (M. Ṣāliḥ. ah 1225/1810), 261 (M. Ṣāliḥ), Bodleian 200 (M. Ṣāliḥ. ad 1831), 208 (author not specified), Rieu iii 929a ¶ (ʿInāyat Allāh [b.] Muḥibb ʿAlī. ah 1268/1851), 1031b (extracts only. Circ. ad 1847. Ascribed on the fly-leaf to ‘Abd al-Ṣamad b. Afḍal Muḥammad, the son of Abū ’l-Faḍl’s sister), Suppt. 76 i (18th cent.) Lahore Panjāb Univ. Lib. (ʿInāyat Allāh [b.] Muḥibb ʿAlī. See Oriental College Magazine, vol. ii no. 4 (Lahore, Aug. 1926) p. 50), and doubtless in other mss. of the Akbar-nāmah recorded above.

Edition of the Takmilah: Akbar-nāmah, Calcutta 1873–87 °* (Bibliotheca Indica), vol. iii pp. 802–43.

English translation of the Takmilah: The Akbarnāma … translated … by H. Beveridge …, Calcutta 1897–1921°* (Bibliotheca Indica), vol. iii pp. 1200–62.

Abridged English translation of the Takmilah¹⁵ by Lieut. Chalmers: r.a.s. ms. (at the end of Chalmers’s abridged translation of the Akbar-nāmah).

Description of the Takmilah and 12 pp. of extracts from Chalmers’s abridged translation: Elliot and Dowson History of India vi pp. 103–15.

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(Āʾīn i Akbarī), a detailed account of the administration and statistics of Akbar’s empire divided into five daftars ((1) on Akbar’s household and court,¹⁶ (2) on the state service,¹⁷ lists of scholars, notices of poets etc., (3) on the Ilāhī era, the revenue,¹⁸ the statistics of the provinces etc., (4) on the Hindus, their literature, institutions etc., foreign invaders of India, distinguished travellers, Muḥammadan saints etc., (5) sayings of Akbar collected by Abū ’l-Faḍl): Browne Suppt. 82 (ah 1007/1598–9 [sic ?]. King’s 31), 144 (n.d. King’s 5), Pers. Cat. 92 (year 1785 of some Hindu era), Lindesiana p. 108 no. 170 (ah 1036/1626–7), 171 (ah 1115/1703–4), 172 ¶ (circ. ad 1700–10), p. 107 no. 800 (ah 1044/1634–5), Leyden iii p. 10 no. 921 (ah 1037/1627–8 (?)), r.a.s. P. 121 = Morley 116 (ah 1066/1655), Rieu i 248b (from the beginning to the chapter on the Arsenal, ah 1080/1670), 251a (from the beginning to the chapter on the Manṣabdārs. ah 1166/1817), 251b (17th cent.), 252a (17th cent.), 252a (ah 1130/1718), 252a (18th cent.), 252b (defective. 18th cent.), 252b (ah 1196/1782), 252b (account of the ṣūbahs only. 18th cent.), 252b (account of the Hindus only. 18th cent.), iii 928b (account of the ṣūbahs. Circ. ad 1850), 928b (topographical tables only. ad 1847), 1019b (extracts only. Circ. ad 1850), 1020b (extracts only. Circ. ad 1850), 1070a (early 17th cent.), Ethé 264, 265 (ah 1119/1707), 266–9 (four undated copies), Eton 184, 185 (ah 1133/1720–1), Aumer 252 (ah 1148/1735–6), 253–5 (three undated copies), 256 (fragment), Mehren 54 (ah 1171/1758), 55 (Daftars i–iii apparently), Blochet i 577 (ah 1187/1773), 578 (18th cent.), Edinburgh 208 (ah 1197/1782), 209 (abridged account of the ṣūbahs only), 210 (“merely an abridgement of some of the minor institutes”), Bānkīpūr viii 554 (18th cent.), 555 (19th cent.), 552 (ah 1242/1827), Berlin 484 (ah 1209/1795 (?)), 484a (formerly owned by Langlès. Ornate copy), Ivanow 127 (late 11th or early 12th cent. h. Pictures), 128–34, Curzon 696 (ad 1803), Bombay Fyzee 5 (18th cent. “Magnificent copy”), Būhār 65 (19th cent.), Lahore Panjāb Univ. Lib. (two copies, one very defective and the other in disorder. See Oriental College Magazine, vol. ii no. 4 (August 1926) p. 51), Āṣafiyah i p. 218 no. 706 (vol. i only), 709, ii p. 1782 no. 136, Bodleian 213 (“splendid copy.” N.d. Pictures), 214–16, ms. Pers. b. 5 (ah 1234/1818), Rehatsek p. 68 no. 1 (n.d.), t.c.d. 1585.

