Famous Books During the Mughal Empire
The literary culture of the Mughal Empire was among the most productive in the early modern world, and its surviving texts reflect something of the complexity that defined the dynasty. The Mughal court was a meeting point of Persian, Turkic, Sanskrit, and vernacular Indian traditions. Works written or commissioned during the period ranged from imperial chronicles to Sufi poetry and personal memoirs. What emerges across this literary canon is a recurring engagement between traditions: Akbar’s translation bureau rendered the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata into Persian, Dara Shikoh mapped the vocabulary of the sacred Hindu scriptures Upanishads onto Sufi mysticism, and Badauni secretly composed a counternarrative to the court’s official history. Five centuries after the founding of the empire, these works remain a testament to its enduring cultural and intellectual legacy.
Baburnama (c. 1493–1529)
Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire, composed his autobiography in Chagatai Turkic, a now-extinct literary language of Central Asia, between about 1493 and 1529. The work spans the arc of Babur’s career from his birthplace, Fergana (now in Uzbekistan), to Hindustan (the northern Indian subcontinent). Written as a private diary, it paints a rare, individualized picture of life in Central Asia, Afghanistan, and early Mughal India. The authoritative Persian version was prepared at Akbar’s court by Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan (one of the navaratnas, or “nine gems,” of Akbar’s court).
The Baburnama survives in incomplete form, with parts of Babur’s early life and sections of the narrative no longer extant. Alongside accounts of campaigns and rule, it records episodes from Babur’s personal life, including his relationships, emotions, and private reflections. Babur writes in a direct, unadorned Chagatai prose that contrasts sharply with the ornate Persian chancellery style of courtiers.
" height="20" alt="HEW Logo">
The text is divided into three chronological sections in Annette Susannah Beveridge’s English translation (1922), reflecting the three territories Babur ruled in succession. The first section, focusing on Fergana (1493–1503), begins at Babur’s accession to Fergana’s throne at age 12 and follows his decade of desperate maneuvering against the Uzbek chief Muhammad Shaybani Khan. It opens with detailed geographical and administrative descriptions of Fergana and, later, Samarkand (now in Uzbekistan). It also records Babur’s two brief captures and two losses of Samarkand, his wanderings, and the birth of his first child.
The second section, focusing on Kabul (1504–25), covers Babur’s consolidation of Afghanistan but contains a gap of approximately 11 years (1508–19). It includes an extended description of Kabul and its surrounding lands, Babur’s first forays toward Hindustan, the assumption of the title padshah (emperor), and the birth of his successor, Humayun.
The third section, focusing on Hindustan (1525–30), documents the Indian campaigns—including the First Battle of Panipat (1526), in which Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi of the Delhi sultanate, leading to the collapse of Lodi rule and the establishment of Mughal power in northern India. It also contains army reviews, the defeat of the Rajput ruler Rana Sanga of Mewar at Khanua (1527), and Babur’s celebrated natural history of the subcontinent: its rivers, trees, animals, and seasons. The section ends a few months before Babur’s death in 1530.
Padmavat (1540)
A Sufi allegorical epic romance, this work was composed in 1540 by Malik Muhammad Jayasi, who was a poet from the town of Jais in Awadh (a historic region of northern India). Jayasi was affiliated with Chishti Sufism, a major South Asian mystical order. Written in the Indo-Aryan language Awadhi using the Perso-Arabic Nastaliq script (a fluid, cursive style for Persian poetry), it narrates a tale of mystical love.
The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.
SUBSCRIBE
In Padmavat the chaupai-doha format—an alternating sequence of quatrains (chaupai) and rhymed couplets (doha)—structures the narrative. This pattern blends the storytelling rhythm of the Persian mas̄navī (narrative poem written in rhyming couplets) with vernacular Hindi verse forms.
The poem is divided into two parts. The first follows the Rajput king Ratansen of Chitor (a fortress in what is now Chittorgarh, Rajasthan), who renounces his throne and travels as a yogi (wandering ascetic) to the island kingdom of Simhal to win the legendary Padmavati. Ratansen is guided by the parrot Hiramani, Padmavati’s former companion and, in Sufi terms, the spiritual teacher who mediates between the seeker and the divine. The second part, loosely based on the siege of Chitor in 1303 by the Delhi sultan Alauddin Khalji, shifts from historical narrative into allegory. Padmavati comes to represent idealized or divine beauty, Ratansen the seeker, and his journey a spiritual quest, reframing the story beyond its historical context. Inflamed by Ratansen’s adviser’s account of Padmavati’s beauty, Alauddin Khalji storms the fortress by treachery rather than valor. Ratansen dies defending his honor; Padmavati and the women of Chitor perform jauhar (the ancient Rajput practice of self-immolation to avoid capture).
