A Study of Persian Literature under the Mughals in India:

With the coming of the Mughals, a new era in Persian literature started. Babar
brought with him many poets and scholars from Central Asia. Though Babar himself
wrote in Turkish, his court provided forum to both Persian and Turkish writers.

Humayun, the next ruler was also a great patron of poetry as well as prose.
Like Babar he was also adept at writing poetry and wrote masnavi, rubai, Qasida as
well as ghazal.

In his Rubai, and ‘Ghazal’ while behind no one, he stands ahead of many of his
contemporaries. The chief feature of his style is the clearness of expression which
pervades all his writings and his words are always few, simple and compact.”

Gulbadan Begam, the daughter of Babar was also a great scholar and she wrote
Hamayun Nama on the specific request of Akbar.

Apart from being a scholar, Humayun encouraged other scholars, poets and
historians. A large number of them adorned his court. Shaikh Amanullah Panipati
wrote Qasida. Shaikh Abdul Wahid Bilgrami and Shaikh Gadai were two prominent
Hindi-Persian poets at the court of Humayun.

Maulana Qasim Kahi compiled a diwan in which he included a number of

Qasida, Masnavi, and Ghazal. Other poets also wrote Qasida and Masnavi in praise
of Humayun.

The last work dealt with the art of literary composition is translation the
famous Hindi work Sanghasan Battisi into Persian.

The Persian literature made a wonderful progress during the times of Akbar.
A number of outstanding works of literary and historical importance were produced
during his time. Some of the prominent works of his time include Ain-i-Akbari and
Akbarnma by Abul Fazal, the Muntakhab-ut- Twarikh the Tabakat-i-Akbari of
Nizamuddin Ahmed.

Akbarnama of Faizi, the Masir-i-Rahimi of Abdul Baqi. Abul Fazal apart from being
a great scholar was a personal friend and counselor of Akbar for almost 35 years. The
quantum and quantity of his work has been greatly admired by the scholars.
 Abdul Qadir Badauni wrote Muntakhab ul-Tawarikh which is also known as
Tarikh-i-Badauni, a general history from the times of Ghazanvides to the fortieth
year of Akbar. This work is especially useful in correcting fulsome eulogium of the
Akbarnama.

It helps in forming correct impression of the character of the great Mughal ruler.
Nizamuddin’s Tabakat-i-Akbari is a chronicle of external events and completely
ignores the religious views of the Emperor.

Takmila-i-Akbarnama of Inayatulla provides us with information regarding

the four years of Akbar’s reign not covered by Abul Fazal in his Akbarrama. Faizi’s
Akbarnama though not an original work and largely based on Tabakat-i-Akbari
provides us sufficient information in a straightforward manner.

Abul Faizi, the brother of Abul Fazal was also a great poet. Among his
prominent works mention may be made of NalDaman. Markaz-i-Advar. According
to Prof. Ishwari Prasad, “Faizi shone brilliantly as a poet and in all he wrote there is
enthralling charm.

His style is pure, and free from all kinds of vulgarism, and in all his works we
find the noblest sentiments expressed in a most beautiful language.” Faizi is known
as the king of poets. Badauni also says, “He excelled in the arts of versification,
enigmatic lines and rhyming. In history, in philology, in medicine, in letter-writing,
and in composition, he was without a rival.”

Akbar had set up a special department for translation with a view to bring
about fusion in Hindu and Muslim cultures and to provide a common literature to
the people of this country. Many notable works of Sanskrit, Arabic, Turkish and
Greek were translated into Persian. Thus Abul Fazal translated many Sanskrit works
like Kisan Joshi, the Gangadhar, and the Mahesh Mahananda into Persian.

Mahabharat was translated into Persian by Naqib Khan. Ramayana was translated
into Persian by Abul Qadir Badayuni. Atharvaveda was translated into Persian by
Haji Ibrahim Sarhindi. Lilawati, a Sanskrit treatise on mathematics was translated
into Persian by Faizi.
 Rajtarangini, famous historical work written in Sanskrit about the history of
Kashmir was translated by Maulana Sheri. while Abul Fazal translated Panch Tantra.
In short, we can say that Akbar made valuable contribution in the direction of
providing a common culture to the people of India.