Editions: Delhi 1272/1855° (vols. i and iii (last) only.¹⁹ Edited, with illustrations, by S. Aḥmad K̲h̲ān). Lucknow 1869°*, 1882° (with illustrations), 1893 (see Āṣafīyah iii p. 92 no. 1232), Calcutta 1867–77°* (ed. by H. Blochmann. Bibliotheca Indica).

Extracts: Selections from the A’in-i-Akbari … by Maulawi M. Rafi Siddiqi (Intik̲h̲āb i Āʾīn i Akbarī), Allahabad 1931*.

English translations: (1) Ayeen Akbery; or, The institutes of the Emperor Akber, translated … by Francis Gladwin, Calcutta 1783–6°* (an abridged and inaccurate paraphrase of Daftars i–iii), London 1800°*, Calcutta 1898° (vols. i and ii only. Edited by Jagadis Mukhopadhyaya), (2) The Ain i Akbari by Abul Fazl ’Allami, translated … by H. Blochmann (vols. ii and iii by H.S. Jarrett.) Calcutta 1868–1894°* (Bibliotheca Indica).

¶ Index: A supplementary index of the place names on pages 89 to 414 of the ‘Aīn [sic]-i-Akbarī, Vol. ii (Translated by Colonel H.S. Jarrett.) Compiled by W. Irvine and L.M. Anstey, Calcutta 1910°* (Bibliotheca Indica).

Annotations to Gladwin’s translation: Supplement to the first volume of Gladwin’s Ayeen Akberi, prepared for the use of students by L.F. Rush­brook Williams … together with a chronological table of the reign of Akbar compiled by Ram Prasad Tripathi … assisted by Harish Chandra Misra, London (Beccles printed) 1918°* (Publications of the Department of Modern Indian History, Allahabad University, No. 2).

Translated extract: The Ayin Akbary, or the institutes of the Emperor Akbar. Translated … [by F. Gladwin], London 1777° (81 pp. only, published as a specimen of the translation published at Calcutta in 1783–6).

Commentary: S̲h̲arḥ i Āʾīn i Akbarī, an abridgment with a running commentary by Najaf ʿAlī K̲h̲ān b. M. ʿAẓīm al-Dīn, of Jhajar, written for Sir H.M. Elliot: Rieu iii 928b (ah 1267/1851).

Abridgments: (1) Muntak̲h̲ab i Āʾīn i Akbarī, Ethé 270, (2) Dastūr al-ʿamal, Lindesiana p. 108 no. 765 (ah 1103/1691) and p. 131 no. 765 [?], Bānkīpūr xi 1098 xxx (18th cent.).

[Autobiography in Āʾīn i Akbarī (at end); Ṭabaqāt i Akbarī ii p. 458; ʿAbd al-Qādir Muntak̲h̲ab al-tawārīk̲h̲ ii pp. 173^6–8, 198–200, 260^6–7, 261¹¹, 262⁸–263, 306¹², 318 antepenult.; Maʾāt̲h̲ir al-umarāʾ ii 608–22, Beveridge’s trans. pp. 117–28; biography by Blochmann prefixed (as pp. i–xxxvi) to his translation of the Āʾīn i Akbarī; Elliot and Dowson History of India vi pp. 1–6; M. Ḥusain “Āzād” Darbār i Akbarī (in Urdu); Raḥman ʿAlī 4–5; Ency. Isl. under Abū ’l-Faḍl; Abulfazl by Sh. Abdul Qadir in Journal of the Punjab Historical Society i (1911–12) pp. 31–7. Portrait in bsos. iv, facing p. 721.]