Ramcharitmanas (1574–76/77)
An epic composed by Tulsidas, who was a Vaishnavite poet of the bhakti movement in northern India, the Ramcharitmanas (translated as “Sacred Lake of the Acts of Rama,” as described by Tulsidas himself), is a major work of devotional literature. It was written in Awadhi rather than in classical Sanskrit, making it accessible to a wider audience beyond those educated in Sanskrit. Composed during Akbar’s reign, it retells the story of Rama, prince of Ayodhya, revered in Hindu tradition as an avatar (divine incarnation) of the deity Vishnu. Although based on the Sanskrit Ramayana attributed to Valmiki, Tulsidas’s work is a theological reenvisioning in which Rama appears throughout as the supreme god rather than as a heroic human figure. The epic is revered by Hindus as a sacred devotional text.
The poem is divided into seven sections (kandas): Baal, Ayodhya, Aranya, Kishkindha, Sundar, Lanka, and Uttara. It begins with divine invocations for Rama’s birth, recounts his childhood and marriage to Sita, and then moves through Rama’s coronation and exile, his forest life, Sita’s abduction by Ravana (the 10-headed demon king of Lanka), and Rama’s alliance with Sugriva (monkey king of Kishkindha) and Hanuman (monkey commander and Rama’s chief ally). The narrative culminates in Hanuman’s journey to Lanka, the great war and Ravana’s defeat, and concludes with Rama’s return to Ayodhya. Characters such as Sita and Rama’s brothers Lakshman and Bharat are presented as models of devotion, courage, and loyalty. The work blends narrative with devotional hymnic passages (bhajans) that urge veneration of Rama.
Razmnama (1584–86)
Razmnama (“Book of War”) is an abridged and adapted Persian translation of the Mahabharata, a Sanskrit epic of approximately 100,000 verses. The project was commissioned by Akbar and was carried out in his translation bureau (maktab khana), established in 1574 at the Mughal capital Fatehpur Sikri. Akbar had already incorporated Hindus into the Mughal military and administrative system and abolished the jizyah (a poll tax historically levied on non-Muslims under Islamic law) as part of a policy of inclusion. He also sought to bridge sectarian divisions through translations such as this.
The translation was a collaborative project: Hindu scholars prepared an explanatory synopsis, historian Naqib Khan wrote its draft in Persian, and the court poet Faizi refined the language. The preface by historian Abul Fazl frames the work as a reconciliatory project.
The most studied illustrated copy, completed 1598–99, is dispersed across collections in North America, Europe, and India, with 161 paintings. Its illustrations draw on a wide range of artistic sources: battle scenes adapted from Mughal court histories such as the Akbarnama and Baburnama, novel visualizations of episodes, and Flemish engravings brought to Akbar’s court by Jesuit missionaries.
Humayun-nama (1587)
Humayun-nama (“The History of Humayun”) is a memoir composed in Persian by Gulbadan Begum, who was a daughter of Babur and half sister of Humayun. Akbar, Gulbadan’s nephew and Humayun’s son, commissioned it as a firsthand record of his father’s life and reign and the general society of the time. The work is divided into two parts: an opening section on Babur that recalls material similar to his own memoirs, followed by an extended narrative of Humayun’s reign. It is one of the rare extant historical works composed by a woman within the Persian literary culture of the Mughal court and the only surviving one to offer an interior view of the zenana (the women’s quarters of the imperial household). Unlike the official court chronicles of the period—composed by male historians in ornate, panegyric prose—Gulbadan’s narrative is direct and unembellished, recording Humayun’s military failures, his exile after being defeated by Sher Shah of Sur, and his return to power with the same clarity as his triumphs. Her account illuminates the role of royal women as advisers, managers of court affairs, and participants in diplomatic life—a dimension of Mughal history largely absent from accounts penned by male authors. Gulbadan herself was tasked by Akbar with leading the imperial pilgrimage to Mecca (ḥajj), a responsibility that reflects her importance as well as the authority women of the inner court could command.
