Thread by @iamrana

The Mughals called themselves Timurids.
The term Mughal was applied to them in the 16th c by the Europeans & it stuck.
But today I learnt thanks to a paper by Prof Najaf Haider that even the name Mowgli, the young hero of Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book, is derived from it.

. @Aakar__Patel asked me about Mughal chronicles, which I just saw, so here's a description thread of the Mughal chronicles by rulers, princesses and court historians

Mughals were meticulous about documentation. Their chronicles become an important source for us today, to study the affairs of empire and its court.
Apart from describing their imperial status it was commissioned to become an account of their rule for posterity.

The commissioned histories obviously dealt with & focused on ruler, his family, the court and nobles, wars and administrative arrangements.

I would recommend Kings and Chronicles by Prof Najaf Haider as supplementary reading for those interested.
It was written for NCERT

Since badshahs commissioned chronicles it bore their names.
Thus we have Akbar Nama, Shahjahan Nama, Alamgir Nama and Prof Haider says it suggests that in the eyes of their authors the history of the empire and the court was synonymous with that of the emperor.

To come to the first Mughal chronicle which is Baburnama written by Babur in Chaghtai which he knew as Turkic & was the language he spoke.
He records his life from time he
ascended the throne at the young age of 11 to when he finally established himself as a monarch

Chaghtai was the mother tongue of Babur.
Under Akbar, Persian language became the imperial language of the court and subsequent chronicles were written in Persian.
It was also the administrative language, &accountants, clerks and other functionaries also learnt it.

Akbar commissioned a history of his empire
To that effect he asked those who remembered the life of his father Humayun to record it leading to three extremely important chronicles by his aunt Gulbadan Begum, Jauhar Aftabchi and Bayazid Bayat.

This write down whatever you know of the doings of Firdaus-Makani and Jannat-ashyani', i.e. Babur and Humayun
Was to Abu'l Fazal gather materials for the Akbarnama.

Gulbadan Begum, Humayun's sister was 60 years old when she wrote Ahval-i Humayun.
The importance of her account lies in her candid style and descriptions of people especially the Mughal ladies of the time.
Only one copy remains in @BLAsia_Africa translated in 1930 by A.Beveridge

Jauhar Aftabchi as can be seen from the name was Humayun's ewer bearer.
He wrote Tadhkiratu'l-wáqíát.
Báyazid Bayát' Humayun's steward wrote Táríkh-i Humáyún

recording of history started.
In Abu’l Fazl’s words:
"The written word may embody the wisdom of bygone ages &may become a means to intellectual progress.The spoken word goes to the heart of those who are present to hear it. The written word gives wisdom to those who are near&far"

"If it was not for the written word, the spoken word would soon die, and no keepsake would be left us from those who are passed away. Superficial observers see in the letter a dark figure, but the deep- sighted see in it a lamp of wisdom (chirag-i shinasai )."
Abul Fazl
Tr: NJ

"The written word looks black, notwithstanding the thousand rays within it, or it is a light with a mole on it that wards off the evil eye."
Abul Fazl
Translation Prof Najaf Haider

"A letter is the portrait of wisdom; a rough sketch from the realm of ideas; a dark light ushering in day; a black cloud pregnant with knowledge; speaking though dumb; stationary yet travelling; stretched on the sheet, and yet soaring upwards."
Abul Fazl
Tr: Prof NHaider

From Bayazid Bayat we come to know of how the Mughal school of paintings was started.
Humayun was impressed by the brilliant artistry of the Safavid painters & as by then Shh Tahmasp 's attention had shifted to religion he discreetly invited a few to join him in Kabul

Disclaimer: difficult to cover all nuances on Twitter so please excuse simplistic writing here

Mir Sayyid Ali and Mulla ‘Abd al-Samad”, The two famous Safavid painters joined Humayun at Kabul.
Bayazid describes their arrival etc.
Mir Sayyid Ali and Abd al-Samad — went on to head the imperial ateliers under Akbar

"Abd al Samad has made on a grain of rice a large field on which a group is playing polo -2posts at one end and two at the other — with 7 players on the field and behind them a rank of footmen who hand out mallets and in the middle of the field a chob-i qabaq"
Writes Bayazid

*Prof Najaf Haider not NJ

More on this at night or tomorrow.
#Mughalchronicles

To continue #Mughalchronicles
Under Akbar the Baburnama was translated into Persian and illustrated.
Illustrated manuscripts were made in Akbar's kitabkhana

Harvesting of the almond crop at Qand-i Badam.
Baburnama
Illustrator: Bhawani, c.1590"
British library
@BLAsia_Africa

manuscripts are handwritten books.
Under Akbar they were made in the imperial kitabkhana.
Altho kitabkhana can be translated as library, it was a scriptorium~ the place where the emperor’s collection of manuscripts was kept & new manuscripts were produced

Many people were involved in creating a manuscript
such as
Paper makers who prepared the folios, scribes or calligraphers to copy the text, gilders to illuminate the pages, painters to illustrate scenes.
Book binding was an art too

The highest status was given to calligrapher and painters.
As I can be seen in the Taj Mahal the only one who signed his work was Ustad Amanat Khan Shirazi whose signature is on a panel in the cenotaph chamber

"Akbar’s favourite was nastaliq, a fluid style with long horizontal strokes. It is written using a piece of trimmed reed with a tip of five to 10mm called qalam, dipped in carbon ink (siyahi)
The nib of the qalam is usually split in the middle to facilitate the absorption of ink"

One of the most famous calligrapher of Akbar's Era was Mohd Hussain Zarrin Qalam.
Zarrin Qalam - golden pen was the title bestowed on him
columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pri…

Apart from illustrated books, albums or muraqqa with paintings and calligraphy were made.
One of the most famous is the Gulshan Album (Muraqqa'-e Gulshan) originally assembled for Prince Salim, (Jahangir)
The folio r dispersed now. Many in Tehran, some in Berlin, Smithsonian

Al Thani Lecture Series on the Art of the Mughal World: The Gulshan Album—Jahangir as Collector and Patron
metmuseum.org/metmedia/video…

Abu’l Fazl on painting :
"Drawing the likeness of anything is called taswir. His Majesty from his earliest youth, has shown a great predilection for this art, and gives it every encouragement, as he looks upon it as a means both of study and amusement."
Translation : Prof NHaider

A v large no of painters have been set to work.Each week, several supervisors & clerks of the imperial workshop submit before the emperor the work done by each artist, & His Majesty gives reward &increases the monthly salaries of the artists according to the excellence displayed

“There are many that hate painting, but such men I dislike. It appears to me that an artist has a unique way of recognising God when he must come to feel that he cannot bestow life on his work ...”
Akbar cited by Abul Fazl