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Important Sources of Indian History
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4/19/2014 Indian History: Important Sources of Indian History
Qutub Minar:
Tomb of lltutmish:
Sultan Garhi:
Balban’s Tomb:
AlaiDarwaza:
Alauddin Khilji built it. This door to the Qutub Minar contains a dome
which for the first time was built on correct scientific lines.
Siri:
Hauz Khas:
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Tughlaqabad:
Jahanpanah:
Firuzabad:
Maqbool:
Alberuni
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Taj-ul-Masir:
Hasan Nizami. It is the first historical narrative which deals with the
beginning of the Muslim rule in India.
Tabqaat-i-Nasiri:
Minhaj-us-Siraj
Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi:
Ziauddin Barani
Futuhat-i-Firuz Shahi:
Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi:
Tughlaqnamah:
Amir Khusrau
Tarikh-i-llahi:
Amir Khusrau
Khazain-ul-Futuh
Miftah-ul-futuh:
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Amir Khusrau
Nuh Sipihr
Kitab-ul-Rehla:
Ibn Batuta
A third mosque in the old Lodhi Fort at Agra has also survived. In the
early years of his reign, Humayun built a city at Delhi called Dinpanah.
Akbar built the Agra Fort in red sand-stone. His other forts are at Lahore,
Ajmer and Allahabad. During Akbar’s reign a palace-cum-fort was built at
Sikri, later named Fatehpur after the victory at Gujarat (imperial capital
from 1569-1584).
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During the reign of Jahangir, his wife Nurjahan built (her father) Itmad-
ud-daullah’s tomb at Agra. A new technique borrowed from Golmandal
temple at Udaipur, Pietra Dura was introduced here (decoration of walls
with floral designs made of semi-precious stones). This tomb was
entirely made of marble. Jahangir built the Moti Masjid in Lahore and
his own tomb at Shahadra near Lahore.
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Nuskha-i-Dilkusha – Bhimsen
2. Tabkat-i-Nasiri:
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Abul Hasan Yaminuddin Khusrau was one of the best scholars and poets
of his age. He was a witness to the reign of Sultan Balban and got
patronage of the Khilji rulers and even that of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq.
Primarily, Khusrau was not a historian but a poet. None of his work,
therefore, can be considered historical material. Yet, as he described the
events in a chronological order and honestly, much useful historical
knowledge has been derived from his writings. Khusrau wrote much.
Besides, Barani was a great scholar. Therefore, his works have been
regarded fairly reliable. Barani wrote several texts, e.g., Inayatnama-i-
llahi, Hasaratnama, Fatwah-i-Jahandari, Tarikh- i-Firuz Shahi, etc.
Among them Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi has been regarded as the best
historical source-material. In it, Barani narrated the events from the
period of accession to the throne by Sultan Balban to the first six years of
reign of Sultan Firuz.
Barani preferred to be a court- writer, did not want to annoy any Sultan,
did not give his account in chronological order and was a fanatic Muslim.
Therefore, his account has not been considered fair. Yet, it has been
regarded as a good source-material of history because Barani described
the contemporary policy, economy, society etc. in quite detail.
Afif also wrote several texts. Among them, Tarikh- i-Firuz Shahi written
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6. Futuhat-i-Firuz Shahi:
7. Futuh-us-Salatin:
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8. Rehla:
The Sultan was once displeased with him and removed him from the
post of Qazi. Later on, when his misunderstanding was removed, he
deputed him as his ambassador to China. Ibn Batutah, however, could
not reach China as his ship wrecked while on the way.
He came back to India and then left for his motherland. There he wrote
the account of his travels which, afterwards, were published under the
title Rehla. Ibn Batutah described the events, administration, fairs and
festivals, markets, food and clothing’s of the Indian, city-life, court life,
economy, society, climate etc. during the rule of Sultan Ghiyasuddin
Tughluq and Sultan Muhammad Tughluq.
9. Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi:
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It was written by Yahya bin Ahmad of Sirhind who enjoyed the patronage
of the Sayyid ruler, Mubarak Shah. Yahya bin Ahmed began the history
from the accession to the throne by Muhammad of Ghur and finished at
the accession to the throne of Delhi by the third ruler of the Sayyid
dynasty, Sultan Muhammad Shah.
