HISTORIANS OF AKBAR’S PERIOD

Fazl, Badauni and Ahmad

Questions:

2004-Neither Badaoni nor Abul Fazl have been impartial in their

assessment of Akbar. Discuss with reference to Akbar’s religious ideas and
policies.

2005- Discuss the nature of literary sources for the study of Akbar’s reign
highlighting the relative significance of these sources.

2007-As a historian evaluate the role Badaoni and Abul Fazl.

2009-Examine the comparative significance of the works of Abul Fazl and

Abdur Qadir Badaoni as sources of information for Akbar’s period.

 INTRO: The reign of the third Mughal Emperor, Akbar (1556-1605) was
one of political stability, cultural efflorescence and intellectual ferment
as reflected by the Emperor’s great interest in literature and theology.
 With reference to the study of the rich literary sources from Akbar’s
reign an analysis of three writers and their sources is imperative-
(i)Sheikh Abul Fazl’s Akbarnama and Ain-i-Akbari, (ii)Mulla Abdul
Qadir Badauni’s Muntakha-ut-Tawarikh and (iii)Khwaja Nizam-ud-
din Ahmad’s Tabaqat-i-Akbari
 Harbans Mukhia has argued that ‘a study of their [literary sources’]
mode of thinking is useful for noting and isolating the bias which colours
their narrative’. While K.A. Nizami calls for a “critical examination” of
these sources.
 While highlighting the relative significance of these sources and their
assessment of Akbar it is crucial to situate the historian in the
contemporary historiographical context by analyzing the personal
background of authors, the nature of historical inquiry in their
works, the primary sources used by them and their fundamental
conception of history.

PERSONAL BACKGROUNDS:

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 The personal background of Abul Fazl, Badauni and Nizam-ud-din
Ahmad is important to understand their portrayal of Akbar and his
policies and the relative significance of their works.
 ABUL FAZL: K.A Nizami mentions that as a young boy, Abul Fazl who
was educated in the “traditional framework” developed a keen interest
in religion and philosophy which led him to religious discussions and
questioning rigid Islamic beliefs, thus paving the way for his
cosmopolitan and tolerant religious outlook later in life.
 According to Harbans Mukhia, Abul Fazl’s life can be broadly divided
into two phases:
 The initial period when Abul Fazl, his brother Faizi and father Sheikh
Mubarak were persecuted by influential Ulema at the Court like
Abdullah Sultanpuri (Makhdum-ul-Mulk) and Sheikh Abd-un-Nabi;
(ii) A second period in which Fazl and Faizi became confidants of
Akbar and rose to political prominence.
 In the first period confrontation with the Ulema led Fazl to developed a
critical opinion of conventional knowledge which he articulated in
intellectual opposition to the orthodoxy.
 Akbar Nama is ripe with examples where Fazl publicly confronted
leading members of the Ulema and even ‘ashamed’ the Makhdum. This
conflict, as Fazl mentions, assumed ugly proportions with attempts on
the life of liberal Sheikh Mubarak(Fazl’s father) and family forcing
them to seek safe passage to Gujarat where Mirza Koka (Akbar’s foster
brother).
 It was only after Akbar began diluting the influence of the Ulema that
Abul Fazl had the opportunity to attend Court and participate in the
discussions at the Ibadat Khana.
 In the 19th reignal year, he made his first appearance at the Court and
presented a commentary on the Verse of the Throne. In a subsequent
appearance, he was taken into service by Akbar.
 At the Ibadat Khana, Fazl led a fierce criticism of the Ulema which
ultimately led to the marginalization of key figures like the Sheikh
Abdun-Nabi and Abdullah Sultanpuri who were forcefully sent on
religious pilgrimage to Mecca.
 Equally, Faizi and Sheikh Mubarak played a pivotal role in the
proclamation of the Mahzarnama.

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 Abul Fazl primarily rendered ‘personal services’ to the imperial
household and was rewarded with a mansabdari for this. By the 37th
regnal year, Fazl had served as co-governor of Delhi and risen to the
mansab of 2000.
 During this period, Iqbal Nama claims, Fazl encountered Akbar’s
disfavour, was excluded from the Court for some days. Now Fazl’s
critics persuaded Akbar to send him on a military campaign to the
Deccan. In the Deccan, Fazl performed unexpectedly well for which
Akbar rewarded him with a high mansab of 5000.
 The meteoric rise of Abul Fazl earned him many enemies in the
process, like Akbar’s son and heir apparent, Salim. Thus when Salim
revolted in Allahabad, Akbar recalled his trusted lieutenant. However,
Salim in alliance with Raja Bir Singh Bundela intercepted Fazl in transit
and murdered him.
 In summation, K.A. Nizami has argued that Abul Fazl’s proximity to
Akbar provided the best insight into the ruler’s moods, ambitions,
ideals and aspirations.

