o With reference to tawarikh and insha writinis briefly discuss the

sw,iftcance of Persian literary traditions as a source for the study of

the Mup•J• till the reign of Akbar?

INTRODUCTION
Persian had a long history in the subcontinenL According to muzaffar
alam,Persian came to symbolize the triumph of Mughal rule in
lndia,giving it a distinct Inda-Persian style. However, prior to the
Mughals, prior to Akbar in particular, the use of Persian was not very
popular.During the period of 1500-1600 there is a lot of poems and
prose written in persian. There are a huge number of sources because
the court was providing patronage to poeta and to writers who used
to write in persian language. During the same period many Iranians
poets also got patronage. There was a migration from Iran to India
because India was influenced by Persian literature. Alam says that
persian gained importance in the court because of 2 reasona:
1. After humayun's defeat at the hands of sher shah suri, he took
refuge in iran and hence Akbar felt connected with people of
iran in order to give them respect he adopted persian as court
langusge.
2. Akbar was influenced by Persian language and brought up poets
and writers in his courL
So during Akbar's reign, Persian language gained wide popularity
and every work of literature or writing was done in persian language
only.
Persisn literature serves as an important source to reconatruct
history because most of them were published by people who got
patronage in court so it gave an insight of the mughal administration
and courL During the same period a lot of literature was produced
(add more about importance)
SOURCES
There are a number of Persisn sources composed in Persian language.
Persian literature of the mughal period includes~ Tabaqat-
wbich were the product of personal effort and people who wrote it
didn't receive any support from the royal family. Eg nizamuddin
ahmad's Tabaqat-i-akbari.
Category 2 Court history- was introduced by akbar who appointed
Abu! fazl to write court history of akbar period Eg Akbarnama and
Iqbalnama-i-jahandiri. Court history mainly focused upon the
administration at the time of Akbar and jabangir. Court history
generally bides the eventa which go against the emperor(which can
tarnish the image of the king) • It is important because the details are
based on official facts and these details are reliable for this time
period.
Catetm:Y 3 Regional biatories- which gives us the g1impse of
different areaa of India e.g. Mohammad all khan's Mirat-i-abmadi
which narrates the biatory of gujraL
Category 4 Dastur-ul-alam - which gives important information on
administrative policies and other eventa. E.g. Ain-i-akbari.
Category 5 Insba- it meana collection of letters, it is not a history but
still helpful in studying history. lnsbs msy contain, They provide
firsthand informstion on the working of administration as well as
prevailing socio-cultural conditions and ideas during the medieval
period.
Account of eurOJ)Can travelen which include Brenier,
carari, peter bsrdy etc. they give us useful informstion about this
period. Howeverone bsd to be careful while consulting these sources
as most of the informstion is not re;iable and based on market gossip.

(elaborate if you want to bcz i have written it via notes)

IA!illlli
Tarikb is an Arabic word meaning "date, chronology, era". Tarikb is a
general history or court chronicle which follows a chronological
narrative style and this focused on state craftpersonalititesevents
and the politics of sultana and nobles. It bss no pre-islamic origin.
Contribution to tawarikb/tarikh writings were first made by murids
of muhammad. These narrate the events which contain
rulers,courts,capital, these authors tried to view history through a
very narrow prism. Though they record wars and various wars and
various other events, but they ignore the basic small bumsn
experiences. In this larger historiographical canvas,they ignored the
minute details about the local people and various conditions and
remained skeletal. But tarikh of sultanate and mughal period are
important and can't be totally ignored or rejected as they provide a
narrative of the state formation and institution formation which we
don't find in previous literature. Moreover Persian evidence leaves
out the importance of biographies,numismatics and architectural
evidence and they remain important only corroborative text.
Some important Tarikh at the time of akbar's reign are:

1. Tarikh-e-Farishta
It was written by- Mohammad qasim farishta
also known as- Gulsban-e-ibrahimi
It gives accounts of various provincial dynasties. It gives
description of south indian rulers and an objective account
considered reliable history.

2. Tubfa-i-akbarsbabi
It was written by Abbas khan on akbar's order. It is also known
as Tarikh-i-sbershabi, a useful account for details about sher shah
suri. It contains 3 chapters from which first two chapters are related
to sher shah and islam khan and 3rd chapter is related to amir who
claimed the sultanate after islam khan. The main objective of the
author was to praise sher shah suri so be avoids all shortcomings
related to them which could tarnish the image. Sher shah suri
appeara to be the perfect ruler and administrator in every aspect.
But unfortunately only 1 chapter of the text survived; others were
lost. The author bas eulogized suris and praised afghans saying that
afghans were superior to mughals in the field of battle.
3. Tarikh-i-akbari
It was written by Qandbari and completed in 1581. This account
mainly deals with Akbar's reign starting with the birth and
finishes with the account of great fire at fatebpur sikri in 1580.
It is considered to be one of the most important accounts for
reconstructing the history of akbar.Contents of tarikb include
Matla the first sher, or couplet, deals with the history of babur
and bumayun. And secondly maqta the concluding portion of
text relates to the history of akbar like bis achievements.
4. Tarikh -i-humayuni
It waa written by Bayazid biyat. This account begins with
Humayun's flight to Persia and gives details till 1590-91.
Considered a reliable account because the author was an
eyewitness of the humayun and Akbar period.