§ 710. S̲h̲. Ilāh-dād “Faiḍi” b. Asad al-ʿulamāʾ ʿAlīs̲h̲ēr Sirhindī,²⁰ who in ah 1001/1592–3 composed the Persian dictionary Madār al-afāḍil) (Rieu ii 496a etc.), was in the service of the Bak̲h̲s̲h̲ī al-mulk, S̲h̲aik̲h̲ Farīd Buk̲h̲ārī (afterwards entitled Murtaḍā K̲h̲ān²¹). His revised edition of Jauhar’s Memoirs, Tārīk̲h̲ i Humāyūn-S̲h̲āhī, has already been mentioned (p. 422 supra). He was in his 36th year when he began his Akbar-nāmah, having previously been greatly devoted to social pleasures.

¶ (Akbar-nāmah), a plain history of Akbar to ah 1010/1601, compiled apparently from the Ṭabaqāt i Akbar-S̲h̲āhī (see p. 341 supra) and the Akbar-nāmah of Abū ’l-Faḍl (see p. 426 supra) but with additions, especially concerning S̲h̲aik̲h̲ Farīd, at whose suggestion it was written:²² Rieu i 253a (17th cent.), iii 929b (ah 1264/1848), Ethé 289 (ah 1104/1693), Caetani 68 (ad 1826).

Description and 30 pp. of translated extracts: Elliot and Dowson History of India vi 116–46.

[Autobiographical statements in the Akbar-nāmah (see Elliot and Dowson and Rieu) and in the preface to the Madār al-afāḍil; Mak̲h̲zan al-g̲h̲arāʾib no. 1910; Elliot and Dowson History of India vi 116–17.]

§ 711. Āqā²³ or K̲h̲wājah²⁴ ʿAbd al-Bāqī “Bāqī” b. K̲h̲wājah Āqā Bābā Kurd²⁵ Nihāwandī was born at Jūlak near Nihāwand in 978/1570. His father, a Kurd of Jūlak, was made a Wazīr and Nāẓir of Hamadān by S̲h̲āh ʿAbbās. ʿAbd al-Bāqī himself was for some time revenue officer of Kās̲h̲ān, Raiy, Qazwīn and Qumm, and eventually became a Wazīr in place of his brother Āqā K̲h̲iḍr. On incurring the King’s displeasure he decided to leave Persia and in 1023/1614 he reached Burhānpūr, where the K̲h̲ān i K̲h̲ānān, ʿAbd al-Raḥīm b. Bairam K̲h̲ān,²⁶ welcomed him and asked him to write the Maʾāt̲h̲ir i Raḥīmī, which he completed in 1025/1616. Until 1029/1619 he served as Amīn of the Deccan and Barār. Subsequently Sulṭān Parwēz, Jahāngīr’s second son, made him Dīwān of Bihār. The statement of the Tārīk̲h̲ i Muḥammadī (see Rieu iii 1080b) that he died in 1042/1632 seems to be incorrect, since a Calcutta ms. (Ivanow 140) contains a note saying that it was collated by the author himself in 1046/1637.