Akbarnama (1590–97)
Akbarnama (“History of Akbar”) is the official chronicle of Akbar’s reign, written by his court historian and confidant Abul Fazl. Besides being a record of events, the work is a crafty portrayal of kingship, presenting Akbar in an adulatory tone, as an exemplary and divinely favored ruler. It contains 274 folios of text along with 116 illustrated folios and a single illuminated frontispiece. The manuscript is divided into three volumes. The first volume recounts Akbar’s ancestors’ history, particularly the lineage from the Turkic conqueror Timur to Babur. It details Akbar’s birth and upbringing, emphasizing the astrological alignment on his day of birth. The narrative includes a historical account of Akbar’s father, Humayun, before embarking on a year-by-year account of Akbar’s rule, from his accession in 1556 to 1572, the 17th year of his rule. The second volume narrates Akbar’s reign up to 1602. It documents significant events, such as military campaigns, including the Second Battle of Panipat (1556), against Hemu, a Hindu minister who claimed the throne for himself. This volume also covers Akbar’s administrative reforms, cultural initiatives, and efforts to forge alliances with regional powers, particularly through marriage and diplomacy. The Akbarnama is concluded by the third volume, the Āʾīn-e Akbarī (“The Institutes of Akbar”).
The Āʾīn-e Akbarī is in five sections. The first section contains details of Akbar’s household, court, and the treasury. The second section deals with the military and civil servants and the courtiers who excelled by dint of their literary skills or musical genius. The third section contains details of the judicial and executive wings of the empire, land survey methods, tribal divisions, and the duties of the finance minister Todar Mal. The social milieu and literary endeavors of the time, especially in philosophy and law, are captured in the fourth section. The final section contains a collection of Akbar’s epigrammatic sayings. It also includes biographical information about Abul Fazl himself, offering personal insights into his thoughts and experiences as a historian in Akbar’s court.
Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh (1595)
A three-volume history of India, the Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh (“Selection from Histories”) was composed in Persian by Abdul Qadir Badauni. Badauni served at Akbar’s court while composing a work deeply hostile to his patron; the text could only be privately circulated to a limited audience during Akbar’s lifetime and remained suppressed until after Jahangir’s accession in 1605. Where Abul Fazl’s Akbarnama presents Akbar’s reign as an exercise in enlightened sovereignty, Badauni—a Sunni orthodox scholar—criticizes Akbar’s attempts to incorporate ideas and practices from multiple religious traditions, producing a counternarrative not found in any other Persian sources of the period. The three volumes span from the Ghaznavid ruler Sebüktigin’s reign to the 40th year of Akbar’s reign: the first covering pre-Mughal dynasties through to Humayun’s death in 1556, the second the first four decades of Akbar’s rule, and the third comprising biographical accounts of poets, ascetics, and men of letters attached to the Mughal court.
Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri (1605–24)
Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri (“Memoirs of Jahangir”) is the autobiographical memoir of Jahangir, composed in Persian. Unlike the official court chronicles commissioned by his predecessors, the first 17 years of the memoir were written in the emperor’s own hand. Accounts up to the 12th year of Jahangir’s reign were compiled and distributed, with one copy given to his son Shah Jahan. Jahangir abandoned writing in the 17th regnal year as his health declined, entrusting continuation to his court historian Muʿtamad Khan, who extended the narrative to Jahangir’s 19th regnal year. Muḥammad Hādī subsequently continued the Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri to Jahangir’s death, in 1627. The memoirs are valued above all for their candor, though Jahangir chose to avoid writing about his earlier rebellion against his father, Akbar. The work moves easily between administration and personal observation. Jahangir describes ordering the establishment of bulghur-khanas (public kitchens providing free food) across some 30 districts from Ahmedabad to Lahore (now in Pakistan). He also mentions banning a long-standing practice as part of which some families in Bengal castrated their sons, turning them into eunuchs and surrendering them to officials in lieu of tax payments. The memoir records the workings of Mughal rule, describing dealings with courtiers and envoys. It also offers personal reflections on Jahangir’s relationships, including those with his wife Nur Jahan.
Padshahnama (1656–57)
Padshahnama (“Book of the Emperor”) is an illustrated chronicle of Shah Jahan’s reign, commissioned by him to celebrate and legitimize his rule. The Persian text is a blend of ornate prose and verse dense with allegory and metaphor. It was composed by Shah Jahan’s court historian Abdul Hamid Lahori and another writer, Muhammad Waris. Multiple copies were produced during the emperor’s lifetime for distribution among the nobility. The sole surviving contemporary illustrated imperial volume, now in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle, is the first of three volumes. It opens with Mughal genealogy from Timur to Jahangir (Shah Jahan’s father), proceeds as a chronicle of the first decade of Shah Jahan’s reign, and closes with a hierarchical register of nobles and officials. Its paintings featuring durbars (royal courts) and battle scenes, executed by named court artists, are considered among the finest surviving works of the Mughal school. The manuscript was acquired by Asaf-ud-Daula, nawab of Awadh, and was presented to King George III in 1798.
