Table Of ContentAKBAR AND HIS INDIA
AKBAR AND HIS INDIA
Edited by
IRFAN HABIB
DELHI
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
CALCUTTA CHENNAI MUMBAI
1997
Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford 0X2 6DP
Oxford New York
Athens Auckland Bangkok Calcutta
Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi
Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi
Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City
Mumbai Nairobi Paris Singapore
Taipei Tokyo Toronto
and associates in
Berlin Ibadan
© The volume editor and contributors 1997
ISBN 0 19 563791 7
Typeset byRastrixi, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi 110 0704
Printed in India at Pauls Press, New Delhi 110 020
and published by Manzar Khan, Oxford University Press
YMCA Library Building, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi 110 001
Contents
Editorial Note i x
ARTICLES
1 Akbar's Initial Encounters with the
Chiefs: Accident vs. Design in the
Process of Subjugation
Ahsan Raza Khan 1
2 Akbar and the Rajput Principalities:
Integration into Empire
S. Inayat A. Zaidi 15
3 Akbar's Annexation of Sind — An
Interpretation
Sunita Zaidi 25
4 The Mughal Annexation of Sind — A
Diplomatic and Military History
Fatima Zehra Bilgrami 3 3
5 Disappearance of Coin Minting in the
1580s? — A Note on the Alf Coins
NajafHaider 5 5
6 Akbar's Farmans — A Study in
Diplomatic
Iqbal Husain 66
7 Akbar's Personality Traits and World
Outlook — A Critical Appraisal
Iqtidar Alam Khan 79
8 Akbar and the Jains
Pushpa Prasad 97
vi Contents
9 Science and Superstition under Akbar
and Jahangir: The Observation of
Astronomical Phenomena
Shireen Moosvi 109
10 Scientific Concepts in Abü’l Fazl’s À7n-i Akbarï
Iqbal Ghani Khan 121
11 Akbar and Technology
Irfan Habib 129
12 Painting under Akbar as Narrative Art
Som Prakash Verma 149
13 Revisiting Fatehpur Sikri: An
Interpretation of Certain Buildings
5. Ali Nadeem Rezavi 174
14 The Image of Akbar as a Patron of
Music in Indo-Persian and Vernacular Sources
Françoise 'Nalini’ Delvoye 188
15 The Perception of India in Akbar and
Abü’l Fazl
M.AtharAli 215
16 Middle Bengali Literature: A Source
for the Study of Bengal in the Age
of Akbar
Aniruddha Ray 225
17 The Sikh Movement During the Reign of
Akbar
J.S. Grewal 243
18 Akbar and Portuguese Maritime
Dominance
K.S. Mathew 256
Contents vii
DOCUMENTS
1 A Farmän of Akbar (1558) from the Period
"of the Regency
Saiyid Zaheer Jafri 266
2 Three Early Farmäns of Akbar, in Favour
of Rämdäs, the Master Dyer
Irfan Habib 271
3 An Estimate of Revenues of the Deccan
Kingdoms, 1591
Shireen Moosvi 271
4 A Dutch Memoir of 1603 on Indian Textiles
IshratAlam 294
REVIEWS 298
Muhammad GhausI Shattlrl, Gulzâr-i Abrâr
Irfan Habib 298
‘Arif Qandahiri, Tartkh-i Akbarï
Shireen Moosvi 300
Shireen Moosvi, Episodes in the life of Akbar
Iqtidar A. Khan 302
John F. Richards, The Mughal Empire
Irfan Habib 303
Sanjay Subrahmanyam (cd.), Money and
the Market in India
Irfan Habib 305
Som Prakash Verma, Mughal Painters and
their Work
Irfan Habib 305
Iqtidar H. Siddiqui, Sher Shah Sür and his Dynasty
Iqbal Husain 307
Sukumar Ray, Bairam Kkön
Shireen Moosvi 309
Amina Okada, Imperial Mughal Painters
S.P. Verma 310
Margaret H. Case (ed.), Govindadeva:
a Dialogue in Stone
Iqbal Husain 313
Contributors 316
Editorial Note
The 1992 national celebrations of the 450th birth anniversary of Akbar
provided a much-needed impetus to research on Akbar and his times;
and some of the results of such research are brought together in this
volume. The original versions of many papers here published were
presented at a seminar at the Centre of Advanced Study in History at
Aligarh in October 1992, with the present editor as its Coordinator.
Other material, comprising some papers, and most of the Documents
and Reviews, has been especially contributed to this volume.
The volume was to appear as a publication of the Centre of
Advanced Study in History. My work on it as Editor was nearly
complete, when I was abruptly removed from my honorary position
at the Centre in May 1996, as a minor by-product of the turn of the
political winds, thankfully fleeting, of that fateful month. My removal
from the Centre necessitated a change in the publication status of the
volume and a redoing of much of the technical work, including the
fresh preparation of the ‘camera c*.opy The volume now appears
independently, but hopefully as the first in a series of collective
studies, each devoted to a medieval theme, and with a structure similar
to this volume’s.
It may be helpful to mention that the transliteration system
preferred here is that used by the Epigraphia Indica for the Indian
languages and by Steingass’s Persian-English Dictionary for Persian.
But where some contributors have preferred other well-known
systems, their transliteration has not normally been changed. Place-
names usually carry modem spellings and do not bear diacritical
marks.
Messrs Shoaib Ahmad and Munir Khan are responsible for the
processing of the text and the preparation of the camera copy.
In bringing out Akbar and His India, especially at the last, difficult
stage, I have been much helped by the advice and support of Professors
M. Athar Ali, Iqtidar Alam Khan and Shireen Moosvi. I am greatly
indebted to members of staff of the Centre’s splendid library, who have
continued to treat me as one of themselves. To all the contributors and
to the Oxford University Press go my special thanks for their
understanding and co-operation.
IRFAN HABIB
Aligarh
February 1997