II. BADAUNI: In sharp contrast to Abul Fazl, Abdul Qadir Badauni did not
have an illustrious family background and entered Akbar’s service
purely on merit.

 Despite being tutored by Sheikh Mubarak and joining Akbar’s court at

the same rank as Fazl, Badauni was bitterly jealous of the meteoric
rise of the Sheikh’s sons. This it seems constituted the central dialectic
of his life, one that was reflected in Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh.
 Badauni received an orthodox education at Sambhal under Mir
Mohammed Makki and Mukhia says his familiarity with orthodox
Islamic literature is beyond doubt. Additionally, Badauni was learned in
rational and traditional sciences and particularly fond of poetry and
prose writing in Arabic and Persian.
 After the completion of his education, Badauni entered into the
service of Husain Khan, the jagirdar of Patiali and Shamsabad. For
nine years (1565-74) Badauni served the noble, describing him as an
outstanding patron of the orthodoxy.
 Badauni’s entry into Akbar’s court must be seen in context of the
power struggle between the crown and nobility. As part of Akbar’s
strategy to marginalize the Ulema, Badauni was introduced into the

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 Court as his rigid orthodox views plus a critical attitude helped
intensify dissensions within the nobility. Therefore, Badauni’s
hostility to every prevalent opinion (e.g. he ‘shared Fazl’s great scorn
for the Ulema, and with the Ulema the hatred for Abu Fazl’) enhanced
his significance to Akbar.
 In this regard Harbans Mukhia has highlighted a paradox—that
Badauni helped Akbar undermine the orthodox Sunni opinion, an
opinion to which he subscribed.
 Therefore, after the declaration of the Mahzar, Badauni found his
position diminished as his anachronistic views leading to his
marginalization in the Court and disengagement from intellectual
activity, ultimately reducing him to a translator of the holy books ‘of the
infidels’.
 The stagnation of Badauni’s career coincided with Abul Fazl’s rise at
the Court, thus causing bitterness in the author. The chief means for
articulating this frustration against Akbar and his rivals in the Court was
Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh.

III. NIZAMUDDIN AMHAD:

 As for Khwaja Nizam-ud-din Ahmad,the main information on him is

derived from Badauni and subsequent writers like Shah Nawaz Khan.
 Dowson says Ahmad was tutored by Mullah Ali Sher and was not
trained into adopting any rigid orthodox opinion.
 However, historians like Beni Prashad have held that Ahmad was
interested in Sufism and theology. Prashad also cites Badauni’s high
regard for Ahmad as proof of his orthodox leanings.
 Harbans Mukhia has countered both these contentions arguing that
Nizam-ud-din Ahmad didnt show any extraordinary respect for the
Sheikhs and Ulema. Furthermore, based on a study of their works
Mukhia concluded that Badauni and Ahmad had opposing views on a
number of issues.
 Nonetheless, Nizam-ud-din Ahmad, whose family had served the
Mughals for generations, joined Akbar’s service accompanying him
to Kabul in the 27th reignal year and reporting from his camp, later
serving in Gujarat as in-charge of khalisa lands, with his career
peaking as bakhshi of the empire.

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 However, Badauni has stated that he never participated in the
controversies at the Court and remained a passive observer of
contemporary politics— that giving him the vantage of neutrality.

The above three historians owing to their personal backgrounds and varied
experiences under Akbar’s Service, presented their patron and his policies
in a varied light. Thus it is important to critically analyse their sources to
yeild a balanced understanding of Akbar.

