Persian Histories and Other Literature (Mughal India)
With the coming of the Mughals, a new era began in Persian literature in India.
Babur
- Babur brought with him a number of accomplished poets and scholars from Central Asia, including Abu’l Wahid Farighi, Nadir Samarqandi, and Tahir Khwandi.
- Although Babur himself wrote chiefly in Turkish, his court nonetheless provided a forum for both Persian and Turkish writers alike — and Babur himself is regarded as a notable poet and historian within the broader tradition of Persian literature in Mughal India.
- Jami, often associated with this period, is more accurately described as the last great mystic poet, rather than the last great classical poet, of the Persian language — he composed material in various verse forms, with Sufism dominating his poetry throughout.
- Suleiman Shah, a cousin of Babur, similarly composed verses in both Turkish and Persian. Other prominent literary figures of Babur’s time included Shaikh Zainuddin, Mulla Shihab, and Khwandamir.
- Gulbadan Begum, Babur’s daughter, was herself a considerable scholar, authoring the Humayun Nama at the specific request of Akbar.
- Shaikh Zainuddin Khawafi, who served as Babur’s secretary, was an accomplished scholar of Turki, Arabic, and Persian. He was the first to translate Babur’s Turki memoirs into Persian, and also wrote a commentary on the Mabayyan — a work Babur himself had composed on Hanafi jurisprudence.
- Among Babur’s contemporaries were many scholars who came to India and produced their major works here, under Indian patronage. It is largely from Babur’s reign — marking the advent of Mughal rule — that the Persian language in India first acquired its own distinctive significance.
Humayun
- Humayun, Babur’s successor, proved an equally great patron of both poetry and prose. Like his father, he was himself skilled in composition, writing in the masnavi, rubai, diwan, and ghazal forms.
- According to M.A. Ghani: “From his own verses, which include almost all principal kinds of poetry except qasida and gita, his position as a poet of the Persian language is clearly established.”
- Beyond his own scholarship, Humayun actively encouraged other scholars, poets, and historians, many of whom adorned his court:
- Shaikh Amanullah Panipati composed qasida.
- Shaikh Abdul Wahid Bilgrami and Shaikh Gadai were two prominent Hindi-Persian poets at Humayun’s court.
- Dustamdari wrote the Jawahir Nama-i-Humayuni, in twenty-two chapters.
- Mir Alauddaula Kazwini authored Nafais-ul-Maasir.
- Maulana Qasim Kahi compiled a diwan incorporating numerous qasida, masnavi, and ghazal compositions, while Shah Tahir Dakhani similarly wrote qasida and masnavi in Humayun’s honour.
- Yusuf bin Muhammad Hirwal, another notable literary figure of the period, is credited with important works including Riyaz-ul-Insha, Jami-ul-Fawaid, Qasida fi Hifz-i-Sihat, and Badai-ul-Insha.
- Jauhar wrote the Tazkirat-ul-Waqiat.
- Khwaja Hussain Mervi, besides compiling his own diwan, also translated the well-known Hindi work Singhasan Battisi into Persian.
Akbar
- Persian literature made truly remarkable progress during the reign of Akbar, producing a number of outstanding works of both literary and historical importance:
- The Tarikh-i-Alfi of Mulla Daud.
- The A’in-i-Akbari and Akbarnama, both by Abul Fazl.
- The Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh (also known as the Tabaqat-i-Akbari) of Nizamuddin Ahmad.
- The Maasir-i-Rahimi of Abdul Baqi.
- Abul Fazl, apart from being a great scholar in his own right, served as a personal friend and counsellor to Akbar for nearly 35 years — the sheer quantity, and indeed quality, of his written work has long been admired by scholars.
- Abdul Qadir Badauni wrote the Muntakhab-ul-Tawarikh (also known as Tarikh-i-Badauni), a general history spanning from the era of the Ghaznavids down to the fortieth year of Akbar’s reign — a work particularly valuable for correcting the fulsome eulogy characteristic of the Akbarnama.
- Nizamuddin’s Tabaqat-i-Akbari, by contrast, offers a straightforward chronicle of external political events, entirely setting aside the emperor’s own religious views.
- The Takmila-i-Akbarnama of Inayatullah provides valuable information on the final four years of Akbar’s reign, a period left uncovered by Abul Fazl’s own Akbarnama.