5. Iqbalnama-i-jabangiri
It was written by mutamind khan, completed in 1632. It is court
history of jabangir period, the first portion deals with Babur,
akbar and humayun; the second deals with jabangir reign. Text
is imp bcz author was contemporary of akbar and jabangir also
imp bcz it gives description of economic history.

muntakhab -ut-tawarikh also useful (can add)

These tawarikh serve as an imp souce for reconstructing history

mainly of akbar period but these text also contain biases which
can lead to wrong interpretation of history but even after flaws
these tawarikh serve as an imp source.

Another important source is Insha Insba literally means

'creation', However, in the medieval period it denotes, specimen
documents and drafts, personal letters, state correspondences.
They provide firsthand information on the working of
administration as well aa prevailing socio-cultural condition and
ideas during the medieval period. Insba writings were largely
written in the context of diwani. Insha literature waa directly
connected with chancellery practices of the Delhi Sultans and
later the Mughals. There were thus two types of inshas, one,
written for epistography writings, thus they may not
necessarily be real and are model documents meant to impart
necessary skills in the art of drafting. Manazir-ul Insha of
Khwaja Jaban Mahmud Gawan is the example of this type of
Insha In other types documents/letters/ correspondences are
preserved. These second types of insba are of great historical
significance. Eg; abul fazl's insba- muktubat-i-allami by abdus
 samad. they are not reliable for factual information but are
reliable for the social, economic, and cultural fabric of people.
This peculiar nature of control of insba of medieval time created
a particular problem for historians interested in them for
gleaning evidence regarding the state of society of politics of
age which it was compiled A historian using these collections
may fall in error if he/she is not careful enough to demarcate
the genuine historical papers from the fabricated ones, by
compiler. but the fabricated documents are not all altogether
useless. The general principles and norms of the politics and
social behavior project in them could be of immense help to a
historian studying the social and political process of an age.

Under Mughal patronage lnsha as one of the branch of Persian

literature reached the apex of development in India. In the course of
this development certain new features/ characteristics were added.
The Mughal brought with them a tradition of Persian prose and
ensure which was popular in the timurid khurasan and central asia,
this tradition from the timurids of khurasan and Central Asia
continue till Akbar time. Continuity of this tradition during Mughal
period is evident from two fatehnamas; t. sheikh zyan kawafi issued
after Babur victory at Khanwa. High flown style used and starts with
same words as in khutba. 2. fatehnama -i-chittor -Issued by Akbar in
1567. this fathnama also begins precisely with same wordings.
An internal examination of the language and style of these two
fathanama clearly reveal a continuity of the tradition from the timurs
to the Akbar time. The early insha writers who came to Hindustan
from Central Asia and khurasan in the wake of the establishment of
Mughal rule included Sheikh zayin khwafl;khwandamir; Yusuf Bin
Mohammed Yusufi and others. the style of writing in sheikh zayin's
fathnama are available in BaburNama in the form oft. babur's farman,
2. victory over ranasangha and another prose of SZ.
It also reveals that he was free from the influence of classical writing
style. his writing is a transition from the ornate and verbose to
simple and direct style. In fact babur himself cultivated simple and
direct style in his chagtai writings.

khwandamir's
his prose is known as Nama-i-nami and hahib-us-siyar a simple and
clear is composition or general free from literary art and verbosity.
Another characteristic of his time is that compared to other writer
use your arabic word and rarely cited arabic poetry. Instead be
tended introduced is own poetic composition

It is important to know that before Akbar's period especially before

15179 the apostolographers were using the standard vocabulary which
was intended to advertise the idea that only sunni rulers were
destined to triumph. but Akbar's new political and administrative
policies called for a new style. in 1579 be ordered that Sheikh Ahul fazl
and haltlm Ahul fath should henceforth draft all important letters and
degrees so after 1579 Ahul fazl made a great contribution in the field
ofinsha.