Maʾāt̲h̲ir i Raḥīmī, a life of ʿAbd al-Raḥīm K̲h̲ān i K̲h̲ānān padded with a history of Islamic India in his own and in previous times and divided into a Muqaddimah (on his ancestors), four faṣls ((1) on his father (Bairam K̲h̲ān) and his own youth together with a history of Hindūstān from the G̲h̲aznawids to Jahāngīr and of Bengal, Jaunpūr, Mālwah, Kas̲h̲mīr and Multān, (2) on his public career, campaigns etc. together with a history of the sulṭāns of Gujrāt, Sind, the Deccan, and K̲h̲āndēs, (3) on the ¶ mosques, colleges, baths etc. built or repaired at his expense, (4) on his children) and a k̲h̲ātimah (notices of contemporary celebrities): Browne Pers. Cat. 93 (apparently corrected (except the k̲h̲ātimah) by the author at Burhānpūr in 1030/1621), Ivanow 140 (apparently collated by the author in 1046/1637), 141 (k̲h̲ātimah only. Early 19th cent.), Bānkīpūr viii 722 (k̲h̲ātimah only, defective. Not later than 1046/1636), Rieu 131b (extracts only. 19th cent.), 9706 (abstract of contents only).

Edition: Maʾāsir-i-Raḥīmī (Memoirs of ʿAbd ur-Raḥīm K̲h̲ān K̲h̲ānān) by Mullā ʿAbd ul-Bāqī Nahāvandī. Edited by … M. Ḥidayet Husain …, Calcutta 1910–31°*²⁷ (Bibliotheca Indica).

Description and a translated extract of 3 pp.: Elliot and Dowson History of India vi pp. 237–43.

[Taqī Kās̲h̲ī K̲h̲ulāṣat al-as̲h̲ʿār, k̲h̲ātimah, Aṣl xi (Hamadān) (Sprenger p. 39 nos. 527 (Ḥājjī Āqā Bābā “Mudrikī”), 528 (K̲h̲wājah ʿAbd al-Bāqī); Maʾāt̲h̲ir i Raḥīmī iii pp. 1535–76 (see also the editor’s introduction); Tad̲h̲kirah i Ṭāhir i Naṣrābādī i p. 124; Safīnah i K̲h̲wus̲h̲gū (Bodleian 376) no. 650; Mak̲h̲zan al-g̲h̲arāʾib (Bodleian 395) no. 1562; Elliot and Dowson History of India vi pp. 239–40; Bānkīpūr viii p. 164.]

§ 712. Asad Bēg “Asad” b. K̲h̲wājah Murād Qazwīnī, a native of Qazwīn, was for a time Dawātdār to the Wazīr K̲h̲wājah Afḍal at Harāt. Settling in India he served S̲h̲aik̲h̲ Abū ’l-Faḍl b. Mubārak for seventeen years and after his death in 1011/1602 entered the service of Akbar, by whom he was sent on a mission to Bījāpūr in connexion with the marriage of Prince Dāniyāl to Ibrāhīm ʿĀdil-S̲h̲āh’s daughter. On his return Akbar appointed him chamberlain, an office which he held for a year. Then he was appointed envoy to the four provinces of the Deccan. Not long after his departure on this mission Akbar died and he was recalled by Jahāngīr, who dismissed him. Subsequently he was received into favour and given the title Pēs̲h̲-rau K̲h̲ān. According to the Mirʾāt i jahān-numā (Rieu 890, fol. 302) he died in 1030/1620–1, leaving a dīwān of 8000 lines and some mat̲h̲nawīs, but according to a note at the end of a b.m. ms. of his memoirs (Rieu iii 979) he died in 1041/1631–2 under S̲h̲āh-Jahān.

(Ḥālāt i Asad Bēg) or (Aḥwāl i Asad Bēg), memoirs of the author’s life from the murder of Abū ’l-Faḍl [in 1011/1602] to the death of Akbar and the accession of Jahāngīr [in 1014/1605]: Rieu iii 979b (ah 1211/1796), 1029a (circ. ad 1850, apparently transcribed from the preceding ms.), probably also Āṣafīyah ii p. 848 no. 41 (“Sawāniḥ i Asadī” by Asad Bēg Firdausi [sic, ¶ Firdausī being presumably a misprint for Qazwīnī] composed in 1010, perhaps a misprint for 1015).

English translation by B.W. Chapman: b.m. ms. Add. 30,776, foll. 33–84.