1.Akabrnama &Ain-i-Akbari

 The most valuable source of information with regard to Akbar’s reign

is Abul Fazl’s Akbar Nama. Divided into 3 volumes by the modern day
historians, the last volume is referred to as A’in i-Akbari. To gauge
Fazl’s contribution to history, one must analyse the Akbarnama as a
single unit.
 The division of Akbarnama is regnal yet as the author reaches,
Akbar’s reign, the book assumes the form of an annual chronicle.
Within the year events are described in chronological order.
 The first volume covers ‘the history of mankind’ from Adam to
Akbar’s 17th regnal year. By tracing Akbar’s descent to the earliest
human being the author intended to portray his patron as the pinnacle
of human progress. He tries portraying Akbar as ‘The Perfect Man’
that is, Insan- i- Kamil. The second volume covers the reign of Akbar
till his 46th regnal year.
 Volume III or Ain i- Akbari, often assessed as the manual of Mughal
administration, is divided into five books. Book I deals with imperial
establishment, providing information on various departments of the
imperial household, the imperial mint. It also deals with art, the royal
arsenals, guns and the royal stables. Book II deals with the institution
of army and provides a list of mansabdars, scholars, poets and
musicians of the time. Book III gives details on the revenue system
that was followed; Book IV mainly describes the various facets of
Hindus, their customs, philosophy, medicine etc. According to Harbans
Mukhia, this book is perhaps the weakest part of Fazl’s entire work
since he failed to give a picture of the then Hindu society accurately. The
last one, Book V comprises of Akbar’s wise sayings and a short
biographical sketch of the author himself.

 MERITS: Rizvi says, Fazl’s work can be appreciated under three rubrics:
Collection and compilation of data, new literary style and plan; and
interpretation of historical facts. K.A. Nizami asserts that Fazl may be

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 regarded as a pioneer in collection and utilization of statistical data
for historical studies. Fazl wove society, religion and politics into a
composite blend.
 He also accolades Fazl for being the first Indo-Persian historian to
attract the attention of European scholars.
 Fazl holds a very significant place amongst contemporary scholars, for
he dealt with the theme of secularism in his work and didn’t use
religious terminology. He claims to have invented a style different than
other historians.
 Elliot and Elphinstone ignore the novelty of Fazl’s style but Beveridge
appreciates Fazl for his accuracy.
 Rizvi characterizes Fazl’s approach to history as what Western
historiography categorize as Romanticism.

 DEMERITS: However, one can’t overlook the serious defects that are
present in Abul Fazl’s work. Mukhia says Fazl’s attitude lax attitude
towards the sources of information used he used was a major limitation
ion. (a)He hardly acknowledged his sources. (b)Also, he used unreliable
here say and dreams of some individuals as his sources.
 Contrary to the claims of usage of simple and straightforward language
by Fazl, one finds the language ornate and verbose.
 Nizami shows that throughout Fazl’s work, a superstitious
atmosphere prevails. E.g. The account of Akbar’s birth has also been
explained by stating that Akbar’s mother was impregnated by a strange
light and then Akbar was born. Fazl portrayed his patron aa a semi-
divine personality and an embodiment of ‘spiritual leadership’.
Nizami has rightly pointed out the prevalent contradiction in Abul
Fazl’s work.
 On the one hand he expects a secular approach from others, and on the
other hand he himself justifies every political measure of Akbar with the
garb of religion.
 Yet another limitation of the work was that Fazl had read out his
draft to Akbar several times. Thus, the work took shape as per
Akbar’s wishes and isn’t critical about Akbar. The likes and dislikes of
his patron determined the way Fazl approached history. All the events
and information provided by the author had revolved around the
persona of Akbar. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that it was a eulogy of
sorts and thus Jadunath Sarkar and Beveridge have called Abul Fazl a
‘shameless flatterer’.
 Strangely enough, the Mahzarnama, an important document which
made Akbar the ‘baadshah i- Islam’ and gave him the right to decide
which interpretation of the Muslim law would prevail too hasn’t been

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 mentioned by Fazl. However, his contemporary writer Badauni does
mention it. Historians speculate that a probable reason for Fazl to
refrain from doing so may have been to ensure that Akbar wasn’t
confined to a religious domain through this title conferred on him. Fazl,
throughout his entire work was trying to show that Akbar was
above all the sectarian differences.
 The Ain i- Akbari fails to give any idea of the stages of evolution
through which different Mughal institutions passed. Also, Fazl
doesn’t give due credit to the innovators like Todar Mal, Shah Mansur
and others for certain administrative innovations.
Muntakha-ut-Tawarikh