- Faizi’s own Akbarnama, though not strictly an original work — being largely based on the Tabaqat-i-Akbari — nonetheless offers sufficient information, presented in a clear and straightforward manner.
- Another useful source for the later years of Akbar’s reign is the Waqiat-i-Asad Beg.
- The Muntakhabu-t-Tawarikh of Hasan bin Muhammad al-Khaki al-Shirazi is a valuable history covering both the emperor and other eminent figures of Tartary and Hindustan.
- Faizi, the brother of Abul Fazl, was himself a great poet — among his notable works are Nal-o-Daman, Markaz-i-Adwar, Mawarid-ul-Kalam, and Sawati-ul-Ilham. Faizi is often described as the “king of poets,” with Badauni himself remarking: “In history, in philology, in medicine, in letter-writing, and in composition, he was without a rival.”
The Translation Bureau Under Akbar
- Akbar established a dedicated department of translation, with the express aim of fostering fusion between Hindu and Muslim cultures, and providing a genuinely common literature for the people of the country. Numerous notable works from Sanskrit, Arabic, Turkish, and Greek were translated into Persian under this initiative:
- Abul Fazl himself translated several Sanskrit works — including the Kisan Joshi, the Gangadhar, and the Mahesh Mahananda — into Persian.
- The Mahabharata was translated into Persian by Naqib Khan.
- The Ramayana was translated by Abdul Qadir Badauni and Shaikh Sultan of Thanesar.
- The Atharvaveda was translated by Haji Ibrahim Sarhindi.
- The Lilavati, a Sanskrit mathematical treatise, was translated into Persian by Faizi.
- The Rajatarangini, the celebrated Sanskrit historical work on the history of Kashmir, was translated by Maulana Sheri.
- Abul Fazl also translated the Panchatantra.
Jahangir
- Jahangir, much like his father, possessed a genuinely intellectual temperament and a strong taste for literature.
- He extended patronage to men of learning, and his court was adorned by numerous literary figures — including Naziri of Nishapur, Ghiyas Beg, Naqib Khan, Mu’tamid Khan, Niyamatullah, and Abdul Haq Dehlvi.
- Jahangir authored his own autobiography, the Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, in which he recorded the details of his daily life with striking freshness and candour.
- Only a handful of episodes — such as his own rebellion against his father, the circumstances leading to his marriage with Nur Jahan, and the death of Khusrau — are notably omitted from this account.
- Much like Babur before him, Jahangir openly records his own weaknesses and confesses his faults — a candour that, on careful reading, leaves a broadly favourable impression of both his character and his talents.
- Another important historical work produced during his reign was the Iqbal-Namah-i-Jahangiri by Mu’tamid Khan, considered a primary source for the history of his reign. Other significant historical works of the period included the Maasir-i-Jahangiri and the Zubdat-ut-Tawarikh.
- His reign also witnessed the production of outstanding poetry, as well as notable commentaries on the Quran.
- The department of translation, which had remained extremely active under Akbar, appears to have been effectively disbanded under Jahangir.
Shah Jahan
- Shah Jahan continued the Mughal tradition of patronising men of learning. Prominent scholars enjoying his patronage included Abu Talib, Haji Muhammad Jan, Chandra Bhan Brahman, Abdul Hamid Lahori, Amina-i-Qazwini, Inayat Khan, and Muhammad Salih.
- Abdul Hamid Lahori served as Shah Jahan’s official court historian, authoring the Padshahnama.
- Inayat Khan and Muhammad Salih produced, respectively, the Shahjahan-Nama and the Amal-i-Salih.
- During Shah Jahan’s reign, a considerable number of scholars migrated to India from Persia itself. The Persian literature produced during this period was, consequently, no longer purely Persian in character — the language had, by this point, firmly established itself in India, developing its own genuinely distinct regional character.
Dara Shikoh
- Dara Shikoh, one of Shah Jahan’s princes, was himself a great patron of learning.
- He commissioned Persian translations of major Hindu scriptures — including the Gita, the Upanishads, and the Yoga Vashistha — and also authored a treatise on the technical terminology of Hindu pantheistic philosophy.
- Deeply interested in religious and philosophical studies, Dara Shikoh’s patronage gave rise to a number of genuine masterpieces of Persian literature in these fields.
- His most outstanding work was the Majma-ul-Bahrain (“The Mingling of the Two Oceans”), in which he sought to demonstrate how Hinduism and Islam represented two distinct paths converging on the same ultimate spiritual goal.
