Padshahnama

2021-08-21T05:15:13Z

43.248.241.53: Added content

{{italic title}}
[[File:Shah Jahan Receives Persian Ambassadors.jpg|thumb|[[Shah Jahan]] receives [[Persia]]n [[Safavid]] ambassador [[Ali Mardan Khan]] in the year 1638.<ref>{{cite web|last=Abdul Hamid Lahori |url=http://warfare.atspace.eu/Moghul/ShahJahan/Shah_Jahan_Receives_Persian_Ambassadors.htm |title=Shah Jahan Receives Persian Ambassadors |work=Badshahnama}}</ref><ref>Ebba Koch (1994), ''Diwan-i 'Amm and Chihil Sutun: The Audience Halls of Shah Jahan'', p.1</ref>]]
'''Padshahnama''' or '''''Badshah Nama''''' ({{lang-fa|پادشاهنامه or پادشاه‌نامه}}) (Chronicle of the Emperor Shah Jahan) is a group of works written as the official history of the reign of the [[Mughal Emperor]] [[Shah Jahan]]. Unillustrated texts are known as ''[[Shahjahannama]]'', with ''Padshahnama'' used for the illustrated manuscript versions. These works are among the major sources of information about Shah Jahan's reign. Lavishly illustrated copies were produced in the imperial workshops, with many [[Mughal miniature]]s. Although military campaigns are given the most prominence, the illustrations and paintings in the manuscripts of these works illuminate life in the imperial court, depicting weddings and other activities.

The most significant work of this genre was written by [[Abdul Hamid Lahori]], the pupil of Akbar's biographer [[Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak|Abdul Fazal]], in two volumes. He could not write the third volume of this genre because of the infirmities of old age. <ref name="majumdar">Majumdar, R. C. (ed.) (2007). ''The Mughul Empire'', Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, {{Listed Invalid ISBN|81-7276-407-1}}, p.9</ref>

==History==
[[File:The capture of Orchha by imperial forces (October 1635).jpg|thumb|The Mughal Army led by Prince [[Aurangzeb]], Syed Khan-i-Jahan, Abdullah Khan Bahadur Firuz Jang and Khan Dauran enter [[Orchha]].]]
Shah Jahan in his eighth regnal year asked Muhammad Amin Qazvini to write an official history of his reign and he completed his ''Badshahnama'' in 1636, which covers the first ten (lunar) years of Shah Jahan’s reign.<ref name="majumdar"/>

Jalaluddin Tabatabai wrote another ''Badshahnama'', but the extant portion of the text covers only four years, from fifth to eighth regnal year of the emperor. The project was later given to [[Abdul Hamid Lahori]], who wrote his ''Badshahnama'' in two volumes. The first volume of this work is based upon Qazvini’s work but has more details. The second volume covers the next ten (lunar) years of Shah Jahan’s reign. He completed his work in 1648. Lahori died in 1654. Muhammad Waris, a pupil of Lahori was given the responsibility to complete the task and his ''Badshahnama'' (completed in 1656) covers the rest of the period of Shah Jahan’s reign. His work was published by the [[The Asiatic Society|Asiatic Society]] as the third volume of the ''Badshahnama'' of Lahori.

==Extant manuscripts==
In 1799, The [[Nawab]] (provincial governor) of [[Oudh]] in northern [[India]] sent the ''Badshahnama'', to King [[George III]] of Great Britain. Today, the imperial illustrated manuscript of the ''Badshahnama'' of Lahori is preserved in the [[Royal Library, Windsor|Royal Library]] at [[Windsor Castle]], and is known as the '''Windsor Padshahnama'''. It was produced between 1630 and 1657 and contains 44 miniatures, some full page narrative scenes of battles, court ceremonies and other events (11 are across two pages), and some smaller individual portraits, surrounded by geometric decoration. These illustrate the [[genealogy]] of the [[Mughal dynasty]] which begins the work. The page size is 58.6 x 36.8 cm, and 13 different lead artists worked on the volume.<ref>[https://www.rct.uk/collection/1005025/the-padshahnama "The Padshahnama 1656-57"], [[Royal Collection]]</ref> In 1994, while the volume was being rebound for conservation reasons, the opportunity was taken to tour all the miniatures in an exhibition that was shown in [[New Delhi]], the [[Queen's Gallery]] in London, and six American cities.<ref>[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/cou.1999.4.3.011?needAccess=true&journalCode=ycou20 Review] of [[Milo C. Beach|Beach, Milo C]]. and Ebba Koch, ''The King of the World: The Badshahnama: An Imperial Mughal Manuscript from the [[Royal Library, Windsor|Royal Library]], [[Windsor Castle]]'', Thames & Hudson. 1997, in ''The Court Historian'', Volume 4, 1999 - Issue 3, [https://doi.org/10.1179/cou.1999.4.3.011]</ref>

Manuscripts of the ''Badshahnama''s of Qazvini and Waris are preserved in the [[British Library]]. A manuscript of the ''Badshahnama'' is also with the [[Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library]], [[Patna]], India.<ref name="ot">{{cite web|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/story/islamic-knowledge-house-khuda-bakhsh-library-retains-glory/309270|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130131050436/http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?309270|url-status=live|archive-date=January 31, 2013|title=Islamic knowledge house, Khuda Bakhsh Library retains glory|date=Jul 8, 2005|work=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]]}}</ref>

Other individual miniatures are held in a number of collections. The [[Khalili Collection of Islamic Art]] has one miniature in which Shah Jahan and his court watch two elephants fighting.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rogers |first=J. M. |title=The arts of Islam : treasures from the Nasser D. Khalili collection |date=2008 |edition= Revised and expanded|publisher=Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC) |location=Abu Dhabi |oclc=455121277 |page=280|authorlink=J. M. Rogers}}</ref> There were some later illustrated manuscript copies made; for example the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] in New York has miniatures from 17th-century versions, and the [[Los Angeles County Museum of Art]] from one of around 1800.