11. Tuzuk-i-Baburi:
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information not only concerning the events of life of Babur but also
about his character, personality, knowledge, capability, weakness,
merriments etc. The description of Babur is quite authentic. It is possible
that Babur failed to understand particular individuals of circumstances
and, therefore, gave wrong descriptions as is the case with his
description of Indian affairs and people. It can be said, however, that he
tried his best to adhere to the truth.
Babur wrote frankly about the weaknesses of his own character and
failures as well. He described his use of alcohol and opium and festivities
among friends. He wrote about his friends and foes impartially. He
described quite fairly the character, personality and actions of Daulat
Khan Lodi, Ibrahim Lodi, Alam Khan Lodi, Rana Sangram Singh etc. He
also described in an impressive style the climate, hills, rivers, forests,
flora and fauna, trees and flowers, beauty of the nature etc. of the
countries he visited.
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Except large rivers, there is a shortage of water. Here the gardens have
no boundary walls. The houses are not well built and have no
arrangement for fresh air. The peasants and the poor people live
practically naked.
The males use mostly langote and the women cover their entire body
with one piece of cloth.” Babur, however, appreciated several things in
India. He expressed that India was a vast country and had plenty of gold
and silver. He appreciated the rainy season of India but also pointed out
that everything was spoiled during that season because of the dampness.
This is not accepted that the Indian were not cultured at the time when
Balw conquered India. Babur got very little time in India. Besides, mostly
he remained busy in fighting battles. Therefore, he got very little
opportunity to come in contact with the cultured people in India
otherwise probably, he would have changed his opinion.
12. Tarikh-i-Rashidi:
Tarikh-i-Rashidi was divided into two parts by him. In the first part of it,
he described the history of the Mughal emperors between the period
1347-1553 A.D. and, in the second described the events of his own life up
to 1541 A.D. The text of the second part has been regarded more useful
for the students of history.
13. Humayun-nama:
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the events of the reign of the emperors but emphasized on the character,
personalities and family relations of the Emperors. Therefore, the
historical importance of the text is reduced.
In the text, the lineage of Sher Shah, his career, the contest between Sher
Shah and Humayun, the administration of Sher Shah, his practices of
Dag and Huiiya, his care for the peasants, his public welfare works etc.
have been decribed in detail. However, the text suffers from one
weakness. The dates of different events have not been mentioned in it.
Yet, it is regarded as a very useful text.
15. Waqiyat-i-Mustaq:
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the Mughal empire in India for the second time. Therefore, his text
provides useful information concerning Sher Shah, his successors and
Humayun.
16. Tarikh-i-Firishta:
Firishta wrote this text while he was in the service of Adil Shah II, the
ruler of Bijapur. His text is a history of India during the medieval period.
Firishta consulted several Persian texts while preparing his text. Tarikh-
i-Firishta has been regarded as a renowned historical text and an
authentic one.
17. Akbar-nama:
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Akbar and belittled their enemies particularly Sher Shah and Islam Shah.
Besides, the language of Akbar-nama is full of verbosity. Therefore, one
has to observe caution while studying the Akbar-nama.
18. Ain-i-Akbari:
19. Tabaqat-i-Akbari:
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Its writer was Abdul Qadir Badauni who was a scholar of Arabic, Persian
and Sanskrit during the reign of Akbar. He had been a fellow- student of
Abul-Fazal and was jealous of him because Abul-Fazal commanded more
respect in the eyes of Emperor, Akbar. Badauni gradually became the
supporter of the group of fanatic Sunnis.
Therefore, Akbar became displeased with him. Yet, Akbar kept him at his
court and assigned him the responsibility of writing historical texts and
that of translating the texts written in other languages, in Persian. He
translated several texts of Arabic and Sanskrit in Persian besides writing
original texts. Among his original texts, the Tarikh-i-Badauni has been
regarded as the best historical text.