Description, summary and 19 pp. of extracts from Chapman’s translation: Elliot and Dowson History of India vi pp. 150–74.

[Haft iqlīm no. 1271; ʿAbd al-Nabī Mai-k̲h̲ānah pp. 554–5; Hamīs̲h̲ah bahār (Sprenger p. 118); Safīnah i K̲h̲wus̲h̲gū (Bodleian 376 no. 422 (and 685 “Asadbeg, with the takhalluṣ Asad of Tūrān”?); Riyāḍ al-s̲h̲uʿarāʾ; Ātas̲h̲-kadah no. 514; Mak̲h̲zan al-g̲h̲arāʾib no. 106; Mirʾāt i āftāb-numā; S̲h̲amʿ i anjuman 67–8; Elliot and Dowson loc. cit.; Rieu iii 979b.]

§ 713. Maulawī S. Amīr Ḥaidar “Amīr” Ḥusainī Wāsiṭī Bilgrāmī, a grandson of G̲h̲ulām-‘Alī “Āzād” Bilgrāmī (author of the tad̲h̲kirah entitled K̲h̲izānah i ʿāmirah and of other works), was the author of (1) Taḥqīq al-iṣṭilāḥāt (a chronogram = 1189/1775), a glossary of rare words²⁸ (see Rieu iii 1070b), (2) Muntak̲h̲ab al-naḥw, a Persian syntax written ah 1214/1799–1800 (see Rieu ii 857b), (3) Muntak̲h̲ab al-ṣarf, on the formation of Arabic words used in Persian (see Rieu ii 857b, extracts were published by M.J. Rowlandson in Part ii of An analysis of Arabic quotations which occur in the Gulistan of Muslih-ud-deen Sheikh Sadi (Madras 1828°)), (4) a Persian work of which an English translation was published under the title Dissertation concerning the Revenues of Government, and of landed Tenures according to the Mohammedan Law in The Oriental Miscellany (Calcutta 1798°), (5) Ruqaʿāt i Ḥaidar (Āṣafīyah i p. 124 no. 129).

According to “Afsōs” he was for some years a muftī in the service of the East India Company and died in 1217/1802–3, having fallen ill at Murs̲h̲idābād when accompanying his family as far as Patna on a journey to Bilgrām.

Sawāniḥ i Akbarī, a biography, of which vol. i (apparently the only one extant) goes down to the end of the 24th regnal year, ah 987/1579–80, based mainly on the Akbar-nāmah but also on the four daftars of Abū ’l-Faḍl’s Muns̲h̲aʾāt and other works and written by desire of William Kirkpatrick:²⁹ Bānkīpūr vii 556 (ad 1854), Rieu iii 930a (19th cent.).

English translation of the preface: b.m. ms. Add. 30,780, foll. 343–9.

Description: Elliot and Dowson History of India viii 193.

[“Afsōs” Ārāyis̲h̲ i maḥfil, in the account of Bilgrām at the end of the description of Oudh; Garcin de Tassy 1st ed. ii p. 379, 2nd ed. i p. 259 (an extract from the Ārāyis̲h̲ i maḥfil,]

¶ § 714. M. Ḥafīẓ, a resident of Jāland’har (“Jullundur”), left that town on account of Sik’h disturbances.

Nāfiʿ al-ṭālibīn, a life of Akbar written at the request of Ḥaḍrat Rūḥ al-Amīn Jīw, based on the Akbar-nāmah, the Jahāngīr-nāmah, the ʿĀlamgīr-nāmah and other histories, completed in 1184/1770–1, revised in 1230/1815, and containing in the second of its three ḥiṣṣahs a commentary on difficult passages in the Ins̲h̲āʾ i Abū ’l-Faḍl: Lahore Panjāb Univ. Lib. (ah 1256/1840. See Oriental College Magazine, vol. ii no. 4 (Aug. 1926) p. 51).

next chapter: 12.3.5 Jahāngīr