Question

Describe the various source of information of the medieval period of history through the flow diagram.

Answer 1

Explanation:

Al biruni’s India

Ziyauddin barani-Fatwa e jahandari and other writings.

Firdausi- Shahnama

Amir khusrao’s books

Baburnama

Humayun nama

Akbarnama including ain e akbari,writings of badaoni if you want to discover the darker side of his empire,poems of keshav and brajbhasha poetry,Unofficial histories.The Tuhfa-i-Akbari Shahi (Tarikh-i-Shershahi) of Abbas Khan Sarwani provides details of the life and works of Shershah. Abdul Qadir Badauni’s Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh is not dedicated to Akbar as Badauni was very critical of the ‘innovations’ of Akbar.

Jahangirnama,Mu tammad khan’s iqbalnama e jahangiri, and kamgar hussaini’s work on jahangir.

Shahjahan nama, histories written by his nobles and the sources of jahangir’s period which continue into shahjahan period can be read execept Jahangir nama.Various sufi commentries or prem akhiyans written.Muhammad Qasim Uindu Shah Astrabadi’s Tarikh-i-Firishtah, deals with the history of the Sultans of the Deccan. Padshanama of Abdul Hamid Lahori is a biographical account of Shahjahan from his childhood to 1649. It is rated as the first-rate authority on the reign of Shahjahan. Besides this biography, Muhammad Amir Khan Qazyni and Muhammad Waris, a pupil of Lahori also wrote two biographies with the name Padshahnama. Of these two, the first one gives an account of the first 10 years and the other the last ten years’ rule of Shahjahan.

Aurangzeb

Inayat Khan, a high official of Shahjahan also wrote Shajahannama and another Shahjahannama was written by Muhamad Sadiq Khan. This covers the historical events from the death of Jahangir to the accession of Aurangzeb. Muhammad Saki Mustaid Khan was the author of Maasir-e-Alamgiri. This was written after the death of Aurangzeb with the help of state records. Mirza Muhammad Qazim was the author of Alamgimama. This is a good detailed history of the first ten years of Aurangzeb’s reign.

Muhammad Hashim Khafi Khan’s Muntakhab-ul-Lubab Muhammad Shahi is a voluminous history from the Muslim conquest of India up to the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah. Besides these histories written in Persian, adminis­trative and accountancy manuals, statistical tables, Firmanas, Mishans or Parwanas, letters and dictionaries also serve useful purpose as primary source material. A number of books based on primary sources written in the last seventy-five years provide useful insights into the different reigns of the Mughal rulers. Further, the contemporaneous Portuguese, Dutch, English and French records and accounts provide useful information of the various aspects of Indian life.

Memoirs, travelogues, letters of the Jesuit fathers, and factory records come under the above category. Antorio Monserette, a Jesuit in his commentary published in 1597 written in Portuguese, provides a graphic account of the court of Akbar. William Hawkins’ work graphically describes Jahangir’s court. Sir Thomas Roe’s embassy (1615-1619) of Jahangir’s time offers political and economic information. Similarly, the Dutch factor, Pelsaert’s account, the travels of Peter Mundy, and Fray Sebastian Manrique, the travels of Francois Bernier and Storia do Mogor of Niccolo Manucci also throw very useful light on the contemporary Indian society.