==Context==
The ''Padshahnama'' fits into a tradition of imperial autobiographies or official court biographies, seen in various parts of the world.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}} In [[South Asia]] these go back to the ''[[Ashokavadana]]'' and ''[[Harshacharita]]'' from [[ancient India]], and the medieval ''[[Prithviraj Raso]]''. The Mughals' ancestor [[Timur]] had been celebrated in a number of works, mostly called ''Zafarnama'' ("Book of Victories"), such as those by [[Zafarnama (Shami biography)|Shami]] and [[Zafarnama (Yazdi biography)|Yazdi]]. The latter is the best known, and was also produced in an illustrated copy in the 1590s by [[Akbar]]'s workshop. The tradition was continued by the Mughals with the ''[[Baburnama]]'' (autobiography, not illustrated before Akbar), ''[[Akbarnama]]'' (biography), and ''[[Tuzk-e-Jahangiri]]'' or ''Jahangir-nameh'' (memoirs of [[Jahangir]]).

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="170px" heights="200px">

File:The surrender of the Fort at Udgir to Khan Dawran (October 1636).jpg|The Mughal commander Khan Dauran captures [[Udgir Fort|the Fort at Udgir]].
File:The siege of Daulatabad (April-June 1633).jpg|The [[Mughal Army]] captures [[Daulatabad fort]] in the year 1633.
File:A'zam Khan captures Fort Dharur (January 1631).jpg|Mughal commander Azim Khan captures [[Dharur, Beed|Dharur]].
File:Prince Awrangzeb (Aurangzeb) facing a maddened elephant named Sudhakar (7 June 1633).jpg|Prince [[Aurangzeb]] riding against the maddened [[War elephant]] Sudhakar in the year 1633.<ref>{{cite web |last=Abdul Hamid Lahori |url=http://warfare.atspace.eu/Moghul/ShahJahan/Prince_Awrangzeb_facing_a_maddened_elephant_named_Sudhakar.htm |title=Prince Awrangzeb (Aurangzeb) facing a maddened elephant named Sudhakar |year=1636 |work=Badshahnama |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106034412/http://warfare.atspace.eu/Moghul/ShahJahan/Prince_Awrangzeb_facing_a_maddened_elephant_named_Sudhakar.htm |archive-date=January 6, 2014 |access-date=July 1, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref>
File:The siege of Qandahar (May 1631).jpg|The siege of the [[Safavid]] garrison at [[Kandahar]] (May 1631)
File:Padshahnama_Manuscript.jpg|The cover of the Windsor Padshahnama
</gallery>

==Texts online==
{{commonscat}}
*{{cite book|last=Lahori|first=Abdul Hamid |authorlink=Abdul Hamid Lahori|title=Badshanama of Abdul Hamid Lahori|url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924006140374#page/n7/mode/2up|year=1875|publisher=Hafiz Press, Lahore |others=tr. by Henry Miers Elliot }}
*[http://persian.packhum.org/main?url=pf%3Fauth%3D3%26work%3D001 Bádsháh-Náma of 'Abdu-L Hamíd Láhorí] ''[[Packard Humanities Institute]]''

* [http://persian.packhum.org/main?url=pf%3Ffile%3D80201017%26ct%3D21 Sháh Jahán-Náma of 'Ináyat Khán]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [[Milo C. Beach|Beach, Milo C]]. and Ebba Koch, ''The King of the World: The Badshahnama: An Imperial Mughal Manuscript from the [[Royal Library, Windsor|Royal Library]], [[Windsor Castle]]'', Thames & Hudson. 1997. {{ISBN|0-500-97448-9}}.
*{{cite book |author=Kossak, Steven | title= ''Indian court painting, 16th-19th century.'' | location=New York | publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art | year=1997| isbn=0870997831 | url=https://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15324coll10/id/12335 }} (see index: p. 148-152; plate 25)

==External links==
* [https://www.rct.uk/collection/1005025/the-Badshahnama Illustrations from the Badshahnama] at [[Royal Collection]]; [https://www.rct.uk/collection/themes/exhibitions/splendours-of-the-subcontinent-four-centuries-of-south-asian-paintings/the-padshahnama-book-of-emperors-of-abd-al-hamid-lahori more images]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20181007141935/http://www.history.upenn.edu/coursepages/hist188/mainframe.htm King of the World - The Badshahnama] at [[University of Pennsylvania]]

[[Category:Books about the Mughal Empire]]
[[Category:Indian literature]]
[[Category:17th-century Indian books]]
[[Category:17th-century history books]]
[[Category:Islamic illuminated manuscripts]]
[[Category:Mughal art]]
[[Category:Indian manuscripts]]
[[Category:17th-century illuminated manuscripts]]
[[Category:Indian chronicles]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Padshahnama}}

Bharatpedia - User contributions [en]

Padshahnama