The A'In-I Akbari in 3 Volumes)

Colonel Jarrett’s English translation of the Ain-i-Akbari Vol. III. Has been long our to print though there is always a demand for it and second hand copies are now selling at fancy prices. But a mere reprint of his edition would not do justice to the present state of Oriental scholarship and would naturally disappoint the modern reader. Jarrett began the preparation of his translation about 1890 that is fully 57 years ago. Among the authorities he most frequently quotes in the notes are D;’Herbelont’s des Mongols (1834) De Guignes’s Histoire general des Huns (1756) Max Mullers’ History of Sanskrit Literature (1859) Davies’s Hindu philosophy Colebrooke’s Essays (1805-37) and Elphinstone History of India (1841).

Since then a complete revolution in our knowledge of these branches of orientology has been effected by the publication of Hastings Encyclopedia of religion and ethics the encyclopedia of Islam the Grundriss (Inod Aryan ed. By Buhler and Iranian by Geiger and Kuhn). Winternitz’s History of Sanskrit Literature and the histories of Hindu Philosophy by Radhakrishan and S.N. Das Gupta besides many learned special monographs. In oriental geography the work of the modern French and German explores in Arabia Persian Syria and Africa is except for one or two of the earliest published entirely unrepresented in Jarrett’s notes and how valuable their information is we can judge by contrasting his remarks on any place name with the account of it given in the Encyclopedia of Islam.

Thus the first task of an editor of Jarrett’s translation is to modernize his notes and elucidations by sweeping away his heaps of dead leaves. My second aim has been to lighten the burden of his notes many of which are not only obsolete in information but prolix to the extent of superfluity. In it I hold a mistake of the translator’s duty to try to make a modern reader get all his ideas of Hindu philosophy literature, science and mythology or Islamic hagiography topography and science from an English translation of Abul Fazl’s Ain-I-Akbari.

Abut Fad’s original work was meant to serve as a handy encyclopedia for readers of Persian who knew no other language and had no access to standard works even in the Persian and Arabic languages. The modern reader, versed in English. will find very much fuller and far more accurate information on these subjects in the voluminous encyclopedias and standard monographs in the English language which have been published in our own times. The law of copyright would probably not permit me to transfer column after column of matter from these modern works to my footnotes, as Jarrett has done with the works of D’Herbelot and other antiquated sources. I have, therefore, totally omitted his lengthy quotations from these authors and given instead exact page references to the Encyclopedia of Islam, the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, and other modern authorities, which are available to serious students in the libraries of learned societies and Universities.

I have also economized space and saved the reader from frequent unnecessary interruptions by the omission of the notes on the emendations of the printed Persian text made by the translator. The editing of many of the volumes in the Persian and Arabia section of the Bibliotheca Indica series, was not done with the necessary care and accuracy, as learned circles have found to their vexation. Therefore all obvious misprints and wrong readings have been silently corrected in this new edition of the translation and hundreds of notes of the first edition under this head eliminated. For example, on p. 68, we had “Lakhnauti, in Bengal” followed by the translator’s note “The text has Nek for Bang.” Such errors, due to the careless placing of dots (nuqta) by copyists or proof-readers, are too obvious to raise any doubt this note has been excluded by me as unnecessary. But in every really important case, where the emendation of the text raises a vital question or leaves room for difference of opinion, the notice of such emendation has been retained in the new edition.

Abut Fazl’s copyists or their successors made many errors and omissions in the matter of the latitude and longitude of places. all of which were corrected with meticulous care by Jarrett I have retained all his corrections but dropped his references to the errors In the Persian text. On p. 104. Jarrett himself admits in despair. The whole (geographical) list of Abul Fad is the work of a scribe, not of a geographer”.

Abul Fazl’s professed aim in writing the Ain-i-Akbari was to give the Persian reading world of his day a clear idea of the literature philosophy arts and sciences of the Hindus and the saints and heroes of India but he also tried to adorn the subject by giving a brief account of the Muslim world both in and out of India by means of a short compilation from well known Arabic and Persian authorities composed outside India. The portions of the ain which serve the second purpose make no claim to origin ality and have no historical purpose make no claim to originality and have no historical value their accuracy is vitiated by Abul Fazl’s possession of very poor manuscripts of the Arabic works used by him. It is therefore not worth the while to note every one of the mistakes he made for his reason.

No remark made above should be taken to cast any reflection on Col. Jarrett’s scholarship or belittle the stupendous task that he accomplished with immense industry and deep and varied learning combining the wisdom of the East and the West in translating and annotating the Ain-i-Akbari volumes II and III He had to translate a very difficult book from a few badly transcribed and unhelpful texts and to throw light on a wide range of technical subjects currents in the middle ages but now obscure.

The A-in-I Akbari is the third volume of the Akbarnama by Shaykh Abu l-Fazl and is by far the greatest work in the whole series of Muhammadan histories of India. The first volume of this gigantic work contains the history of Timur’s family as far as it is of interest for the Indian reader and the reigns of Babar the Sur kings and Humayun whilst the second volume is devoted to the detailed history of nearly forty six year of the reign of the great emperor. The concluding volume the A-in-I Akbari contains that information regarding Akbar’s reign which though not strictly historical is yet essential to a correct understanding of the times and embodies therefore those facts for which in modern times we would turn to administration reports statistical compilations or Gazetteers. It contains the of Akbar and is in fact the administration Report and statistical return of his government as it was about A.D. 1590. The contents therefore of the A in are naturally varied and detailed. The first of its five books treats of Akbar’s household and court and of the emperor himself the soul of every department who looks upon the performance of his duties as an act of divine worship and who enters into the details of government in order to create a harmonious whole. Vouchsafed as king with a peculiar light from on light from on high his person is prominently put forward as the guide of the people in all matters temporal and spiritual in whose character and temper the governed find that rest and peace which no constitution can give and in whom as the author of a new and advanced creed the dust of in toleration is for ever allayed.

