Akbar Nama and Badshah Nama

Introduction

Akbar Nama was a biography of the great Mughal emperor Akbar. This book was written by Abu’l-Fazl ibn Mubarak.

The great emperor's time was from 1556 to 1605 and he was the third emperor of the Mughal dynasty.

Badshah Nama, on the other hand, was popularly known as Padshahnama and Abdul Hamid Lahori wrote the book. The poet was a famous historian and traveller who came to India at the time of Shah Jahan.

About Akbar Nama

Akbar Nama was an official chronicle about Mughal’s third emperor Akbar. Abu’l-Fazl ibn Mubarak was the court poet in Akbar’s time who wrote about the great ruler. The whole book was written in Persian language and the language was mostly used during Mughal times. The Mughals considered Persian as their official language to communicate between each other.

The poet described the great emperor’s work and his life with the help of art and beautiful words. The book about Akbar was written to maintain the tradition of their dynasty. Baburnama was written before Akbar Nama and the book was written about the founder of the Mughal dynasty’s works and lifestyle.

Author of Akbar Nama

Akbar’s court was famous for the nine jewels that were called Navaratnas in the Hindi language. The poet Abul Fazl was one of the nine jewels who was given the responsibility to write about the great king.

The poet took seven long years to complete the whole book. The original book that was written in manuscript style took two years to complete. Approximately 49 different types of artists completed the original manuscript, they started the work in the year 1592, and it ended in 1594.

The great emperor's died in 1605, and after his death, his biography was completed. The book contained 116 miniature portraits. The unique painting of the book was restored in the Albert museum in London and Victoria.

This amazing work was purchased by South Kensington Museum from Mrs. Frances Clarke in 1896. The frontispiece and art of the book were divided into volumes after the retirement of Mrs Clarke’s husband. One can find Akbarnama in Victoria and Albert Museum.

Volumes of Akbar Nama

The book was divided into three volumes because it was the easiest way to display the book publicly.

• The first volume of the book contained Taimur’s history, depicted the foundation of the Mughal dynasty by Babur, Delhi’s Suri sultans and many more. The incidents that happened before the birth of the great emperor and his early life were also discussed in the first volume. The poet described that the father of the great king Humayun prayed for successors in the holy place Kabba. Maryam Makani the wife of Humayun got Akbar as a son. According to the poet, the great king's mother received various types of miraculous signs from God during the time of her pregnancy. The third emperor was born after nine-month when his father Humayun went on business purpose.

• The second volume of the book started describing incidents from the year 1602. The volume described the battle of Panipat with Hemu. The great emperor defeated Hemu with the help of Bairam Khan.

• Ain-i-Akbar was the other name of the third volume where the administrative department was the main focus of the volume. The geographical border of the dynasty, the number of armies, revenues, and households of the great ruler were described in this volume. The emperor wanted to make United Nations where all religions received similar types of rights.

The poet described all types of religions in his books and he used various types of Hindu idol paintings in his books. The poet also described a caste system where he mentioned sixteen different types of subclasses.

About Badshah Nama

Abdul Hamid Lahori wrote Badshah Nama and the poet took 10 years to complete the three volumes of the book. The poet described the golden period of Shah Jahan, the Mughal emperor. The book described the campaign of armies, wedding ceremonies, and imperial court with the help of various types of paintings. The poet who wrote the Badshah Nama was a traveller and historian. The poet came at the time of the fifth emperor of the Mughal dynasty and took the responsibility of creating manuscripts about the emperor. The poet described the whole twenty years of the emperor and the famous work Taj Mahal.

Badshah Nama: Historical Background

The fifth emperor of the Mughal Shah Jahan wanted to create his own biography according to his family tradition. Muhammad Amin Qazvini took the responsibility and first ten years of his kingdom described in this manuscript. The fifth to eight years of the emperor was described in Jalaluddin Tabatabai’s book. The whole life history of the fifth emperor was only described in Abdul Hamid Lahori’s book Badshah Nama.

Conclusion

The poet Abu’l-Fazl ibn Mubarak who wrote the biography of the great Shah Jahan was a famous historian and biographer in Akbar’s court. Akbar Nama’s other name was Book of Akbar because all three volumes of the book described Akbar’s lifestyle and works. The artists who made Akbar Nama came from the best painting schools of the Mughals at that time and some of them were imperial shop masters. Basawan was one of the artists among them who utilize portraiture in art. His unique style of illustration was a great innovation for Indian culture and art.

FAQs

Qns 1. Who wrote Badshah Nama in English?

Ans. Badshah Nama was written about the reign of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. Abdul Hamid Lahori himself translated the book into the English language.

Qns 2. Who received the Badshah nama as a gift from Nawab?

Ans. King George in the year 1799 received the book as a gift. The Oudh’s Nawab from the northern part of India gifted the book to King George as a part of their friendship.

Qns 3. When was Ain-i-Akbari completed?

Ans. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan completed Ain-i-Akbari and it was his most famous work. He completed the book in the year 1855 and it was a difficult book to complete back then.