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The Akbar Nama and the Badshah Nama (4) (Akbar Nama was written by Abu'…
The Akbar Nama and the Badshah Nama (4)
Each manuscript contained an average of 150 full or double page paintings of battles, sieges, hunts, building construction, court scenes, etc.
Akbar Nama was written by Abu'l Fazl
He grew up in the Mughal Capital of Agra
He was widely read in Persian, Arabic, Greek philosophy and Sufism
He was a forceful debater and independent thinker - he consistently opposed the views of the conservative ulama.
These qualities impressed Akbar- Abul Fazl was ideal to be an advisor and a spokesperson for Akbar's policies.
One major objective of Akbar was to free the state from the control of the religious orthodoxy
Abu'l Fazl was the court historian
He shaped and articulated the ideas associated with Akbar's reign
From 1589, Abu'l worked on the Akbar Nama for 13 years
the draft was repeatedly revised
The chronicle is based on a no. of sources
Official documents
Oral testimonies of knowledgeable persons
Records of events (waqai)
The Akbar Nama is divided into three books
The first two are chronicles and the third one if the Ain-i Akbari
The first volume contains the history of mankind- from Adam to one celestial cycle of Akbar's life
The second volume closes in the 46th regnal year of Akbar
The very next year Abu'l fell victim to a conspiracy hatched by Prince Salim and was murdered by his accomplice, Bir Singh Bundela
Akbar Nama was written to provide a detailed description of Akbar's reign in the traditional diachronic sense of recording politically significant events across time, as well as a synchronic picture of Akbar's empire - geographic, social, administrative and cultural without reference to chronology
Ain-i Akbari says the empire consisted of a diverse population - Hindus, Jainas, Buddhists and Muslims and a composite culture
Abu'l wrote in an ornate language
gave importance to diction and rhythm, as tests were read out lout
it was a Indo-Persian style and was patronised at court
a lot of people wanted to write like Abu'l
Abdul Hamid Lahori
- pupil of Abu'l Fazl- wrote the Badshahnama
Shah Jahan knew that Abdul Hamid Lahori was talented and thus commissioned him to write about his reign modelled on the Akbar Nama
Badshah Nama is the official history in 3 volumes (daftars) of 10 lunar years each.
1-2nd daftars comprising the first two decades of Shah Jahan's rule (1627-47)
These volumes were later revised by Sadullah Khan, Shah Jahan's wazir
Lahori could not continue the work due to old age
Waris wrote the 3rd chronicle
Writer of Heer Ranjha
During the Colonial period, British administrators began to
study Indian history and to create an archive of knowledge about the subcontinent
Asiatic Society of Bengal,
founded by
Sir William Jones
in
1784
,
undertook the editing, printing and translation of many Indian Manuscripts
Edited versions of the
Akbar Nama
and the
Badshah Nama
were first published by the
Asiatic Society
in the
19th C
in early
20th C
,
Akbar Nama
was translated into English by
Henry Beveridge
only excerpts have been translated from
Badshah Nama
not the entire text even today