The Tarikh-i-Badauni has been divided into three parts. In its first part,
Badauni described the history beginning from the rule of Subutgin to the
reign of Humayun. In its second part, he described the history during the
rule of Akbar up to the year 1594 A.D.
21. Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri.
In most of the cases Jahangir wrote in good detail and closer to truth. He
did not even hide the weaknesses of his character. Besides, Jahangir was
born and brought up in India and had become acquainted with the life
and culture of its people. Therefore, the description of the Tuzuk-i-
Jahangiri is balanced and reliable.
Jahangir described the revolt of his son, Khushrav, his measures for
administering justice, military campaigns of his reign, his daily life-
routine, festivals held at the court, his treatment with the Rajputs and
other Hindus, his travels, his marriage with Nur Jahan etc. He described
the climate, the beauty of the nature, birds, animals, flowers etc. of the
places he visited.
He described his taste, knowledge and his efforts for the development of
painting. These all provide useful information concerning the history
and culture of India during the reign of Jahangir to modern historians.
Therefore, though the Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri suffers from certain
weaknesses, yet it is a valuable, historical document.
22. Iqbai-nama:
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It was written by Mutamid Khan who wrote the later part of the
biography of Jahangir for nearly two years. The text has been divided
into three parts. In its first part, Mutamid Khan described the history of
the family of Amir Timur including the history of the reigns of Babur and
Humayun. In the second part, he narrated the history of the reign of
Akbar. In the third part, he narrated the history of the rule of Jahangir.
23. Padshah-nama:
In its second part, he described the history of the first ten years of the
reign of Shahjahan. In the third part, he gave a list of contemporary
scholars and saints. Qazuini was favourably inclined towards Shahjahan.
Therefore, his description cannot be accepted as it is. Yet, his text has
been found useful by modern historians.
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the history of the reign of Shahjahan. Abdul Hamid Lahauri was assigned
his task. He divided his text into two parts.
In the first part, he described briefly the history of Mughals from the
period of Amir Timur to the first ten years of the reign of Shahjahan. In
the second apart, he narrated the history of the next ten years of the
reign of Shahjahan. The second part is very much elaborate. It provides
useful information to modern historians.
His description of the first twenty years of the rule of Shahjahan was
based on Padshah-nama of Abdul Hamid Lahauri but the history of these
ten years was written independently.
He wrote the history of these ten years in good detail. His text has been
regarded as a good source-material of knowing the history of the reign of
Shahjahan.
Its author was Hashim Khafi Khan. Beginning with the attacks of Babur
on India, it described the history of the Mughals to the first fifteen years
of the rule of later Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah. Khafi Khan
described the events of the reign of Aurangzeb in detail. He claimed that
he wrote an objective history of the period. Yet, his certain descriptions
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Accounts of Travellers:
Many European travellers visited India during the period of the Mughals.
Several of them described the condition of India which throw light on
the history of India. W. Hawkins, Sir Thomas Roe, De Leat, Peter Mundy,
Bernier, Manucci were such travellers who gave useful account of Indian
affairs and among them the accounts of Peter Mundy, Bernier and
Manucci have been found most extensive and serve the purpose of
source-material for the modern historians.
Abdus Samad was given the title of ‘Shirinqalam’. During Akbar’s reign,
painting was organised as an imperial establishment or Karkhana. Under
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Western influence may be seen in the fables such as Tuti namah, Anwar-
i-Suhaili, in which each and animals are shown with detailed realism.
Dasawant painted the illustrations of Razm Namah (Persian translation
Mahabharata).
Under Jahangir, the Mughal painting reached its climax and Persian
influence declined. It made way for a style that was essentially Indian.
Himself an art connoisseur and an art critic, he could tell the names of
individual artists in a composite piece.
The famous artists of his court were Aga Reza, Abul Hasan, Muhammad
Nadir, Muhammad Murad, Ustad Mansur, Bishan Das, Manoharand
Govardhan. Abul Hasan was titled ‘Nadir-us-Zaman’. Ustad Mansur
specialised in painting rare animals and birds while Bishandas in
portraits. Use of halo or divine lights began under Jahangir.
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