Persian Manuscripts : Akbarnāmah va Ā’īn-i Akbarī

Abū al-Faz̤l ibn Mubārak, 1551-1602ابو الفضل بن مبارك علامی

Persian Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'> The first complete volume of the <i>Akbarnāmah va Ā’īn-i Akbarī</i> (Book of Akbar and Akbar's Administration) by Abū al-Faz̤l ibn Mubārak (1551–1602), together with the second volume by the same scribe, <a target='_blank' class='externalLink uom-purple' href='https://www.digitalcollections.manchester.ac.uk/view/MS-PERSIAN-00799'>Persian MS 799</a>, to which a former owner added a third unrelated volume, <a target='_blank' class='externalLink uom-purple' href='https://www.digitalcollections.manchester.ac.uk/view/MS-PERSIAN-00800'>Persian MS 800</a>, to complete and uniformly rebind them as a set. A Mughal courtier and ultimately Chief Secretary and close confidant of Akbar (b. Akbar, b. 1542, r. 1556–1605), the author relates vivid accounts of events that occurred during his patron's reign. The concluding portion, known as the <i>Ā’īn-i Akbarī</i> (Akbar's Administration) features an extensive survey that profiles various elites, rivals, and cultural figures, regions, faiths, social groups, manufacturers, and products within India at that time. A scribe named Mīr Ḥabīb Allāh valad-i Mīr ‘Ināyat Allāh Astrābādī completed the first and second volumes, presumably in the Indian subcontinent, in 1043 AH (1634 CE).</p>