Padshahnama or Badshah Nama (; ) 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 . 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 Abdul Fazal, in two volumes. He could not write the third volume of this genre because of the infirmities of old age. [Majumdar, R. C. (ed.) (2007). The Mughul Empire, Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, , p.9]
History
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.
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 Asiatic Society as the third volume of the Badshahnama of Lahori.
Extant manuscripts
In 1799, Saadat Ali Khan II, the Nawab of Awadh 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 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.
[ "The Padshahnama 1656-57", Royal Collection] 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.
[ Review of Beach, Milo C. and Ebba Koch, The King of the World: The Badshahnama: An Imperial Mughal Manuscript from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, Thames & Hudson. 1997, in The Court Historian, Volume 4, 1999 - Issue 3, [3]]
Manuscripts of the Badshahnamas of Qazvini and Waris are preserved in the British Library. The original manuscript of the Badshah Nama that depicts the complete reign of Shah Jahan is preserved in Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library, Patna, India.
Other individual miniatures are held in a number collections. The Khalili Collection of Islamic Art has one miniature in which Shah Jahan and his court watch two elephants fighting.
Context
The
Padshahnama fits into a tradition of imperial autobiographies or official court biographies, seen in various parts of the world. 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 Shami and 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
File:The surrender of the Fort at Udgir to Khan Dawran (October 1636).jpg|The Mughal commander Khan Dauran captures Udgir Fort.
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.
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.[Ebba Koch (1994), Diwan-i 'Amm and Chihil Sutun: The Audience Halls of Shah Jahan, p.1]
Texts online
Further reading
-
Beach, Milo C. and Ebba Koch, The King of the World: The Badshahnama: An Imperial Mughal Manuscript from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, Thames & Hudson. 1997. .
-
(see index: p. 148-152; plate 25)
External links
