HISTOGRAPHY UNDER MOUGHALS

HISTOGRAPHY UNDER THE MUGHALS

HISTOGRAPHY UNDER THE MOUGHALS

             The most dominant feature of the historiography of the Mughal period is the tradition of history writing by the official. The emperors appointed the official for the writing of history. Another important feature of the period is the autobiographical accounts written by emperors themselves. Tuzuk-i Baburi (in Turkishand not Persian) by Babur and Tuzuk-i Jahangiri (in Persian) by Jahangir are important works in this regard. Apart from the official works, a number of independent works were written by independent scholars which provide a critical appraisal of the policies and events of the period.Here we have discussed the historiography of the period during the reigns of individual emperors.

The Early Writings

              Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur was a prolific writer. He wrote both in his mother tongue Turkish and Persian. His autobiography Tuzuk-i Baburi, written in Turkish is a literary masterpiece,containing the history of the decline and fall of the Timurid power in central Asia, In this autobiography he described the life and culture in India. The description of towns and cities with their respective topography is interesting.The geographical details in his biography further enrich its importance. Moreover, the Tuzuk-i Baburi is not merely a political narrative but is also considered as a naturalist’s journal.

              Humayun ,The son of Babur(1530-1555) was also interested in history.He appointed a renowned scholar, Khawandmir, to compose the history of his reign and named it Qanun-iHumayuni.

Akbar’s Reign: Official Histories

•   With the accession of Akbar to the throne, important change took place in the concept of history writing and the class of history writers. Akbar decided to have a written history of the Muslim rulers from the death of the prophet upto his own time on thecompletion of the first millennium of Islam, i.e., a history of one thousand years, called Tarikh-i Alfi.

•    Gulbadan Begum,( the daughter of Babur), Bayazid Fiyat (an official of Humayun) and Jauhar Aftabchi (a personal attendant of Humayun) wrote Humayunnama. 

•   Bayazid Biyat  wrote Tazkirat-i Humayun wa Akbar,Jauhar Aftabchi wrote Tazkirat-ul Waqiat and Abul Fazl wrote  Akbarnama.

•   Akbar set up a board of seven scholars to compile Taikh-i Alfi. Each member of the board was assigned a period to write its history in chronological order. But Akbar was not satisfied with the account of his reign in the Tarikh-i Alfi, in 1589-1590, Akbar ordered AbulFazl to compile the history of his reign, beginning with an account of Babur and Humayun.

•  Abul Fazl was able to produce a history of Akbar’s reign that is considered an important contribution to Indo-Persian historiography. It was brought to completion after five revisions that involved hard work of seven years, the completion of the work was indeed epoch making

•  The Akbarnama and the Ain-i Akbari provide exhaustive details of the events and policies introduced by Akbar till the year 1602.. The Ain-i Akbari contains statistical details which are valuable sources for the study of economic history with no parallel with any historical accounts prior to it or till the 18th century.. The Ain-i Akbari, the third part of the Akbarnama is a unique compilation  which is based on the system of administration and control through the departments of government. It also contains an account of the religious and philosophical systems of the Hindus. 

Akbar’s Reign : Non-official Histories

         Nizamuddin Ahmad and Abdul Qadir Badauni  were two important historians of this period. 

• Nizamuddin Ahmad wrote Tabaqat-i Akbari which was based on three volumes, His first-volume deals with the history of the Muslim rulers of India upto the fall of the Lodi dynasty in 1526. The second volume contains the account of the Mughal rulers of India upto 1593. The third volume deals with the rise and fall of the regional kingdoms in India.. His work Tabaqat-i Akbari was regarded by all the later writers as an authentic work and they borrowed from it.

• Abdul Qadir Badauni was also an important historian during this period He was a great scholar and learnt sanskrit indian classical music along with Islmic theology. Akbar employed him to translate Mahabharata from Sanskrit into Persian..

Histories During Jahangir’s Reign

             Akbar’s son and successor Jahangir decided to write autobiographical history of his own reign in the traditions set by Babur.He requested Shaikh Abdul Haque to add in his Tarikh the account of his reign also. But the Shaikh was too old to take up the work, yet his son Qazi Nurul Haque compiled the history, Zubdatu’t Tawarikh and closed it with the account of Jahangir’s reign. Tarikh-i Khan-i Jahani was compiled by Nemat Allah Harawi under the patronage of Khan-i Jahan Lodi, the noble of Jahangir

Histories During Shahjahan’s Reign

• Mu'tamad Khan was an important figure who wrote Iqbalnama-i Jahangiri during Shahjahan’s reign. It is divided into three parts: the first part covers the history of Babur and Humayun, the second part contains the account of Akbar’s reign while the third is devoted to Jahangir’s reign. In the last part the first nineteen years are merely an abridgement of the Tuzuk-i Jahangiri.

• .Like Mu'tamad Khan, Khwaja Kamgar was also an important figure during Shahjahan’s reign. He wrote Maasir-i Jahangiri. 

• Shahjahan desired to have the history of his reign compiled by a master of Persian prose. First he tried Mohammed Amin Qazvini and suggested him to write Badshahnama, i.e. the history of his reign on the lines of Abul Fazl’s Akbarnama.. In nine years Qazvini was able to complete the first volume covering the first ten years of ShahJahan’s reign, although the volume was rich in details,his style was not liked by the emperor. 

• Qazvini was replaced by Abdul Hamid Lahori, who completed Badshahnama contains an account of twenty years of history of Shahjahan’s reign. It is divided into two parts, each covering ten years of the reign. 

             Two other writers who produced histories of Shahjahan during the early years ofAurangzeb’s reign were Sadiq Khan and Muhammad Saleh Kamboh. The former’s work is known as Badshahnama, while the latter history is popularly called Amal-i Saleh (orShahjahanama).

Histories During Aurangzeb’s Reign

• The emperor Aurangzeb also followed the tradition of Akbar and Shahjahan. He appointed Muhammad Kazim the son of Muhammad Amin Qazvini to write the historyof his reign On the completion ofthe account of first ten years of the reign, its writing was stopped. The volume produced was called Alamgir Nama (1568)

• Later on, Saqi Mustaid Khan wrote Maasir-i Alamgiri. 

CONCLUSION:

             Among the Muslim elite, history was considered as the third important source of knowledgeafter the religious scripture and jurisprudence.so, the study and writing of history were accorded great importance after the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate in the closing years of the 12th century. Under theMughals this tradition of history-writing continued and reached new heights. Abul Fazl,Nizamuddin Ahmad, Abdul Qadir Badauni, Khwaja Kamgar Husaini and Abdul HamidLahori were some important historians of the Mughal period