Practicing Success
Who chronicled the 'third decade' of Shah Jahan’s reign? |
Abu’l Fazl Abdul Hamid Lahori Muhammad Waris Amir Khusrau |
Muhammad Waris |
A pupil of Abu’l Fazl, Abdul Hamid Lahori is known as the author of the Badshah Nama. Emperor Shah Jahan, hearing of his talents, commissioned him to write a history of his reign modelled on the Akbar Nama. The Badshah Nama is this official history in three volumes (daftars) of ten lunar years each. Lahori wrote the first and second daftars comprising the first two decades of the emperor’s rule (1627-47); these volumes were later revised by Sadullah Khan, Shah Jahan’s wazir. Infirmities of old age prevented Lahori from proceeding with the third decade which was then chronicled by the historian Waris. c. 1650 Muhammad Waris begins to chronicle the third decade of Shah Jahan’s reign. |