Abu! fazl's Insha

The letters of abul fazl word connected on arranged in
mulctubat-i-allami in 1606-07 by Ahdus samad. The work is divided
into 3 volumes; the volume 1 comprises the imperial farmans and
documents. Volume 2 comprises of abul fazl's personal letter to
princess and other dignitaries . volume 3 comprises miscellaneous
writings by AF, these are generally short composition consisting
prefaces, commentary and summaries of works studied by AF from
time to time.
His style was a continuosly invented one which reflected his
pantheistic outlook. When he wrote a letter or an official document of
a king he actually tried to simultaneously perform 2task; one to
convey the message and second to philosophise at an abstract level
using the message as a frame of reference.
For eg. In mutktubat-i-allami a letter to Sher Abbas of Persia drafted
by AF: this letter contains the message that on account of "Akbar's
friendly relations with Abdullah Khan of Uzbek it would not be
possible for akbar to extend help to the former in his contemptated
invasion of central asia •. This message is simple and straightforward
however a major part of this document comprise a long discourse on
desirability of unity on the principle is Sulh-i-kul. This part too
conatins a message in a veile manner. It was sought to convey that the
safavid empire was weak on account of internal division and this not
really in a position to execute the plan of overthrowing the king.
Moreover AF deliberately avoided all tbe often quoted phrases, verse
and sings which appeared to him inconsistent witb a philosophy
projected tborugh tbe medium of document instead he eitber coined
new phrases and terms or used philosophical terms derived from
mystic literature. On account of tbis urge to coun suitable terms he
began to revive many archae(Persian) words. On tbe otber hand he
also avoided arabic and instead made use of ancient persian
expressions. Thus AF rejected many stylisti features of tbe insha as a
form of literature.
AF condemned writers who use ornate language. He didn't approve of
tbe ambiguous expressions and said tbat style should be free from
obscurity and tautology(to say sometbing twice in cliff manner) .
Yet tbe fact remains that while rejecting tbese features of Persian
lnsha, he was trying to integrate and develop otber aspects of
different strains. Furtber his emphasis on simplicity and directness
of statement was again an attempt to integrate a certain feature of
insha style developing in India and Central Asia. The style evolved and
perfected by him came to be regarded as model of insha tbough some
contemporaries were sharply critical of his innovation. He
condemned tbem as incompetent critique ho out envy 'sat wasting
tbeir hearts and soul' his style is particularly admired for tbe purity
and correctness of language. However there were a number of
Writers besides abul Faz! who also cultivated independence styles and
some of tbem greatly enriched tbe Insha literature of Akbar's reign.
Otber important writers were Hakim abul fatb and abul faizi. The
collection of faizi letters were known as latifa-i-faizi or insha-i-faizi.
It was completed in 1625-26 bye nuruddin Mohammad. The letters are
divided into five sections.
t. Faizi letter To akbar
2. Letters to ulema, Sufls and shaikh
3. Letter to physicians
4. Letter to sayyids and Amirs
S. Letter to fatber and son(personal letters)
Collection is very valuable botb from historical as well as a literary
point of view.

Alllll..fa1h- his collection of insha is known as ruqat-i-hakim-abul

fatb- gilani, tbis collection is also of considerable historical
importance because it was written in an extremely refined style. The
2. Letters to ulema, Sufis and sbaikh
3. Letter to physicians
4. Letter to sayyids and Amirs
5. Letter to father and son(personal letters)
Collection is very valuable both from historical as well as a literary
point of view.

Ab.ul..fath- bis collection of insba is known as ruqat-i-bakim-abul

fath- gilani, this collection is also of considerable historical
importance because it was written in an extremely refined style. The

great quality of his letters is that it appears as if be was actually

conversing with the addressee.

Importance of insba
These documents are quite significant in the reconstruction of the
history of Akbar early reign it is important to know that fatebnama as
a as a Karta of document is entirely missing from other collection of
the period. Another significant feature of the book lies in the fact that
it letters of symmetry of Crocin and Central Asia please have a wide
range and include appointment letter fatehnama and letters these
documents help in reconstruction of political history of the
comparative study of early timurid institution with those evolves
under Mughal rule for other this document also shed light on lndis's
relation with Central Asia during the first half of the 50 century
further legal documents such as court decision issues contract sales
except at in altogether a new dimension to historical information.
Document of this nature coming from early Mughal. Give a glimpse of
great quality ol hlS letters IS that at appears as II ne was acrnauy
conversing with the addressee.

Importance of insba
These documents are quite significant in the reconstruction of the
history of Akbar early reign it is important to know that fatehnama as
a as a Karla of document is entirely missing from other collection of
the period. Another significant feature of the book lies in the fact that
it letters of symmetry of Crocin and Central Asia please have a wide
range and include appointment letter fatehnama and letters these
documents help in reconstruction of political history of the
comparative study of early timurid institution with those evolves
under Mughal rule for other this document also shed light on India's
relation with Central Asia during the first half of the 50 century
further legal documents such as court decision issues contract sales
except at in altogether a new dimension to historical information.
Document of this nature coming from early Mughal. Give a glimpse of
the nature of legal dispute procedures followed and the way these
were resolved by legal authorities besides there are medical
prescriptions for some common diseases diseases the most detailed
description is for the prevention and treatment of smallpox.
To C':ODC':lud P wf' t'An ,;;av that in,;;h a rnllrctin n rn m nil r rl hrtwrrn 1Ci00
To conclude we can say that insha collection compiled between 1500
to 1600 are very valuable source for reconstructing the history of the
period .And also give an insight of Mughal administrative structure.

THE END