 THE WORK:The Muntakhabu’t Tawarikh is divided into three

volumes.
1. The first deals with the history of Muslim rulers from Subuktagin to
Humayun;
2. The second gives the history of the reign of Akbar uptil the 40th
year in the form of an annual chronicle;
3. The third has information on sufis, ulema and poets present in
Akbar’s reign. The third volume is in the form of a Tazkira, in which
he writes short biographical sketches of the Mashaikh and the
Ulema during Akbar’s time. Although Badauni generally adheres to
the chronology, he does transgress the rule here and there. He
usually began a chapter with the accession of a ruler and ended it
with his dethronement or death.
 MERITS: He is also our chief source of information on the discussions
held at the Ibadat Khana and Mazharnama. He mentions the
circumstances preceding the Mazharnama’s signing as well Akbar’s
adoption of concept of wahadat-ul-wajud.
 Badauni’s works throws light on the cultural level of Akbar’s age,
mentioning poets and physicians etc at Akbar’s court.
 He mentions a lot of incidental details which make his work slightly
more interesting than the other contemporary sources. For instance, he
tells us of famines and earthquakes and gives us details of the jauhar
committed by the Rajputs at Chittor.
 The second volume is valuable as it is rich in information about the
administrative measures implemented by Akbar- for instance he deals
with the introduction, working and subsequent failure of the karori

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 system and the introduction of branding horses. Interestingly he doesn’t
mention the mansabdari system.
 DEMERITS:
 (i) Badauni’s critical attitude towards Akbar, his liberal religious policies
and confidants is amply clear and he accuses such confidants of heresy
and began by stating that his work was written to express his “grief for
the faith” and the deceased community of Muslims which had become a
non entity under Akbar
 (ii)He severely criticized Akbar for his so called ‘liberal thinking’.
According to him, Akbar was bringing Islam as a religion under
scrutiny, thereby equating it with all the other religions.
 (iii)He opposed not only Akbar’s social reforms- from fixing the age of
marriage to the establishment of poor houses- but also the most
important administrative measures such as the branding of horses
and the mansabdari system. He held responsible the system of
branding horses for the widespread rebellions in Bengal and Bihar.
 (iv) His hostility towards Akbar’s reforms is amply clear throughout
his work, so is his contempt for Abul Fazl, Faizi and non-muslims
like Birbal.
 (v)Volume I is not treated as a history but tends to glorify Islam uptill
Humayun’s reign and present Akbar’s reign as marking the annihilation
of Islam.
 (vi)In Volume III, Badauni passes judgement extensively on various
individuals, judging them on account of their religious view.
 (vii)One of the major drawbacks is breakage in the narrative, as he
doesn’t follow a strict chronological narrative.
 (viii)He gave vent to all his anger and frustration in writing this piece of
work. He firmly believed that there was an organized undermining of
Islam during Akbar’s era. Badauni’s Muntakhabu’t Tawarikh, as
Mukhia puts it, is literally a ‘history written with vengeance’. This
work wasn’t an official account and was in fact written in secrecy.

III.Tabaqat-i-Akbari:
There is yet another author who provides invaluable information on Akbar
– Ahmad’s Tabaqat i- Akbari. Mukhia suggests that Ahmad may have
been a deeply religious person in his personal life but he didn’t let this
influence his historical work.

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 THE WORK: Records the history of nine regions- Deccan, Gujarat,
Bengal, Malwa, Jaunpur, Sind, Kashmir and Multan.
MERITS: The work gives a history dynasties ruling in each of these
regions to the time of their conquest by Akbar and is thus valuable.
 It also gives a fairly neutral unbiased account of Akbar’s period.
 The objective of this work was to highlight the unification of diverse
regions in India under the Mughal imperial banner during the reign of
Akbar. He doesn’t give details of a ruler’s life prior to his accession.
 He maintained the chronology of events. However, he does not go into
the details of administration, political policies or other aspects. And this
makes the work monotonous in style as well as content. It is only
towards the end of the book that Ahmad gives us some information
about the land, the number of towns, the revenues of the empire
during Akbar’s reign etc.
DEMERITS:
(i)The narrative of events is often broken due to strict annual
chronology, as events are picked up in the next year and not discussed at
one place.
(ii)Mukhia says-Since it is a narrative of events it often seems
monotonous.
(iii)At times it gives an over simplified account of Bairam Khan and the
Mazharnama.
(iv)Ahmad fails to give credit to the sources he used.
(v) He gave more importance to the individual events and happenings
rather than individual personalities. There are hardly any biographies of
men mentioned by the author.
After having analyzed the various sources of information of Akbar’s period,
one may conclude by saying that the nature of all these sources is quite
varied. While Abul Fazl’s monumental work has been regarded as the most
important source of information for the period in concern, there are others
authors like Badauni and Ahmad who provide us with vital information
that Fazl omits. However, one can’t deny the fact that these sources suffer
from some serious defects too as they are very often fraught with biases.
Thus, one must not take them at face value. On the whole, the true
significance of all these sources combined is that they form a corpus of very
useful data which helps in further developing our understanding of the
polity, administration, society and culture during the reign of Akbar.

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