- He also authored the Sufi work Sirr-i-Akbar.
Aurangzeb
- Aurangzeb, though an orthodox Sunni, was himself a genuinely critical scholar of Islamic theology and jurisprudence — he was, however, opposed both to poetry and to the formal writing of history covering his own reign.
- A number of historical works dealing with his period were nonetheless produced, though these emerged independently from the scholars concerned, rather than under his direct patronage:
- Khafi Khan wrote the Muntakhab-ul-Lubab.
- Mirza Muhammad Qasim wrote the Alamgir-Nama.
- Ishwar Das Nagar wrote the Maasir-i-Alamgiri.
- Bhimsen wrote the Nuskha-i-Dilkasha.
- Sujan Rai wrote the Khulasat-ut-Tawarikh.
- A number of historical works dealing with his period were nonetheless produced, though these emerged independently from the scholars concerned, rather than under his direct patronage:
- Aurangzeb did, however, patronise a number of theologians, directing them to compile an elaborate and comprehensive digest of Muslim law — an effort that ultimately resulted in the compilation of the Fatawa-i-Alamgiri.
- Aurangzeb himself possessed genuine mastery of Persian, amply demonstrated through his own collected letters, known as the Raqqat-i-Alamgiri.
Later Mughals
- Under Aurangzeb’s successors, Persian literature continued to receive imperial patronage. It was only during the reign of Muhammad Shah (1713–1748) that Persian began to be genuinely neglected, with growing attention instead paid to Urdu.
- Nevertheless, even during this later Mughal period, a considerable number of works on both Sufism and history continued to be produced in Persian, by Hindu and Muslim scholars alike — though these later works generally did not match the high literary quality of those produced under the patronage of the earlier Mughal rulers.
- Certain local rulers, however, continued to actively encourage the production of historical works in Persian. Notable chronicles of this later Mughal period included:
- The Sair-ul-Mutakherin by Ghulam Husain.
- The Tarikh-i-Muzaffari by Muhammad Ali Ansari.
- The Tawarikh-i-Chahar Gulzar-i-Shujai by Hari Charan Das.
- The Imad-us-Saadat by Ghulam Ali Naqvi.
- The Ibrat-Nama by Khair-ud-din.
In South India
- Persian literature continued to flourish in the South as well, producing several outstanding works of its own.
- In 1611, Ferishta completed his monumental work, the Gulshan-i-Ibrahimi, widely regarded as the most comprehensive of the historical chronicles produced during medieval India.
- In Ahmadnagar, Aziz Tabataba wrote the Burhan-i-Maasir, dealing with the history of the Bahmanis and their successor states down to 1694.
- Another important southern work was the Tarikh-i-Muhammad Qutb Shah, covering the history of the Qutb Shahi dynasty from its inception through to 1617.
- In Golconda, Khurshah wrote the Tarikh-i-Qutbi (also known as Tarikh-i-Ilchi-i-Nizam Shah) in 1628, structured as a general history from Creation down to the author’s own time — curiously, the work entirely omits any account of Golconda’s own history, despite being written under the express patronage of Golconda’s own ruler.
- Several other important works similarly deal with the history of the Qutb Shahi dynasty, including the Nisbat Nama Shahryari, the Nasab Nama Shahryari, and the Tarikh-i-Qutb Shahi — these works were mainly compiled during the reign of Muhammad-Quli Qutb Shah.
- Persian language and letters made particularly notable progress under the patronage of the Bahmani wazir Mahmud Gawan.
- Gawan came to India from Persia in 1453, and met his end as the victim of a murderous court conspiracy in 1481.
- He compiled a collection of his own letters, entitled Riyazu’l-Insha. Another outstanding work associated with him was the Manaziru’l-Insha, a treatise on the art of Persian diction and composition.
- In the states of Bijapur and Golconda, Persian scholars were extended every possible form of encouragement.
- It is said that the influx of Persian historians, poets, and other literary figures during the reign of Ibrahim Qutb Shah grew so substantial that they could no longer be adequately accommodated within the walled city of Golconda — prompting the Sultan to found an entirely new city, Hyderabad, in 1592.
Many poets, prose writers, and other literary figures thus enriched the Persian language in India throughout the medieval period. It remains genuinely noteworthy that Persian learning attracted both Hindus and Muslims alike, across the country — a pattern which, according to Sherwani, “was a symbol of the general trend of the cultural goodwill which existed in the country.”