The second book treats of the servants of the throne the military and civil services and the attendants at court who literary genius or musical skill receives a luster form the encouragement of the emperor and who in their turn reflect a brilliant light on the government.

The third book is entirely devoted to regulations for the judicial and executive departments the establishment of a new and more practical era the survey of the land the tribal divisions and the rent roll of the great finance minister whose name has become proverbial in India.

The fourth book treats of the social condition and literary activity especially in philosophy and law of the Hindus who form the bulk of the population and in whose political advancement the emperor saw the guarantee of the stability of his realm. There are also a few chapters on the foreign invaders of India on distinguished travelers and on Muhammadan saints and the sects to which they respectively belong.

The fifth book contains the more sentences and epigrammatical sayings observations and rules of wisdom of the emperor which Abu I –Fazl has gathered as the disciple gathers the sayings of the master.

In the A-in therefore we have a picture of Akbar’s government in its several departments and of its relations to the different ranks and mixed races of his subjects. Whilst in most Muhammadan histories we hear of the endless turmoil of war and dynastical changes and are only reminded of the existence of a people when authors make a passing allusion to famines and similar calamities we have in the A in the governed classes brought to the foreground men live and move before us and the great questions of the times axioms then believed in an principles then followed phantoms then chased after ideas then prevailing and successes then obtained are placed before our eyes in truthful and therefore vivid colors.

It is for this reason that the A in stands so unique among Muhammadan histories of India and we need not wonder that long before curious eyes turned to other native sources of history and systematically examined their contents the A in was laid under contribution Le Pere tieffentaller in 1776 published in his description geographique de l Indostan long extracts from the rentroll given in the third book Chief Sarishtadar grant used it largely for his report on Indian finances and as early as 1783 Francis Gladwin a thorough oriental scholar dedicated to Warren Hastings his Ayeen Akberi of which in 1800 he issued a printed edition in London. In his translation Gladwin has given the greater part of the first book more than one half of the second and third books and about one fourth of the Fourth Book and although in modern times inaccuracies have been discovered in the portions translated by him Chiefly due no doubt to the fact that he translated by him chiefly due no doubt to the fact that he translated from MSS in every way a difficult undertaking his translation has always occupied a deservedly high place and it may confidently be asserted that no similar work has for the lat seventy years been so extensively quoted as his. The magnitude of the task of translating the A in form uncollated MSS will especially become apparent when we remember that even in the opinion of native writers its style is not intelligible to the generality of readers without great difficulty.

But it is not merely the varied information of the A in that renders the book so valuable but also the trustworthiness of the author himself Abu l-Fazl’s high official position gave him access to any document he wished to consult and his long career and training in various departments of the state and his marvelous powers of expression fitted him eminently for the composition of a work like the Akbarnamah and the A’in. his love of truth and his correctness of information are apparent on every page of the book which he wished to leave to future ages as a memorial of the great Emperor and as a guide for inquiring minds and his wishes for the stability of the throne and the welfare of the people his principles of toleration his noble sentiments on the rights of man the total absence of personal grievances and of expressions of ill will towards encompassing enemies show that the expanse of his large heart stretched to the clear offing of sterling wisdom Abu l-Fazl has far too often been accused by European writers of flattery and even of willful concealment of facts damaging to the reputation of this master. A study though perhaps not a hasty perusal of the akbarnamah will show that the charge is absolutely unfounded and if we compare his works is with other historical productions of the East we shall find that while he praises he does so infinitely less and with much more grace and dignity than any other Indian historian or poet. No native writer has ever accused him of flattery and if we bear in mind that all Eastern works on ethics recommend unconditional assent to the opinion of the kind whether correct or absurd as the duty of man and that the whole poetry of the East is a rank mass of flattery at the side of which modern encomiums look like withered leaves we may pardon Abu l-Fazl when he praises because he finds a true hero.

The issue of the several fascicule of this translation has extended over a longer time than I at first expected the simultaneous publication of my edition of the Persian text from which the translation is made the geographical difficulties of the third book the translation from various Muhammadan historians and works on the history of literature have rendered the progress of the work unavoidably slow.

I am deeply indebted to the council of the philological committee of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for placing at my disposal a full critical apparatus of the A in and entrusting me with the edition of the text for which the Indian government had most liberally sanctioned the sum of five thousand Rupees. My grateful acknowledgements are also due to Dr. Thomas Oldham Superintendent of the Geological Survey of India and late president of the Asiatic Society for valuable advice and ever ready assistance in the execution of the work and to Col. H Yuel, C.B. and to H. Roberts Esqu of the doveton college for useful hints and corrections.

I have though it advisable to issued the first volume with a few additional notes and two indexes one of persons and things and the other of geographical names without waiting for the completion of the whole work. I have thus had an opportunity of correcting some of the errors and inconsistencies in the spelling of names and supplying other deficiencies. That defects will still be found not withstanding my endeavors to remove them none of my readers and cities can be more sensible than I myself.