Question

Give an account of Akbar Nama and Ain-i-Akbari.

Answer 1

Hint: The Akbarnama was the official chronicle of the reign of Akbar, the third Mughal emperor. The Ain-i-Akbari is the third volume of Akbar Nama which contains information about the administration of the empire.

Complete answer: Abul Fazl who was one of the nine jewels of Akbar’s court and also one of his closest allies wrote a three-volume history of the reign of Akbar. It was titled as Akbar Nama. It was written in the Persian language which was the literary language of the Mughals and included a vivid description of Akbar and his empire. It was produced in the form of a lavish manuscript. It is stated that the book took seven years to complete. It was inspired by the BaburNama which was written by Babur, founder of the Mughal dynasty. The first volume dealt with the ancestors of Akbar. The second volume recorded all the events that took place during Akbar’s reign. The third volume was known as Ain-i-Akbari. It is categorised into five books. The first book is manzil-Abadi, which deals with the imperial household and its maintenance, and the second called sipah-Abadi, which deals with the military and civil matters. The third book dealt with imperial administration, containing provisions about the judiciary and the executive. The fourth book contains information about the customs, traditions, literature, science and Hindu philosophy. The fifth book contains moral sentences said by Akbar, rules of wisdom by the emperor collected by Abul Fazl. The book also contains information about Akbar’s ancestors.

Note: Akbar Nama is a very useful source of literary information for the historians as it provides an authentic record of the period during the reign of Akbar. It gave a detailed account of all the aspects of the Mughal empire.