Majma-ul-Bahrain (1657)
Majma-ul-Bahrain (The Mingling of the Two Oceans) is a philosophical treatise composed in Persian by Dara Shikoh, eldest son of Shah Jahan and heir apparent to the Mughal throne. It was completed in 1657 when Dara Shikoh was 42 years old. The treatise reflects a time when Dara was translating Hindu texts and exploring their connections with Islamic mystical ideas. It proceeds section by section through concepts shared by both religious traditions, including the five elements, the senses, devotional exercises (ashghāl), the soul, and eschatology (the doctrine of the “last things,” such as death and the end of the world). Each topic is presented first in its Islamic formulation and then in its Hindu counterpart, with the technical terms given side by side. Through this comparative method, Dara Shikoh advances the view that the two traditions express fundamentally equivalent spiritual truths. The Qurʾān and the Vedas constitute the authoritative foundation of the treatise. It was subsequently translated into Sanskrit under the title Samudra Sangam.
Fatawa-i-Alamgiri (1667–75)
Fatawa-i-Alamgiri (“Book of Zakat”) is a major compendium of Ḥanafī fiqh—Islamic law as interpreted by the Ḥanafī school, one of the four major Sunni legal traditions founded on the teachings of the theologian Abū Ḥanīfah. Commissioned by Aurangzeb, the work was part of his effort to consolidate the application of Islamic law across the Mughal Empire. Aurangzeb assembled a panel of qualified Indian ʿulamāʾ (religious scholars) to compile this legal manual. The emperor took an active interest in the project. Portions of the text were regularly read out to him, and he is said to have reviewed the work closely. The text covers a wide range of legal matters, from ritual practices and commercial dealings to inheritance and court procedure, providing guidance for judicial decision-making and for the formulation of law within the empire. Arabic manuscripts of the Fatawa-i-Alamgiri were found in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in the late 18th century, when British officials began documenting Islamic law in India.
Zafarnama (1705)
Zafarnama (“Epistle of Victory”) is a verse letter of 111 Persian couplets by Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Sikh Guru. It was addressed to Aurangzeb after the Battle of Chamkaur (1704/05). The Rajput rulers of the Shivalik Hills, alarmed by the growing Sikh influence in the region, had sought Aurangzeb’s assistance after failed attempts to dislodge the Guru from Anandpur, Punjab. A joint Rajput-Mughal army then surrounded the Guru at Anandpur. They persuaded him to leave by swearing on the Qurʾān that he and his followers would be given safe passage, but they broke the oath immediately after the Guru and his followers evacuated. Gobind Singh managed to escape with about 40 Sikhs to Chamkaur, where the pursuing forces killed both of his sons.
The Zafarnama is structured in three parts. The opening 12 couplets praise the Almighty. The central and longest section presents the Guru’s grievances against Aurangzeb in the style of a Sufi pir (spiritual guide) addressing a deviant murid (disciple), indicting the emperor for violating the oath and sanctioning the murder of Gobind Singh’s sons. The closing section meditates on karma, linking it to a vision of the eventual decline of Aurangzeb’s empire.
Diwan-i-Makhfi (1724)
Diwan-i-Makhfi (“Book of the Concealed One”) is a collection of Persian verse by Zeb-un-Nissa, eldest daughter of Aurangzeb and one of the most celebrated literary figures of the Mughal court. The collection takes its title from her pseudonym, Makhfi (“The Concealed One”). Zeb-un-Nissa was declared a ḥāfiẓ (one who has memorized the Qurʾān) at the age of seven and was trained in Arabic, astronomy, and mathematics. Her tutor Shah Rustum Ghazi is said to have come across verses she had composed in secret and to have recognized in them the promise of her future distinction. At his behest Aurangzeb—who disdained poetry—sent agents across India and Persia to assemble a literary circle befitting her.
In her later years she fell from grace and was imprisoned in the fortress of Salimgarh—some accounts attributing this to her sympathy with her brother Muhammad Akbar’s revolt against their father, others to her association with the Maratha chieftain Shivaji. It was during this captivity that her writings in the collection took on their most poignant voice. Years after her death, in 1724, her scattered compositions were assembled under the title Diwan-i-Makhfi, containing 421 ghazals (lyric poems) and several robāʿiyyāt (genre of poetry comprising a quatrain with a set rhyme scheme); more ghazals were added in 1730. The work draws on the familiar imagery of Sufi poetic tradition: the Divine portrayed as tyrannical yet beloved and the pir as the mediator between human and divine. The collection is distinguished by its synthesis of Islamic, Hindu, and Zoroastrian religious traditions, reflecting the syncretic inheritance of the Akbar-era court.