Namah was, however, very subjective in nature. His style is not easy and
only serious scholars could make good use of it. It is known that he did not
have a large audience in his mind. He was catering only to Akbar, which
makes it highly subjective. Consequently, Akbar Namah, unlike Shah Namah
of Firdausi, is not on the lips of all those who knew Persian, but remains a
book of reference.
Other Works of Akbar’s Period The antidote to Abul Fazl was Abdul
Qadir Baudauni. He was particularly harsh on Akbar. He became hostile
towards the meteoric rise of Abul Fazl, which is explicitly expressed in his
work Muntakhab-ul-Tawarikh. He did not like the king’s religious policy
and liberalism, Rajput policy and the king’s aversion to the orthodox
religious policy. He particularly disliked Abul Fazl and thereby
misunderstood the idealism of the kind and thus it became a book on
polemics rather than a book of history. Inayatullah’s Takmil-i-Akbar Namah
is a continuation of Abul Fazl’s work, carrying down the narrative to Akbar’s
death. Tabaqat-i-Akbari written by Nizamuddin Ahmad in 1592, was the
next important chronicle during Akbar’s time. It is a general history of the
country, from the invasions of Ghazni to the reign of Akbar.
Jahangir’s Period The period from Jahangir to Aurangzeb maintained the
tempo of the historical writing. For Jahangir’s period, we have his own
memoirs, Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, which covers the period from the accession to
the 12th regnal year. The book is very useful and frank and candid and most
of the time, apologetic as he accepts the follies he committed. It not only
covers political and military events, but also economic, social and cultural
eras of the period, together with Jahangir’s own keen observation of men,
manners and events. Mutamad Khan’s Iqbal Namah, Muhammad Murad’s
Siyar-ul-Bilad, Sikandar bin Muhammad Manjhu’s Mirat-i-Sikandari, etc.
are the other notable works of this period.
Shah Jahan’s Period Shah Jahan’s reign witnessed a still more prolific
growth of the historical literature. History received great attention, which was
considered a lofty science and elegant branch of learning. Padshshah Namah
of Abdul Hamid Lahori is a voluminous and authoritative book of the
Emperor reign. This work is simple and lucid and deals with political and
social life. Much is devoted to