Jahangir was not only an intellectual like his father but he had a taste for
literature. He accorded patronage to men of learning and his court was adorned with
many literary figures such as Nasiri of Nishapur Ghiyas Beg, Naqib Khan, Mutamid
Khan, Niyamat-Ullah and Abdul Haq Dehlvi.

He wrote his own autobiography entitled Tuzk-i-Jahangiri in which he

revealed his daily life with freshness and candor. Very few incidents of his life such
as his revolt against his father, the circumstances leading to his marriage with Nur
Jahan, the death of Khusrau have been omitted.

According to Elliot and Dowson Tuzk-i -Jahangiri taken as a whole proves Jahangir
to have been a man of no common ability. He records his weaknesses and confesses
his faults. this work would have a favorable impression both of his character and
talents.

Another historical work produced during Jahangir’s time was Iqbal-namah-i-

Jahangiri, which is considered to be a primary source for the history of his reign. The
other important historical works produced curing his time were Maasir-i- Jahangiri
and Zubdtut-Tuwarikh.

His reign also witnessed the production of outstanding poetry as well as

commentaries on Quran. One thing which strikes most that the Department of
Translation which had been very busy under Akbar seems to have been disbanded by
Jahangir.

Shah Jahan, the next ruler also continued to patronize men of learning. The
prominent scholars who were patronized by Shah Jahan were, Chandra Bhan Brah-
man, Abdul Hamid Lahauri, Aminai Qazwini, Inayat Khan and Muhammad Salih.
Abdul Hamid Lahauri was the court historian of Shah Jahan and wrote Padshah-
Nama.
During the times of Shah Jahan a large number of scholars came from Persia. Shah
Jahan even offered the post of poet-laureate to one of such scholars namely Faizi.

Banarsi Prasad Saksena observed that the Persian literature produced during
his period was not purely Persian. He says, “The Persian language had come to stay
in India, and it could not for long keep itself aloof from its new and powerful
environments. It observed Indian ideas and Indian thoughts, and it was used for
Indian subjects. Necessarily, it developed a distinct character. To condemn it as un-
Persian without consideration of these factors is to pay a poor tribute to the genius of
the Indian people. No language can retain its virgin purity among a strange people
unless they be intellectual nonentities, and there is no reason why Persian should
form an exception to this rule.”

Dara Shikoh, one of the princes of Shah Jahan, was also a great patron of
learning. A number of scholarly works were produced under his patronage. He not
only got the Hindi scriptures like Gita, Upanishads and Yoga Vashistha translated
into Persian but also wrote a treatise on the technical terms of Hindu pantheism.

Dara Shikoh was greatly interested in religious and philosophical studies and
a number of masterpieces in Persian literature were produced in these fields under
his patronage. The most outstanding work of Dara Shiko was Majm-ul-Bahrain
(mingling of the Oceans) in which he tried to show how Hinduism and Islam were
two paths leading to the same goal.

Aurangzeb, was a critical scholar of Islamic theology and jurisprudence.

However, he was opposed to poetry and the writing of the history of his reign. No
doubt, a number of histories were written about his time but they were not the
outcome of his patronage. These works were produced by the scholars
independently. Aurangzeb patronized a number of theologizes and directed them to
produce and elaborate digest of Muslim laws. This resulted in the production of
Fatawa-i-Alamgiri. Aurangzeb himself had mastery over Persian which is exhibited
from the collections of his letters called Raqqat-i- Alamgiri.

Under the successors of Aurangzeb Persian literature continued to be

patronized. It was only during the times of Muhammad Shah (1713—1748), that
Persian was neglected and attention began to be paid to Urdu. However, even during
the later Mughal period a number of works both on Sufism and history were
produced in Persian by both Hindu and Muslim scholars.

These works were not of that high literary quality as those produced under the
patronage under the earlier Mughal rulers. Some of the local rulers however,
continued to encourage production of historical works in Persian.

In the South also the Persian literature continued to flourish and some of the
outstanding works in Persian were produced. In 1611 Farishta wrote the
monumental work Gulshan-i-Ibrahimi which is regarded as the most compendious
of chronicles produced during Medieval India.